Stories by Kevin Bonham

I’m signed up for this social network analytic tool called “ThinkUp,” and one of the things it does is to remind you what you were talking about a year ago on the same day.

I’ve been pretty quiet in this space for the last several months. In the 6 months since we started Food Matters, I’ve been absent for three of them.

I listen to a lot of podcasts – on my commute, while sitting at the bench pipetting, doing dishes, in line at the grocery store, wherever.

I don’t think I’m alone in my prurient interest in research related to sex, since those posts tend to be wildly popular. At the same time, I try mostly to stick to my field of expertise while blogging, and the intersection between sex and the immune system doesn’t happen that often (unless we’re talking about [...]

Let’s talk about bias for a minute. My fiance, Rachel Rynick, just released her first album, and I think it’s awesome. Of course, my opinion on this matter can’t really be trusted.

I was on a bit of a hiatus on blogging last month, but a lot of good things happened. I had a manuscript accepted for publication at Cell, I got my box checked (which means I have permission to start writing my dissertation, which means I should be graduating this year), and my fiance and [...]

I’m doing a monthly series here at Food Matters that I’m calling “Friday* Happy Hour,” in which I’ll delve into the science of alcohol production.

Ever since coming to Harvard, I’ve been involved with a graduate student group called “Science in the News.” At SITN, the goal is to bring the fascination with scientists that graduate students have to a wider audience, and the flagship effort of the group is a series of lectures held every Autumn and Spring that [...]

There was a pretty huge response to my take on the GMO labeling debate last Friday. At the time of writing, there are 37 comments (for comparison, my other posts here have had between 0 and 4 comments), and I had a couple of convergent conversations on twitter and google+.

I’m a granola (and dirt)-eating, tree-hugging, liberal/progressive. If I was called by a pollster asking about the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), I’d be counted among the folks that disapprove, but only because I think it doesn’t go far enough (I’m for single-payer, but I could have settled for the public option).

A few years ago, while casting out to twitter asking for immunology-themed post ideas, Christie Wilcox mentioned that a friend of hers seemed to have an allergic reaction after having sex.

I’m doing a monthly series here at Food Matters that I’m calling “Friday Happy Hour,” in which I’ll delve into the science of alcohol production.

In 1721, a small pox epidemic was ripping through the colonial city of Boston. Cotton Mather, a Reverend and Royal minister, convinced the physician Zebadiah Boylston to perform an arcane medical procedure on two slaves and Mather’s own son.

Last week, I had the opportunity to talk with a group of students from Grandview Heights School in Edmonton, Canada. The students are learning about genetics, and the instructor, John Chase asked me to talk about how genetics impacts my field, and to give them a perspective on how this stuff translates to the real world.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) , over 50% of adults over the age of 18 had at least one alcoholic drink per month in 2010.

Two of the most monumental developments in the history of human civilization, likely the innovations that have saved more human lives than any other, are soap and sanitation.

Lab work can often be a bit tedious. I often make the joke (not entirely innacurate) that my entire job is moving very small amounts of liquid between different tubes in a controlled manner.

As #SciAmFood week draws to a close, we’ve heard a lot about the food we consume, from not getting enough to astronaut nutrition (and getting too much) to tricking your brain about what it’s getting.