Sir Percival Pott, a London physician in 1775, felt sorry for chimney sweeps. They were child laborers who Pott thought were treated cruelly. They were poorly fed, barely clothed, and forced to ascend into sooty chimneys. Too often, Pott saw they were “bruised, burned, and almost suffocated.”In his practice at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, Pott observed a tragic trend among the young chimney sweeps. Many of them suffered from scrotal cancer by the time they reached puberty. Pott connected th ...read more
Why so blue? This most calming color has woven itself into the fabric of our language, and it’s hard to imagine a world without the azure hue of the ocean or sky. However, there’s some evidence to suggest that the people of the past didn’t see the same world that we do, or, at least, didn’t describe it in the same way.Historical records in various languages, from ancient Greek to ancient Hebrew, make no explicit references to blue, despite having terms for other hues like black and red. ...read more
Viruses are a mysterious and poorly understood force in microbial ecosystems. Researchers know they can infect, kill and manipulate human and bacterial cells in nearly every environment, from the oceans to your gut. But scientists don’t yet have a full picture of how viruses affect their surrounding environments in large part because of their extraordinary diversity and ability to rapidly evolve.Communities of microbes are difficult to study in a laboratory setting. Many microbes are challengi ...read more
For nearly 200 years, Florence Nightingale’s name has been synonymous with gentle compassion and mercy.In the mid-19th century, Nightingale became perhaps the most celebrated woman of her era – second only to Queen Victoria – for instituting sanitation practices that sharply cut death rates among British soldiers fighting in the Crimean War. A handsome bronze statue in London’s Waterloo Place has immortalized Nightingale as a slight, graceful figure carrying a lamp, the embodiment of sel ...read more
The ability to simulate the way matter behaves on the atomic scale is revolutionizing materials science and everything related to it. This approach is producing new materials with exotic properties, resilient alloys for nuclear power and a new understanding of protein folding, to name just a few applications.These advances are largely the result of ever more powerful computing machines, which aim to make simulations bigger, faster and longer. That’s the goal but the reality is more nuanced. Mo ...read more
Author Vishay SinghPosted on Categories Discover Magazine