Every Substance Is A Chemical
Chemophobia, Clickbait Headlines, & Drug Names
Welcome to The Dose! We’re delivering bi-weekly health and science updates right to your inbox, and we’re including some humor, art, and fun along the way.
Influencers and “health gurus” love to tell us that we shouldn’t be eating things if we can’t pronounce their ingredients, or that if something has an extensive ingredient list it shouldn’t be in our grocery carts. But this is a fear-mongering oversimplification. Moderation and balance are key!
The clickbait headlines on aspartame as a carcinogen are still making the rounds. In addition to our recent post, this short video from Dr. Love explains why you shouldn’t be so quick to dump out your diet soda.
Did you know that pharmaceuticals have a brand name and a generic name? And that generics technically have two names: their International Nonproprietary Name (INN) and their US Adopted Name (USAN; or something similar, depending on your country)? This article explains how drugs get their name, and why the names are so important.
We asked our team for their suggestions of fun summer science activities.
Brandi:
Check with your local space & air museums. They usuallly offer camps during the summer
As a teenager, I used to volunteer at the Virginia Living Museum. I worked at the touch tank and learned how to hold an American Kestrel and some snakes. It was super fun.
Miguel:
I usually like going to a science museum. I know the Franklin Institute has adult nights and other science museums in Philly have something similar to that too!
Crystal:
…birding is something people are very involved with in MA. There's a great Audubon society, which I'm sure there are several across the U.S.
Montana:
Check out Steve Spangler Science if you have kiddos! When my oldest son was younger, we’d have science experiment days during the summer. He loved this color changing milk experiment.
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