Blog Archives

The Chemical Me (2011 edition)

By Deborah Blum
Posted: December 31, 2011

Category: chemistry, Speakeasy Science | Tagged arsenic, chemical-free, David Dobbs, Dorothy Sayers, Ed Yong, International Year of Chemistry, Ivan Oransky, Jennifer Ouelette, John Rennie, Matthew Harper, pepper spray, The Poisoner's Handbook | 7 Comments

The Science of Mysteries: Instructions for A Deadly Dinner

By Deborah Blum
Posted: December 20, 2011

Category: poison, Speakeasy Science | Tagged Ann Finkbeiner, arsenic, Dorothy L. Sayers, Georgette Heyer, Harriet Vane, Herbert Rowse Armstrong, Jane Langton, Jennifer Ouelette, Josephine Tey, Lord Peter Wimsey, Mignon Eberhardt, Patricia Wentworth, Strong Poison, the arsenic eaters of Styria, The Poisoner's Handbook | 28 Comments

Periodic craziness

By Deborah Blum
Posted: December 4, 2011

Category: chemistry, Speakeasy Science, The Poisoner's Handbook | Tagged chemistry, Hugh Aldersley-Williams, lead, Marie Curie, Periodic Tales, polonium, radiation, radium, Sam Kean, thallium, The Disappearing Spoon, The Elements, The Elements (song), The Periodic Table of Elements, The Poisoner's Handbook, The Radium Girls, Theodore Gray | 17 Comments

An Almost Perfect Murder

By Deborah Blum
Posted: August 9, 2011

Category: carbon monoxide, methane, Speakeasy Science, The Poisoner's Handbook | Tagged Alexander Gettler, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, Charles Norris, forensic toxicology, hydrogen, Leah Friendlich, methane, murder, New York City Medical Examiner's Office, Tenement Museum, The Poisoner's Handbook | 7 Comments

A lost girl, remembered

By Deborah Blum
Posted: May 1, 2011

Category: arsenic, poison, The Poisoner's Handbook | Tagged antimony, arsenic, cyanide, Fowler's Solution, Lillian Goetz, New York history, poison murder, Rough on Rats, Shelbourne Restaurant, strychnine, The Poisoner's Handbook | 16 Comments

A Dazzle in the Bones

By Deborah Blum
Posted: March 26, 2011

Category: radium, science history, Speakeasy Science, The Poisoner's Handbook | Tagged Alexander Gettler, alpha radiation, dial workers, Harrison S. Martland, New York City Medical Examiner's Office, radiation exposure, radioactivity, radium, Radium Girls, The Poisoner's Handbook, U.S. Radium Corporation | 31 Comments

Life in the Undark

By Deborah Blum
Posted: March 25, 2011

Category: radium, science history, Speakeasy Science, The Poisoner's Handbook | Tagged alpha radiation, beta radiation, Consumers Union of New Jersey, gamma radiation, Harrison S. Martland, Japan, Marie Curie, nuclear power, polonium, radioactivity, radon, The Poisoner's Handbook, The Radium Girls, U.S. Radium Corporation, uranium | 11 Comments

The Amazing Exploding Classroom

By Deborah Blum
Posted: March 4, 2011

Category: chemistry, science communication, Speakeasy Science, The Poisoner's Handbook | Tagged Bassam Shakhashiri, chemistry, gummy bear chemistry, methanol explosion, Mount Royal University, Nathan Ackroyd, science communication, Science is Fun, The Poisoner's Handbook | 17 Comments

Plants, platypuses, poisons and, oh yes, paperbacks

By Deborah Blum
Posted: February 8, 2011

Category: Speakeasy Science, The Poisoner's Handbook | Tagged The Poisoner's Handbook | 6 Comments

The Poisoner’s (paperback) giveaway

By Deborah Blum
Posted: January 27, 2011

Category: Speakeasy Science, The Poisoner's Handbook | Tagged paperback giveaway, Speakeasy Science, The Poisoner's Handbook | 63 Comments