I’m a MS-wielding microbiologist at a large government agency. I troubleshoot and develop protocols for molecular subtyping of bacterial foodborne pathogens.

Jessica Halpin, MS, LFHCfS
Research Microbiologist
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Atlanta, Georgia, USA

“Theoretical calculations have  become intricate, now including fluctuations in  fluctuations in fluctuations.”

A version of that essay is part of Nature magazine’s celebration of the 100th anniversary of Neils Bohr’s idea that the atom is a quantum beastie.

Greg Miller reports on the new work, in Wired:

Scientists Put Backpacks on Dragonflies to Track Their Brains in Flight

The brain of a dragonfly has to do some serious calculations — and fast — if it hopes to nab a mosquito or midge in midair. It has to predict the trajectory of its prey, plot a course to intersect it, then make adjustments on the fly to counteract any evasive maneuvers. Neuroscientist Anthony Leonardo created the tiny dragonfly backpack above to study how circuits of neurons do these computations. The backpack weighs 40 milligrams, about as much as a couple grains of sand, equal to just 10 percent of the dragonfly’s weight. Electrodes inserted into the dragonfly’s body and brain record the electrical activity of neurons, and a custom-made chip amplifies the signals and transmits them wirelessly to a nearby computer….

in 2005, the Ig Nobel peace prize was awarded to Claire Rind and Peter Simmons of Newcastle University, in the U.K., for electrically monitoring the activity of a brain cell in a locust while that locust was watching selected highlights from the movie “Star Wars.” [They described their research in the study "Orthopteran DCMD Neuron: A Reevaluation of Responses to Moving Objects. I. Selective Responses to Approaching Objects," F.C. Rind and P.J. Simmons, Journal of Neurophysiology, vol. 68, no. 5, November 1992, pp. 1654-66.]

“Effects of Makeup, Perfume and Skincare Product Usage and Hair Care Regimen on Circadian Typology, Sleep Habits and Mental Health in Female Japanese students Aged 18-30,” Risa Nishihara, Kai Wada, Osami Akimitsu, Milada Krejci, Teruki Noji, Miyo Nakade, Hitomi Takeuchi, Tetsuo Harada, Psychology, vol. 4, no. 3, March 2013. The authors, at Kochi University, Japan, the University of South Bohemia, Czech Republic, and Tokai Gakuen University, Japan, explain:

“The students who regularly carried out a hair care regimen showed a significantly lower frequency of becoming angry after a small trigger and of losing control due to anger than those who did not. Makeup, perfume and skin care products might be possible to be related to better sleep health for students. Moreover, hair care may help maintain mental health in female students. Makeup, perfume and skin care products might be implied to become chemical, mechanical and/or psychological stimuli as zeitgebers for circadian clock of students.”

(Thanks to investigator Neil Martin for bringing this to our attention.)

BONUS (probably unrelated): The corpse treatment patents assigned to Risa Nishihara (who may well be a different Risa Nishihara from the lead author of the hair care study)

“Our results challenge the widely held belief that mammals are incapable of extraocular circadian phototransduction. The overall temporal profile, as well as the magnitude of the phase shifts achieved with our extraocular light stimulus, is similar to those reported by investigators who used single-pulse, full-spectrum light stimuli presented to the eyes“

The professors’ discoveries were capitalised with a patent (granted in 2000) Non-ocular circadian clock resetting in humans.

NOTE: Just two months later, another US patent was issued (this time to Seki et al.) which incorporated a knee-light in an aircraft-seat for in-flight jet-lag remediation. (From which the illustration above is taken)

COMING SOON : ‘Extraocular Phototransduction: more than meets the eye? (part 2)’

1. Here’s a way we do NOT recommend:

2. Here’s one we do recommend. Corey Powell describes it as “The Most Amazing Map You’ll See Today (No Matter What Day It Is)“. It’s a 17-minute video with the slightly offputting title “Cosmography of the Local Universe“. Do not be offput. Powell further describes is at “the most amazing, three-dimensional map of the universe ever created”:

3. When you’ve seen ”Cosmography of the Local Universe“, and gotten a feel for the depths of the universe, you might want to spend the next few minutes, months, or years choosing to go pretty much wherever you like in the universe, zooming in, almost anywhere, for as much further detail as you can stand. Do that by using the WorldWide Telescope. (Thanks to Alyssa Goodman for bringing it to our attention.) In this TED Talk introduction, Roy Gould makes the modest suggestion that you explore the nooks and crannies of the universe:

“The hazard of being an English football league manager: empirical estimates for three recent league seasons,” R. Bachan, Barry Reilly, and Robert Witt [pictured here], Journal of the Operational Research Society, vol. 59, no. 7, 2008, pp. 884-91. The authors report:

“This paper uses data drawn from the English Football League to model separate hazard rates for club managers for the 2001/2, 2002/3 and 2003/4 seasons. On average over the three seasons, approximately one-third of managers involuntarily exited employment status with their club. We model the hazard using a standard logistic model exploiting information on the spell at risk rather than the individual. The role of neglected heterogeneity is also examined using random and fixed effects logistic models within a discrete-time setting. League position at the start of the spell at risk is found to be the most important determinant of a manager’s involuntary exit. A variety of individual specific human capital and other covariates are found to be unimportant in determining the hazard and no role for unobservable heterogeneity as captured by random effects is detected.”

“Sizing and Fit of Men’s Underwear,” Taihesia Altovise Ross, master’s degree thesis, North Carolina State University, 2005.

The author begins by saying: ”Although my name is attached to this thesis I must admit that God has been the true author; because every word, table and figure have only been made possible through Him.”

She finishes with these words: ”Of the 67% of respondents that were dissatisfied with underpants, most (35%) wore a size large.”

and

“Exploring the decision-making process of men’s branded underwear consumers,” Rosanna Shouli, master’s degree thesis, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2007. The author reports:

“The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of involvement, brand loyalty, and gender in the purchase of men’s branded underwear… interviews were conducted with fifteen department store shoppers… The majority of participants were either high involvement/brand loyal, or low involvement/not loyal.”