smoking

How's this for innovation?: electronic cigarettes. Little white tubes that look like the real thing have a nicotine solution that's heated by a battery, and the user exhales a water vapor that looks like smoke. The FDA isn't quite sure what to make of them, although the manufacturer is clear: "It is not a drug, if you will. This is an adult smoking experience."

Also in today's links: a battle over pork and science, scratching an itch with a phantom limb, and more.

Two cigarette lighters with clear plastic fuel reservoirs are new to the market. Each sells for about $5. At left is the Ritepoint Liter, made by the Ritepoint Co., St. Louis, Mo. It is available in four different colors. The fuel supply is transferred to the wick as needed by a finger-touch valve.

Think smoking is bad for you? Try just breathing. Louisiana scientists have discovered a group of previously undetected air pollutants that when inhaled exposes the average person to 300 times more free radicals than that of one cigarette in a day.

You may find this hard to believe if you’re standing near a swarm of chain smokers, but most scientists think the trace amounts of carbon dioxide and other pollutants in cigarette smoke have, at most, a negligible effect on the climate. “In fact,” theorizes John M. Wallace, a professor at the University of Washington’s climate-research department, “it might even counteract global warming by an equally minuscule amount, because the white particulate matter in smoke would reflect some of the sun’s energy, thereby minimizing heat.”

Most of us have friends who are social smokers. They're the ones who don't ever take work breaks under the overhang with the smoking crowd, but come Friday, they're outside the bar having a butt or two as the night wears on. They rarely buy cigarettes because they don't want a whole pack; they're more likely to ask for a smoke from a friend. They never seem to get hooked and can go for weeks without even thinking about it. How do they do it when so many of the rest of us are hopelessly addicted?

News flash! Scientists prove that swallowing magnets is bad for you. Stop the presses! Smoking hurts wealth as well as health. Eureka! Faraway objects can be hard to see.

James Jang was down in the dumps. As a student at Stanford Medical School, he had been studying nicotine's effects on veins for a while, but he wasn't getting anywhere.



"He came to me and said his project was a failure," says associate professor John Cooke. "I asked, 'Is the equipment working?'"


"Yes," Jang said. "But the data is a little screwy."