The Pipettepen

Renewable energy has come a long way in the last 60 years. A major influencer was the OPEC crisis which led the U.S. government to a drastic change in energy policy. In general, carbon dioxide emissions are responsible for ocean … Continue reading →

The sun is shining and you’re about to make the responsible choice to slather on some sunscreen to protect your skin from the sun’s harmful (but also warm and wonderful) UV rays. Even the smell of sunscreen elicits summertime nostalgia … Continue reading →

Spring is officially here, so it’s time for some science about some of the most adorable baby animals. In my past training as an animal scientist at UC Davis, spring was largely marked by births within all the herds at … Continue reading →

Toxins are everywhere these days. In your water, in your food, in your beauty products, in mostly everything you consume or surround yourself with. Most importantly, toxins are in the headlines. The media has done a great job sensationalizing many … Continue reading →

Have you ever marveled at a gecko climbing on glass? Or wondered why mosquito bites are painless unlike the injections we get at the doctor’s office? The natural world has developed some ingenious features during the ~3.8 billion years of … Continue reading →

When feeling under the weather, we commonly end up sitting in a doctor’s office chair. Blood and saliva samples are whisked away to a room filled with instruments, some as big as a washing machine. In this room technicians run … Continue reading →

It was March 2019, I was at the end of my fourth year of graduate school, and finally taking a ‘real’ vacation. This meant I tried my best to unplug from the stresses of school by leaving my computer and … Continue reading →

Every living thing on earth is made from a genetic sequence that contains four different nitrogenous bases – adenine (A), guanine (G), cytosine (C) and thymine (T). You can think of these bases like letters in a language – different … Continue reading →

March Madness has arrived, which means my alter ego – the one that worships Coach Roy Williams, mumbles curses against Zion, and says words like “offensive rebound percentage” – has officially been unleashed.  As I fervently check my NCAA bracket … Continue reading →

Unfortunately, the link between dietary supplement use and negative health impacts is not new. This is likely because the selling of these supplements is not controlled by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The FDA is the U.S. government … Continue reading →