retrospectacle | July 15, 2007A little while ago I was "tagged" by Orac of Respectful Insolence in the "How to Fix the NIH" meme. The rules to the meme were a bit laborious, and I'm not going to be so mean as to tag more innocent bloggers with the ponderous task of thinking about grants and funding institutions when it isn't expressly necessary. So, I guess technically I cheating, but oh well.
As how to fix the NIH, well, I really don't know. I've blogged about the NIH before (specifically as to the abysmal funding situation for new scientists) but I think that song and dance has gotten a little tired. And there's the…
retrospectacle | July 13, 2007A skin-patch (similar to the patches that deliver nicotine trans-dermally) has been approved to treat Alzheimer's disease. The drug in the patch, Exelon (rivastigmine), is already on the market in pill form, but in the form of a patch the drug can be delivered continuously and more reliably. Delivery through the skin also gets rid of any nasty gastrointestinal side-effects (probably appreciated by caregivers as well...). Rivastigmine is a cholinesterase inhibitor; it works to prevent the breakdown of acetylcholine in the brain. This is theorized to slow or mitigate the symptoms of dementia…
retrospectacle | July 8, 2007Ok, I tried to hold off, but this danged 'LOLCats' craze finally won me over to the Dark Side. It all happened when I *somehow* ended up at I Can Has Cheeseburger, the evil evil site that started it all (or was that Fark?), and when ostensibly just there to "see what all the fuss is about" I actually laughed out loud. A few times. Now, like most silly, inane, and ridiculous stuff, I was intrigued. How could something so stupid and simple elicit a laugh? Could you assign captions to anything and make it humorous (like some fellow bloggers did with creationist practioners?).
So, bored and in…
retrospectacle | July 7, 2007[This is part of a series I'm doing here on Retrospectacle called 'Science Vault.' Pretty much I'm just going to dig back into the forgotten and moldering annuls of scientific publications to find weird and interesting studies that very likely would never be published or done today (and perhaps never should have.) I'll probably try to do it once a week (and if you have suggestions, please do email me with them.)]
For this weeks 'Science Vault, I didn't really have to reach too far back in time to find something utterly ridiculous and slightly ribald. Nay dear reader, in 2003 the journal Polar…
retrospectacle | July 6, 2007 The Shanghai Museum houses 5 floors of ancient Chinese artifacts ranging from carved jade to Buddhas to painted scrolls, and was built in the early 90s. As a neat coincidence, there was also an exhibit of American Art rotating through the museum which featured famous works by artists including Warhol and O'Keeffe. Below are some pictures of artifacts I saw (yeah, they let us take pictures!), which I wish I could tell you more about but the captions were in Chinese. The oldest things in the museum were from the 30th century, BCE.
The jade carving exhibit was unbelievable. This picture…
retrospectacle | July 5, 2007I heard this morning that my grandfather died in his sleep last night. He had certainly lived a long life and had had the opportunity to travel across the country with my grandmother in their RV, for the past 15 years or so. Their pet projects involved Habitat for Humanity-type volunteering on various buildings, and they traveled from place to place looking to help where they were needed. Also about 15 years ago, my grandfather began experiencing heart problems and had a pacemaker installed. While he never tried to let it slow him down, eventually the years caught up with him and the last few…
retrospectacle | July 4, 2007Happy 4th of July, however you'll be spending it. I'll be watching the hotdog-eating contest on TV, going to get a couple Coney dogs myself, and then fireworks of course! I gotta say that the hot dog eating contest just won't be the same without Takeru "Tsunami" Kobayashi, who is suffering from jaw arthritis. Maybe its all a ploy to think he's not gonna show.
Edit: Kobeyashi *did* show but came in a close second to Joey Chestnut.
So, in honor of doing crazy stuffs, I think I may try my hand at making some homemade sparklers. I posted this how-to last year but never got around to trying it…
retrospectacle | July 3, 2007After an uneventful and Ambien-laden flight to Shanghai, I arrived at Pudong Airport more than a bit physically tired and quite a bit psychologically wired. "Three weeks off--Hooray!" kept scrolling across my mind like a stock ticker. As Darren was already there, we headed over to a sketchy (and none too cheap) bar called 'Red Lips' across from the Pudong Sofitel where I was staying. We drank quite a bit of Bacardi Raspberri (or something like that), and then stumbled back to the Sofitel for some much-needed booze-snooze.
The next day we walked over to the largest park in Shanghai, Century…
retrospectacle | June 29, 2007Well, just got back into the States last night and just wanted to say, I'm still alive and pictures/stories/tall-tales will be on the way. My traveling parter is getting back tomorrow and is the Keeper of the Camera. So, probably the next few days I'll get back to blogging (oh sweet vacation!) with travel stuff interspersed with sciencey goodness. Oh, and I got a doozy of a Science Vault blog in the works. Check back soon!
Ok, now back to getting that internal clock re-set......
But, here's one picture of me, Darren, and a Irish kid named Brian (we met him on the ferry to Phi Phi island).…
retrospectacle | June 6, 2007The entire month of June I'll be in Asia, still blogging though (when possible!). Me and a friend are spending 4 days in Shanghai, then a few days in Suzhou, then flying to Kota Kinabalu, Borneo (maybe Sipadan, who knows?) and ending in Koh Phanang/Phi Phi Island, Thailand. (Phi Phi pictured below.)
My parents live in Suzhou, China and I go out there to visit them once a year, and bum around Asia a bit (as its so cheap to travel.) Although I've been to China and Malaysia before, my trip is not set in stone by any means. So if you know of great places to go or things to see in that area (…
retrospectacle | June 6, 2007Yours truly is currently on a plane which left Detroit at 2pm today (well, or I will be shortly) and is headed towards Shanghai, China. I'm off to visit my parents in Suzhou and then a week each in Malaysian Borneo and Phi Phi/Koh Phenang Thailand. I'm so unbelievably psyched! I'm posting an open thread on China, Malaysia, and Thailand for anyone who is familiar with the area to give me tips about what to see/do/eat/dance/drink/etc. I'll be live blogging my trip (when I have access to the internet that is) so stay tuned for some funny stories and photos from the other side of the world.
Now…
retrospectacle | June 5, 2007[This is part of a series I'm doing here on Retrospectacle called 'Science Vault.' Pretty much I'm just going to dig back into the forgotten and moldering annuls of scientific publications to find weird and interesting studies that very likely would never be published or done today (and perhaps never should have.) I'll probably try to do it once a week (and if you have suggestions, please do email me with them.)]
The development of surgical organ transplantation in humans will always be considered a landmark in medical science, and the scientists that pioneered the risky operations both…
retrospectacle | June 2, 2007Ancient nerd legend has it that anyone in possession of these three things will have REAL ULTIMATE POWER.
Its a pin. Its a synapse neuron. Sweet.
From now on all my eating and drinking implements will display the chemical structure of their contents.
Pong. Batteries. Shirt. Need I say more?
Those last two came from the ever-awesome ThinkGeek, but the neuron pin came from an amazing site aptly-named Neuromart. Neuromart contains items of such phenomenal nerditude that I died a little inside that I didn't think of it first. Neuromart, I salute you.
Hat tips to Charlie and darkman.
retrospectacle | June 1, 2007I was just bumming aroung Wikipedia and I noticed that while PZ Myers and Pharyngula have entries, no one has yet made an entry for the entity/project that is ScienceBlogs. Someone should get on that!
retrospectacle | June 1, 2007One of the most severe developmental defects is called anencephaly, which literally means "without a brain." However, usually some brain tissue develops normally, but the forebrain and cerebrum is small or absent. This defect is caused by an error in the development of the nervous system and brain, and is thought to be somewhat related to the mother's intake of folate/folic acid (Vitamin B9). Babies born with anencephaly nearly almost always die either in the womb or shortly after birth, as their compromised nervous system is unable to sustain bodily functions (and certainly not consciousness…
retrospectacle | May 31, 2007By this time most people have heard about the "Monster Pig" shot by an 11-year old. Except, experts at StinkyJournalism have debunked the colossal pig as a hoax. Turns out the pig is big, but the photos were intentionally manipulated to make the hog appear much, much bigger than it actually is. Read the whole debunking here, with followups promised tomorrow.
Specifically, researchers at NYU (and others) concluded that the boy was actually standing far behind the pig in this photo (above) but the perspective created an illusion that he was actually leaning on the pig. NBC, who had flown the…
retrospectacle | May 31, 2007Like most scientists and nerds, the innovative and often science-fictiony work of Stanley Kubrick holds a spot of honor in my heart. However, the man himself was an sometimes seen as an enigma, a very private person.
Jamie Stuart, cyber-friend and fellow admirirer of all things Kubrick, gave me the heads up to an exclusive interview he did for The Reeler with longtime Kubrick assisant Leon Vitali. Vitali worked with Kubrick for nearly 25 years, spanning from 1975's Barry Lyndon to Eyes Wide Shut, and is perhaps one of only a handful of people who knew Kubrick well, both profesionally and…
retrospectacle | May 30, 2007[I'm starting a new series here at Retrospectacle, called 'Science Vault,' of which this post is the first. Pretty much I'm just going to dig back into the forgotten and moldering annuls of scientific publications to find weird and interesting papers that very likely would never be published today (and perhaps never should have.) I'll probably try to do it once a week (and if you have suggestions, please do email me with them.)]
Most of you read the title and thought I was kidding, right? I mean, who in their right mind would give a huge dose of a psychotropic substance to an elephant, just…
retrospectacle | May 29, 2007 A common question I am asked, on my blog and in real life, is what is the "trick" to getting into a good graduate program (for the sciences). The trick is that there is no trick, but there are a few preparatory steps that *do* make all the difference in the application process. And no, it isn't all about GPA. Cause I didn't even have one.
1. Spend your spare time doing research.
This one should be a no-brainer, so to speak. If you want a career in research, you need to show your commitment early on. Also, as tough as it might be, many research positions are not paid. You gotta just suck it…