I recently poured out my heart to a colleague about my guilt at two condolence notes left unwritten. One note was intended for a colleague whose sister had died, though I’d heard about the death long after the funeral had taken place. The sisters had shared a close bond that I hoped to capture in…

Death never takes a holiday.  At whatever time of year a death takes place, it will leave a permanent reminder in those left behind.  Around any of the holidays it’s also a painful reminder of the “empty seat”. My own father’s death took place on Christmas Day. He had been sick for several days but…

IN FLANDERS FIELDS In Flanders’ fields the poppies blow between the crosses, row on row, that mark our place: and in the sky the larks, still bravely singing, fly scarce heard amid the guns below. We are the dead. Short days ago we lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, loved and were loved, and now…

By Melissa Johnson Williams From a new study that looks at 30 years of formaldehyde studies. “We now have much greater knowledge of the distribution of endogenous and inhaled formaldehyde at the molecular level. Two such findings are of great importance: (1) every living cell contains formaldehyde and measurable formaldehyde N2-hydroxy-methyl-dG adducts; and (2) there is…