The suspect sense of smell

"What's the difference between perfume and pollution? Absolutely nothing," declared the Ecologist (November). Perfumes are "composed of neurotoxic solvents not dissimilar from those favoured by glue-sniffers and volatile chemicals usually more at home in industrial factories", it said.

Under EU legislation, there is little restriction on what perfumes can contain. Most fragrance chemicals are derived from petroleum and can be absorbed through the skin. Some have the potential to damage the liver and kidneys, while others "accumulate in fatty tissue and leach slowly back into the system or are passed onto children via breastmilk".

The Ecologist examined the contents of Calvin Klein's Eternity, which accounts for 3.1% of the UK "fine fragrance" market. Of the perfume's 41 listed ingredients, "33 have no relevant safety data. Of the rest, data suggests they are toxic, irritant, capable of causing allergic reactions, damaging to the central nervous system and carcinogenic." The magazine agreed with campaigners that this and other perfumes should carry a warning that "the safety of this product has not been determined."

Websites reveal sibling links

Martha Groves in the Los Angeles Times (November 2) looked at the growing trend in the US of using DNA testing to determine biological links between children adopted from overseas orphanages.

"Parents say they have spotted children on family or orphanage websites who bear strong resemblances to their own. Some have confirmed blood relationships through DNA testing," Groves explained. This has allowed parents to recover "bits of the lost history of children from China, Russia and other foreign lands".

Even though the practice has been illuminating and revelatory for a few families, it has caused controversy in adoption circles. Bioethicists fear that unscrupulous labs will exploit parents "eager to fill in the missing pieces of their children's lives". Experts have warned that adopted children could find the discovery of a genetic sibling deeply unsettling, and recommend that parents wait until their children reach adulthood and can make their own decision about seeking out their genetic family. There are further concerns, said Groves: "The push for DNA tests would seem to go against a central tenet of adoption: that families created through that process are just as authentic as those based on blood relationships."

Keep the kosher fires burning

Can an oven be kosher? Yes, said Wired magazine (November), thanks to the work of Jonah Ottensoser, the only man in the world whose job is to make the domestic appliances of Jewish households "right with God".

"In all, 39 activities are off-limits to those complying with the Torah's fourth commandment, to keep the Sabbath holy," explained Wired's Michael Erard. "That means no cooking or fire-lighting - or its modern analogue, moving electricity through a circuit." In the past, Jews were able to get around such restrictions by turning appliances on in advance of the Sabbath. But this is no longer possible: safety features in today's ovens cause them to switch off after 12 hours, and modern fridges contain compressors that switch on when the door is opened and cold air is let out, thus "desecrating" the Sabbath.

Mr Ottensoser has helped nine companies, including General Electric, Electrolux and Viking, design "Sabbath modes" for more than 300 types of ovens, stoves and refrigerators. When the feature is enabled, "lights stay off and displays are blank; tones are silenced, fans stilled, compressors slowed." Erard put Mr Ottensoser's work in the context of "a trend among tech companies, who are acknowledging cultural and religious values to tap emerging markets". With 900,000 Orthodox Jewish households in the US alone and millions more overseas, offering the Sabbath mode "makes good business sense".