Surviving a Sudden Cardiac Arrest
She was sitting in the Sacred Heart room at church with the other board member, her six- and eight-year-old daughters across the room coloring, when she slumped over in her seat and fell to the floor. If it wasn’t for the quick thinking of a fellow officer, who is a nurse, she would have died. ...
They’re Baaack! Return of the Bed Intruders
R The familiar idiom “Sleep tight, don’t let the bed bugs bite” is resonating in the minds of people all over the country. Bed bugs are biting again, and in beds close to you. The world’s largest pest control corporation, Terminix, reported in a May, 2011, press release an increase in bed bug cases...
Floating Islands: Green Technology for Polluted Waters
Spidermonkey Island in the Voyages of Dr. Doolittle is a fantasy island that floats around the South Pacific Ocean, but floating islands actually exist. And they could be a new technology for cleaning up polluted waters and restoring wildlife populations. Natural floating islands are common in boggy, swampy regions throughout the world. They are referred to as...
To Cut or Not to Cut?
When Megan Stratton was told by her doctor that she would have to undergo a cesarean section, or c-section, to deliver her second child, “it made me upset and angry.” She had undergone an emergency cesarean at only 30 weeks for her first child, and the thought of going through that again scared her. “I cried for four...
Native Species Restoration: Is Everyone in Favor?
Summer brings the incredible sounds of Missouri wildlife: the gobbling of turkeys, the snort and blow of a buck deer, the song of the cicadas . . . and the bugling of an elk? Due to the latest restoration project of the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC), the bugling of elk may become a common sound in southeastern...
What’s New at the Saint Louis Science Center’s YES Program?
SciJourner Reporters interview four new Youth Exploring Science program teens about what they are looking forward to this summer. What's New at Saint Louis Science Center's YES Program? from SciJourner on Vimeo. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License
Cicadas! Why are They Over Here but not Over There?
“Shhh!” “Do you hear that?” “What’s that noise?” Those are the questions people have been asking every since the male cicadas (Magicicada species) began singing in the St. Louis area during the late spring. The 13-year cicadas (Brood XIX—each cicada population that emerges in the same year is assigned a brood number by...
Check Your Home for Radon
Radon is a colorless, odorless, radioactive gas, and, according to the EPA, is the primary cause of lung cancer in nonsmokers, resulting in 21,000 deaths each year. Now, a report by the Institute of Medicine, suggests efforts to make homes more energy efficient may be increasing radon concentrations. “A guy who comes in low on price,...
Body Worlds or My Introduction to Journalism
Body Worlds or How I Learned to be a Journalist from SciJourner on Vimeo. Andrew Flachs and David Hoffelmeyer preview the Body Worlds Exhibit at the Saint Louis Science Center. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License
Lack of Vitamin D Linked to Allergies in Children
Dr. Denise Johnson, my pediatrician, recently diagnosed me with a moderate allergy to tree nuts, such as almonds, cashews, pecans and walnuts. I had already been diagnosed with environmental allergies—pollen, grasses, oak, and ragweed. My blood work also revealed that my vitamin D levels were low. Since I am African-American, it is harder for me to get vitamin...