Why did researchers take a knife to a cute little plastic gingerbread man? To make him give up the source of his toxic fumes. Or so explained Bill Doucette, this morning, in a particularly entertaining session at the Society for Toxicology and Environmental Chemistry’s annual meeting. But the underlying message that this Utah State University scientist brought home to his audience was anything but funny. He graphically illustrated that hidden dangers may lurk in surprising places.

We often joke about food that lacks any perceptible flavor as tasting like cardboard. In fact, cardboard’s blandness is one facet of its appeal to the food industry. Manufacturers pack foods in cardboard and pizzeria’s deliver their cheese-topped pies in it precisely because it won’t affect the flavor of their products. Or at least that’s been the presumption. A pair of researchers in Germany has now catalogued 37 smelly compounds emitted by cardboard — chemicals that they argue could indeed temper the flavor and scent of foods. “Most of the identified compounds were described as...

A new model suggests cells may be more sensitive to their environment than previously thought.