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Q & A: Red Hot Chili Peppers
By C. CLAIBORNE RAY, The New York Times, August 11, 2009
Q. If I eat a raw jalapeño pepper, my mouth is afire, my eyes water and my nose runs. How can some people eat pepper after pepper without pain? Have they destroyed the sensory receptors in their mouths and throats?
A. No receptors are destroyed, said Harry T. Lawless, a professor of food science at Cornell and an expert in the taste, smell and sensory evaluation of food. Instead, “people who eat a lot of the stuff tend to develop a tolerance that we call desensitization,” he said.
“There is nothing harmful in the capsaicin molecule, the active ingredient of hot peppers,” he said. “Capsaicin is kind of a harmless drug, and like any drug we develop a tolerance to it.”
( Read More )
A Conversation With Paul Root Wolpe: Scientist Tackles Ethical Questions of Space Travel
By CLAUDIA DREIFUS, The New York Times, August 11, 2009
Q. AS NASA’S CHIEF BIOETHICIST, WHAT DOES YOUR WORK INVOLVE?
A. I’m an adviser to the chief medical officer for the agency. I don’t make decisions. Instead, I analyze situations and policies and offer bioethical perspectives on specific problems.
NASA does hundreds of research studies. Every astronaut who goes into space is, essentially, a human research subject. NASA’s looking at the effects of weightlessness, of G-forces and radiation on the human body. One of the things I do is look over the research protocols and make sure they are in compliance with earth-bound regulations about informed consent and health and safety. I also try to help solve some of the thorny ethical problems of medical care for astronauts in space.
( Read More )
Birth Rate Is Said to Fall as a Result of Recession
By SAM ROBERTS, The New York Times, August 7, 2009
For the first time since the decade began, Americans are having fewer babies, and some experts are blaming the economy.
“It’s the recession,” said Andrew Hacker, a sociologist at Queens College of the City University of New York. “Children are the most expensive item in every family’s budget, especially given all the gear kids expect today. So it’s a good place to cut back when you’re uncertain about the future.”
In 2007, the number of births in the United States broke a 50-year-old record high, set during the baby boom. But last year, births began to decline nationwide, by nearly 2 percent, according to provisional figures released last week.
( Read More )
By Degrees: White Roofs Catch On as Energy Cost Cutters
By FELICITY BARRINGER, The New York Times, July 30, 2009
SAN FRANCISCO — Returning to their ranch-style house in Sacramento after a long summer workday, Jon and Kim Waldrep were routinely met by a wall of heat.
“We’d come home in the summer, and the house would be 115 degrees, stifling,” said Mr. Waldrep, a regional manager for a national company.
He or his wife would race to the thermostat and turn on the air-conditioning as their four small children, just picked up from day care, awaited relief.
All that changed last month. “Now we come home on days when it’s over 100 degrees outside, and the house is at 80 degrees,” Mr. Waldrep said.
Their solution was a new roof: a shiny plasticized white covering that experts say is not only an energy saver but also a way to help cool the planet.
Relying on the centuries-old principle that white objects absorb less heat than dark ones, homeowners like the Waldreps are in the vanguard of a movement embracing “cool roofs” as one of the most affordable weapons against climate change.
Studies show that white roofs reduce air-conditioning costs by 20 percent or more in hot, sunny weather. Lower energy consumption also means fewer of the carbon dioxide emissions that contribute to global warming.
What is more, a white roof can cost as little as 15 percent more than its dark counterpart, depending on the materials used, while slashing electricity bills.
( Read More )
By C. CLAIBORNE RAY, The New York Times, August 11, 2009
Q. If I eat a raw jalapeño pepper, my mouth is afire, my eyes water and my nose runs. How can some people eat pepper after pepper without pain? Have they destroyed the sensory receptors in their mouths and throats?
A. No receptors are destroyed, said Harry T. Lawless, a professor of food science at Cornell and an expert in the taste, smell and sensory evaluation of food. Instead, “people who eat a lot of the stuff tend to develop a tolerance that we call desensitization,” he said.
“There is nothing harmful in the capsaicin molecule, the active ingredient of hot peppers,” he said. “Capsaicin is kind of a harmless drug, and like any drug we develop a tolerance to it.”
( Read More )
A Conversation With Paul Root Wolpe: Scientist Tackles Ethical Questions of Space Travel
By CLAUDIA DREIFUS, The New York Times, August 11, 2009
Q. AS NASA’S CHIEF BIOETHICIST, WHAT DOES YOUR WORK INVOLVE?
A. I’m an adviser to the chief medical officer for the agency. I don’t make decisions. Instead, I analyze situations and policies and offer bioethical perspectives on specific problems.
NASA does hundreds of research studies. Every astronaut who goes into space is, essentially, a human research subject. NASA’s looking at the effects of weightlessness, of G-forces and radiation on the human body. One of the things I do is look over the research protocols and make sure they are in compliance with earth-bound regulations about informed consent and health and safety. I also try to help solve some of the thorny ethical problems of medical care for astronauts in space.
( Read More )
Birth Rate Is Said to Fall as a Result of Recession
By SAM ROBERTS, The New York Times, August 7, 2009
For the first time since the decade began, Americans are having fewer babies, and some experts are blaming the economy.
“It’s the recession,” said Andrew Hacker, a sociologist at Queens College of the City University of New York. “Children are the most expensive item in every family’s budget, especially given all the gear kids expect today. So it’s a good place to cut back when you’re uncertain about the future.”
In 2007, the number of births in the United States broke a 50-year-old record high, set during the baby boom. But last year, births began to decline nationwide, by nearly 2 percent, according to provisional figures released last week.
( Read More )
By Degrees: White Roofs Catch On as Energy Cost Cutters
By FELICITY BARRINGER, The New York Times, July 30, 2009
SAN FRANCISCO — Returning to their ranch-style house in Sacramento after a long summer workday, Jon and Kim Waldrep were routinely met by a wall of heat.
“We’d come home in the summer, and the house would be 115 degrees, stifling,” said Mr. Waldrep, a regional manager for a national company.
He or his wife would race to the thermostat and turn on the air-conditioning as their four small children, just picked up from day care, awaited relief.
All that changed last month. “Now we come home on days when it’s over 100 degrees outside, and the house is at 80 degrees,” Mr. Waldrep said.
Their solution was a new roof: a shiny plasticized white covering that experts say is not only an energy saver but also a way to help cool the planet.
Relying on the centuries-old principle that white objects absorb less heat than dark ones, homeowners like the Waldreps are in the vanguard of a movement embracing “cool roofs” as one of the most affordable weapons against climate change.
Studies show that white roofs reduce air-conditioning costs by 20 percent or more in hot, sunny weather. Lower energy consumption also means fewer of the carbon dioxide emissions that contribute to global warming.
What is more, a white roof can cost as little as 15 percent more than its dark counterpart, depending on the materials used, while slashing electricity bills.
( Read More )
