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How the Yew Tree Can Deliver Life … or Death

21 Nov 2025

This article was first published in The Montreal Gazette. ...

A Sticky Story

26 Mar 2025

The 1995 season of Seinfeld ended with the death of George’s fiancée. Poor Susan was poisoned. And it was all George’s fault. It seems the prospective groom had purchased the cheapest envelopes for...

A Different Twist on the “Dose Makes the Poison”

8 Mar 2023

Mithridates VI ruled the ancient Asian kingdom of Pontus in the first century. The king was terrified of being poisoned—not an unreasonable worry, given that assassins at the time were adept at...

The Evil Eye

4 Feb 2022

I must admit I’m not sure if the woman is just an intellectual simpleton or a clever charlatan preying on the gullible.  I suspect the former.  In any case, here is the story.  Upon invitation, and...

Chemical Witchcraft in Salem

28 Oct 2021

Could there be a more interesting place to visit on Halloween than Salem, Massachusetts?  The town's stores are filled with witch memorabilia, witches are ready to tell fortunes and a sound and...

Havana Syndrome or a Case for Eliminating the Implausible

9 Oct 2021

The story of Havana syndrome has acquired mythical qualities in its telling. In late 2016 and early 2017, members of the American embassy in Havana, Cuba, started to report debilitating symptoms...

How do you know?

2 Sep 2021

That is the question a student asked me after I had just finished a lecture on toxicology in which I had described the problem of cyanide poisoning by cassava, a tuber similar to the potato. With...

Ricin Emerges From the Shadows Again

23 Sep 2020

Ricin is in the news because this potentially potent poison was supposedly detected in a letter addressed to President Trump. For me, this brings back memories of my last visit to London when I...

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