The Navajo Nation is a Native American reservation that lies on a tract of land that is spread throughout Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico. In total, the nation takes up 71,000 square kilometers (27,413 sq mi) and has a population of around 174,000 based on 2010 census data. The area also contains something toxic: 500 …
Continue reading “Environmental Injustice: A History of Uranium Mining on the Navajo Reservation”
Two major times in US history when women’s movements fought to enact a significant change in women’s standing in society were the fights for suffrage and the battle over the Equal Rights Amendment. On both occasions, the passage of the constitutional amendment required a significant shift in the nation’s values. In addition, there were women’s …
Continue reading “Comparing the Movements for Women’s Suffrage & the Equal Rights Amendment”
A hundred and five years ago, the last captive Carolina parakeet died at the Cincinnati Zoo. This species of parrot was the only one native to the eastern United States. At one time in American history, flocks of 200-300 of these parrots could be seen in forests from Florida to New York. The parrot has …
Continue reading “Carolina Parakeet: Lost Parrot of the Eastern US”
Construction on the Panama Canal began in 1881 as a project directed by France, and was completed in 1914 by the US. This 51-mile (82 km) waterway has served as a major facilitator of trans-oceanic trade since its existence. But before there was the Panama Canal, there was the Panama Canal Railway, a form of …
Continue reading “A Brief History of the Panama Canal Railway”
In a modern hospital, great care is taken to sterilize medical instruments and not to transfer infections between surgical patients. At one time, however, such antiseptic measures were not simply unknown to doctors, but actively fought against. The story of the man who tried to implement life-saving cleansing procedures at hospitals – encountering insurmountable resistance …
Continue reading “Fighting Against Dogma: Ignaz Semmelweis & the Study of Antisepsis”
In the modern era, it is hard to imagine anything but the two-party Duopoly in the US, at least at the federal level. Despite the fact that 62% of Americans support the idea of a third party in the abstract, third parties do not do well in national elections. Even in 2016, where the Libertarian …
Although workers have been exposed to harmful toxins as part of their work since early on in civilization, the field of industrial toxicology is a relatively new one. It wasn’t until late in the 18th century when scientists began to document the deleterious effects of chemicals on the individuals who worked with them, and measure …
Continue reading “Alice Hamilton: Your New Toxicologist Hero”
The name of the blog somewhat gives away the teddy bear’s origin itself, but nevertheless, we will proceed! Theodore (often known as Teddy, even though he hated the nickname) Roosevelt was the 26th president of the United States, serving from 1901-1909. One of Roosevelt’s major accomplishments during his administration was the preservation of countless lands …
We tend to associate the Cold War with a time of fear over nuclear weapons and the ultimate destruction that they might bring. Yet one type of weapon of concern from this time that is often overlooked by historical accounts is bioweapons. The 1925 Geneva Protocol was the first treaty to limit not only the …
The Thursday Trains series reaches its last station today, and concludes by examining a new railway development that may become much more common in the future. Hydrogen fuel cells are a surprisingly old technology. The first one was created by Welsh physicist and inventor Sir William Robert Grove in 1839. Although this fuel cell used …
Continue reading “Thursday Trains Summer Series: Hydrogen-Powered Trains!”
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