Melissa: 00:09

Hey. Hey. I'm Melissa.

Jam: 00:11

I'm Jam.

Melissa: 00:11

And I'm a chemist.

Jam: 00:12

And I'm not.

Melissa: 00:13

And welcome to chemistry of your life.

Jam: 00:15

The podcast helps you understand the chemistry of Your everyday life.

Melissa: 00:19

Bonus edition. We're getting pretty good. Yeah. We are. Sinking in.

Melissa: 00:22

Mhmm. Somebody commented on YouTube, like chef's Kiss to how well that was. Yeah. That made me laugh. Yeah.

Melissa: 00:28

Okay. So, before we get into questions, Latila, who is a chemist who investigates leachables and who is has become our friend via chitchats, etcetera Mhmm. And as a patron, wanted to reach out to us to respond to a question from someone else. So Avery had asked about how Products like menstrual underwear have PFAS in them, but they claim that they don't.

Jam: 00:55

Right. Right.

Melissa: 00:56

And so Latila responded and said regulators like the FDA, OSHA, etcetera, have a certain number that requires a company to disclose that information. And if the number is under that, then they can not disclose it. So they're legally allowed to not disclose it. So the PFAS could be present, but if it's under the required reporting threshold, then

Jam: 01:17

Got it.

Melissa: 01:17

And I think there are similar things to that in nutrition labels.

Jam: 01:21

Mhmm.

Melissa: 01:21

So things that say No trans fat versus 0 trans fat or saturated fat. You know?

Jam: 01:28

Oh, yeah.

Melissa: 01:29

It's no means none, and 0 means Less than a certain percentage. Like, 0.04 might be rounded down, but 0.05 might be rounded up.

Jam: 01:42

Remember learning about that in a nutrition science class I took in college. Yeah. I realized, like, oh, I didn't think about these labels As having stuff about them that would affect. Yeah. You know, it's like, you look at a nutrition label and you just it looks, you know, boring, And so you assume it's truthful.

Jam: 01:59

Yeah. Because, like, who would mess with this? It's like, oh, okay. You can. I can.

Melissa: 02:02

Yeah. You can.

Jam: 02:02

It's like

Melissa: 02:03

And I just picked a random number As an example, that's not, like, the number that it is. So I was just saying that. Yeah. But I also think I've seen other things where food scientists have talked about how, oh, it says the calories in this is, you know, 50, and this is 50, but you add it together and it's a 100 and 10 instead of a 100, so who's lying? And it's like, no.

Melissa: 02:24

Again, no one's lying. It's just, like, 55 gets rounded down. And 5th if you, or 54, for example, would get rounded down. So 54 plus 54 makes a 108. A 108 gets rounded up to a 100 10.

Jam: 02:37

Mhmm.

Melissa: 02:38

Whereas 54 gets rounded down to 50. Yeah. You know? Yeah. So nutrition labels are They're not lying.

Melissa: 02:49

They're not not lying either.

Jam: 02:51

Yeah. You know?

Melissa: 02:52

Yeah. So that's what that reminded me of, so I wanted to share that. So thanks, Latila. We love hearing from you, and we love hearing about your work. We think it's awesome.

Jam: 03:01

That was a great question and cool that she chimed in to give us more info there.

Melissa: 03:05

Yeah. I love hearing from other experts and hearing their thoughts about things because I can't possibly know everything about everything.

Jam: 03:12

Right.

Melissa: 03:12

Right? So What? Don't want to.

Jam: 03:17

Yeah. So it'd

Melissa: 03:17

be not fun.

Jam: 03:20

Are you ready for the next question?

Melissa: 03:22

Yes.

Jam: 03:22

This question is from is Lucila. Mhmm. Lucila asked, what is the history of the elements The PR table and the PR history.

Melissa: 03:31

So, I love that question, And I think we would probably need to do an episode or a series of episodes about it.

Jam: 03:39

That'd be cool. Yeah. Wouldn't that be fun?

Melissa: 03:41

I think there might be a podcast that already does that.

Jam: 03:45

Think there's

Melissa: 03:45

a podcast called, like, the episodic periodic elements or something that you could check out that maybe would do that. But, there's also a really cool book that I wanna recommend to Lucila and anyone else who's interested, which is called the disappearing spoon by Sam Kean, I believe.

Jam: 04:03

Mhmm.

Melissa: 04:03

And it goes into how the periodic table came to be, but also kind of does this exercise in thinking about all the other ways that the periodic table could have ended up. Mhmm. And it's really interesting. And the periodic table is organized really well in a way that is very helpful for people thinking about, you know, what's going on at the subatomic level, like, deep inside the atoms. So I think that it would be great to talk about, you know, why elements are named certain things or why the periodic table is organized the way it is.

Melissa: 04:38

I really would like that a lot.

Jam: 04:40

Yeah.

Melissa: 04:41

So that was a really good question. I wanted to acknowledge it, Lucila, but we're not gonna be able to talk about it today.

Jam: 04:47

But, yeah, good enough to be maybe multiple episodes on my end. Yeah. We're gonna know for somebody else to write it down. Yeah. The next one's from Eli.

Jam: 04:58

Eli asked, how can I integrate chemistry more into my engineering in energy degree?

Melissa: 05:06

Is that it might have been I might have typed l instead of m m. That might have been e m I. No. I'm not sure. Oh, okay.

Melissa: 05:13

Sorry if we gave your name wrong. Oops. I probably could go check, but, I'll just say that I don't know a lot about engineering and energy, but My husband is an engineer, and the thing that we talk about most often is is heat and thermodynamics. That is a big overlap between chemistry and engineering and energy. But, also, I think just learning about, You know the way energy impacts the movement of molecules and what's going on at the molecular level of things Related to energy, I mean, the overlap is huge in energy and chemistry.

Melissa: 05:56

Like, even thinking about solar panels and light harvesting turning into energy and things like that. And so I feel like the chemistry already is likely well integrated into it. And I just don't know a lot about what an engineering and inter energy degree would cover.

Jam: 06:15

Mhmm. But I

Melissa: 06:16

would think that there would be A lot of ways to do it. And maybe starting on this podcast and learning about things that seem to connect would be a good place to start. So yeah. I think there's a lot there.

Jam: 06:28

Yeah. Good question. This next one is Cute related, but also just seasonal related. What are your favorite winter flavors? I love peppermint.

Jam: 06:41

This is from Chelsea. Also, there's a question mark there. Do do you mean to do that?

Melissa: 06:46

No. I love that. I put the question mark.

Jam: 06:49

Oh, you did that? Yeah. I love peppermint?

Melissa: 06:53

That was an accident. I think we talked about this on the cinnamon episode that hasn't come out yet when we're recording this, but think cinnamon is my maybe my favorite fall winter flavor. I do love peppermint too, and I love peppermint tea. And there's lots of good health benefits Of both cinnamon and peppermint. Mhmm.

Jam: 07:12

But I think cinnamon is my favorite. Cinnamon might be one of mine too. I also love, like, Well, I don't know. So, like, we talked about this in a similar episode, but I love Wassail, and I make my own, every year usually. Yeah.

Jam: 07:27

I really have fun doing that. So it's a bunch of flavors, but obviously, cinnamon's a big one in that. Plus, like, allspice,

Melissa: 07:34

Allspice.

Jam: 07:35

Cloves. But I do actually a good 100 ginger as well in my wassail. Mhmm. And I love ginger, but that's only the only really in terms of gingerbread is that like a seasonal one? Yeah.

Jam: 07:47

In other ways, ginger is kinda like any time of the year. You know? Like Yeah. All kinds of dishes would have it in there, and it doesn't feel like, You know?

Melissa: 07:56

Feels more like a when I think of ginger spices, I think of, like, Asian food.

Jam: 08:00

Right. Right. Yeah. Yeah. I do love ginger, but I guess This to be a lot more, you know, seasonal that most people would agree.

Jam: 08:08

I think, yeah, cinnamon is pretty up there for me. I'm not I'm not huge actually peppermint person. I like I like peppermints. Like, just the mince themselves. Mhmm.

Jam: 08:18

And I may have 1 or 2 of those, I think.

Melissa: 08:20

And candy canes?

Jam: 08:21

And candy canes. But I don't Go crazy for them. And I'm I don't want mint flavored other stuff. Yeah. That's I'm not super into that.

Jam: 08:30

But cinnamon in a bunch of different other things, Very cool with me.

Melissa: 08:33

I did think of something.

Jam: 08:35

Oh, yeah?

Melissa: 08:35

I don't love, like, those pumpkin drinks when people are like, oh my gosh. Pumpkin spice latte. Yeah. I've had that a few times, but, like, This isn't really good. Uh-huh.

Melissa: 08:45

But this year, I saw a recipe for pumpkin muffins.

Jam: 08:50

K.

Melissa: 08:51

That is made with pumpkin and blended oats.

Jam: 08:54

Uh-huh. So you,

Melissa: 08:55

like, take the oats, blend them up, and Then, like, olive oil and maple syrup. So it's got, like, a good amount and eggs. So it's got a good amount of fiber and protein.

Jam: 09:06

Nice.

Melissa: 09:07

And And then you season it

Jam: 09:09

with she says pumpkin pie spice pie pie spice on

Melissa: 09:12

the video, but I've just been using cinnamon and allspice. And there is something about that flavor combination. I have had those muffins so many times.

Jam: 09:20

Uh-huh. It's like I'm obsessed. Nice.

Melissa: 09:24

So it's like the pumpkin cinnamon allspice combo Uh-huh. With choco chips in there. It's I've had those just DM us if you want the recipe because I've had those muffins, like I've probably made them 10 times already.

Jam: 09:38

Wow.

Melissa: 09:39

They're so good.

Jam: 09:39

That's awesome.

Melissa: 09:40

And they're so nutritious. They have so much nutritional value.

Jam: 09:43

Wow. That's cool. The sun really, really good.

Melissa: 09:45

And they're delicious.

Jam: 09:47

I like pumpkin. So I bet I don't like pumpkin drinks. I don't want, like, a latte or whatever. But Pumpkin pie, pumpkin, muffins, anything like that with those and that's the spices sound good to me? So that includes what you just said.

Melissa: 10:02

Do you want me to bring you some of those muffins?

Jam: 10:04

Yeah. Yeah. You kinda have to now. Okay. Yeah.

Jam: 10:06

Maybe I will. That's a good one. That sounds cool. This next question is going From Sadie on Instagram, tips for high schoolers looking to study chem in undergrad.

Melissa: 10:18

Okay. So I answered this on Instagram on our Stories, but I'm gonna say what I said again. And then, also, I wanna know what you think, Pam. And, also, we have a high school teacher who chimed in as well. A high school chemistry teacher.

Melissa: 10:32

So my thoughts were, 1, enjoy high school. It's one of the last times where you you know, if, Hopefully, if your family is good and nice and you like being around them for the most part, I know sometimes families can be hard, and you're in a safe, good environment. High school can be one of the last times that you have minimal responsibility and you kind of get to be Young and carefree fully. I think it just slowly starts to go away as you get older. And so I want you to really enjoy high school.

Melissa: 11:05

Enjoy that You don't have to be in charge of rent if you have that Mhmm. Luxury. Enjoy that somebody else mostly buys the groceries. Enjoy that your part time job, you're saving up for other things, hopefully, and Maybe not contributing to your house, like, just enjoy that. You know?

Melissa: 11:20

Do you agree with that?

Jam: 11:22

Yeah. I do. I also feel like I remember in high school, it being told to me many times like, you better blah blah blah, because in In college is, you know, it's gonna be super hard. It's gonna eat your lunch. It's gonna blah blah blah.

Jam: 11:37

And it it kinda scared me about college. You know? And also made it seem like you really have to be on your a game or college is gonna be really hard. Yeah. And, like, that's, like, certainly true to a degree, But I it wasn't nearly as true as I thought it was.

Melissa: 11:53

No. Yeah.

Jam: 11:53

I was like, oh, wait. I'm in like, I took a chemistry class my 1st year of college, and I remember being like, okay. I remember some of this. And also, there's people all around me who, are worse students than I am. So it's not like you get there and, like, everyone's Better, smarter than you.

Jam: 12:08

Everyone's more serious than you, all kind of stuff. And you're like, oh, no. I gotta catch up. I wasn't I wasn't, like, constantly always worried about School and college prep whenever I was in high school, and now I'm way behind. Yeah.

Jam: 12:18

Like, that might be true for some or I mean, who knows depending on what college you go to. Like, I mean, I didn't Yeah.

Melissa: 12:23

Yeah. Higher level maybe. Like, Ivy League would probably like that.

Jam: 12:27

Right. Right. Right. But, and so my advice suggest don't go to one of those. Just kidding.

Jam: 12:32

But I would just say, like kind

Melissa: 12:33

of my advice later, but we'll get there. Yeah.

Jam: 12:35

But I was gonna say, like, I don't know. Like, recognize that all the colleges are expecting freshmen to be, like, Needing to acclimate to this whole deal too. So, like, you got some room. You got some grace. But, obviously, having good study habits is gonna carry you through as well.

Melissa: 12:50

That was my number 2 piece of advice was try to develop good habits, like good study habits, good Sleeping habits.

Jam: 12:59

Mhmm.

Melissa: 12:59

Find exercise that you like that you can do. So, like, for me, I was in marching band in high school. I didn't I didn't have exercise really outside of that. I quit playing soccer after, you know, by my senior year. And so a lot of my exercise came from waiting tables, but then when I stopped waiting tables, I was, like, not walking.

Melissa: 13:15

I just I hadn't built in those habits. So Yeah. Building in those habits of exercise, walks, or a sport or something that you like to do, That's really good. Eating healthy habits. Like, I used to just eat ramen and Doctor Pepper all the time.

Melissa: 13:29

There's just not a lot of nutrients in that.

Jam: 13:31

Yeah. See, there used to be, but I don't know why they don't have it in there now. You know? When I was a kid, it was so new nutritional to eat that stuff.

Melissa: 13:38

Yeah. I mean, it gave me energy and kept me alive, but it was probably not I deal on my blood sugar Alright. Does not thank me for it. Yeah. So I think building healthy habits in all areas of your life, I think, is really valuable moving into College.

Melissa: 13:50

Mhmm. Not just studying, but studying too Yeah. I think is 1.

Jam: 13:54

Right. And, also, like, you can save yourself so much, like, heartbreak and, problems, which by don't but I'm not going crazy once you get to college. Yeah. You have all the freedom. Don't go crazy.

Jam: 14:04

Like, some people do that, and they burn out so hard. They, like, Slunk out a bunch of classes because they just the freedom, they just let themselves go wild, and they never do anything. So it's the habit you build now will help you then. And then with that freedom, it's really nice, but it's just it's just not everything. You know?

Jam: 14:22

And so just don't go nuts. You will regret it. And

Melissa: 14:26

I mean, have fun.

Jam: 14:27

Yeah. Have fun, but not like, that's not the entire point of Like, that's not the goal. Right?

Melissa: 14:35

Yeah.

Jam: 14:35

But learning is fun too.

Melissa: 14:37

And then my last piece of advice was, I don't think it's wise to go into debt for undergrad. I mean, maybe if you really if you have a good plan for it. But I just, For me, I went to the school that, that I got the most I had to pay the least for, basically. Mhmm. And I have never regretted that.

Melissa: 14:58

I've been so thankful that I don't I had very minimal debt that I took out when my mom had cancer, and I wanted to spend time with her And so that I could pay my bills, you know, but, that was worth it. But I won't don't think it would have been worth it to go to just any other school. You know? Even if you have to stay at home and go to community college, I I really think there is a lot of value in not accruing debt. Mhmm.

Melissa: 15:21

And some for some people, I don't even know if Going to college is the right move. I think if you know you wanna study chemistry, maybe, but for other people, it's not. And Yep. A high school teacher reached out to us. One of our listeners, Nicole, who's a high school teacher, for chemistry said that she does tell her students that same thing, to go on monster.com and See what kind of education you need for a job that you might like because it might not be, you know, necessarily chemistry or You might be able to do that without school or you might have to go to a trade school.

Jam: 15:52

Mhmm. And

Melissa: 15:53

then she also said that she recommends not going into debt because a lot of students have to get advanced degrees. And if you have less debt, Then it's easier to go and to get a master's degree or a you know, whatever your advanced schooling might be. It's easier to take on the Burden of having less money longer to be in school for longer if you have less debt up front.

Jam: 16:18

So Right. Yeah. And one of those good solutions would be, like, doing, You know, your 1st couple years at a community college and getting some of those classes Done at a more affordable rate Yeah. And maybe saving some money at the same time and stuff like that. But, yeah, there's a bunch of ways to do that.

Jam: 16:36

I I agree. I I also went to the place that offered me the best deal in terms of money. Yeah. And didn't didn't have any student loans afterward, and that was pretty huge.

Melissa: 16:47

And I love community college. I'm applying to work at places now, and I'm applying to get work at community colleges because I think that that's a really, really good place to work, and those students need to be invested into. So you know?

Jam: 16:59

Mhmm.

Melissa: 16:59

High no shame in that. Highly recommend community college. So those are my bits and pieces of advice. So they're more in general for anyone in undergrad. Something else my mom told me was the school you go to doesn't matter as much as what you put into it.

Melissa: 17:13

You really get out of it what you put in. And I think some degree, the school could matter in terms of who your teacher is, but there's a lot of independent learning you can do, especially with the Internet. And you will get a good education if you work Hard about it.

Jam: 17:26

Yeah. And this what's weird too is I mean, obviously, industry is very, like, crazy. But I feel like the longer you're out also out of school, The less where you got your degree matters, and it starts being a lot more about the experience you've had. Plus you've worked, how much did they, like, like you recommend you in other places? And that stuff kinda just fades where people aren't nearly as often like now where'd you get your bachelor's?

Jam: 17:47

Yeah. Oh. But that's just

Melissa: 17:48

you're from those, like, Cult following scrolls.

Jam: 17:50

And that's in my field too, which, you know, I only know about that Yeah. Really. So

Melissa: 17:55

Nobody asked me where I got my degree Ever. Yeah. So

Jam: 18:00

You wanted me to ask you if I have 1.

Melissa: 18:01

I'm just kidding.

Jam: 18:02

Just kidding.

Melissa: 18:03

That's kinda true.

Jam: 18:04

That does happen sometimes.

Melissa: 18:06

Okay.

Jam: 18:06

Okay. This next question is from Ayush.

Melissa: 18:10

I think it's Ayush.

Jam: 18:12

Oh, Ayush. I was looking at the pronunciation you had there.

Melissa: 18:14

Sorry. I I put the pronunciation so I'd understand it.

Jam: 18:17

Oh, I see. I see. Asked recently about onions. Oh, wait. Where's the question in there?

Jam: 18:24

Is that just the comment?

Melissa: 18:25

Oh, oh, yeah. He didn't ask a question. He did, but I was gonna shout out. Sorry. That was my bad.

Jam: 18:30

That's okay.

Melissa: 18:31

Ayush asked recently about onions. And then when we did the rerelease for onions on Thanksgiving, I forgot to give him a shout out.

Jam: 18:37

Oh. And so Right. Okay.

Melissa: 18:39

I wanted to give him a shout out. And then also he asked a good question about what's in inhalers, and I thought that was a really good one, but I'll have to do a whole episode on that. But I just wanted to Say thanks for those questions, and keep them coming because I really liked them.

Jam: 18:52

Nice.

Melissa: 18:53

So and then, then we have a few reviews. We like to Read reviews or comments that people have made that we, really appreciate. And, just to give our listeners a shout out back. So this one, is from Matthew on Audible, and it made me really laugh. He said, I'm dumb, and even I can understand this.

Melissa: 19:13

That's, like, my goal in life. I don't want people to think they're dumb, but I want you to think even I can understand this.

Jam: 19:19

Yes. Yes.

Melissa: 19:20

I recently started a journey of learning. I have no experience of chemistry at all, and I'm slowly picking up jargon and lingo in bite size, easy to understand way. This lady is amazing at what she does on this podcast. I'd like to give her and her team a big thank you. Nice.

Melissa: 19:34

Oh, that's so nice.

Jam: 19:35

That's very cool. And, also, Matthew, you aren't done. I wanna agree with No. What Melissa said. Because if you are, I am, but here I am learning it too.

Jam: 19:44

So it's I think you could say, you know, I'm not an expert. I don't have a background in this, And even I can understand it. You know? Yeah. That is the goal.

Jam: 19:53

It's like people that have zero background, we're hoping they find this accessible. Yeah.

Melissa: 20:07

I don't want people to say they don't, but I want people to think, I can understand this. Like, this is exactly who this podcast is for. Yep. And so that's really exciting

Jam: 20:15

to me. That's awesome. This this is another comment we got, and I I'm I'm not gonna attempt to say the name because I'm more than a Really mess it up. But this is a comment we got on one of our YouTube videos. It says, I found this podcast because of my commercial class today, but I kept Listening because the topics are genuinely interesting.

Melissa: 20:37

Isn't that nice?

Jam: 20:38

Yeah. It's awesome.

Melissa: 20:40

So that's fun too. That's what I like to that's what I like Dear. Mhmm. Alright. Well, I think that's it for this episode.

Melissa: 20:47

Thank you all for writing in your questions. We're a little bit ahead. So if you've asked a question In the last few months and you haven't been answered it yet, it's probably because we're recording so far ahead to get ahead for the holiday season. So We care about your questions, and keep them coming.

Jam: 21:03

Yes. Keep them coming. Send those to us on our website at kim for your life.com. That's kim, f o r, your life.com. Share your thoughts that answer questions.

Jam: 21:11

If it's a really good question that takes a lot longer to explain, it'll probably become an episode. And if it's something short that we can kinda respond too quickly, then Melissa will put it in one of these, and we'll be able to talk about it in the q and r. So please send those to us. We love those questions. To help us keep our show going and contribute to cover the cost of making it, you can join our super cool Kim unity of patrons on Patreon at patreon.com/kim for your life.

Jam: 21:35

You can go there or click the link in our show notes to join that cool community. But if you're not able to do that, you can still help us by subscribing in it for your podcast app and reading and writing a review on Apple Podcasts. They also have to share chemistry with more people and subscribing on our YouTube channel. So those things really help us to share chemistry with more people, reach more people, And, keep our goal going of making chemistry understandable to people in everyday life.

Melissa: 21:59

And if you leave a nice review or a nice comment, maybe we'll Read it on the podcast too and say thank you.

Jam: 22:04

Mhmm.

Melissa: 22:05

Just like we did for our 2 today. This episode of chemistry for your life was created by Melissa Collini and Jam Robinson. Robinson is our producer, and this episode was made possible by our financial supporters over on Patreon. It really is so exciting that you want to help make chemistry accessible to even more Boom. Those supporters are Avishai B, Brie M, Brian K, Chris and Claire S, Chelsea B, Derek L, Elizabeth p, Emerson w, Hunter r.

Melissa: 22:34

Oh, I lost my place. Sorry, Jacob. Jacob t, Christina g, Katrina h, Latila s, Lynn s, Melissa p, Nicole c, Rachel r, Sarah m, Steven b, Shadow, Suzanne p, Timothy p and Venus are. Thank you again for everything you do to make chemistry for your life happen. J