Media Mentions

The Philadelphia Inquirer: Bill Bryson has a new book of weird, wonderful facts about the body. Of course, there’s a Philly angle.

Bill Bryson rose to fame as a travel writer and humorist, sharing his joy at discovering the unfamiliar as he tramped about, yet just as often describing well-known locales in a way that made them seem new again. The same could be said about his latest...

14 October, 2019

Portland Press Herald: Have a sweet tooth? Hate cilantro? Your genes may tell you why

Have a sweet tooth? Hate cilantro? Your genes may tell you why. Our genes don't tell the whole story, but they can provide a fascinating glimpse into why we eat the way we do...

18 August, 2019

The New York Times: Do older people have a different smell?

During an extended period of travel last year, my husband and I lent our house in the Ozarks to an older couple who were having work done on their own house. We returned after a month away to a spotless house and two hostess gifts. But...

08 August, 2019

Massachusetts General’s Proto Magazine: A secret sense

Receptors that can smell and taste exist throughout the body. Can they be allies in learning to fight disease? Click here to read the full article...

01 August, 2019

Live Science: Why does mint make your mouth feel cool?

If you nibble on a mint leaf, you might notice that it makes your mouth feel cool. That's because mint, much like chili peppers, is a biochemical success story — for plants, at least...

27 July, 2019

Elemental: How much water do you really need to drink?

The well-known “8 x 8” rule — you should drink eight 8-ounce glasses of water a day — is not only daunting, it’s unfounded. In fact, nobody is sure where the idea came from, and science doesn’t support it. “It has no basis in fact,”...

16 July, 2019

Bloomberg: It’s not your fault that you eat so much sugar

Americans tend to associate our health problems with sin. It’s hard to find a health story in the press that doesn’t blame greed and lack of willpower for our ongoing epidemics of obesity and diabetes as well as a recent upturn in the rate of...

10 July, 2019

Live Science: Why do people scrunch up their faces after tasting something sour?

Here's an activity: Get a lemon, peel it and keep a straight face while you eat the whole thing. Could you do it? No, probably not. How is it that a fist-size fruit has the power to make you move your muscles against your will? Scientists don't...

04 July, 2019

Food & Wine: Food is too sweet, according to machine learning analysis of Amazon reviews

Reading Amazon reviews can be an annoying and tedious process. Why are you reviewing the product if you haven’t used it yet? Why are you complaining about the size of the box it came in? Are you even a real person?! But speaking of not-real-people,...

27 June, 2019

Chemical & Engineering News: Small genetic variations link the activity of odor receptors with the perception of odors

To one person, a beet might smell mildly earthy and pleasant. To another, sharp and intense. The beet is the same, the earthy odorant—2-ethylfenchol—is the same, but the perception of that odor is different. Researchers have long wondered how that can be, and a team...

18 May, 2019