Pluto’s journey around the Sun takes 248 Earth years. This means that, since its discovery in 1930, it still has 177 years to go until it has made a complete orbit around the Sun.
Thanks, random science fact app!!!
This may seem an unlikely post for Potspoon!, but it is not without reason. There are a lot of different factors that made me pursue sciences as a career (or, as the case is currently, hobby) and one of them was this fantastical commercial. The song has been stuck in my head for years. Really. Realize that I was about five years old when I remember seeing this video the first time. It was so cool! Unfortunately the person who uploaded the video doesn't want people to embed it, so please go watch it here!
Are there any silly commercials that made an impact on your life?
To add to the list of appropriate science sites for children (I should just do a compilation, but another day perhaps), I found out about a Defenders of Wildlife site created for children and teachers. It's called Kids Planet and is full of facts on endangered species, games, a teaching curriculum, coloring pages and more.
The site is pretty easy and seems like a great tool to introduce your kiddies to wildlife. There is even a page that explains ways even children can make a difference in the protection of our planet's animals.
Happy surfing!
One of my favorite science blogs is closing shop. Sciencewomen has always been on my blogroll and has been a constant source of chuckles, thought provoking essays, and a pool of encouragement for women (or ANYONE) in the sciences. I am sure many of us female science bloggers have Sciencewomen to thank for the confidence to blog at all. When I started reading ScienceWoman (before Alice jumped on board) I think she was like one of 3 or 4 women science bloggers I had come across. When they became the Sciencewomen I followed them over at ScienceBlogs. Now there are literally hundreds of women science writers out there! ScienceWoman and Alice really are being the change they wanted to see in the world. I know bigger and better things await them and they will be sorely missed in the blogosphere. Farewell, ladies!
Despite what we think in the United States, Malaria is still a problem in many parts of the world. This is especially true in some remote areas of Vietnam. A study published in PLoS ONE today studied the effectiveness of Long Lasting Insecticidal Hammocks (LLIH) as a tool for forest workers in these areas. There were approximately 20,000 people from 30 villages separated into 20 groups of 1,000. The groups were randomly chosen as controls (normal routine stuff), and the rest were givven the LLIH test.
After two years, the study showed that the groups deemed "intervention" clusters had an almost 2 times reduction in the rate of malaria cases. The control was at about 10.5 cases per 1,000 people while the LLIH group was 5.6 per 1,000. The significance of these numbers were still great even after factors of bed net use, age, forest activity and wealth were added into the mix.
These hammocks can really save on healthcare and save lives in developing countries!
According to the CDC website, 350-500 million cases of malaria occur each year. In 2002, malaria was the 4th leading cause of death for children in developing countries. Four Nobel prizes have been awarded to various scientists who have done studies on the disease.
Long-Lasting Insecticidal Hammocks for Controlling Forest Malaria: A Community-Based Trial in a Rural Area of Central Vietnam;
Ngo Duc Thang, Annette Erhart, Niko Speybroeck, Nguyen Xuan Xa, Nguyen Ngoc Thanh, Pham Van Ky, Le Xuan Hung, Le Khanh Thuan, Marc Coosemans, Umberto D'Alessandro
Photo licensed under Creative Commons from plastanka's photostream.
You may or may not remember, but last year I urged you to support any bloggers participating in the DonorsChoose challenge. This year there is a little friendly competition going on between the big poppa science blogs and us little blogs that belong to the Nature Blog Network. If you don't remember that either, I became a member November of last year. So I am in. I think we can take the bloggers at ScienceBlogs DOWN. Really, it's all in good fun and all for a good cause.
I selected fun science based projects that I think will really encourage children in America to not be so afraid of science. I also chose classrooms that are known to be in high poverty areas. Please try to donate. Even if it's five dollars. Many of the projects I picked have match donations by other foundations as well. If you donate through me, there may be something in it for you later as well. Not trying to bribe or anything. Just to let you know!
I will continue the status updates on this until the competition is over. Please give. If you want to know how DonorsChoose works, please follow this link.
Rainbow Photo credit and copyright: Terje O. Nordvik
(Picture courtesy of the NASA, Astronomy Picture of the Day Archive)
Many people today are touting that uncooked foods are the way to go, but is that necessarily true? In a new book by Dr. Richard Wrangham, primatologist at Harvard, the point he argues is that it is not. He even goes on to explain how cooking actually helped us separate and speed up our separation from Homo erectus to Homo sapiens. The book came out in May, but Dr. Wrangam was recently interviewed on NPR's Talk of the Nation and had some pretty interesting and compelling arguments.
The books is entitled Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human
As inevitable, a raw-foodist called in and asked a question: KATIE: I've recently been introduced to the raw food diet, and I was wondering what you think about that and if you think it's all a hoax.
Now, one of the best arguments he has for this was given as an answer he gave when being interviewed by Publishers Weekly:
RAEBURN: Go ahead, doctor(ph).
Dr. WRANGHAM: Well, thanks, Katie.
RAEBURN: Go ahead.
Dr. WRANGHAM: I mean, that's a great question. And I think that it - the funny thing about the raw food diet is that many of the proponents argue that it is the natural thing to do. And I'm quite sure that it's not the natural thing to do in the sense that we're not biologically adapted for it, because if you look at raw foodists nowadays, they lose weight on a raw food diet, even to the point where women, in the only large survey that is being done of this, turn out to stop menstruating in half the cases when they are on a 100 percent raw food diet, an indication of how little energy they have. The scientists conclude that raw food diets lead to chronic energy shortage.
So if you want to gain energy, if you're living in the Third World, like a third of the people in the world, very hungry, then you - the last thing you want is a raw diet. But in our society, a raw diet can have all sorts of advantages. It can help you control your weight, and it has other advantages, too, for some people. I mean, there's lots of benefits that people report.
Some people find that they get reductions in rheumatoid arthritis, for instance, some very specific things like that. But many people feel a greater sense of well being, more vitality - quite often, less pain. And I think partly, this is going to be due to just eating less, and partly it probably is due to the fact that some people may be allergic or have some kind of response to the chemicals that are produced in cooked food. So, it's a very personal thing. You know, for some people, raw diets can be terrific. It's just that, you know, don't think they're natural, they're not. Biologically, we are not well-adapted to raw foods. Our teeth and stomachs are small compared to those of chimpanzees or gorillas, because we don’t eat huge quantities of tough, high-fiber raw foods. Our large intestines are relatively small because we don’t have to retain and ferment raw food for hours. Humans don’t thrive on raw food—they lose weight, and women’s fertility is severely compromised.
You can read the entire transcript here. I plan on purchasing this book and giving a bit more insights to his arguments at a later date.
For the past two days I have had a bad headache. It actually started between my shoulder blades and crept its way up on to (yes it feels "on") my head while I was sleeping. I don't really know what causes them. Everyone has different warning signs for getting one. Since it shows no sign of letting up, I felt it was an appropriate time to write about migraines. Please remember, I am not a physician and this is just a post about what causes them and is not intended to diagnose or aid in treatment. Please seek advice from a professional. (WOW, that is a lot of legal jargon!)
Now, since my headache started between my shoulders, it is very easy to assume it is a tension headache. Besides, at first, I am pretty sure that is what all of my migraines start as. However, by the end of the day, I have full-blown migraine like symptoms. WebMD includes the following as a list of symptoms:
and a few more...
So what causes these things? Well, at the root of it, it appears to be hereditary. Four of five migraine sufferers had family members who also suffered from attacks. Mom, do you get real migraines?
Besides this, there are also certain triggers for certain people. I have enough to worry about avoiding my triggers for bipolar disorder, so I don't know if I have any. Regular exercise, eating healthy, and relaxation techniques can help with this. Believe it or not, taking medications for your headache may result in a rebound headache. Lucky for me, I hate pills.
Some of the foods that cause migraines, I hate to say, are some of my favorites. However, I will have you know that I haven't eaten anything on this list the past week.
Can you believe after all of this, I still haven't found the source. What is it that happens in your head that causes this pain? I even found out that 70% of all migraine sufferers are female and 60% of those women get them before menstruation. I am a woman but am not pre-menstruation so I am at a loss. What is it? I still don't know the secret "what." I have triggers, symptoms, histories, statistics, but no answer? Do you know?
If you want to find out more, check the links above or visit WebMD's migraine and headache page.
Well, kiddies, it's that time of year again. The Open Laboratory is accepting submissions. If you don't remember, I wrote about it last year. That is your hint to go look at an old post. The great thing about it is YOU get to help decide who gets published in this book. They take submissions of what you think is the greatest science writing on the web.
So click on the button above... you know you want to... and submit your favorite articles written since December 1st, 2008 that are about science. They can be essays, cartoons, art, poems, whatever! You can find out more here and see the 220+ submissions so far here.
What are you waiting for? Go submit something!
While carousing on a site where I have gotten some great science news in the past, I actually clicked the link on the right for Science News for Kids, and I must say, I WAS BLOWN AWAY! The site is run by Eureka Alert. Needless to say, the writing style is easy to understand, makes references to kids pop culture so that they can relate, and is really just great. Go see for yourself!
Some examples of recently published articles are:
In a continuation, it appears, of a post I did a while ago about why olive oil is good for your health, here is why olives are as well. The University of Granada and the University of Barcelona have teamed up to discover that a certain compound in olive skins, maslinic acid, actually significantly contributed to death of cells and inhibition of new cell growth in colon cancer. This acid, while found in many other medicinal plants, is in concentrations of up to 80% in olives.
According to another study, olives are also being considered in HIV treatments. The maslinic acid is also good, it appears, at inhibiting receptors in the virus that allow it to spread throughout the body. This study was also done by the University of Granada.
You can find the source articles here and here.
Olives are quite the wonder-fruit. This is quite exciting for those of you, like myself, who absolutely love olives of all types. Nothing like a good kalamata to go with your hummus!
Looking for more ways to use olives? A very easy way I like is simple, too. Make tapenade!
Easy Tapenade Recipe:
all kinds of pitted olives (about 8 ounces)
olive oil (eyeball it, I guess about 1-2 tbsp)
anchiovies or anchiovy paste (I use about a teaspoon of paste)
garlic (however much you like)
handfull of capers
juice of one lemon
some basil
Now you blend it all. Easy and so yum! What a great way to get your olive intake and this post was about science and food!
We all know the world's oceans are of great importance, but there were two articles that caught my attention today while carousing the web.
One article from Science Daily was about how marine algae can be used as a new source of biofuel. Since oil seems to be on everyone's minds these days, it is no wonder scientists are looking elsewhere for our fuel needs. The research I am speaking of was conducted at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego. This is an enormous undertaking and as was written in Science Daily:
The prospect of squeezing billions of gallons of biofuel oil from marine algae is enticing, but to transform tiny lime-green-colored plant-like organisms into a viable and realistic fuel option, they must be tested and grown on a massive scale. Intermediate-sized, and eventually immense, algae production sites will be required to produce an economically relevant quantity of algae-based oil for biodiesel fuel in cars, trucks, and airplanes.However, this is still a step in the right direction.
Finfish, mollusks, and crustaceans dominate aquaculture production; seafood exports generate more money for developing countries than meat, coffee, tea, bananas, and rice combined.
I really enjoyed doing my Animal News Snippets and other posts in that style. It really allows me to sum up some amazing things without having to spend all day on the computer! So without further ado, here is your update on general science (pretty much all kinds, not just animals like last time).
We all have our ups and downs. It is an inevitable part of being human (or any animal really, I KNOW Floyd is moody). Sometimes the ups don't last as long as we would like and it seems at times that the downs last forever. It's hard to do, but remembering the good is even more important during the downs than we realize. For some of us, however, the ups and downs spin out of control. They are not just situational highs and lows, they are emotional highs and lows so extreme we cannot control them. At all. I know many people think: 'they are YOUR emotions, how could you not control them?' but we can't at all.
The point I am trying to get to is a topic that is near and dear to me. This is a topic that requires me to admit something about my self I have only ever even mentioned (sort of) once on this blog before. I am bipolar. It's true. I have medical records dating back more than 13 years and covering various professionals that all agree. I'm stuck. There is no way around it. Well, there is LOTS of medication, but lithium almost killed my kidneys.
Why, all of a sudden, am I telling you this? Mostly, it is a way for me to teach something else science related while breaking down certain stigmas attached to this topic. Partially, it is to give myself a pep talk and to let me know that it is okay and not my fault. Weird, I know.
First and foremost, a definition:
According to One Look, bipolar means having two poles, like Earth. Throw on the word "disorder" to that (I really hate that word) and you get
▸ noun: a mental disorder characterized by episodes of mania and depression
fig. 1 episodesWhile the exact cause of bipolar disorder is not known, most scientists believe that bipolar disorder is likely caused by multiple factors that interact with each other to produce a chemical imbalance affecting certain parts of the brain. Bipolar disorder often runs in families, and studies suggest a genetic component to the illness. A stressful environment or negative life events may interact with an underlying genetic or biological vulnerability to produce the disorder. There are other possible "triggers" of bipolar episodes: the treatment of depression with an antidepressant medication may trigger a switch into mania, sleep deprivation may trigger mania, or hypothyroidism may produce depression or mood instability. It is important to note that bipolar episodes can and often do occur without any obvious trigger.This, in a nutshell, states that we really have NO CLUE! Somewhere, though, I have faulty wiring. How to fix faulty wiring? Well, we don't have little nanobot electricians (yet) but we can load up on chemicals.
and it was the first time I saw on paper what I had been trying to describe all along. I read it when I was about 14 years old and is one of the books that has deeply impacted me over the years. I began to talk more freely about my condition and found other people who thought they were alone as well. Until you know what you have, you feel as if everyone and everything is going crazy and you can't grasp why what you are doing and feeling is wrong. When you know, you can (occasionally) step back and say, "it's okay, it's just a swing." It is a bit hard to overcome, but I am driven and know that even if it takes me 10 years to finish my degree (I hope not) I will do it because this is what I love and I am not going to let my malfunctioning neuropathways stop me!In order to maintain body temperature, warm-blooded animals, including humans, continuously burn fat. It is believed that by burning more fats, people are less likely to become obese. Leslie Kozak and colleagues at Pennington Biomedical Research Center challenged this prevailing thought showing that burning less fat actually reduces the risk of obesity.
There is a lot more to this, including certain genes involved, but this is the gist: if you stay cool (i.e. don't move around) your body works hard to keep it's temperature up, thus, burning more fat. Sounds easy to me... now whether this actually works... we'll see. You can find out more at The Journal for Biological Chemistry.
programs at various schools and educate people on backyard butterfly gardening. This will explain why I am such an avid reader of Q's Corner, Bug Girl's Blog, and My Wildlife Sanctuary. You three give me hope for butterflies the world over... and your pictures, oh my!
© Blogger templates Palm by Ourblogtemplates.com 2008
Back to TOP
