Orbitals

Natural extracts are in everything from food to medicine to beauty products. But how do we know which molecules from the natural world have benefits? And how can we verify that the ingredients advertised on the outside of the bottle are actually what's on the inside? We'll talk with three scientists who answer those questions with an unlikely case study: shampoo.

Solutions is made with funding and featuring scientists from 3M, Ascend Performance Materials, Baker Hughes, BASF, Dow, DuPont, Procter & Gamble, PPG, Royal DSM, SABIC, Solvay, and W. L. Gore & Associates, none of whom influenced any editorial decisions.

Dr. Steven Townsend is a professor of Organic Chemistry at Vanderbilt University, studying the chemistry of breast milk—what makes it so good for babies, and why that's so hard to replicate in infant formula. Dr. Townsend's interest in the field came from a personal experience he had almost a decade ago, walking around New York City with his pregnant wife and seeing inequalities in who was being marketed what information.

Welcome to the first episode of Solutions, an Orbitals spin-off podcast for 2021!

We need to move people and stuff around the globe, but the options we have to do that aren't great for our planet, and we're the ones who are going to feel those effects. We're talking with experts who are trying to make transportation more sustainable with innovative solutions like temperature reducing paint and new materials to make cars lighter.

Solutions is hosted by Alex Dainis, PhD, produced by Mike Rugnetta and George Zaidan, and edited by Garrett Crow. Music and sound design by Michael Simonelli and fact checking by Michelle Boucher, PhD. The Solutions executive producer is Jason Oberholtzer.

Solutions is made with funding and featuring scientists from 3M, Ascend Performance Materials, Baker Hughes, BASF, Dow, DuPont, Procter & Gamble, PPG, Royal DSM, SABIC, Solvay, and W. L. Gore & Associates, none of whom influenced any editorial decisions.

Introducing Solutions, a fun new Orbitals spin-off podcast hosted by Dr. Alex Dainis. Every month of 2021, we'll be releasing an episode that will give you a front row seat to chemists in industry today—the work they do and how it can solve problems in our lives. We've teamed up with chemical companies from around the world to talk about everything from airplane paint inspired by eggplants to new drug delivery systems that can deposit medication only where it's needed.

Can't wait for you to listen!

Solutions will be made with funding and featuring scientists from 3M, Ascend Performance Materials, Baker Hughes, BASF, Dow, DuPont, Procter & Gamble, PPG, Royal DSM, SABIC, Solvay, and W. L. Gore & Associates, none of whom influenced any editorial decisions.

In the first half of the 20th century, there were very few environmental laws in the United States.

Then, in 1962, environmentalist Rachel Carson published Silent Spring, opening the eyes of many Americans to the environmental destruction and detrimental impacts on human health caused by unchecked toxic chemical use and industrial waste. One of those chemicals was the highly effective synthetic insecticide DDT.

8 years later, the Environmental Protection Agency was created.

As of November 16, 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused over 1.3 million deaths globally, more than 246,000 of which have been in the United States. Although this country has done very little to control the spread of this virus, there are people out there working tirelessly to get us back on track by developing and improving materials that protect us from the novel coronavirus.

The only thing that's standing between life and lifelessness is about six feet of loose soil material covering the Earth.

In this episode of Orbitals, soil biogeochemist and political ecologist Dr. Asmeret Asefaw Berhe breaks down why soil is a key controller of our climate and essential for our existence.

Imagine buying mascara that makes you go blind, or picking up hair removal cream that causes your teeth to fall out. Before 1938 products like these were all over the place. Legally.

The American Chamber of Horrors was a traveling exhibit, created by the FDA, that exposed these atrocities, and it helped push forward a law that changed consumer protection in the United States forever.

Want to see some of the products in the American Chamber of Horrors? https://www.fda.gov/about-fda/histories-product-regulation/american-chamber-horrors

Antiviral drugs could help us fight the new coronavirus, but we don't currently have a highly potent and effective antiviral that cures COVID-19. Why not? We called a few virologists to find out.

The COVID-19 pandemic has scientists considering a few less-conventional options while vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 are being developed. One option might be the oral polio vaccine. We chatted with one of the researchers proposing the idea—Dr. Robert Gallo—to understand why a vaccine that hasn't been used in the US for two decades might provide short-term protection against this coronavirus.