by Captain Skellett | Dec 21, 2011 | Poisons
Green and red, classic Christmas colours, adorn the spiky holly shrub. A sprig may garnish puddings, but garnish nibblers like me must hold back on holly for it is poisonous in large doses – though some leaves can make a tasty beverage! Holly includes about 400...
by Captain Skellett | Sep 21, 2011 | Poisons
On August 21, 1945, the demon core claimed its first victim. Harry K. Daghlian, Jr. was at Los Alamos, a secret laboratory in New Mexico where scientists worked feverishly on the equally secret Manhattan Project. To the outside world, at least those with sufficient...
by Captain Skellett | Aug 27, 2010 | Drugs, Poisons, Sex and Reproduction, The Realm of Bizzare, Unethics
On August 15, 1951 a small town in southern France called Pont-Saint-Esprit briefly entered the twilight zone. Hundreds of people reported acute psychotic episodes and physical symptoms such as nausea. They experienced traumatic hallucinations, and 50 of those...
by Captain Skellett | Apr 11, 2010 | Poisons, Recent Research, Sex and Reproduction
Today I made a new video about how Kohl eye makeup may have prevented eye infections in Ancient Egypt. Ancient Egyptian Eyes Saved Lives from Captain Skellett on Vimeo. The video was sparked by a recent letter published in Analytical Chemistry which you can read here...
by Captain Skellett | Jan 15, 2010 | Drugs, Poisons
When I was but a lass, freshly ID’d and able to finally hit the local tavern, there was a rumour around that Absinthe was THE drink if you wanted to get drunk fast, and as a bonus, if you could get the proper stuff, it causes hallucinations. OMG terribly...
by Captain Skellett | Dec 27, 2009 | How Things Work, Poisons, Science in the Movies
I saw Sherlock Holmes last night with SexyMan, the cinema was packed and we sat in the second row from the front. I watched the movie like a fan watches a tennis match, but surprisingly it was still good! It might have helped that any great expectations had been...