Book Reviews

Radar, Hula Hoops, and Playful Pigs: 67 Digestible commentaries on the fascinating chemistry of ordinary life

Hal Harris | Thu, 05/01/2003 - 01:00

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Joe Schwarcz is Director of McGill University's Office for Chemistry and Society. He hosts a weekly radio call-in radio show in Montreal and also writes a column about chemistry in everyday life for the Washington Post. The essays in this book are collected largely from his radio show, and they are exactly in the spirit of "Hal's Picks".

The Measure of All Things: The Seven-Year Odyssey and Hidden Error That Transformed the World

Hal Harris | Sat, 03/01/2003 - 00:00

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In 1792, the French Academy of Sciences appointed two respected scientists to survey a north-south meridian from Dunkirk to Barcelona, for the purpose of determining the size (and shape) of the earth. Why is this important? Because it would establish an international basis for the meter, foundation of the metric system.

Generation of a Bacterium with a 21 Amino Acid Genetic Code

Hal Harris | Wed, 01/01/2003 - 00:00

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Even those of us whose whose biochemistry is a little shaky are likely to know that there are twenty amino acids that form the building blocks of proteins in life on earth. Now even that simple factoid is no longer absolutely true. A group of scientists headed by Peter G. Schultz of the Scripps Research Institute have created a new form of E.

DNA as Destiny

Hal Harris | Fri, 11/01/2002 - 00:00

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We all know that, with the deciphering of the human genome as well as those of other animals, and of plants, that the future will bring a new level of understanding and control of our own heredity. But what can the present level of genetic testing provide? In this story, writer David Duncan has as much determined about his future as you can learn with current technology.

The Odds of That

Hal Harris | Thu, 08/01/2002 - 01:00

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When nearly a dozen scientists, all in some way associated with research on biotechnology, die within a year of the 9/11 attacks, can it be coincidence? Yes, says Lisa Belkin, author of this excellent article on one of the constants of pseudoscience, the attribution of "cause" to random events.

Relativity and the Global Positioning System

Hal Harris | Thu, 05/02/2002 - 02:00

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An ideal companion to "The Universe in a Nutshell" is this article by Neil Ashby, a Professor of Physics at University of Colorado - Boulder. Hand- held GPS devices have become standard equipment for boaters, hikers, and technology junkies. It is now taken for granted that one's position on the earth can be obtained within a few seconds, accurately, and free.

Unraveling the DNA Myth: The Spurious Foundation of Genetic Engineering

Hal Harris | Sat, 02/02/2002 - 01:00

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Barry Commoner argues that the central "dogma" of genetic engineering, that DNA alone controls protein synthesis in a one-to-one correspondence between genes and proteins, is highly questionable.

The Computer Delusion

Hal Harris | Tue, 07/01/1997 - 01:00

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Most of the chemistry professors and teachers with whom I am acquainted are fairly pleased with the national trend toward putting more computers in school, college, and university classrooms.

James Dewar, His Flask and Other Achievements

Hal Harris | Fri, 03/01/1996 - 00:00

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The Dewar flasks that we use for storage of cryogenic fluids such as liquid nitrogen, oxygen, and helium, and which known outside the laboratory as "thermos bottles" were invented by James Dewar, who was the first person to liquefy hydrogen, and was nearly first in the nineteenth century races to liquefy all of the other gases.

Silent Sperm

Hal Harris | Wed, 01/03/1996 - 02:00

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In the novel "The Children of Men" by P. D. James, set in the year 2021, mankind is faced with extinction due to the worldwide sterility of human males. Is there a basis for fear that this is actually happening? Or is the reported decline in sperm counts, over the past half-century, even a fact?