Parenting

Bring Me the Gas! – Slate

“Labor is no laughing matter, at least not in the U.S. Today, most women in the U.K., Canada, Australia, and Scandinavia use laughing gas (otherwise known as nitrous oxide) for pain relief during childbirth, but for years it has not been available for labor in the U.S. beyond a few lucky maternity wards—until now.” [Read more]

A History of Cribs and Other Brilliant and Bizarre Inventions for Getting Babies to Sleep – Smithsonian

Generations of parents have relied on contraptions, both clever and crazy, to give their infants—and themselves—some rest. [Read more]

Mindful Birthing – Pregnancy & Newborn Magazine

This meditation-based approach to childbirth and parenting doesn’t deny pain, but it does help you acknowledge and manage it. [Read more]

Science

Bob Goldstein – ASCB Newsletter

“Many researchers have scientific idols, but Bob Goldstein is one of the few with an actual shrine to his hero. Inside Goldstein’s microscope room at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, there’s a small wall recess dedicated to the cell biology pioneer Ray Rapoport.” [Read more]

Yixian Zheng and The Elusive Spindle Matrix – ASCB Post

“Yixian Zheng isn’t afraid to challenge assumptions in biology. She studies how cells divide and wants to know what is orchestrating the process, but her ideas haven’t always been immediately embraced.” [Read more]

Sammy the Chlamy—A superhero for the environment – ASCB Post

“Sammy the Chlamy is a single-celled alga currently starring in an original musical video on YouTube that advances the notion that Sammy and her kind can blunt climate change and curb world hunger. Chlamy is, of course, short for Chlamydomonas, a green alga that like all plants can photosynthesize…” [Read more]

So you want to be a science writer – MBoC

Experiences in Lab Culture – LabLit

And many more from when I was science writer for the American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB).

Food

Chicken Stalk – Inquisitive Eater

The scent of bubbling chicken stock permeates my small old home. I inhale the memories of childhood holidays; my father simmering the leftover turkey carcass the morning after a day of feasting; a heartwarming broth of bones, onions, carrots and vegetable scraps. But I have a different reverence for the chicken simmering in my pot, because I sliced off its head. [Read more]

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