Biology 202
2001 Second Web Report
On Serendip

(A Book Review of Touched With Fire: Manic-Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament
Kay Redfield Jamison, Ph.D.)

Diana C. Applegate

Biology 202
2006 Second Web Paper
On Serendip

The Story of Evolution, Spring 2005
First Web Papers
On Serendip

Biology 103
2003 First Paper
On Serendip

Biology 103
2002 Second Paper
On Serendip

Colloidal Silver: Miracle Elixir or Plague of the Living Dead?

Christine Traversi

If someone told you that they were in possession of something that could cure any illness almost instantaneously, would you believe it? If you were told that there was a small risk of permanently changing the color of your skin, would you be willing to run the risk and take it anyway? The name of this elixir is colloidal silver, and it is concocted by suspending microscopic silver particles in liquid. Colloidal silver has been claimed to be effective against hundreds of conditions and diseases, including cancer, AIDS, parasites, acne, enlarged prostate, pneumonia, and a myriad of others. However, long-term use of this silver can lead to a conditional called argyria, where a buildup of silver salt deposit on the eyes, skin, and internal oranges change the skin permanently metallic ashen-gray, making the individual have permanent death pallor. Does colloidal silver really carry the medicinal cure-all properties it is claimed to have, or is it just risk without benefit?

From a graduate school admission essay by Bethany Keffala, BMC '07, posted with her permission ...

“Sing now, O Muse, of the recessive mutation on my fifth chromosome! Sing how it bloomed two and a half centuries ago on the slopes of mount Olympus…Sing how it passed down through nine generations, gathering invisibly within the polluted pool of the Stephanides family. And sing how Providence … sent the gene flying again…” (p 4).

Biology 202
1998 Second Web Reports
On Serendip

Biology 202
1999 Second Web Reports
On Serendip