Long weekend away

Follow a relaxing weekend of doing nothing - and achieving that goal successfully - I am in Philadelphia at UPenn. Following on from last week's lead posting I see that a report from Neurology has generated interested in Scientific American and other places: that if you have high cognitive function then thinking impairment was less pronounced than those with low cognitive function, though the effects on movement speeds were similar.

Burton's Line

Is a blue line along the gums, found in some victims of lead poisoning. Today Fisher-Price the toy manufacturer recalled almost 1 million toys in the US as they may contain high levels of lead paint. According to the WSJ Chinese firms using lead paint in order to meet demands and maintain costs is an increasingly common problem.

Did you know Beethoven died from lead poisoning?

In Dec 2005 Argonne National Laboratory announced in Dec 2005 that they had found large quantities of lead in his bones, leading to his untimely death in 1827.