/oss/taxonomy/term/3556/all en /oss/article/health-and-nutrition-environment/look-dont-lick <p>We are used to getting warnings. The bisphenol A in canned foods will do you in. So will artificial sweeteners. Sugar too. Those yoga pants you wear? They may be rubbing those nasty perfluoroalkyl substances into your skin. And as if we didn’t have enough to worry about, the National Park Service in the U.S. warns us to refrain from licking the Sonoran desert toad, also known as the Colorado River toad. I think if I met one of these half-foot long warty creatures in the desert, I could overcome the temptation to pick it up and lick it.</p> Wed, 07 Dec 2022 17:00:00 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 9314 at /oss /oss/article/history/it-true-beatles-wrote-song-about-lsd <p>"Tangerine trees and marmalade skies" are to be found in the lyrics of "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds," one of the Beatles' greatest hits. Some have claimed that the first letters of Lucy, Sky and Diamonds supposedly refer to LSD, the famous hallucinogen that the Fab Four undoubtedly had some experience with. LSD, or lysergic acid diethylamide, does not occur in nature, but closely related compounds do.  </p> Fri, 15 Oct 2021 20:29:57 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 8899 at /oss /oss/article/history/origins-santamaybe <p>Reindeer, it seems, just loved <i>Amanita muscaria</i>, or Fly Agaric, as it is better known. They could be led around by the nose, as it were, just by sprinkling pieces of the mushroom in front of them. Why the animals were so fond of these fungi was a question that must have occurred to many. To find the answer, all they had to do was taste the mushroom. A blissful euphoria quickly permeated their body and vivid visions, perhaps even of sugarplums, danced before their eyes. Heavenly sounds resonated in their ears. Unless they overindulged. Then there was dead silence.</p> Thu, 20 Dec 2018 17:00:00 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 7499 at /oss