In 1863 a French chemist and patent medicine maker named Angelo Mariani combined wine and coca and called it Vin Mariani. The combination of cocaine and alcohol must have packed a powerful wallop. The “tonic wine” became extremely popular for… Read More
A very long time ago, when I was taking my SATs, I encountered a short, four letter word in the analogy section that I didn’t know: bane. Reader, if you are under the age of 17 and still have SATs… Read More
I stumbled across a strange, sad little anecdote the other day as I was researching something on another topic. It was a picture of a little girl in a fashionable dress, and the author casually mentioned that the child died… Read More
Yesterday I drove to Ithaca, New York, where I met up with Mary Smith, Professor of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell University. Cornell’s College of Veterinary Medicine maintains a poisonous plants garden, which makes sense, if you think about it. Veterinary … Read More
One of my favorite memories from childhood was opening a new box of crayons. I marveled at the beautiful hues. When I was older and took painting classes, I never lost that feeling of awe at the brilliant, saturated colors… Read More
I have a new favorite publication. During my recent week of research in New York City, I spent many happy hours poring over nineteenth century copies of The British Medical Journal. I found it so diverting—literally—that it was difficult to… Read More
I’m working on a new book right now, and as part of my research, I have enrolled in an online course on forensics. My professor is one Roderick Bates, an organic chemist and associate professor at Nanyang Technological University in… Read More
This is hardly breaking news—in fact, the Greek physician Hippocrates (460 – 370 BC) was the first to herald the benefits, but did you know that snail-slime face cream is a hot beauty trend? Creams containing slug mucus have been… Read More
The writer James Whorton opens his fascinating book, The Arsenic Century, with a news article from the London Times, 13 December, 1848. It recounts how for months, partridge hunters had been coming upon flocks of dead birds nestled together, eyes… Read More
Fans of Ernest Hemingway know that a lot of absinthe gets drunk in his novels. Absinthe was a strong alcoholic drink made from an aromatic, bitter-tasting herb called Artemisia absinthium, or wormwood. Its characteristic licorice flavor was derived from fennel… Read More
Modernist architect Le Corbusier designed a vacation home that included a toilet in the living area. He considered the toilet “one of the most beautiful objects industry has produced,” and therefore saw no reason to hide it.