auger

"With a persistent inflammatory stimulus, the drop-off in itaconate production is an issue because there is then no immune 'brake' even though the immune system is still running on all cylinders, eventually contributing to chronic inflammation," explains Dr. Jean-Philippe Auger, a scientist at the Department of Medicine 3 -- Rheumatology and Immunology at Uniklinikum Erlangen and the first author of the study.

“I think I’m the only artistic director in the country wielding an ice auger,” she said of a tool resembling a giant corkscrew.

In both sun and rain, he repeatedly bores into the ground with a hand-held auger to gauge the quality of the soil, feeling, smelling and all but tasting the dirt.

With every twist of the auger, he steadily underscores his will.

Cheryl Auger, who runs My Zero Waste store in Pasadena — a shop designed to enable consumers to buy products without plastic packaging — suggests we all take a page from Scroogenomics — a book and philosophy written by Joel Waldfogel, an economist at the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management — which touts reducing, or stopping, the over-consumptive nature of Christmas gifts, food and waste.