Month: March 2022

Enlarge (credit: Adam Gault)

Neil Bradbury is a physiology professor whose first book, A Taste for Poison, uses tales of poisons and poisoners as a means to explain physiological processes by describing how each poison disrupts them. The grisly episodes are like the proverbial spoonful of sugar that makes the medicine go down; Bradbury seems to think that people will only read about human physiology if they are first treated to stories demonstrating that science isn’t boring, that it can actually be dangerous and racy. He might be right. 

Each chapter focuses on one fatal molecule and the murderers who used it and then goes on to explain how it kills. So we learn about how electrical signals are propagated down the length of nerve cells and then transmitted across synapses by neurotransmitters. That shows up in the chapter on atropine, the toxin in deadly nightshade that blocks the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, and again in the chapter on strychnine, a popular rat killer that blocks the neurotransmitter glycine. We learn about aerobic respiration in the chapter on cyanide, which prevents the mitochondria in our cells from using oxygen to generate energy. And we read about protein synthesis in the chapter about ricin, which destroys ribosomes, the complexes responsible for protein assembly in every cell.

A better alternative?

As a pedagogical tool to teach physiology, the book is cute, but that’s about all it is. Deborah Blum’s The Poisoner’s Handbook is about the birth of toxicology and forensic medicine; it covers similar ground, but it’s much more engaging.

Enlarge (credit: Nikolai Vinokurov | Getty Images)

René has nothing to do with the invasion of Ukraine. The 34-year-old lives more than 1,000 km away in Nuremberg, Germany. He has no family there, and he’s never been to the country. But when Russia invaded, he wanted to help. So on the dating app Tinder, he changed his location to Moscow and started talking to women there about the war.

“I had a conversation with a girl who said [the invasion] is only a military operation and the Ukrainians are killing their own people and stuff like that, so I got into an argument with her,” says René, who asks not to share his surname because he doesn’t want his clients to know about his activism. “I also had some reactions like, ‘Thank you for telling us.’”

Enlarge (credit: Ars Technica)

It’s the weekend, which means it’s time for another Dealmaster. Our latest roundup of the best tech deals from around the web includes a good discount on HyperX’s Cloud Alpha, a gaming headset we like. It’s currently down to $60 at several retailers, which matches the best price we’ve tracked and comes in about $15 below its typical street price online.

The Cloud Alpha has been available for a few years now, but it remains a commendable option for those who want a no-frills gaming headset, particularly at this discounted price. For one, it’s comfortable: the design doesn’t clamp down too hard on the head, and the ample amount of soft padding on the headband and earcups keeps the headset comfortable to wear for hours at a time. The headband is adjustable, the included 3.5mm cable is fully detachable, and the whole thing feels sturdily built. There’s no wireless connectivity, but that shouldn’t be a big negative for gaming purposes: every modern gaming console and PC still uses a 3.5mm jack, and the microphones found on wireless headsets tend to sound worse anyway.

In general, headsets explicitly marketed toward gaming often don’t sound as sharp as the best standard headphones at the same price, but the Cloud Alpha performs well for what it is. There’s a slight bass boost, but it’s never muddy or overwhelming. The headset also does a good job of accurately locating and separating sounds in a mix, so you won’t have trouble, say, pinpointing where shots are coming from in an online first-person shooter. That said, the treble range is a bit lacking in detail and, like most closed-back headphones, the soundstage isn’t especially wide. Likewise, the included boom mic could stand to sound clearer, though it does well to block out background noise. It’s fine. It’s also fully detachable.