During today's big American poll, a group called The Presidential Memorial Commission of San Francisco is asking voters for their opinion on this very important topic: Changing a name... the Oceanside Wastewater Treatment Facility could become the George W. Bush Sewage Plant. I can't wait to see the results.....
Picture source: http://presidentialmemorial.wordpress.com
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
That's harsh.....
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
If the world coud vote
Click HERE and help this site reach A MILLION VOTES. Maybe you want to vote as well....or just see the results?
A link for you Sarah....
A reaction to Sarah Palin's ignorance of fruit fly science......Read on Sarah! Don't you have people working for you? Listen to them, you'll look better in front of a microphone, and I am not talking about your physical look if you wonder....
As many scientists have pointed out since Palin heartlessly mocked the insect, fruit fly research has been key in understanding autism, a subject about which Palin perpetually broadcasts her interest, as she has an autistic nephew.Source: Salon
Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/neowy/112928378/
Sports and bugs...the story of an infection!
Sports...hockey, football, baseball....big guys, tough guys. And who is the toughest guy of all? Not who you might think! Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) IS the tough one!
Recently, many pro athletes have been plagued by MRSA, short for methycillin resistant S. aureus. This type of bacteria is resistant to many, too many, antibiotics and can lead to desastrous infections and permanent conditions....death being one of them!
MRSA spreads quickly among athletes, especially those involved in contact sports, because many of us are colonized by this bacteria. YES WE ARE! We are covered by bacteria, in fact for each human cell there are 10 times as much bacteria...and not just S. aureus. The problem starts when S. aureus invades the skin, mostly where abrasion occurs. After sticking to damaged tissue, the bacteria starts to grow and invade the tissue a bit deeper causing boils. These boils eventually drain and pus comes out...it can be just a bit of pus...or it could be a lot! Pus contains bacteria and can then be transmitted to the next person through contact. If the bacteria is an MRSA then you can be in big trouble....
Peyton Manning of the Indianapolis Colts was revealed to have a staph infection, the Indianapolis Star reported Friday. University of North Carolina-Asheville fans also recently learned that Kenny George, the 7-foot-7 center on the basketball team, had a staph infection complication that led to part of his foot being amputated.FROM CNN
Picture from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ihp/216070044/in/photostream/
Monday, October 27, 2008
Fruit fly research is useless!
Why spend so much money on fruit fly research? Ah ah....I can almost hear the ignorant public in the background...."Yeah...lets ban fruit fly research!".....Poor Sarah...you really need to learn a bit more about everything......but what a hoot for the rest of us! It seems to me she is showing more and more of her ignorance. Good thing there are only a few days left before she falls in oblivion! So stupid....it's almost cute!
Friday, October 24, 2008
Rest in peace dear Jillian
I had you for only a semester....you were a bright student! I told some of your fellow students and they were shocked! So young......
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Monday, October 20, 2008
IronMan - Human 2.0
Mind over body, mind over matter....against adversity these guys triumph! You are my heroes!!!! Click HERE to see more!
Friday, October 17, 2008
If you find one of these, buy a lottery ticket!
This is a very rare Blue lobster....1 chance in 2 million you'll ever find one!
Fortune tellers and politics
Saera Kahn is a Norwegian politician for the Labour Party of Norway. Recently she was forced to resign over a bunch of phones calls (793 to be precise) she made to fortune-tellers. The total amount comes to approximately $7500,00 CDN. Should we be surprized by this? I am not. After all Nancy Reagan hired Joan Quigley, an astrologer to advise the president on such important things as Air Force One flight schedules. Here is what I found on THIS SITE:
- She devised elaborate horoscope charts that showed dates and times - down to the last minute - that were both good and bad for the president. Nancy would provide Quigley with the president's itinerary, she would calculate the times most advantageous for success, and then Nancy would pass along the scheduling requirements to the White House staff.
- She contributed to the timing of international summits, presidential announcements and even the flight schedule of Air Force One.
- Shortly after Reagan was shot by John Wayne Hinckley, Nancy learned through Merv Griffin that Quigley had told him that Reagan's chart showed that this would be a bad day for him. She could have warned him that his life was in danger. Of course, this was after the fact of the shooting.
- Nancy Reagan had special private phone lines installed in the White House and at Camp David expressly for talking to Quigley.
- "I was the Teflon in what came to be known as the Teflon presidency," Quigley later wrote, taking credit for the timing of his actions that would deflect criticism.
I guess my point is that we trust politicians, scientists and MD's with our economy, our future and our lives and then some of them ask for advice to a bunch of charlatans.....who should we trust?
Picture source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/designwallah/2414830087/
Canucks will win the Stanley cup!
Ah ah....please excuse me while I laugh! The Canucks need more sleep? Yes, of course, that was the problem...how was I so stupid that I did not think of that? Luongo, with a new child is necessarily sleep deprived and that little watch-like device from Sleep Performance will, for sure, help the team...big time!
Why not a taser too instead of old school clean body checks? Maurice Richard, Jacques Plante, Boom-Boom Geoffrion and all the other hockey heroes must be laughing...interrupting their eternal sleep! What a joke!!!!
Here is a little bonus for you....a very informative video on sleep deprivation. All the Canucks players should be aware of that important information!
VIA Vancouver Sun
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Bad memory or observation?
This video is quite interesting. At first I thought that people "forgot" simply because they did not pay attention in the first place. But the last bit is quite incredible! Watch for yourself and let me know what you think!
And again and again and again it goes!
How many times was the "END OF THE WORLD" predicted? No aliens came on Oct 14, and on Dec 22nd I will be late in my X-Mas shopping as usual!!!!
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
I am not a fan anyway but...
Ringo Starr is such a big star he does not have time to sign anything anymore. Poor Ringo, my heart bleeds for you, you are probably saving lives somewhere or obviously you are making a difference in your community with your precious, precious time. Peace and love....what a great message indeed!
Carbon footprint calculator
If you are interested to know how much you are hurting the planet...click HERE
The Aliens are not here.....
The Mothership, Blossom Goodchild predicted, did not hover over Alabama. We are October 15th, and nobody saw anything. No aliens will come, we are alone!
I am amazed by predictions like this. It is hard to believe that someone, of at least average intelligence, can put himself/herself under so much public scrutiny. How do you get ANY credibility by making stuff up? Blossom Goodchild is not the only one guilty. Many people believe that the answer to human problems, misery and greed will come from outside. We like to rely on "saviours", it was like that 2000 years ago and it is still like that today!
We want our leaders to be almost perfect as if we were perfect ourselves. How come nobody seems to understand that we cannot change the world if we refuse to change ourselves first? Why do we rely only on external help? How come we cannot fix minor things within ourselves and make a difference for others. The problem is lazyness, the problem is greed, the problem is narcissism, the problem is that most people I know do not take responsibility for their own mistakes.
WHY???? Because we wait for others to do the job!
Dear Blossom, help will not come from another galaxy, help will come when people realize THEY can make a difference in their own (and sometimes stupid) life!
I know such a change will not happen during my lifetime.This, I can predict but nobody will believe me because the solution I suggest is way too simple!
Cartoon by Gary Brookins
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Monday, October 13, 2008
No UFO? Do not bet on it!
Thanks to this article I will not watch CNN all night to see if any UFO will hover over our blue planet tomorrow (October 14th).....no UFO! And I wanted to see one so, so bad!!!!! But wait...that black out last night...is still unexplained....It has to be THEM!
I know some people are really hoping THEY do not come because they will have to pay....big time!
Via: http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_3046840.htmlBookies William Hill have taken a £1,000 bet from Lawrence Trout, of Wiltshire, which will win him £1million if Ms Goodchild is correct.
And they have also taken bets from Ms Goodchild's UK relatives. Her Surrey based niece Rebecca Simpson bet £100 and her step daughter Kelly Mosedale wagered £50.
I took the image from: http://www.ufodigest.com/news/1008/images/no-ufo.jpg
Mr. Dolphin or Ms. Dolphin????
Ever tried to sex a dolphin? Me neither! But it seems like it is a difficult task for obvious reasons. A team of researchers decided to compare visible features (!) sizes, and scars! For those of you who get the wrong idea (admit it) I am talking about fins.
Via Nature News
"Rowe and Dawson found that male fins had significantly more scars than female fins, probably as a result of fighting. Male fins had a median of 15% scar tissue, whereas in females this was just 3.9%. Conversely, female fins tended to have a greater number of patchy skin lesions than male fins, with a median of 12.1% coverage compared with males' 6.8%.The two then used a statistical analysis of scarring, number of fin nicks and fin size to correctly predict the sex of 93% of the 43 dolphins in the group. This laser-sighted technique could potentially be applied to other, less-studied populations of dolphin or even to other species, the scientists say."
It was a turkey "brown-out"
Yesterday 200,000 people on the Vancouver Island got their turkey roasting cut short. At 5:44 PM the power went out! We were lucky, our turkey was cooked! A (funny) logical explanation for this was: "Too many people were roasting their turkey at the same time"....from my Father in law! We had a good chuckle!!!!
Almost there....ahhhhh!
My personal best at a half-marathon was 1h 34 minutes 10 seconds...that was in Comox last March. After my bad results at the Lands End half marathon a few weeks ago I thought I was getting out of shape but I had no reason for that. At the Royal Victoria Half Marathon 2008 I realized, once more, that long distance running is all about pace....I missed my PB by a few seconds....15 seconds total! That's 0.71 seconds for every km....AHHHHHHH! Oh well....I was 26th in my age category which makes me quite happy!
Thursday, October 09, 2008
Hockey Night in Canada Challenge - My choice
Here is what I would like to hear at the beginning of every hockey game!
Monday, October 06, 2008
Gallo, not the first one! Nobel snubs!
Top 10 Nobel Snubs from SciAM. Interesting. I just wanted to say that Rosalynd Franklin did not receive the Nobel because she died before, it should not be counted as a snub!
The other ones
Want to know what the IgNobel prize is? CLICK HERE! Want to know who won this year CLICK HERE....chuckles garanteed!
To be fair...
I just wanted to come back on my last posting to be fait to Dr. Robert Gallo, a great scientist nevertheless. I found THIS ARTICLE that makes a good primer to Gallo's career.
"For the record, here is what Gallo did achieve: He first described retroviruses, which is the class of viruses to which HIV belongs, and he linked a retrovirus to a rare leukemia--this alone is deserving of the Nobel. (In an interview that I read, he considers this his most significant scientific achievement). Then, his lab discovered a "T cell growth factor" that turned out to be pivotal in sustaining the growth of T cells in culture, cells that are the target of HIV."
Gallo must be fuming, oh well...too bad!
Viruses are cool. Not because some of them kill people but because they are relatively so simple, yet so efficient! Viruses can make you famous, if you are working hard on the right project, at the right time, in the right place you can score big. The Nobel prize of physiology/medicine was awarded to virus researchers:
Friday, October 03, 2008
Human nature explained by science: A slippery slope?
I am a person of great skepticism and I almost never believe anything unless I experiment it by myself but I am convinved that human behaviour can be explained in plain scientific terms. Genes regulate many aspects of our personnality but the extent to which the gene effect will be measured involves social interactions and other things that cannot be explained in biochemical/genetic terms.
Yet, bot aspects of who we are are connected through genes, mind, conscience, perception, stress etc.... (May I propose a very good podcast about the effect of a crowd on human behaviour? CLICK HERE to access it) and the scientific community seems to be reluctant to create relationships between Science and Human Nature. According to an article from the Skeptical Inquirer there are two reasons that explain the distance observed between "hard science" and "social sciences":
"There are two overly concise reasons for the segregation of social science from biology.In an interesting intellectual twist, the author (Lionel Tiger) refers to a set of behavioral "vitamins" that explain our needs, when these "vitamins" are missing, problems seems to emerge. Curious about the nature of these "vitamins"? Read HERE
The first has to do with a broad allergy to “reductionism”—in effect, trying to explain a social phenomenon by a physical or genetic cause."
The second and perhaps more significant reason for the segregation of the two sciences has to do with the appropriation of some biological and many nonbiological materials by various fascist groups, especially the Nazis. Consequently, there was plausible and understandable suspicion of attributing to genes any major social or cultural phenomena."
Conspiracy theories and stress in the population
As you are all aware, we are now facing times that are extremely stressful for many people here in Canada and in the US as well. Both countries are facing elections, both countries are involved in armed conflicts and losing soldiers, both countries are impacted by the financial crisis and the stock exchange meltdowns of the last few days....and we are allies and neighbours.I was reading my Vancouver Sun today and came across an interesting article about conspiracy theories and the reason why they become popular in times of stress (see my recent post on a supposed alien Mothership, predicted for Oct 14th, 2008).
It seems that when people's confidence is shaken, the same people will try to understand and many will start to see patterns when, in fact, there are none. This was replicated in the lab with the same conclusion:
"A quest for structure or understanding leads people to trick themselves into seeing and believing connections that simply don't exist"Speaking of conspiracy theories I have to admit that I am a big fan of Adam Curry's Daily Source Code and it's podcast. I am a proud "Chucklehead" (Adam Curry's fan) and religiously listen to every single episode while walking on my way to work to Camosun college. I like Adam Curry (see picture above), he is a bright guy and quite funny but lately I think he gets a bit delusionnal, he seems afraid of everything and sees an amazing conspiracy against the freedom of everyone. I am not saying he is totally wrong and I think he is probably right on many issues....but he talks like a person that's really afraid.
Illustration source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lloyd-davis/308659540/
Thursday, October 02, 2008
How old is HIV ?
This is from Nature news. I knew that an AIDS-like disease has been described way before the term AIDS was GRID. For sure the HIV has been around for a while.
Using a database of HIV-1 sequences and an estimate of the rate at which these sequences change over time, the researchers modelled when HIV-1 first surfaced. Their results showed that the most likely date for HIV's emergence was about 1908, when Léopoldville was emerging as a centre for trade.
So what is going to happen on October 14th, 2008???
I recently heard about October 14th, 2008....A mothership should come and we should be in contact with "beigns" from another dimension. Many websites are actually devoted to this event, whatever that event will/would/could/should be. This event is predicted by Blossom Goodchild, an Australian psychic.
Do you want them to come?....you can vote! Your votes will be tallied through telepathy!We wish it to be understood that on the 14th day of your month of October in the year 2008 a craft of great size shall be visible within your skies. It shall be in the south of your hemisphere and it shall scan over many of your states.
We give to you the name of Alabama.
It has been decided that we shall remain within your atmosphere for the minimum of three of your twenty four hour periods.
During this time there will be much commotion upon your earth plane. Your highest authorities will be intruding into ‘our’ atmospherics that surround our ship. This ‘security field’ is necessary for us, as there shall take place a ‘farce’ from those in your world who shall try to deny that we come in LOVE.
Click HERE for more info! Keep posted!
Once again,lets apply the general rules of critical thinking...shall we???
Wednesday, October 01, 2008
Death by hot sauce
I was looking at one of my favorite blogs....the Bayblab blog and found an interesting post on pain perception. It appears that eating too much hot chili sauce can be lethal. It is not known how hot sauce can kill you but if you ever go a a shop where they sell hot sauce you will find these silly bottles covered with skulls, fire and whatever reminds us that in comes in as hot and goes out with the same burning sensation.....
Read this article
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
To study bacteria without growing bacteria
It is a well known fact: Bacteria are very diverse and adapted to a very specific niche. If that niche disappears some bacteria will adapt and a new niche will be found and exploited. There are only so many bacteria that can be studied in the lab and often these studies can be flawed because one cannot replicate the conditions under which the bacteria normally strive....and then comes metagenomics.
Metagenomics is the study of gene expression and genome organization in a specific environmental condition. This is quite useful when studying microorganisms that live in extreme conditions impossible to fully replicate in a lab setting. I found this article at the Science Daily site. It is about an article published in Nature by Philip Hugenholtz and MIT researcher Gene Tyson.
“By employing the techniques of metagenomics we can go beyond the identification of specific players to creating an inventory of the genes in that environment.”I really think bacteria hold the secret of our long term survival on this planet, studying these wonderful cells will allow us to identify specific solutions to very complex problems....if we can only survive long enough as a species.
“We find that genes occurring more frequently in a particular community seem to confer attributes beneficial for maintenance of the function of that particular ecological niche.”
Monday, September 29, 2008
Dressing up for disease....
I have been saying that for a long time to my students including nursing and medical students. This article was publised on the New York Times website
"In 2004, a study from the New York Hospital Medical Center of Queens compared the ties of 40 doctors and medical students with those of 10 security guards. It found that about half the ties worn by medical personnel were a reservoir for germs, compared with just 1 in 10 of the ties taken from the security guards. The doctors’ ties harbored several pathogens, including those that can lead to staph infections or pneumonia.
Another study at a Connecticut hospital sought to gauge the role that clothing plays in the spread of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA. The study found that if a worker entered a room where the patient had MRSA, the bacteria would end up on the worker’s clothes about 70 percent of the time, even if the person never actually touched the patient."
Sunday, September 28, 2008
And I am working so hard!
On October 12th I will be running the half-Marathon in Victoria (Royal Victoria Marathon. I would like to reach a new milestone...a new personal best but I am afraid it will be impossible and it seems my VO2 Max is to blame for this. What is VO2 Max? In a nutshell it is the amount of oxygen my body can use and it is measured in ml/kg/min. Right now, my VO2 max is estimated at 56-58. Not bad at all but not enough....far from enough! I would like to achieve 1h 30 minutes...but my VO2 Max would need to be at least 62....I am almost there!
Last year, during the Island Race Series, I raced every other week. I had a lot of practice, a lot of speed work and also I was 8-10 pounds lighter (I am now 172 pounds). During one of those races, the Comox Half Marathon, I ran 21.1 km in a time of 1h 34 minutes 10 seconds. I tried to do this two weeks ago at the Lands End Half Marathon only to find out that I am not running fast enough, not because I am not trying but because my body cannot. I need more training, more speed work in order to increase that important VO2 Max value!
By the way, a new record was set today for the marathon distance....42.2 km in 2h 03minutes 59 seconds....that's 2minutes 56 seconds per kilometer....for 42.2 km. Haile Gebrselassie is a running machine, a biological machine with a VO2 max of about 82.....but he is way lighter than me (that's my excuse) ;-)
Friday, September 26, 2008
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Sweaty T-Shirts and Immunity
A corny question to ask a prospective mate might be: So...what is your zodiac sign? A better question could be: So, what's in your HLA? A few studies suggest that people tend to choose their mates based on MHC dissimilarity. A paper by Chaix et al. published in PLOS Genetics demonstrates that European American couples are really dissimilar when MHC loci are compared....way more different than what is expected by pure randomness. Although this selection could be a semi-counscious choice as stated by the following:
"In a less direct way, other studies have focused on odor preferences: in “sweaty T-shirts experiments”, in which females were asked to smell T-shirts worn by different males, it was shown that females significantly prefer the odor of T-shirts worn by MHC-dissimilar males, although such preference was not found among females taking the contraceptive pill. However, in another sweaty T-shirts experiment, in which males where chosen from a different ethnicity from the females and females were not aware of the nature of the smell (contrary to the two previous studies), females significantly preferred the odor of males having a small number of HLA alleles matching their paternal inherited alleles than the odor of males having fewer matches."The authors also mention that this selection could be totally up to the egg to "choose" the right sperm cell....
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
A little advice can go a long way!
Here is something I found on LifeHack.org. They post a list of important things that can help students get ahead after college. A very important one is the 4th one....Craft your own personna.
Here's what they write:
"In today’s world, one of the worst ways students damage their future careers is by sharing too much of the wrong kind of information online. Assume that everything you post online is going to be available to prospective employers, clients, or investors, all of whom increasingly turn to the Internet to research potential employees or partners. Keep the drunken stories either anonymous/pseudonymous, or marked as “private”, and be sure to build out public-ready profiles, under your own name if at all possible."So always be very careful about what you decide to post on Facebook and other social websites.
Picture from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/87704480@N00/192719734/
May the best of ideas win
Google if offering up to 10M$ for an idea or ideas that will have an impact on the world....can you think of something? Click HERE to be redirected to their site!
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
A true inspiration
I do not consider myself as a religious person at all but Sister Madonna Buder inspire me, what a character and a warrior!
Science tattoos
I know a few students that have, somewhere on their body and I do not care, a tattoo of a molecule. For instance a known carcinogen or the famous double helix....anyway...if you are thinking of getting one or if you already have a science tattoo, THIS SITE might be of interest to you.
Picture source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/_tim/149500684/
Monday, September 22, 2008
What's in your feces?
There is a very interesting theory in immunology: the hygiene hypothesis. Basically, if you are too clean and not exposed to enough dirt, scum and bacteria...you will suffer eventually. Our immune system has evolved to detect, recognize and eliminate millions of different molecular structures found among other things, on viruses and bacteria. Early exposure seems to be a key to a healthy immune system and a allergy-free life. This is, once more, confirmed by a new study published today (Sept 22nd, 2008) Clinical and Molecular Allergy. Fecal samples collected from 21 infants showed that a poorly diverse gut microbiota is associated with eczema development early in life.
"We found a significant inverse association between fecal bacterial diversity and eczema in early life. In addition, we found a significant increment in fecal bacterial diversity from ages 1 to 4 months in healthy children, but not in children who developed eczema by age 6 months."
To understand these findings, it is important to realize that our immune system is often "educated" through the gut, in fact more than 70% of the immune system is gut-associated. Experimental mice models show that a sterile gut leads to an abnormal immune system geared towards the development of allergies. In their article, the authors mention a reduced microbial diversity has also been implicated in various diseases including Crohn's disease and coeliac disease.
Click HERE to find a .pdf version of this very interesting article
Saturday, September 20, 2008
How we learn
I am fascinated by this simple fact...our brain changes daily and when we go to bed at night the connections are not quite the same as they were when the alarm clock buzzed too early in the morning. Just imagine learning again EVERYTHING we know, having to use a fork again, riding a bike etc...Of course there are conditions that will steal away from your knowledge and abilities but children, of course, have to learn everything. Just using this little game where you have to place a cube in the square opening of a container seems to be quite a challenge...and it is!
I found this on one of my favorite blogs, Cognitive Daily. I think if you are into cognition, learning and behaviour...you will like this posting!
Here is the link:
http://scienceblogs.com/cognitivedaily/2008/09/a_simple_toy_and_what_it_says.php
Friday, September 19, 2008
Une similitude?
If you are from Québec, chances are that the picture on the left is embedded in your brain! Yes, it is the little house in Chicoutimi that stood up to torrential rains and a crazy river....When I compare this picture with the one on the right, a house that survived hurricane Ike, I can only imagine what the people of the Saguenay went through in July of 1996!
Want to know more about the Saguenay floods? Click here (From Radio-Canada Archives)
And we thought we were so very special....
When it comes to emotions, humans think they are special. We think we are the only creatures capable of empathy....NOT! Chimps, our closest cousins, do that as well! After a bad day or a bad fight some chimps will hug the broken hearted to comfort and to relieve stress. See...."animals" have feelings too!
via: Times Online
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
The Elephant, the Donkey and stem cell research!
It's not always easy to predict who is going to vote for which candidate...even the polls tend to predict a trend that fails to materialize when the the big day comes. This special year where our close neighbours will decide on a new administration, it seems like reasearchers involved in embryonic stem cell science can only vote one way....the Donkey way! As mentionned by Obama himself, embryonic stem cell research could be funded again if he is elected. This is a different view from McCain's who (might have) changed his mind since the California primaries
Here is a sample of what they said recently according to the Science Debate 2008
OBAMA
MCCAIN
"While I support federal funding for embryonic stem cell research, I believe clear lines should be drawn that reflect a refusal to sacrifice moral values and ethical principles for the sake of scientific progress. Moreover, I believe that recent scientific breakthroughs raise the hope that one day this debate will be rendered academic. I also support funding for other research programs, including amniotic fluid and adult stem cell research which hold much scientific promise and do not involve the use of embryos. I oppose the intentional creation of human embryos for research purposes and I voted to ban the practice of “fetal farming,” making it a federal crime for researchers to use cells or fetal tissue from an embryo created for research purposes."
Here is what McCain said during the California primaries
"I believe that we need to fund this. This is a tough issue for those of us in the pro-life community. I would remind you that these stem cells are either going to be discarded or perpetually frozen.
We need to do what we can to relieve human suffering. It's a tough issue. I support federal funding."
Via: BioTechniques newsletter
Not too sure about the last one...
Water memory???...I thought this was bogus....and I still think it is, unless somebody can "educate" me about this....anyway, still an interesting site!
Via: http://curry.mevio.com/
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Ballistics and Mother Nature
Spores are really neat and they can be ejected from a sporangia at amazing speeds. I found this article in PLOS One...scroll down and download the videos. I really appreciate the Pilobolus one....a spore ejected like a rocket at a distance of almost 3m!
"In this study, we have used ultra-high-speed video cameras running at maximum frame rates of 250,000 fps to analyze the entire launch process in four species of fungi that grow on the dung of herbivores. For the first time we have direct measurements of launch speeds and empirical estimates of acceleration in these fungi. Launch speeds ranged from 2 to 25 m s−1 and corresponding accelerations of 20,000 to 180,000 g propelled spores over distances of up to 2.5 meters."To view the Pilobolus video you can also click HERE
Monday, September 15, 2008
They finally understood.....
The Anglican Church apologized for misunderstanding Darwin's theory of evolution! It is a start....others will follow and stop thinking the Bible is a science book! Way to go Rev. Brown!
Read the article from The Guardian HERE
Rev Malcolm Brown: Good Religion Needs Good Science
If you are interested...more to read HERE
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Win some, lose some! Unfortunately!
I ran at the Lands End Half Marathon today. I was looking for a new personal best, under 1h 34min 1o sec...the time I got at the Comox half marathon last march. I wanted it pretty bad, too much! My goal was actually 1h 30 minutes....to reach such a goal my pace had to be 4 minutes 16 seconds per km.
I started fast, way under 4:16, too fast....wayyyyyy too fast. By km 12 I realized I was going to run out of gas before the end....and I did. By km 17 there was no way to reach 1h30...not even my previous personal best. By then, little demons started to tell me I should slow down, I would not make it, why am I doing this etc etc...in these times the left part of he brain, the logical one, tells you many things.....not always nice things! Oh well, I did something like 1h38....I do not have the official time yet but I did not reach my goal...not today! The Royal Victoria half marathon is in a month...I will be more reasonable by then...I swear!
PS. I love my new runners....Asics Gel Nimbus 10 (pic above).....like running on pillows! The right amount of support, the right amount of cushionning.......
Friday, September 12, 2008
It's going to be such a nice semester!!!
I have GREAT students this term, everybody seems to be prepared, eager to learn and, it seems to me, enthusiastic about the wonderful world of invisible life! Hurray....it is going to be a GREAT semester! Vive les bactéries!
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Universal flu vaccine and human Guinea Pigs!
Human trials of universal flu vaccine begin from PhysOrg.com
Clinical trials of a new vaccine that could protect against multiple types of flu are beginning at Oxford University. If successful, the ‘universal’ flu injection would transform the way we vaccinate against influenza and could offer immunity to a bird flu pandemic.
[...]
The problem with the Influenza Virus (the Flu virus) is that it changes over time. Small changes lead to drift and normally cause epidemics while more substantial changes, also know as gene shift, may cause dreaded pandemics. The problem with the flu vaccine is that it targets special protein found at the surface of the virus and that shift and drift creates "new viruses" no longer recognized by our immune system. So there...you need a shot every year...AND YOU SHOULD GET IT!
The problem with yearly shots is that new vaccine production is mainly based on statistics and the probability to find such and such strain in any given year. This is normally based on the study of previous years. In a way, it can sometimes be a long shot. Having said that, even with the uncertainty these shots can prove to be useful.
Many people do not want to be inoculated with vaccines for various reasons including the fact that some vaccines contain Thimerosal, a mercury-containing preservative, even if Thimerosal has been proven to be eliminated very quickly by the organism even in infants.
The bird flu that, so far, has killed close to 200 people worldwide reminds us that a pandemic is more a question of "when" than of "if" and the scientific community is trying its best to come up with a solution. The main problem in the production of a new vaccine against a probable bird flu pandemic is that we need the virus before we can produce a vaccine...in other words, we need the pandemic to start before we can inoculate people. The other problem is that vaccine production takes a lot of effort and the industrial capacity worldwide is limited. We would NOT have enough vaccines for everyone on the planet!
A new vaccine seems promising and would likely address many problems related to yearly vaccine production. A universal vaccine targeting ALL strains of influenza. WOW! That is a real need! On September 8th, human clinical trials started with a limited cohort of brave human Guinea pigs. This study, done at the Oxford university, could lead the way to a new and much needed vaccine. Read more HERE
Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/gustavocarrijo/12181990/
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
We are still here....
The Large Hadron Collider in Geneva has been humming for quite a while now....we are still here, no giant black hole was created....YET! The particles will keep on going in circle, almost at the speed of light, for weeks. Eventually some particles will smash into each other and then.....we will still be there!
If you are into nuclear physics, you can read all about it at the WIRED Mag site.
Monday, September 08, 2008
Superbugs and weed!
"Hey man...this is good stuff" might soon mean: "Hey dude, I got a cure against this MRSA bug thing". A few substances found in Cannabis sativa (Marijuana) including THC (the psychoactive ingredient) have been proven to inhibit the growth of Methicillin-Resistant S. aureus (MRSA). Based on their highly hydrophobic structure it seems like these compounds have an affinity for lipids and might indeed disrupt the membrane.
The authors point out that the mechanism remains elusive....I might know why it remains elusive!
Reference: http://pubs.acs.org/cgi-bin/sample.cgi/jnprdf/2008/71/i08/pdf/np8002673.pdf
New Scientist website
Just wanted to tell you about the New Scientist magazine website. The news feature is really great, if you are interested in science you will become addicted to this high quality format.
Monday, June 23, 2008
Way to go Philly!
Philadelphia will honor Darwin and the evolution theory and John E. Jones III is invited to give a talk.
Friday, June 20, 2008
Spot the crook.....
After reading what happened to OHRI's Kristin Roovers in the newspaper and also on the Bayblab Blog, I thought I could design this little game.
All of the scientists below were, once, accused of fraud and/or scientific misconduct. Can you associate the controversial paper with the scientist?
ARTICLES:
1) Restricted use of T cell receptor V genes in murine autoimmune encephalomyelitis raises possibilities for antibody therapy (Cell. 1988, 54: 577)
2) In individual T cells one productive alpha rearrangement does not appear to block rearrangement at the second allele (J. Exp. Med. 1989, 170: 2183)
3) Altered repertoire of endogenous immunoglobulin gene expression in transgenic mice containing a rearranged Mu heavy chain gene (Cell 1986, 45: 247)
4) Evidence of a Pluripotent Human Embryonic Stem Cell Line Derived from a Cloned Blastocyst (Science 2004, 303: 1669)
Scientists
A) V Kumar (Leroy Hood's lab - Caltech)
B) T Imanishi-Kari (David Baltimore's lab - MIT)
C) JL Urban (Leroy Hood's lab - Caltech)
D) WS Hwang (His own lab)
ANSWERS
1 C, 2 A, 3 B , 4 D
NOTE: (Imanishi-Kari was cleared of any science misconduct in 1996)
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Journalists
Went downtown tonight, the usual....bought a magazine, got a latté and started reading. I bought a magazine I never bought before: The Ryerson Review of Journalism. This is a great mag! On the cover one of my favourite journalists, Wendy Mesley. Inside a very interesting article about journalists and PTSD. I have to admit I never thought about that, I guess we are used to associate PTSD to soldiers, Romeo Dallaire and Rwanda....at least I was.
I guess we forget about those courageous journalists, risking their lives for the sake of telling the truth or because some of them are actually adrenaline junkies. Nevertheless, PTSD is also afflicting journalists and I there are many resources devoted to them (here is ONE and ANOTHER). furthermore, covering disasters and mass killings (think Virginia Tech for instance) can have a huge impact on the journalists trying to get the story out. Just imagine watching someone drowning, a man caught in a fire or a falling off a bridge. Even though watching the news at 9 seems mundane because we are getting more and more immune to horror because of the distance created by the TV, we should not forget that somebody had to see and live the horror...without it. Just imagine how helpless and guilty you would feel by just watching and reporting the horror.
In case you think you are one of these adrenaline junkies, you can test yourself using the Zuckerman Sensation Seeking Scale...I did not take the test...just looking at the questions I know I am definitely not the type...although.....
The article on PTSD and journalists can be found HERE
Image source: Flickr CC
Friday, June 13, 2008
Time to turn the page
As long as web searches for the current and next leader of America go....George W. Bush is no longer on the radar! I love Google Trends!!!
They were NOT the "savages"
A LOOOONG due apology.....
Steven HARPER PART 1
Steven HARPER PART 2
Jack LAYTON
Phil FONTAINE
Love and Pain
Everybody that's ever been in love knows that. You might even have heard (or said): "I love you so much, it hurts"....well, there you go!
Via: http://www.insidestory.iop.org/mri.html (Picture was modified from pictures on site)
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Microsoft and Yahoo is dead...long live Google!
No deal between Microsoft and Yahoo....but Google will be allowed to place adds on the side of a Yahoo websearch page. Google think they could get up to $800 M / year on top of what they already make. I should have invested in Google shares.....darn!
Image source: http://xkcd.com/256/
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