Carol Potenza

There is nothing else like it, really. Dressed in shorts and a T-shirt, you mill about within a relaxed, happy crowd of people, listening to the treble shouts of excited children who hold up and twist one hand encased in a thick leather baseball glove, the other hand clutched tightly by an adult so they won’t get lost in the throng. The smell of broiling hot dogs mixes with the sharp scent of mustard, and layered through the air is the salty yeasty waft of beer. You check your tickets and enter a short dark tunnel to emerge into a …

Isn’t it interesting how we’ve turned food into 💊 “medicine” ? Omega-3 fatty acids found in foods like fatty fish help regulate inflammation and are linked to improved heart and immune health (1). Raspberries are high in antioxidant polyphenols, while black raspberries may benefit heart health (2). And a perpetual favorite: Dark chocolate contains flavanols which may help your heart health (3).   Yes, you must acknowledge the weasel words—linked to, promote, may benefit—which tell you that no definitive research is available on the food and its effects. Maybe some research has shown the extracted and purified molecules found in the food (omega-3-fatty acids, polyphenols, flavanols) …

Have you ever stupidly accepted a challenge, hubris oozing from every pore, because in the back of your smug little mind you’re thinking, I’m pretty smart, strong, in shape, brave, unafraid?    That’s how we got here today, folks, with the periodic table element, Xenon. You see, initially, the focus of this article was going to be on radioecology and wildlife that now live in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone in Ukraine (1) and the Polesie State Radioecological Reserve in Belarus (2). Instead, I was suckered by a physicist—YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE—casually shelling and eating peanuts and talking about Xenon poisoning and Xenon pits. My eyes lit up. Pits? …

There’s a scene in the second Nicky Matthews Mystery, The Third Warrior (and, yes, I know it’s confusing—second in series, Third Warrior) where, of all things, George Washington’s false teeth come up.   A little back story on that scene: While visiting Washington’s home, Mount Vernon, a few years ago, the tour guide led everyone upstairs to Washington’s bedroom. On the side table next to Washington’s bed, for everyone to see, sat his false teeth, which seemed sad.   And this is where our story of Zirconium begins (SEE GRAPH ⬇️).   First, let’s chat about oral hygiene and people’s teeth displayed for beauty, power, and …

Dulce et Decorum est pro patria mori – Horace, Roman lyric poet, 8-12-65 BC to 27-11-8 BC (1)   What does this mean in English?  “It is sweet and proper to die for one’s country.”    The Greek words are inscribed across the Memorial Amphitheater at Arlington National Cemetery (2) in Arlington, Virginia, where thousands upon thousands of U.S. Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines, including those killed in action, are interred. The line evokes the ultimate sacrifice, and for people who fought or had a relative who fought, or of a certain age who remember cultural markers like POW/MIA bracelets (3)—including knowing …

As kids, did you ever play a game called Kick the Can? It’s a variation on hide-and-seek plus tag and doesn’t need a specific kind of playing field or any specialized equipment. The only things necessary were a bunch of kids whose moms told them they couldn’t come back inside the house until dark, and an empty, unlabeled can somebody pulled out of the trash.   When everybody was gathered and ready, that shiny tin can was placed in an open area—usually in the middle of a quiet neighborhood street—and one of the kids kicked the can as hard as they …