Jeff Danner's Common Science

Missing Microbes Part I: A Partnership

Posted by Jeff Danner | Jun 28, 2015 | Common Science

This is the beginning of a four-part series about the most interesting and troubling book I have read in many years, perhaps ever. I am hopeful that reading these columns will inspire you to do two specific things: ask different...

What Makes Science Writing Compelling?

Posted by Jeff Danner | Jun 21, 2015 | Common Science

I am traveling this week, so this is a short column about an issue I have been pondering of late. Those of us who report on science in public fora such as this, are motivated by the hope that our efforts will have an impact, at...

Should I Get the Shingles Vaccine?

Posted by Jeff Danner | Jun 7, 2015 | Common Science

Late the other night, I saw a TV commercial for Zostavax®, the vaccine for shingles. It opened with a picture of a man’s stomach emblazoned with large and grotesque pustules, allegedly from shingles. (The make-up crew for the...

Single Stream Recycling

Posted by Jeff Danner | May 31, 2015 | Common Science

Long time readers may be aware that my father, Ron Danner, is an emeritus professor of Chemical Engineering at Penn State University. This is the second of two columns that we are co-authoring, both of which are pertinent to...

Paper or Plastic?

Posted by Jeff Danner | May 17, 2015 | Common Science

Long time readers may be aware that my father, Ron Danner, is an emeritus professor of Chemical Engineering at Penn State University. I am pleased to announce that for the next two weeks he and I are co-authoring two Common...

Sturgeon, The Living Fossil

Posted by Jeff Danner | May 10, 2015 | Common Science

During the time I lived in Philadelphia, from 1989 through 1993, just across the Delaware River, the waterfront of Camden, New Jersey was undergoing a significant revitalization. One of the centerpieces of this effort was the...

Kelp To The Rescue?

Posted by Jeff Danner | May 3, 2015 | Common Science

Yesterday I read an article on the Huffington Post entitled “Seaweed Might Have The Power To Make The Oceans Less Acidic.” The article explained that the increase in carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere since the...

Radon, A Fracking Risk I Previously Overlooked

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

Earlier this month, researchers from Johns Hopkins University published a study in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives detailing the increase in radon concentrations in homes in the state of Pennsylvania since 2004,...

Common Science Fourth Anniversary

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

This week is the fourth anniversary of Common Science®. I published my first column, An Introduction to Your Host, on April 25, 2011 and last’s week’s column was my 200th. This means I have averaged 50 columns per year! Since...

Toxic Substances Control Act: A Redo After 40 Years

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

While the 1970s are better known for leisure suits and (in my opinion) great music, they were also a bit of a golden age for environmental regulation. The 1970s brought us the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act, and in 1976...

Jeff Danner

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