A strange bacterium found in California’s Mono Lake cannot replace the phosphorus in its DNA with arsenic, according to researchers who have been trying to reproduce the results of a controversial report published in Science in 2010. (Via Bad Astronomy.) Previously.
posted by IvoShandor on Jan 24, 2012 - 31 comments

Jane Austen 'died from arsenic poisoning'. [The Guardian] Crime writer Lindsay Ashford bases claim on reading of author's letters and claims murder cannot be ruled out. Almost 200 years after she died, Jane Austen's early death at the age of just 41 has been attributed to many things, from cancer to Addison's disease. Now sleuthing from a crime novelist has uncovered a new possibility: arsenic poisoning.
posted by Fizz on Nov 15, 2011 - 37 comments

“NASA will hold a news conference at 2 p.m. EST (11am PST) on Thursday, Dec. 2, to discuss an astrobiology finding that will impact the search for evidence of extraterrestrial life. Astrobiology is the study of the origin, evolution, distribution and future of life in the universe.” Watch it HERE live. [more inside]
posted by Sprocket on Dec 1, 2010 - 102 comments

Hundreds of munitions and beakers with vintage chemical weapons, including "butter of arsenic" and lewisite, the "dew of death," are being dug up in Washington DC -- less than five miles from the White House (around American University). [more inside]
posted by msalt on May 21, 2010 - 32 comments

SOS-arsenic.net has excellent recipes, visuals, articles and information about life, history, living in Bangladesh, which borders India, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Assam, Burma and is near the Himalayan country of Bhutan. Among the many interesting things included in this site is disturbing information: mustard oil, whose production and consumption were until recently integral to India's way of life, has been banned, so as to provide a market for Monsanto's soya oil and the poisoning of between 85 and 125 million people with arsenic.
posted by nickyskye on Dec 7, 2007 - 20 comments

What do you get when you combine strange poisons, unusual wallpaper, and odd Napoleons? Why, the strange story of Napoleon’s wallpaper, of course. (bonus Mark Knopfler video)
posted by YamwotIam on Sep 15, 2007 - 10 comments

Research on civil war era embalming techniques up until the 1900's shows that arsenic, a primary component of embalming solutions, is leaching into our groundwater. Do you live near a cemetery?
posted by crawdad on Mar 25, 2004 - 9 comments

House votes to restore water arsenic standards. Gee, I don't know. Whose opinion might be more valid, the Republicans or the National Academy of Science? Not that the NAS is suddenly perfect but the recent attempts to put major spin on science, especially in global warming, is an unsettling trend.
posted by skallas on Jul 27, 2001 - 5 comments