Grab your gas masks--here comes Hailey. Though today we don't normally view comets through plastic visors, in 1910, comet-protection proved a profitable business. Yet, this is not the first time we have feared the heavens. Ancient astrologers cited comets as ill omens of death and famine. Now, planet-destroying comets and asteroids inspire terror in popular films such as Deep Impact and Armageddon. Why have humans always feared what scientists dub celestial "small bodies"? On all accounts, the problem seems to be a lack of understanding.

Some scientists are coining mercury to be "The New Lead". Humans are exposed to mercury by one of two ways: as methyl mercury from fish consumption, or by breathing vaporous mercury. Out of these two, methyl mercury is the most deadly; it has the capability of affecting the central nervous system.

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (DOE, INEEL) report a significant step forward in their efforts to produce hydrogen from water. Using a high temperature variant of conventional electrolysis, the team has been able to extract hydrogen from water with a roughly 20 percent boost in efficiency as compared to conventional methods. They hope that this development will one day streamline hydrogen production to help advance the nation towards a clean hydrogen-based economy.

Why are a group of chemicals proven to save lives in fires feeling the burn from scientists and governments over public health concerns? Brominated flame retardants (BFRs) are added to products like couches and electronics, but are now found in places they shouldn't be, like our food and breast milk. A number of studies about the possible health effects from BFRs have ignited a movement to ban them. As some BFRs are being pulled from the shelves, will a recent plot twist in the BFR story be enough to quell this heated debate?

"They would swell beneath the armpits and in the groin, and fall over while talking. Father abandoned child, wife husband, one brother another; for this illness seemed to strike through breath and sight. And so they died. None could be found to bury the dead for money or friendship. Members of a household brought their dead to a ditch as best they could, without priest, without divine offices.And they died by the hundreds, both day and night, and all were thrown in those ditches and covered with earth... And so many died that all believed it was the end of the world."

-Agnolo di Tura of Siena, description of the Black Death (after 1347)

It's 6:35 on a gray July morning on the northern California coast.chilly, 52 degrees. A dense fog envelops the bluffs and jagged coastline below. Monolithic waves crash with merciless fury, driving even the stalwart harbor seals to search for cover. Sea spray and salt air sting my face like a caustic reminder of nature's wrath, while the eerie sound of a distant foghorn haunts the soul. Though this may seem like the setting for a chilling murder mystery, it's actually the start of a typical day for a Bodega Marine Lab REU student collecting sea urchins from the tide pools of the Pacific Ocean.

Let's talk about sex. It is by far the most widely employed mode of reproduction in nature, and yet, even now, no one knows why. The alternatives to sex are relatively simpler, more energy efficient, and, in many cases, safer. Despite its obvious disadvantages, sex is an evolutionary path to which most species have stuck, and in the last few months, research has shown that the advantages are not as mysterious as we had thought.

The first time I saw orange roughy, it was marinated in Teriyaki sauce. I didn't know that the fish was probably older then my grandmother, or that it came from one of the most surprising and mysterious environments on our planet. At ocean depths generally perceived as abyssal and void of life, there are thriving coral reefs and conglomerations of diverse marine life.

The definition of a scientist and engineer can be as varied the people who define them. Engineers are generally considered to be those who create products to meet human needs, while scientists are those who devise instruments and experiments to test their theories. A more limited definition might describe engineers as those who make the instruments that scientists use to take their measurements. This point of view, however, ignores the fact that engineers can only solve complex problems after developing a keen understanding of the underlying scientific phenomena, or that scientists can only convert their experimentally acquired knowledge into working systems after understanding the engineering required to scale up the process.

As an aspiring academic, I read with great pleasure and interest A Ph.D. Is Not Enough: A Guide to Survival in Science by Peter Feibelman. My research mentor suggested this book to me; a year later, I finally picked it up. Finishing a paper for a course, I decided to review the contents of the book so I could cite it.