When I was a shiny new scientist, I worked for a company. It was my dream job, or so I thought. It was a place where scientists were proud to work. But a new company leader wanted something different. He wanted to be able to say he did something new. Projects that could have made plenty of money were cut, research was halted, people were laid off, and incentives were offered for resigning. The older scientists weren’t ready to retire. They had kids in college and getting married. They weren’t 65 and couldn’t go on Medicare. They needed a job. I applied to resign but was turned down. I was too young. They only wanted to get rid of the older people. I saw my future there. It wasn’t secure. I had no real research project and nothing to focus on. I did have a new baby. What nightmare! I left to be a professor, a job that offered tenure, which I got. The company never was as innovative as it had been. Ironically, a person responsible for the short-sighted cuts in new products went on to be an “expert” in “education reform.’“

Here in the US, colleges have run like well-built machines, having a profound impact on the United States.

The US has so many small, private colleges in part because they were seen as a way to make your town in the middle of nowhere seem smart and cultural. Many of these small schools catered to the middle class and their students, being not too rigorous and having plenty of sports and things like fraternities. Those who found education to their liking and wanted more challenge could always go on the graduate school. Believe it or not, this proved very successful to the United States. Colleges were expanded and well-funded in 1958 as part of National Defense following the launch of Sputnik. (That link leads to a great essay on the dismantling of higher education funding and the motivation behind it.) The United States was on a roll.  Even students who only wanted to go to college for sports and “mating opportunities'” were nurtured and went on to help make the U.S. an intellectual powerhouse. It was patriotic to be smart, informed, and a college supporter. You didn’t have to have a college education to be these things. You could attend college events.

Autonomy was a highlight of the US college system. “It turns out that autonomy is enormously important for a healthy and dynamic system of higher education. Universities operate best as emergent institutions, in which initiative bubbles up from below – as faculty pursue research opportunities, departments develop programmes, and administrators start institutes and centres to take advantage of possibilities in the environment. …top-down policymaking tends to stifle the entrepreneurial activities of the faculty…” 

This autonomy, driven by the professors, resulted in world class research. The US has more Nobel prizes than any other country and is home to over half of the world’s top educational institutions.

Tenure gives the professors the autonomy they need to be both secure and creative. It helped grow the college and university system. It remains a benefit to attract and retain the best faculty. It creates people with a vested interest in their college and the quality of the education it offers. In general, good students become professors and the notion that they would “slack off” because of tenure shows a lack of understanding of teaching and of being a motivated learner. 

Tenure creates stability, even in unstable times. Tenure is a benefit and with the benefit, comes cost savings for the college. Nearly every tenure track job pays less than what the person would earn in a non-academic job.  I personally took half the salary of my industry job to seek a tenure stable life where I could do my research without having a higher up decide I needed to move on to something new.  Being able to follow my own curiosity and that of my students was part of my “pay.”

A perk of tenure is being able to see a research or creative project through.

It makes sense that happy teachers make happy students. Positive interactions between faculty and students leads to student success. It’s hard to imagine a positive that would come from not having a tenured faculty, secure and creative and invested in their college. As with my former employer, not investing in and supporting the personnel won’t achieve anything but mediocracy or maybe even failure.

“I have come to believe that a great teacher is a great artist … Teaching might even be the greatest of the arts since the medium is the human mind and spirit.” —John Steinbeck

The old chemist adage goes like this, “Store organics in glass and inorganics in plastic.” Will following this advice make you more healthy? Perhaps, because it applies to your food and drinks.

Organics are materials with carbon bonds and this category would include nearly all foods and other consumables. You may have heard the phrase opposites attract but when it comes to organic chemicals, chemists say “like dissolves like.”

Therefore, most foods really should be stored in glass. Glass will have less interaction with food and beverages. What kind of interactions are we talking about? Here’s an example of what happened when a student put the vitamin riboflavin into plastic flasks. Riboflavin, Vitamin B2, has an orange color that tells the tale. You can see it was highly attracted to the plastic.  Plastic used incorrectly can mess up science experiments.

But what about the other scenario? Will plastic stick to things stored in it? Scientists have been on the job, answering this question. 

There have been numerous damning studies about plastic containers releasing chemicals into foods stored in them. New research goes even further with this—plastics release not only trace chemicals but tiny bits of plastic, microplastic, into food. Yes, storing foods in plastic releases tiny plastic particles into the food. These tiny bits of plastic migrate or as chemists say leach into food stored in the plastics, especially under conditions of light, heat, moisture, and microbial action. These particles can be so small they enter cells.

Foods with a high number of microbes such as raw milk and yogurt are examples of foods high in microplastics when stored in plastic.

Storing food in plastic and food sold in plastic results in billions of plastic particles in the foods. Polyethylene food pouches release more particles than the harder polypropylene containers. However, microwaving any sort of container releases more particles and if the product is milk based, this increases.  When the plastics from the foods are collected and studied for their toxicity, they are lethal to kidney cells. One of the worst things you can do is microwave anything in plastic—even water!  

Setting a plastic bottle in the sun and then drinking from it is a recipe for a high source of microplastics. Unfortunately, even foods considered healthy such as seafoods are high plastic level foods as the ocean is utterly contaminated with plastic.

The big question is, “So what? Are these particles causing any health problems?”

Studies indicate, yes. For one thing, they alter the digestive systems of animals across the globe. Seabirds for example, when exposed to plastic laden foods, had fewer commensal bacteria, which help the birds digest their food and recover the nutrients in the food. Even worse, the birds had more harmful bacteria in their digestive tracts when they had eaten microplastics. 

An additional study did not associate plastics with the fatness of the birds. This is somewhat relevant because microplastics and leached plastics are suspected of contributing to the human obesity epidemic. Microplastics in high fat foods increase our ability to absorb fat by 145%! They give the fat a boost!

Exposure to plastics may change our metabolism and make our fat cells larger and more abundant.  In one study, “The scientists report that chemical cocktails from PVC and PUR products were most likely to promote the creation of fat cells, whereas those from PET, HDPE, and PLA products were inactive.”

Here’s the question: what am I, a chemist, going to do about it? Staring at the bare minimum, I’m going to:

1. Think small when it comes to foods that are used repeatedly and stored in plastic such as condiments. It’s a well-known chemist rule to get the smallest bottle of a chemical you can reasonably use up and not the jumbo economy size. A big bottle sitting on a shelf or in the refrigerator can easily collect contaminants. 

• Stick with stainless water and food bowls for my dog. As an aside, on my last post, people responded with comments about washing a pet bowl to keep pink slime away.  Bacteria love plastic. Another reason to avoid it for food storage and serving.

• Remove plastic wrap before heating food.  This means I’m going to avoid using a plastic roasting bag for the Thanksgiving Turkey.

• Not microwave in plastic. 
• Store in glass as much as I can.

• Use metal and/or glass for making my coffee and no plastic cups. No Styrofoam! Paper is much safer for to go cups, as long as it doesn’t include a plastic lining.

• Avoid high fat foods and milk products stored in plastic. Maybe I’ll go back to making my own yogurt. 

• Retire my bedside plastic water glass. 

Synthetic plastics have been around since 1907. The first plastic bottle was used in 1973. There’s a lot that can be said for their affordability and flexibility. When it comes to food storage and preparations, other options are better.

This post is a response to a question asked by a reader. Thanks for asking!

My novel comes out Tuesday and I’ve spent the month writing about writing.  A friend and I were talking about barriers to writing a novel, one being the obligatory sex scene important for certain genres.  It’s difficult. It’s touchy. What people want to read is what generates emotions but too much or too little spice will put some people off. People will think it’s autobiographical and putting a novel spin on it (my go-to sexy move) can make it comic.  Personally, I worry people will find me a pervert, something people in my home town tend to do.

I gave a half-baked solution to the love-scene dilemma: let ChatGPT do it for you.

For those unfamiliar, ChatGPT is much like a search engine that harvests snippets of text and puts them together into a document. Much of AI does what people do naturally, look for patterns and build on mistakes and correct. But the power of computing allows for it to be done much faster.

The program looks for relevant information on-line and steals it, or maybe harvests it. The problem is, there’s not much check for reliability. In fact, currently, there is none. Thus, according to Scientific American, writing programs have a flaw in that “they are quite prone to hallucination, to saying things that sound plausible and authoritative but simply aren’t so. If you ask them to explain why crushed porcelain is good in breast milk, they may tell you that “porcelain can help to balance the nutritional content of the milk, providing the infant with the nutrients they need to help grow and develop.”

In other words, the current program is great at generating BS, the likes of which will put Russian interference in the election of 2016 to shame.

Another problem for serious users and readers:

It can be biased in the information it finds.

In other words, a writing could be used to write a politician’s speech, especially an evil one. Most definitely politicians are using the writing tool. But love scenes? What does it have to offer?

Here is a love scene written by the now much discussed ChatGPT.

“In a dimly lit room, the air was charged with anticipation as two lovers found themselves entwined in a passionate embrace. Their bodies moved together as if choreographed, their hearts beating in sync with the rhythm of their desire.

As soft music played in the background, their lips met in a tender, lingering kiss. Their hands explored each other’s bodies, tracing delicate paths of pleasure. The gentle touch of fingertips ignited a fire within them, causing their breath to quicken and their bodies to ache for more.

He gently laid her down on the bed, the softness of the sheets caressing her skin. Their eyes locked, a silent promise passing between them. Slowly, he began to undress her, revealing her curves, her vulnerability, and her raw beauty.

Their bodies pressed against each other, skin against skin, as they lost themselves in the moment. Every touch, every caress, sent waves of pleasure through their bodies, building the intensity of their connection.

She arched her back, surrendering to the pleasure that consumed her. His lips trailed down her neck, leaving a trail of hot kisses that sent shivers down her spine. Their bodies moved as one, a symphony of desire and ecstasy.

Time seemed to stand still as they reached new heights of pleasure together, their bodies moving in perfect harmony. Their moans mingled in the air, a symphony of passion that echoed through the room.

As their bodies trembled in the aftermath of their love, they held each other close, their hearts racing with a newfound intimacy. In that moment, they knew they had experienced a love so profound, it transcended the physical, leaving them forever changed.

Note: It is important to remember that consent, communication, and respect are crucial in any intimate encounter. This fictional scene is meant to evoke emotions and connection, but it is essential to prioritize the well-being and comfort of all individuals involved.”

I’ve been given tips to improve my love scene which always includes

1.     Slow down

2.     Add dialogue

3.     Use mature language.

None of that is in the sample love scene generated by ChatGPT.

There are plenty of other programs you can check out to write your next book or part of it and they give sample fiction. What I see when I look them over are an abundance of over-used gestures publishers often say to avoid such as smirking, shrugging, nodding, and raising an eyebrow. Which brings up the problem with AI—it’s not original. It’s good at reviewing and collecting information quickly.

AI love scenes are not original.

AI books are being generated at an alarming rate.   Besides being not original, a serious issue with these books is that every word in them has been written by someone else. There isn’t an original phase in them. They can’t be copyrighted because only humans can copyright.  

People tend to like the familiar. Did you enjoy the generated love scene? It’s comfortable. It’s safe. And for those a little embarrassed to write a love scene, you could use AI and not have to write it at all.  On the other hand, there’s a reason these tools are losing steam in content creation.

My love scenes have been called everything from steamy to lack-luster to wholesome. I have a rom-com style with a little science tossed in.

Here’s an example of my pillow talk from Mixed In.

“How illegal are these condoms?”

            He licked his lips. “We don’t have to go all the way. We can take it slow or I can leave.”

            “Really illegal, in other words.” What a fool I was to have this man here. He’d pulled me into a dangerous movie theater, yet I was getting ready to sleep with him and use an illegal condom.

            “There’s lots that’s banned here. Ever notice that there aren’t bookstores? No art on the walls that doesn’t connect with agriculture? Those things are criminal too.”

            His eyes were smoldering. I tried not to let the ache in my genitals or the loneliness in my heart or the rush of adrenaline from the gun-toting Washers speak for me. How could one side of me be so rational and another side of me do stuff like this?

            “Why do you sell them if it’s banned?”

            “They weren’t always illegal. Everything here fell apart slowly. First, a governor was elected who was in the pocket of the Cochtons. They had the money to make him look like a saint. Before long all we had for an economic base was agriculture. It’s not as if agriculture is bad. People need to eat.”

            “Yes. Those beans I’m studying grow on marginal land.” How dumb of me to bring up work at this moment.

            “See. The basic premise is good enough. It’s been taken too far. Monoculture of thought.”

            “Like expecting a science girl to stick to the lab and not want kids or a family. You know, having a family and caring about someone other than yourself can bring inspiration. Pasteur lost three children to typhus. It inspired him to study infectious disease.” I’d done it now. I’d used typhus as foreplay. Talk about a mood killer.

The type of love scene you want to read and write is as individual as you are. Or maybe not original at all if you want it computer generated.

If you want something with a dash of monster love, Snakes in the Class is a quick read and an insightful look at college and monster life.