retrospectacle | April 6, 2007.....that they are delicious as well as interesting!
Experiments performed:
Reaction to cold and heat.
Soluability testing.
Low pressure environments.
Effects of smoking on Peeps' health.
Seperation of conjoined Peep quintuplets.
Peep fear response.
retrospectacle | April 6, 2007 Busy week this week, I submitted a paper day before yesterday which is the first time I did it myself. The online submission system is really convienent! Anyway, for Friday Grey Matters, check out this amazing video of Alex the grey parrot in action with Dr. Irene Pepperberg. Its the third video down, since I can't embed the video unfortunately.
retrospectacle | April 5, 2007SETI used to do it, too. That is, have a volunteer program to chip in your CPU's processing power to help solve some problem (in SETI's case, look for ET). Now your idle Sony PS3 can be put to a similar use, but a bit more earthly.
The recent launch of a software update for Sony's Internet-enabled PlayStation 3 (PS3) games console has seen more than 50,000 owners sign up to take part in a medical-research project called Folding@home. The success has now led to discussions to make dozens of other such 'distributed computing' projects PS3-friendly.
Such projects are designed to create a virtual…
retrospectacle | April 5, 2007A parasite called Toxoplasma gondii has a unique mechanism to help it spread: "tricking" rats into delighting in the smell of its predator, cats. This is an important adaptation since this parasite can only sexually reproduce in the gut of cats, so the parasite needs to get the infected rats into the cats' gut. Yeah, the cat eats the rat, and the parasite lives happily ever after.
Normally rats have a strong aversion to the scent of cat urine, but infected rats completely lose their aversion to cat pee but retain all their other fears and phobias.
"Toxoplasma affects fear of cat odors with…
retrospectacle | April 4, 2007Courtesy of CNN, an empty-headed opinion piece that adds no real dimension to the topic.
As the director of the Human Genome Project, I have led a consortium of scientists to read out the 3.1 billion letters of the human genome, our own DNA instruction book. As a believer, I see DNA, the information molecule of all living things, as God's language, and the elegance and complexity of our own bodies and the rest of nature as a reflection of God's plan.
I did not always embrace these perspectives. As a graduate student in physical chemistry in the 1970s, I was an atheist, finding no reason to…
retrospectacle | April 4, 2007A recent New Scientist article (March 2007) does a pretty decent job summarizing the current state of hair cell regeneration in mammals, including the work coming out of my lab. May require a subscription or institutional access.
Here's a few of the figures from the article that I thought weren't half bad (in a popup for high resolution). View image
Hat tip Bob Abu.
retrospectacle | April 4, 2007My oh my. Browsing through ThinkGeek never ceases to astonish and delight. Just take a gander at the nerdelicious D20 Fuzzy Dice. Yes, thats right, big honkin' plushy nerd-dice.
Now, back in the day (Shelley circa 1996), I had some tres tacky turquiose fuzzy dice hanging in my 1965 Mustang. Hey, whatever, I was 16. But how cool would these things be in some dorky teenage ride? It would have been enough to set my nerdlet heart a-flutter!
retrospectacle | April 3, 2007This vaccine wasn't meant to prevent ear infections per se, but has had the welcome side effect of doing just that (for more on ear infections, go here). Pharmaceutical company Wyeth developed the vaccine PCV7 (marketed in the US under Prevnar) to ward off common bacterial infections, and has been around since 2000. However, children who received the vaccine had significantly less ear infections and a lower incidence of "tubes in the ears." (For more on ear tubes, go here.)
The vaccination, given initially at 2, 4 and 6 months of age, was designed to combat a number of pneumococcal infections…
retrospectacle | April 3, 2007Who ever said there's no fortune and glory in science? I just got wind of several multi-million dollar prizes for scientists who tackle some tough questions: called X-Prizes.
What is an X PRIZE?
An X PRIZE is a multi-million dollar award given to the first team to achieve a specific goal, set by the X PRIZE Foundation, which has the potential to benefit humanity. Rather than awarding money to honor past achievements or directly funding research, an X PRIZE incites innovation by tapping into our competitive and entrepreneurial spirits.
The X PRIZE Foundation began a revolution in private…
retrospectacle | April 2, 2007The first "smart" robotic micro-drill has been used on a handful of patients in the UK, with very positive outcomes. It was developed by Dr. Peter Brett from the School of Engineering and Applied Science at Aston Univ. and first used in surgery by an ear, nose, and throat doctor who found the drill useful for patients who need cochlear implants.
Perfect for making tiny holes in breakfast foods.
The drill is applied to the cochlea, the inner ear hearing organ, is aligned to the correct place and then drills a hole less than a millimetre in diameter to enable the cochlear implant to be…
retrospectacle | March 30, 2007
The world's biggest flying parrot is the beautiful Hyacinth Macaw, a bluish-purple macaw with yellow around their eyes and mouth. I say "flying parrot" because the ground-bound Kakapo can sometimes weigh the same or a bit more. However, the Hyacinth also is perceived as bigger due to its extremely long tail feathers. Their beauty has been their saving grace and their curse, as the pet trade has taken a heavy toll on their numbers. Their natural habitat is Brazil, Bolivia, and Paraguay. However, they are now considered an endangered species and captive breeding programs in the US are trying…
retrospectacle | March 29, 2007When my family moved to South Carolina from Florida, we looked at houses in the cities of Simpsonville and Clinton. We, looks like it was a good thing we settled in Simpsonville. Just take a look at whats going on in Clinton....
Now, what I remembered of Clinton was beautiful old antebellum houses and nice neighborhoods (we were only looking at houses for sale). I never saw this side, which is much uglier.
retrospectacle | March 29, 2007 Poor Al Gore, no good deed goes unpunished in his quest for climate change awareness. Only a few days ago he went before the Senate on a hearing on global warming. During which, climate change's biggest political foe, Senator James Inhofe and Gore argued heatedly.
Now, the Republicans are moving to block his 'Live Earth' rock concert venue, planned to take place on the steps of the Capitol July 7th.
One outspoken opponent of the concert is Senator James Inhofe, a longtime "debunker" of cataclysmic climate change, which he has derided as a "hoax."
"Senator Inhofe objects to having any events…
retrospectacle | March 28, 2007Hard to know what to make of this, or even if what they propose--to prenatally interfere with sexual orientation--is possible.
Mr. Mohler [president of a Baptist seminary] said in the article that scientific research "points to some level of biological causation" for homosexuality.
That suggestion offended fellow conservatives, Mr. Mohler said. Proof of a biological basis would challenge the belief of many conservative Christians that homosexuality, which they view as sinful, is a matter of choice that can be overcome through prayer and counseling.
But Mr. Mohler said he was criticized even…
retrospectacle | March 27, 2007An interesting article ("Why You Rarely See Your Professors In Church") which appeared in the University of Michigan student paper was forwarded to me by its author, Kingson Man. Its tagline went something like this:
Studies show that professors are three times more likely to be atheists or agnostics than the rest of the population. Is a complete separation of church and state good for the University, or should you be worried about being indoctrinated by godless liberals?
Oh, University of Michigan! Oh, Bastion of Intellectuals and Aging Hippie Liberals! Is *nothing* sacred in your tolerant…
retrospectacle | March 27, 2007UM Hospital has an excellent cancer facility, and as breast cancer is the most common form of cancer in women, many cases of breast cancer are treated here at UM. However, many post-operative women choose not to go through breast reconstruction. Why?
A study here at UM (Comprehensive Cancer Center) discovered that 44% of surgeons (n = 365) do not refer the majority of their patients to a plastic surgeon for breast reconstruction. Only 24% of surgeons reported referring 3/4 or more of their patients for reconstruction.
Furthermore, less than 20% of women who could qualify for breast…
retrospectacle | March 26, 2007Not sure if there's any other watchers of the show "24" who read, but me and my friends usually get together on Mondays to watch it and enjoy some home cooking. We take turns cooking, and its my week this week. I was trying to think up something to whip up, and came across this website: Cooking for Engineers.
One thing I'd really love to be is a better cook, because I love to eat and eat out WAY too much. I liked their recipe for beer can chicken, which is an ingenious way to roast a chicken (and as evidenced by a taste test, doesn't really even need beer). I also read about how to make…
retrospectacle | March 26, 2007Remember Bush's speech last year where he denounced "human-animal hybrids"? Well, I don't know about you, but I about fell off the couch laughing. But now it looks like his worst fear has come to pass: a chimeric sheep with 15% human cells, engineered with the hope of animal organs one day being used for human transplants. A University of Nevada scientist, Dr. Esmail Zanjani, has developed the technique which involves integrating human stem cells into a sheep blastocyst.
He has already created a sheep liver which has a large proportion of human cells and eventually hopes to precisely match a…
retrospectacle | March 24, 2007 Check out the latest "I Am A Scientist" podcasts, which every week interviews a scientist about their research topic. Last week, I was a guest, and this week's guest is Jane Lawrence. She discusses two types of imaging techniques: real-time fMRI and fMRI of the spinal cord. Check it out!