Dr. Joe Schwarcz - Science Goes Viral: Captivating Accounts of Science in Everyday Life

• A Grain of Salt: The Science and Pseudoscience of What We Eat
• A Feast of Science: Intriguing Morsels from the Science of Everyday Life
• Monkeys, Myths, and Molecules: Separating Fact from Fiction, and the Science of Everyday Life
• Is That a Fact?: Frauds, Quacks, and the Real Science of Everyday Life
• The Right Chemistry: 108 Enlightening, Nutritious, Health-Conscious and Occasionally Bizarre Inquiries into the Science of Everyday Life
• Dr. Joes Health Lab: 164 Amazing Insights into the Science of Medicine, Nutrition and Well-Being
• Dr. Joes Brain Sparks: 179 Inspiring and Enlightening Inquiries into the Science of Everyday Life
• Dr. Joes Science, Sense and Nonsense: 61 Nourishing, Healthy, Bunk-Free Commentaries on the Chemistry That Affects Us All
• Brain Fuel: 199 Mind-Expanding Inquiries into the Science of Everyday Life
• An Apple a Day: The Myths, Misconceptions and Truths About the Foods We Eat
• Let Them Eat Flax: 70 All-New Commentaries on the Science of Everyday Food & Life
• The Fly in the Ointment: 70 Fascinating Commentaries on the Science of Everyday Life
• Dr. Joe and What You Didnt Know: 177 Fascinating Questions and Answers About the Chemistry of Everyday Life
• Thats the Way the Cookie Crumbles: 62 All-New Commentaries on the Fascinating Chemistry of Everyday Life
• The Genie in the Bottle: 64 All-New Commentaries on the Fascinating Chemistry of Everyday Life
• Radar, Hula Hoops, and Playful Pigs: 67 Digestible Commentaries on the Fascinating Chemistry of Everyday Life

These are turbulent times. During the past year, terms like pandemic, spike protein, viral particles, variants, mRNA vaccines, viral vectors, antibodies, hydroxychloroquine, social distancing, immune response, convalescent plasma, aerosol transmission, viral load, and of course, face coverings, have become part of normal conversation. The truth is that our life these days is anything but normal. I now lecture online, our staff meetings are via Zoom, restaurant meals are a distant memory of the past, my gym is closed, sports are played without fans, theaters sit empty, curfews are in place, travel is out of the question, and I can only see my daughters and grandchildren on FaceTime. Thank goodness for that and for Netflix!

Ask someone to describe what the world has gone through since January 2020 when we first heard about some strange cases of pneumonia in Wuhan, China, and we are likely to hear surreal, unbelievable, mind-boggling, unthinkable, or unimaginable. As we were cruising through our more or less contented lives, who could have imagined that such a curse would befall the world, upsetting every proverbial apple cart in existence? Actually, there were scientists who not only imagined it but were certain that such a global scourge was inevitable. After all, there had been plenty of plagues, epidemics, and pandemics in the past, and there was no reason to think that the world had become immune to such calamities. Indeed, the film Contagion, produced in 2012 with consultants from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), portrays a fictional pandemic that eerily resembles our current reality.

When I first started thinking about what to include in this book, I had never heard of Wuhan. I thought I would feature my usual array of diverse and sometimes esoteric topics like intermittent fasting, placenta creams, biblical dyes, essential oils, Jean Harlows hair, Lincolns magician, bioplastics, along with assorted examples of quackery. Then the cursed plague hit. A giant elephant in the room! It could not be ignored. I had to address it, and I have. With difficulty. Thats because the situation is dynamic, and what was true yesterday is not true today, and what seems to be true today may not be true tomorrow. That calls for an apology in advance for sometimes being out of date by the time you read some of the COVID-related accounts, an inevitability in this crazy situation.

I also ran into another stumbling block. As I began to put this volume together in the summer of 2020, the horrific murder of George Floyd took the world by storm. Because of the emergence of COVID-19, and its tentacles ensnaring every facet of our lives, it already seemed frivolous to discuss elderberry extracts, the chemistry of Lego, or plant-based burgers. But how can one write about hair dyes or bisphenol A in socks after witnessing the last breath being squeezed out of a man in the most hideous fashion? How can one talk about hydrogen peroxide oxidizing para-phenylenediamine when millions are at the mercy of a society speckled with hatred and racism? You cant.