Imagine trying to understand a city by tossing the entire map into a blender. You would learn the average elevation, but you would lose every street, neighbourhood, and landmark. That, in a nutshell, is the difference between traditional bulk acid digestion ICP-MS and LA-ICP-MS. Both methods are excellent and CALA-accredited tools for measuring metals in […]
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Have you ever wondered whether a fish spent its life cruising the open ocean or staying close to home in a freshwater lake? For fisheries managers, Indigenous communities, conservation groups, and resource developers, the answer can be incredibly important. Understanding whether a fish was anadromous (migrating to the ocean and back) or resident (remaining in […]
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The problem with “estimated” risk Risk assessment often depends on assumptions. How much exposure did someone have? Over what period of time? How often did they consume a contaminated food source? How accurate is their memory? How representative are population averages? These questions sit at the heart of environmental and human health risk assessment. In […]
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John Hartnell never meant his toenail to become famous. Yet, 170 years after the ill‑fated Franklin Expedition sailed into Arctic legend, that humble clipping quietly spilled secrets no diary ever could. Frozen in time, Hartnell’s nail became a biochemical gossip, whispering tales of hunger, illness, and a mystery long blamed on lead. For decades, the […]
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A Time Machine in a Single Strand of Hair What if you could rewind your biological history—day by day, week by week—using nothing more than a single strand of hair? It might sound like science fiction, but in fact, your hair is a remarkably faithful recorder of your internal and external environment. At TrichAnalytics, this […]
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A hair strand can preserve clues about health, diet, environmental exposures, physiology, and even the timing of events in a person's life. When that person happens to be one of the world's most famous composers, the story becomes even more extraordinary.
Over the coming months, I will be sharing parts of an incredible journey involving history, science, and one very famous lock of hair.
Stay connected... there are some fascinating discoveries still to come.
Dr. Jennie Christensen
Join Dr. Jennie Christensen and the TrichAnalytics team for webinars exploring topics across environmental science and analytical testing.
Interested in attending? Leave us your email address, and we’ll be sure to inform you of upcoming sessions.
