PacSci Blog
Recent Stories
Pacific Science Center Receives $1 Million Amazon Future Engineer Grant to Deliver Science and Technology Education to Students from Underserved Communities
Two-year initiative to reach 80,000 K-8 students in Title I schools across Puget Sound SEATTLE – May 9, 2022 – Pacific Science Center (PacSci) and Amazon Future Engineer today announced a new collaboration, fueled by a $1 million grant from Amazon, to spark curiosity...
Create and Innovate with Tinker Tank Makerspace
During the third week of May, it is National Week of Making where we honor makers and their innovations. We wanted to highlight our own makerspace, Tinker Tank and its renewal this July! Hear from our Tinker Tank Supervisor Caitlin McQuinn on the exhibit, what...
Become a Community Scientist
PacSci is all about inspiring curious minds from all backgrounds to engage with science. In honor of this commitment, we are looking forward to participating in Global Citizen Science Month. This celebration takes place every year during the month of April and focuses...
4 Research-Backed Ways Educators can Support Girls’ Interest in STEM
For the many achievements in women’s equality in STEM professions, we still have a long way to go. Children internalize stereotypes about who is good at and interested in STEM fields at an early age, and these stereotypes may influence their decision-making around...
Dangerous Products
Societal and scientific consensus says we should not fear Wi-Fi, artificial sweeteners, and fluoridated water. However, legitimately dangerous products that are flammable, toxic, radioactive, and generally bad for you have been sold as safe in the past.
In this PacSci Podcast, we’re joined by Virginia Ng, food microbiologist and director of food processing at the Seafood Products Association, and David Frank, marketer, teacher, and former radio show host as they look at products throughout history that killed, injured and poisoned, and the marketing campaigns that went along with them. Plus, they explore formerly dangerous products that turned out to be fine and things we know are bad for us but choose to consume anyway. From DDT to Valium and many others, you will learn the history of products and what makes them so hazardous.
“We’re going to start with some dangerous products,” Frank says. “Then we’re going to move on to some that turned out to be safe, followed by ones that are on the market and you should probably avoid, followed by some things that we know are dangerous but we consume anyway.”
Speaking of DDT, Frank says it came in all sorts of product packaging, “some of which would be alien, some of which would be familiar to us today.” DDT turned out to be terrible for the most part, but at one time it was found in everything from sprays to wallpaper.
This audio program is an excerpt from a recent Science in the City presentation at Pacific Science Center before the global pandemic. While our doors are currently closed to the public, we are offering live virtual events like Science in the City and more on our YouTube channel. We invite you to join us for lively conversations with local scientists, authors, researchers, and others.
Virtual Science in the City events are free and available to anyone. Use the link below to sign up for PacSci’s newsletter to keep up to date with all our programming. If you enjoy this kind of information, we encourage you to support PacSci to ensure Curiosity Never Closes.
Keep Up To Date with PacSci Podcast
Use your favorite podcast app to subscribe via iTunes or SoundCloud or Spotify.