Jeff Danner's Common Science

Cold Fusion Part II: History 1869 to 2015

Posted by Jeff Danner | Sep 20, 2015 | Common Science, Featured

Last week in Part I of this three column series, I discussed the science of cold fusion. I had been considering writing about cold fusion for some time. Then last month the U.S. patent office issued a patent for a fluid heater...

Cold Fusion Part I: The Science

Posted by Jeff Danner | Sep 13, 2015 | Common Science, Featured

Last month Italian inventor Andrea Rossi was granted a U.S. patent for a fluid heater. At first glance, that’s not a particularly gripping opening sentence for a lively or interesting science column. But there is more to the...

Oxygen Free Atmosphere versus Holding Your Breath

Posted by Jeff Danner | Sep 6, 2015 | Common Science, Featured

Twice a year I head to my home town of State College, Pennsylvania to give a presentation to freshmen Chemical Engineering students at Penn State University entitled, “What a Chemical Engineer Actually Does.” It’s a fun trip for...

Coal Ash, How Dry is Dry?

Posted by Jeff Danner | Aug 30, 2015 | Common Science

This week’s column assumes that the reader is familiar with the fact that Duke Energy has been tasked with closing or upgrading its coal ash lagoons across the state of North Carolina following a massive coal ash spill into the...

Pollinator Update

Posted by Jeff Danner | Aug 23, 2015 | Common Science

In the spring of 2014, I published a three-part series on the importance of pollinators – bees, butterflies, wasps, hummingbirds and a variety of other insects – and highlighted the alarming rates of decline of their...

Alkali Burns at Pine Gate Apartments

Posted by Jeff Danner | Aug 16, 2015 | Common Science

As was previously reported by the news department at www.chapelboro.com, on July 8th, 10 people and 3 pets who reside at Pine Gate Apartments in Chapel Hill received chemical burns when they came in contact with an alkali-based...

The Science of Hail

Posted by Jeff Danner | Aug 2, 2015 | Common Science

It’s summer here in the Southern Part of Heaven and that means it’s time for hail storms. So I thought a column on the science of hail would be timely. Plus, my wife recently asked me a question about hail and my explanation was...

Missing Microbes Part IV: Epilogue

Posted by Jeff Danner | Jul 26, 2015 | Common Science

This is the conclusion of my four-part review of Missing Microbes, How the Overuse of Antibiotics is Fueling our Modern Plagues, by Dr. Martin Blaser, head of the Human Microbiome Research Project at New York University. Part I...

Missing Microbes Part III: Potential Solutions

Posted by Jeff Danner | Jul 19, 2015 | Common Science

This is Part III of IV of my review of Missing Microbes, How the Overuse of Antibiotics is Fueling our Modern Plagues, by Dr. Martin Blaser, head of the Human Microbiome Research Project at New York University. Part I explained...

Missing Microbes Part II: The Plague of our Times

Posted by Jeff Danner | Jul 12, 2015 | Common Science

This is Part II of my four-part series reviewing the key issues covered in Missing Microbes, How the Overuse of Antibiotics is Fueling our Modern Plagues, by Martin J. Blaser, MD. In Part I, I explained that the human body has...

Jeff Danner

On Air Now: 97.9 FM