Beeker2018

It has long been rumored that bathroom hand dryers are far less sanitary than we are led to believe. Thankfully, this has been confirmed and I can no longer feel bad for encouraging my daughter to shake out her hands instead of utilizing the suspicious hand dryer. A study found that a petrie dish placed in the bathroom attracted more bacteria after the hand dryer was used. Apparently, hand dryers suck in the air in the environment and then blow it out onto our hands. This is not terribly surprising though certainly disgusting. Unfortunately, hand dryers were supposed to be a better alternative to wasting paper towels. Now we have to ask, "at what cost?"

The kitchen in my apartment is not as colorful as I would like. The appliances are white, the kind of white that gleams with every smudge, ding and failed attempt at cooking. The cabinets and table are reminiscent of drift wood on a New York beach, clouds hanging low and ominous overhead. I am saddened to realize that recently the food in my kitchen has been as drab as the landscape. There have been more than our fair share of tuna sandwiches, eggs with toast and tamales. Not too mention cereal. The pops of color are few and far between, unfortunately; a couple of watermelon, some broccolini or asparagus and a clamshell of blueberries. It was sobering to see. Adding color (aka vital nutrients) to one's diet is not that difficult. I know because in the past my diet was filled with color. I would seek out new brilliantly colored foods at farmer's markets and even ate only blue foods (well mostly) for a week. So how is it that my diet took such a turn? The answer is simple and s

Ideally, one would step into their yard and pluck their kale from the vegetable bed. Or perhaps, bust out their sewing machine and work the cotton fabric woven on their spinning wheel when in need of a new outfit for next month's fete. Unfortunately, we do not live in that world. Urban sprawl has ruined us and the planet. We need items and we need them now. We drive distances to malls. We order online. We eat out. We take out. We are now forced to measure our carbon footprints. Mine is not great. I pride myself on not ordering many things online despite the appeal of convenience. Instead, I try to plot my errands and purchases along established routes of child pick ups/drop offs, work and school. Admittedly, this is because I detest driving-- which makes my carbon footprint look pretty good. But not great. I could stand to eat out less and to drink less coffee....out of tiny plastic holes fastened to paper cups.

After acing Discrete Mathematics, my senior year math class in high school, I was sure that I was a math genius. I even schooled my teacher on Pascal's triangle. Majoring in mathematics in college was a no-brainer; I had this. But the universe is a cruel teacher and I was quickly humbled. I knew nothing of mathematics. Chemists everywhere may be experiencing a similar humbling since Uspex came on the scene. Granted it was hubris to assume that we could have mastered chemistry. Our existence is so complex and so too is everything that contributes to it. The upside to these discoveries of compounds acting in "unexpected" ways, is that we can now develop more efficient technology and improve our understanding of medicine. Which could in turn provide a way to save our planet from the mess we have made.

Once upon a time when the world didn't experience as many erratic weather patterns and recycling was still something that only California hippies did, I lived in a giant metropolis bordered by fetid waters and dreamed of being a neuroscientist. The universe, however, stepped in and gave me a baby. Dashed were my hopes of long days spent staring at labyrinthine images held fixed with florescent light in the hopes of winning a Nobel for eradicating epilepsy. Fast forward and here I am at ACCHS studying TCM and acupuncture; still hoping to help people and ease what ails them.