Friday Fluff: Using Trigonometry while Decorating

A look this perfect requires MATH! Image from Home Decor Store

Thanksgiving is over and that means the Christmas season is upon us! Christmas time is a wonderful time and I'm really looking forward to, for the very first time, decorating my own house. Every year, once I had moved out of my parents' house after college, I put up a big plastic Christmas tree. Every year I added fancy ornaments to the tree to replace a few of the cheap plastic balls I bought the first year. But that was the limit of my apartment's festive adornments because my apartment complex had an HOA that banned outdoor or window decorations. So no wreaths on the doors or windows, no garland, no plug-in candles, no fun at all!

This year I own my house and I can make it as fancy and festive as I want (well, as I can afford). And as part of that I have decided to use lots of lights and garland. And that is what this post is really about: how to figure out how much garland or how many strings of light are needed to candy-cane wrap or swag across a column or rail. To do this we will use trig!

Most of the credit for pointing this out to me goes to Mr. Dr. Kris :)

Happy Thanksgiving: The Final Detail for the Big Day

Every Thanksgiving dinner needs gravy.

The big day is finally here. If you've been keeping up you have a brined, thawed, and ready to roast turkey; some excellent chicken or turkey stock; and a "pumpkin" pie all ready for today's feast. There are several details left to cover: the dressing, the green beans, other sides that are part of your family's feast, but the one I'm going to go over today is gravy. Every family has different side dishes, but every traditional Thanksgiving dinner needs gravy. Gravy has a reputation for being fussy. Maybe it is, but you can handle it.

Happy Thanksgiving: "Pumpkin" Pie

Pumpkin Pi. Image from P. Smith via Wikimedia

Pumpkin pie might be the dessert of the holiday, but most people just heat up a Mrs. Smith's. That isn't really how it needs to be. This recipe will have a home made "pumpkin" pie hot out of your oven about an hour and a half after you get home from the grocery store. Most of that time will be spent waiting on the microwave or oven. The pie travels well and is easy enough for a non-cook to take on.

Happy Thanksgiving: Homemade Turkey Jello

Serving Suggestion? Actually this is mojito gel from Hello Jell-O

Today I'm going to show you the best method for making homemade stock (or turkey/chicken jello as it's called in my house). I'm focusing on turkey/chicken because this is Thanksgiving, but this method works for any type of meat stock (pork stock is wonderful). As far as I'm concerned this is a non-negotiable part of a proper traditional Thanksgiving dinner; you need real stock to make your dressing and your gravy. Real stock is particularly important for the dressing because you won't be cooking it inside the bird (because you love your family--or at least your rug--and don't want to give everyone food poisoning), but you want that bird-y flavor. Store bought stock just doesn't work as well, and I'll even tell you why.

Happy Thanksgiving: Brine and Thaw for High Speed Turkey Readiness

My turkey cooler.

Brining Thanksgiving turkeys has been "a thing" for a while now. A quick Google search will yield dozens, if not tens of thousands, of recipes. But you only have one turkey and one chance to get it right this year, so which one should you follow?

As you might imagine, I'm going to recommend this one. For several reasons. Firstly it's quick, many recipes require you to start with a thawed bird, if you're bird hasn't been in the fridge thawing since the middle of last week it may already be too late for you to try another recipe; this one will work even if your turkey is still at the store (But if so, stop reading and go get it right now! Time is running out!). Secondly, this brine will not waste your money with ingredients that sound like a good idea but will not affect the final outcome (because science); many brine recipes call for stock or aromatics, these flavor compounds will end up down your tub drain and not in your bird. Thirdly, this recipe is very clean; the design of this recipe will keep your bird at a safe temperature with minimal effort, this combined with the high salt concentration of the water will inhibit any microbial growth. I'm not suggesting that other recipes will result in you poisoning your guests--done properly none will--but this one takes all the guess work out of keeping your bird clean and your guests safe. Finally, this recipe only makes a subtle improvement; no radical changes in flavor or texture of the bird. After you reach the end of this recipe you can season and cook your bird as is tradition in your family, the bird will taste like your family's bird only better. Sold? Then lets get too it!

Friday Fluff: Turkey Day is Coming

Freedom from Want by Normal Rockwell (1942)

Thanksgiving is less than a week away! I'm excited. I always love an opportunity the show off in the kitchen, and Thanksgiving is one of the best there is. It's a whole holiday devoted entirely to gathering people together and eating with them. In honor of this holiday, holiest of holies among domestic goddesses (and gods*) and Foodies, I have decided to devote the entirety of next week to domestic matters concerning the preparation of a traditional Thanksgiving dinner.

I will not be providing a full Thanksgiving menu, I know each family's menu is steeped in tradition and usually not prepared entirely by the host(ess). Therefore, suggesting a whole new menu is not the goal, rather, I want to share some tips and tweaks to help you take your own families recipes to the next level.

*no gender discrimination here, my dad is the special occasion cook in my family

CBS: New Research Says The Best Place To Have A Heart Attack Is Not In A Hospital

An overview of a heart and coronary artery showing damage
(dead heart muscle) caused by a heart attack.
Image from NIH via Wikimedia

Today's article comes from CBS; it is about the findings of a new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. In this study researchers investigated the death rate from a specific type of major heart attack. They found that heat attack victims who were already in the hospital were less likely to survive than those who arrived at the ER. The news piece and the research article both state that this pattern persisted even when the difference in health of the patients was taken into account (people in the hospital are, on average, sicker than those not in the hospital). But does the data really show that you're better off having your heart attack at home?

Entropy: Glyphosate’s Suppression of Cytochrome P450 Enzymes and Amino Acid Biosynthesis by the Gut Microbiome: Pathways to Modern Diseases

This is relevant, I promise. Image from xkcd.com

I've chosen this journal article because I saw some blog posts about it spreading around Facebook recently, though I think this all started back in February. I am not going to dignify these blog posts with link backs. I will, however, summarize the contents; if you want to find the original post I'm sure you won't have any trouble.

The other reason I chose this article is that this is, in a way, a topic near to my heart. My PhD thesis was on spreading glyphosate resistance in the agricultural pest Amaranth. All that time in the lab left me with a lot of expertise to share regarding glyphosates biochemistry and utilization, and also with the distinct idea that agriculture is both really important to human health and a really misunderstood science (by the general public, I mean). People all over the internet are talking about GMOs and Monsanto, but there seems to be a lot more hysteria than science. I'd like to see that start to change. Starting with this: is there research showing that there are negative health effects for humans from the consumption of crops treated with glyphosate?

Friday Fluff: Lies, D@mned Lies, and Statistics

Image from xkcd.com

This is going to be a less-fluffy-than-normal bit of fluff, but today I am introducing my new statistics page on my blog. If you look up near the title of the blog you'll see two new tabs. Home takes you to where you can see my blog posts as before. Statistics take you to the new page.


A big part of the reason I started this blog was because I think it's important that every day people understand what researchers are up to. I think this is important for many reasons. Our tax dollars support a lot of this work, we should understand what we're buying. This work has the potential to help us better understand ourselves and the world around us--that's what gets scientists out of bed in the morning--and that knowledge shouldn't be locked away in an ivory tower. And, of course, sometimes the media picks up stories about new research and mangles them. This is bad for everyone: the researchers are made to look silly, and the public is misinformed. Knowledge is power. Power to the people. That sort of thing.

Blinded me with Science: Aerobic Exercise and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

One teacher, one scientist, and one paper; but how many conclusions?

Today's post is a little bit different, but this type of post will hopefully become a semi-regular thing. I'm cross-posting with Sara-Liz. She is one of my favorite people; she stood up with me at my wedding. More relevant to the science part of this blog, she is a special education teacher with both personal and professional experience in learning disabilities. She has a masters degree from Clemson in Special Education and is currently pursuing a second masters degree in Educational Administration and Leadership. This background gives her unique insight on child development, teacher practices, and special education from the education policy and teacher interaction with kiddos perspective.

There's no news article associated with today's post; I found this research by serendipity. I was looking for the article I reviewed last week and while searching Google scholar this one came up. It looked like an interesting and potentially important bit of research as I know many families struggling with ADHD (either in the kids or the adults). I also knew that this would be a great article to seek input from Sara-Liz about. Sara-Liz's content and comments are in purple; mine are in black.

Fox: Laundry Pods Pose Serious Poisoning Risk to Young Children, Study Finds

A sample size package of Tide Pods free & gentle.
Image by Me (CC BY-NC-ND)

Today's article is from Fox news, and there is also a very similar article published in the NY Times (Detergent Pods Pose Risk to Children, Study Finds). Both of these articles share the findings of a new study released today in the journal of Pediatrics. The basic message is one that has been on the news several times in the last two years or so: the new colorful and convenient laundry pods are very dangerous to small children. I want to take a closer look at the statistics presented so that we can better understand how big a risk these are to children. Are laundry pods a major concern or is the media fueling needless paranoia and creating a new battle field in the "mommy wars"?

Friday Fluff: Our First Halloween

Our house all decorated with perfect purple lights, spiders,
and pumpkins. Image by Me (CC BY-NC-ND)

Today's post is going to be short in addition to being late. My husband and I are taking a long weekend (started Wednesday) to visit DC and I am working on a collaborative special guest post with my dear friend Liz. Liz has a master's degree in special education and is pursuing a second master's degree in education policy. I won't ruin the surprise any more than that.

Today I'm going to share a little bit about last Friday: my and my husband's first Halloween in our new house, just like I promised.

The Washington Post: Red wine’s heralded ingredient — resveratrol — may actually hinder benefits of exercise

Maybe not the best replacement to an after workout protein shake.
Image from Lance Cpl. J. Gage Karwick via Wikimedia Commons.

Today's news article comes to us from the Washington Post. Most of the news about the potential anti-aging benefits of red wine, via an antioxidant called resveratrol, was coming out in late 2007 and again in mid-2009 (google trends). But now it's back in the news because researchers have published the results of a study to see if resveratrol can increase the aerobic capacity of humans in the journal Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism. According to the Washington Post, the answer is no, and they use this as an example of how it can feel like research reverses itself constantly, particularly with health and nutrition. But is that really fair?

BBC News: Weight Surgery Lowers Diabetes Risk

Eight obese women (each have a BMI of 30) with different
distributions of that weight and different waist sizes.
Image from Wikimedia Commons.

Today's article, published BBC, is about a paper just published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology that investigates the incidence rate of type 2 diabetes (T2D) in individuals who have undergone bariatric (weight loss) surgery. The news article is very brief, and states simply that researchers found an 80% reduction in the risk of T2D in individuals who have had weight loss surgery. The article also tells us that the UK NHS (their universal health insurer) is considering expanding the availability of covered weight loss surgery based on these findings. Let's see what the paper's authors actually say; does this new research show that bariatric surgery is a viable intervention to prevent or cure T2D?