Citric acid is a weak, colorless organic acid. The main sources of citric acid are citrus fruits such as limes and lemons, and due to this many people confuse citric acid and vitamin C. Citric acid is an intermediate in the citric acid cycle or Krebs cycle, an important process in the body to get…
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While cold and flu season are over for now, allergy season is here. When my allergies are in full force I get quite a tickle in my throat that causes me to cough quite frequently. To deal with this I like to keep cough drops on hand to help ease the cough.…
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Kratom is a plant native to Southeast Asia that has a variety of effects, many due to the active compound Mitragynine that is present in varying amounts in the plant. For this reason, you can find kratom in vitamin stores being sold as a supplement. It is marketed as an energy booster, mood enhancer, pain…
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Tis the season for spraying DEET in our faces to make sure we don’t get eaten alive by bugs! DEET, or N,N-diethyl-meta-toluamide, is one of the most widely used active ingredients in bug sprays. It was developed by the US Army for this purpose in 1946 and made available to the public in 1957. There…
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Solvents are used extensively in labs and chemical manufacturing as starting materials for a chemical process; the diluent for a product, starting material, or reaction; or in the analysis of a starting material or product for quality purposes. Often times after use, that solvent is then sent into a waste stream to be dealt with…
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Now that spring is here and all things pollen are happening it’s time to get the allergy medicine ready. In honor of this wondrous time of year, we thought we would test some allergy meds! While not the usual way to test these medications, I decided to see if I could test using the Lucidity…
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Whether you drink a beer from a major manufacturer, the local brewer down the street, or even brew the beer yourself, knowing the ethanol content of that beer is an important piece of information. Up until 1995 the alcohol content wasn’t allowed to be on beer labels at all until the Coors Brewing Company successfully…
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Volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, is a term given to organic compounds that become a gas at ambient temperatures and pressures. These VOCs are monitored because many are hazardous to human health, with several being a carcinogen. The source of these VOCs are industrial processes, vehicle emissions, and even natural sources such as forest fires.…
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Last week I set out to test the myth that there was cocaine on US currency, specifically dollar bills. After testing several dollar bills, I came up empty handed on any of the bills testing positive for cocaine, other than the bill that I purposely spiked with cocaine. Speaking with colleagues, I learned that I…
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I decided to put a long standing rumor to rest that I heard when I was in middle school, and everyone I know believes. That rumor is that all US dollars have trace amounts of cocaine on them. To test this I went around and collected dollar bills from various stores in the area. These…
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