Science is So Sexy...

A boy and his Atom - the smallet movie...

noreply@blogger.com (Esmeralda Vermeulen) — Thu, 02 May 2013 16:51:00 +0000

Far from advertising IBM, this mini-movie had to find its place on SSS!!! Have a look

See you soon for more SSS,

So Sexy Sciencey Things on Pinterest #9

noreply@blogger.com (Esmeralda Vermeulen) — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 11:44:00 +0000

My Dear Sexy Readers,

Today is the 100th day of the year 2013!!!

To celebrate it, I would like to share with you my latest snapshot of my SSS Pinterest board with a focus on Vinegar to remind you that our Did you Know Serie is well underway and the latest instalement, the 5th already!!!, was on the fabulous uses of Vinegar ;)

For more Pinterest, check out the Collection of So Sexy Sciencey Things

See you Soon for more SSS,

Did you Know? #5 - the amazing Vinegar

noreply@blogger.com (Esmeralda Vermeulen) — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 11:43:00 +0000

My Dear Sexy Readers,

For this week's Did you Know SSS - sexy short subject - we will have a look at the amazing usefulness of vinegar! We started this new serie, appropriately with egg as the sexy short subject, going through egg as a baking ingredient, what's an emulsion, how to make a mayonnaise and why lemon juice or vinegar are added to it, but for our 5th episode:

Vinegar is the ideal house cleaning companion to get rid of lime scale

In fact, Vinegar has 1000s of use, like this website is explaining but what I'm interested in really is how vinegar works to remove lime scale.

Vinegar is a diluted (in water) version of acetic acid CH3COOH.
Limescale is a precipitate of calcium carbonate CaCO3

By adding them together:

2 CH3COOH + CaCO3

(CH3COO)2Ca + H 20 + CO2

The resulting product (CH3COO)2Ca is soluble in water and therefore easy to wash away!

Did you Know Collection

See you soon for more SSS,

Pint of Science - A Science Festival in Pubs

noreply@blogger.com (Esmeralda Vermeulen) — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 13:39:00 +0000

My Dear Sexy Readers,

Today, I am inviting you all to an amazing event called Pint of Science. This is a Science Festival happening across 15 pubs in London, Oxford and Cambridge on the 14th, 15th and 16th of May and it's free - apart from your pint ;).

The concept is simple, you choose you favourite pub from the list, you order your pint or other drink and you listen to an amazing speaker talk about the latest technology or the latest science discovery! The only thing you hope is not to overdo the drinks or else you won't remember the sexy science you learnt ;)

One of the organiser who came up with the idea for this innovative science festival is a friend of mine, Dr Praveen Paul. Here is what she has to say about this unusual pub crawl:

As a neuroscientist I’ve spent most of my career looking at brains and brain cells. In the lab we grow brain cells in a dish and use lots of different methods to study them; but when I tell my friends about it they think I do something really complicated or picture something from a science-fiction movie. Equally, as a basic scientist who researches what goes wrong in brain cells, I am quite removed from the people who may be affected by the condition that I am studying.

Last year, Michael Motskin and I decided to change this perception and bring people who are actually affected by brain disorders to the labs to see what we do with the brains and cells we have. In September 2012 in the Division of Brain Sciences at Imperial College London, we hosted a very successful ‘meet the neuroscientist’ day, with 100 people living with or affected by Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, motor neurone disease and multiple sclerosis (MS). They saw our labs, we showed them what their condition looks like in a real brain, the techniques we use, and we explained the logic of our experiments.

Personally we found the experience enlightening – as basic scientists we are remote from the people affected by the conditions we are studying, and visitors to the lab were equally enlightened, surprised and pleased that we were working on fighting and understanding these conditions.

We wanted to do a similar thing on a bigger scale with more people and in a friendly atmosphere that would encourage debate. Thus we started Pint of Science, a new science festival that would do just that - in a traditional British setting, the pub!

We started by recruiting 15 teams across London, Oxford and Cambridge and our only instructions were: “find three brilliant and inspiring speakers from your university that you would love to hear a talk from and a nice pub to host them. Be bold and audacious!”

The festival has events in 15 pubs across London, Cambridge and Oxford on the 14^th, 15^th and 16^th May 2013. The five universities which are involved are: Imperial College London, University College London, King’s College London, University of Oxford and University of Cambridge.

To offer a variety of talks we chose to focus on three topics: Brain (e.g. neurodegeneration, addiction, sleep and mental health), Body (e.g. genetics, aging, cancer and stem cells) and Biotechnology (e.g. artificial intelligence, biomechanics and computer modelling).

We’ve got some really incredible speakers that I’m really excited to hear! Professor David Nutt, Professor Paul Newman and Professor Chris Lowe are just some of the speakers giving talk in Pint of Science festival.

I am sure you will find a talk that inspires you, something interesting that you’ve always wondered about and would like to chat about with the world experts. This is your chance! Have a look at the website, pick a talk or subject, book a free place and come to the pub to grab an opportunity to ask questions, give your insights and pick those brains over a beer J

Key details:

www.pintofscience.com

Tuesday 14^th May to Thursday 16^th May 2013 (from 7pm)

Locations: pubs in London, Cambridge and Oxford

5 universities, 3 days, 3 topics, over 50 speakers and over 50 volunteers and 1000s of people who will be scientifically enriched!

The event is free but you will require a ticket to get in, see website for details.

Facebook and twitter links can be found on our website.
www.facebook.com/pintofscience www.twitter.com/pintofscience

You can receive and follow Pint Of Science updates on Twitter at @pintofscience or on Facebook www.facebook/PintOfScience

See you soon for more Sexy Science,

Why Does Cancer Treatment Often Make Your Hair Fall Out?

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Arabella) — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 10:23:00 +0000

Dear SSS Readers,

During the week, a friend and I were chatting about an elderly lady who has recently been diagnosed with breast cancer. Luckily, the diagnosis was made very early and the outlook for treatment is promising. Unfortunately, she has found out that she will most likely lose her hair as a result of the chemotherapy. I am sure you have all heard of this scenario before. My friend, knowing that I am working with cancer cells in my job, asked me why this was.

So why do people often lose their hair when they are on chemotherapy?

These days, cancer is unfortunately a part of our lives, and despite major advances in diagnostics and therapy, this disease is still a major cause of death all over the world.

Since this is not the first time someone (myself included) has wondered about hair loss and chemotherapy, I thought it would be an interesting topic to share with all our SSS readers :)

To write this post, I've touched on several topics, from cells to genes and DNA to cancer, and if anyone wants to know more or discuss any of these topics further, I would welcome comments and suggestions for future posts :)

Enjoy the post!!

Karen

What are Cells?

As many of you may know, our bodies are composed of billions of building blocks called cells.

These cells are the functioning units of our body ensuring that we can live and breathe, fight infection, see, hear, digest our food, reproduce and do all the other things that humans (and plants, animals and bugs do!).

Different types of cells make up different organs (e.g. liver, heart, kidney, lungs), which in turn contribute to different systems (e.g. circulatory, reproduction, immune system), meaning that correct cellular function is absolutely essential for survival.

The picture below shows how human skin cells look under the microscope. You will never observe this kind of structure and organisation when you look at your skin because the cells are so tiny, and not visible to the naked eye. Each cell in the picture is about 40,000 times smaller than it looks! Within each cell are specialised compartments (called organelles) which drive the various functions of the cell.

Diagram 2 below is a typical cartoon drawing of the inside of a human cell where you can see all the organelles and in particular the nucleus containing the DNA. Each cell has a single nucleus, and each nucleus contains exactly the same DNA. The criss-crossed shapes inside the nucleus are the chromosomes. We can come back to cell structure and function in more detail in later posts if you would like to know more about this!

Diagram 2

How then can we get so many different cell types, if they all appear to be the same and contain the same DNA?

We have eye cells, skin cells, hair cells, liver cells, blood cells, kidney cells and the list goes on!

The simple answer to this is that although each cell has the same genes, different cell types use different genes. In this way, you could think of the genes as switches, with certain switches off and other switches on at any given time.

This system of having genes switched on and off in different cell types allows, for example, the cells in our eyes to control our vision so that we can see, while cells in our liver work hard to remove the toxins that build up when we drink alcohol.

However impressive our cells are, they do not live forever, and as they get old, they lose the ability to function as well as they used to, and they will eventually die and be replaced with new cells. This process is perfectly normal, and in fact, a great example of this is in our skin cells (Diagram 1), which are continuously being replaced with new healthy cells.

The controlled death of old cells and the generation and growth of new cells is all down to the action of genes.

A cell needs nutrients in order to grow and divide and this we provide in the lab. The requirements for a cell to grow and divide in the body are very similar. A major requirement for cell division is the building blocks to make new DNA so that new cells (known as daughter cells) contain an exact copy of the DNA so that they too can function correctly and control their own cell division later on (shown in Diagram 3).

Diagram 3: A parent cell replicates or copies it DNA content before dividing into 2 identical daughter cells, each new cell containing the exact same DNA as the original parent cell.

This division of cells needs to be tightly controlled in order to both prevent cell overgrowth (which can result in warts, skintags and cancer) and also to make sure that we have enough cells to deal with injury (in the case of a healing wound where cells grow very fast). There are many genes present in the cells which are switched on and off in a controlled manner to coordinate cell division.
If these genes fail to work correctly, or are switched on or off at the wrong times, cell division will become uncontrolled and cancer can result.

Cancer

From what you've read above, you can probably imagine that a tumour is simply an overgrowth of cells. This overgrowth can occur for many reasons, and scientists are still trying to work out all the causes. Some people are born with genetic mutations that may make them more likely to develop cancer in their lifetime. One example of this is breast cancer, which is said to run in families (however, not always). Other cancer types are caused by sporadic damage to the genes from exposure to UV (damaging rays in the sunlight), cancer-causing agents in cigarettes and other agents known to cause mutations. The process of cell aging can also contribute to mutations, and this explains why we see so much cancer today - people are living longer than they did many years ago.

Since cancer cells usually have an altered cell division program, and tend to rapidly divide to make up a tumour or to spread, they will have an even greater need for material to make new DNA and new cellular organelles than healthy cells.

This characteristic of cancer cells is quite often exploited in chemotherapy approaches, whereby drugs are used to treat cancer.

Some cancer drugs are made to look like (or mimic) building blocks of DNA molecules. We will call this type of drugs nucleotide mimics, since nucleotides are the building blocks of DNA. Nucleotides are used to make new DNA molecules when a cell is doubling it's DNA during DNA replication before cell division as seen in Diagram 4. The DNA molecule looks like an open scissors during DNA replication, when nucleotides are added in to make the chain longer (see left hand side of Diagram 4).

Since cancer cells divide rapidly, they have an increased demand for cellular building blocks, including nucleotides, since the DNA must double or replicate before each cell division. When nucleotide mimics are given to patients with cancer, they will be taken into the rapidly dividing cancer cells and will cause serious problems during DNA replication. Unfortunately, these drugs can also be used during DNA replication in rapidly growing healthy cells, such as the cells that produce hair, leading to hair loss.

For a closer look at what's going on with nucleotide mimics, Diagram 4 shows two scenarios. On the left, we see normal nucleotides (which are shown as the letters A, G, C or T). These are taken up into the DNA molecule during cell division. What's important to note here is that each nucleotide has a yellow cap at the end, and this allows addition of the following nucleotide and therefore building of a 'chain'. On the right, we see a scenario where nucleotide mimics are present (marked by arrows). Notice that these look very similar to the normal nucleotides, but have an orange cap instead of a yellow. The cell now has a mixture of nucleotides to use, those with yellow caps and those with orange caps. The mimics are similar enough to be taking up into the DNA molecule, but the orange cap prevents them from making a chain of nucleotides and so the 'chain' gets broken, and correct cell division cannot occur. This causes cells to die.

Diagram 4. DNA replication

Healthy cells, who have a 'normally' controlled pattern of cell division can recognise that there is a problem when the nucleotide mimics are present, and they can slow down to fix this problem. However, cancer cells are dividing so fast and uncontrolled that they cannot 'put the brakes on' to fix the damage, and therefore will most likely die after a few rounds of cell division.

This trick with using nucleotide mimics sounds very clever, and it is in fact one of the most clever chemotherapeutic strategies to date (in my own opinion). Several other similar strategies exist, whereby the drugs consist of molecules that mimic cellular nutrients. However, all with all drugs, these have side effects. One such side effect is that these types of drugs can also have effects on some of the body's healthy cells, in particular those that divide very rapidly. This is where the hair loss comes in. The cells that grow hair are found in the hair follicle (Diagram 5). The matrix stem cells are rapidly dividing giving rise to new hair cells all the time, and so they too have a high demand for materials, nutrients etc. Because of this, they end up 'tricked' into using the chemotherapy drugs, and this causes the hair to fall out.

Diagram 5: Hair follicle

But the good news is, that unlike cancer cells, the cells of the hair matrix are healthy, and will usually quickly recover, so if someone loses their hair due to chemotherapy, it will almost always grow back when the treatment is over :)

I hope you have all enjoyed this post, and please just write if you have more questions.

Happy Easter to all!

References

Cancer Research UK website
http://education.technyou.edu.au/

Wikipedia
http://www.baileybio.com

www.macmillan.org.uk
Hair follicle: Morgan, 2006. Upending the Hair Follicle. Nature Genetics 38:273-274. DOI: 10.1038/ng0306-273

So Sexy Sciencey Things on Pinterest #8

noreply@blogger.com (Esmeralda Vermeulen) — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 18:06:00 +0000

My Dear Sexy Readers,

Here is my special Easter snapshot of Pinterest SSS board with a close up on Eggs. Beautiful, colorful or simply deliciously chocolatey eggs!

For more Pinterest, check out the Collection of So Sexy Sciencey Things

See you soon for more SSS,

Did you Know? #4 - Vinegar and lemon juice as Preservatives

noreply@blogger.com (Esmeralda Vermeulen) — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 08:46:00 +0000

My Dear Sexy Readers,

Let's resume our serie "Did you Know". Last time we looked at how to make a mayonnaise and by understanding the chemical process behind it, how not to make a mess out of it! Today we are going to look at other ingredients we can add to a mayonnaise:

Vinegar, lemon juice and salts are used as natural preservatives

Lemon juice, vinegar and salt create an unfriendly environment for bacteria to slow down or stop their growth.

Bacteria need a wet environment to grow in. By adding salt to a product which will absorb all the humidity, you will basically dry it. This dry environment will be a bad niche for bacteria to grow and indeed can even be deadly for them!!

Lemon juice contains citric acid and vinegar, acetic acid, which both create an acidic environment where bacteria will not like for their growth...
(Note: Citric acid is added to cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, drinks and food.)

For more on this serie, check out the Did you Know Collection

See you soon for more SSS ,

So Sexy Sciencey Things on Pinterest #7

noreply@blogger.com (Esmeralda Vermeulen) — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 21:51:00 +0000

My Dear Sexy Readers,

Here is a snapshot of Pinterest SSS board with a focus on chocolate. Don't forget to have a read on SSS previous post on "Chocolate Spread Recipe for Disaster?".

Pinterest SSS #8

You can also check out SSS Pinterest Collection and follow the SSS board if you too are on Pinterest ;)

See you Soon for more SSS,

Did you Know? #3 - Mayonnaise

noreply@blogger.com (Esmeralda Vermeulen) — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 14:56:00 +0000

My Dear Sexy Readers,

We shall resume our new serie entitled "Did you Know" of posts inspired by one another. This idea for a SSS serie came to me when I, once again, got lost on google and wikipedia searching for one thing and ending up 2 hours later reading something completely different!!! lol

A mayonnaise is an emulsion of oil into egg yolk and an acid

Here is a quick recipe for a mayonnaise:
290 mL oil (groundnut, vegetable, olive (to taste))
2 egg yolks
1 table spoon mustard (optional)
1 table spoon lemon juice/white vinegar (to taste)
salt, pepper (to taste)

Mix all ingredients but the oil, beat together until well combined
Drizzle oil to mix while whisking away. Don't stop whisking until all oil is added.

From HERE, Phase A is your mix of egg yolk/mustard/lemon, Phase B is your oil.

As soon as the oil is introduced (figA), its droplets should be immediately dispersed into the egg yolk mix (figD). The emulsion then appears white because of the way the light is deviated equally on the phases. If you don't mix well, you will obtain something similar as in figure B which eventually will separate into your two phases like in figure C.

Season it with salt and pepper, or any other herbs...

You can now check out the Did you Know collection

See you soon for more SSS,

So Sexy Sciencey Things on Pinterest #6

noreply@blogger.com (Esmeralda Vermeulen) — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 16:15:00 +0000

My Dear Sexy Readers,

Here is SSS latest Pinterest board snapshot with a focus on DNA. If you'd like to know more about DNA, what it is, why do we need it, what does it do, check out this awsome post featuring brilliant and talented blogger.

Pinterest SSS #6

Also, if you are interested in short easy facts to remember, I have started a new serie entitled "Did you Know?", it's basically a serie of quick science facts linked between each other, a bit like when you research something on Wikipedia and end up 2 hours later on a different page you can't remember how you ended up there! Come over have a look, and maybe make a suggestion as to the next linked one ;)

Science So Sexy Pinterest collection

See you soon for more SSS,

Science is So Sexy?

noreply@blogger.com (Esmeralda Vermeulen) — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 15:33:00 +0000

My Dear Sexy Readers,

In case you don't believe me when I tell you that finding a geeky student with oversized goggles on is difficult in a science lab, check out this list of these 50 Sexy Scientists. Not only their Science is Sexy but they are not bad to look at either ;)

See you soon for more SSS,

Chocolate Spread Recipe for Disaster?

noreply@blogger.com (Esmeralda Vermeulen) — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 16:53:00 +0000

My Dear Sexy Readers,

I was at a pastry shop with some friends from my native Belgium and we somehow got to talk about chocolate spreads. My friend explained to me that there was a massive boycott against a famous chocolate spread (my faaaaaaavourite miam miam!!) because it contains palm oil which causes cancer! :/

Of course, this is again one of those affirmations that really needs to be clarified because I haven't heard that there has been studies showing this! So I told them I would look into it...

Chocolate spread ingredients

Mine (because yes, I do ALWAYS have one jar on the go!) says it contains:

Sugar, Vegetable oil, Hazelnuts (13%), Fat-reduced cocoa (7.4%), Skimmed milk powder (6.6%), Whey powder, emulsifier (Lecithin of soya), Vanillin.

Note: If you're wondering what an emulsifier is, I'm writing "Did you Know #3" post about this, There's already a little bit of info here: Did you Know #2

So, we all know what's skimmed milk powder, cocoa, hazelnut, sugar and vanillin (component of vanilla extract).

Whey Powder is a left over product from the production of cheese from cow's milk. It is used as a nutritional supplement. It is the liquid remaining after the milk has curdled. Research shows that whey proteins are highly beneficial for your health, immunity, cancer, infection, learning and aging to name but a few (Krissansen, 2007).

We are left with the dubious name Vegetable oil which could be anything from olive oil to grapeseed oil. The problem that people have here is that sometimes it stands for palm oil and manufacturers deliberately hide the palm oil name under vegetable oil for transparency (see below).

Palm oil

From HERE

Extracted from the red pulp of the palm tree fruit, it makes a reddish oil that is rich in saturated fats.

The difference between monounsaturated fats, polyunsaturated fats and saturated fats has been covered in a previous post entitled "Olive oil, better than butter?".

In brief, the type of fats that you ingest will influence the metabolism of cholesterol in your body such that ingesting:

Saturated fats increase LDL and HDL synthesis

MonoUnsaturated fats decrease LDL and maintain HDL synthesis

PolyUnsaturated fats decrease LDL but in too much quantity can decrease HDL synthesis

TransFat increase LDL and decrease HDL synthesis

The choice between LDL and HDL synthesis is crucial for your health as only HDL transport the cholesterol to its final destination, such as the liver. The LDL, when in too many numbers cannot be taken up by the cells and are eaten by macrophages. Those macrophages form plaques that are trapped in the blood walls and cause all the undesired effects that we know such as heart attacks and strokes.

=> Hence, the vulgarized translation HDL=Good cholesterol and LDL=Bad cholesterol.

Usually oils are rich in mono and poly-unsaturated fats which make them better for your health than say butter. Here, Palm oil is rich in saturated fats and is definitely not as good!

As in everything (except smoking which is bad even in small doses), doses matter. Don't go on binge eating butter, chocolate spread nor olive oil, it cannot be good!!!

Carcinogen?

But can it cause cancer, like my friend was saying she heard?

To this day, there is no scientific studies showing adverse effects of palm oil and palmitic acid
(Fattore and Fanelli, 2013). Quite the contrary according to many studies as palm oil could have anti-proliferative effects against melanoma or other types of tumours (Komarasamy and Sekaran, 2012), be natural anti-inflammatory drugs due to their high content in tocotrienol (Nesaretnam and Meganathan, 2011), etc etc... The scientific litterature is Rich with studies showing the many health benefits of components of palm oil.

Why the fuss then?

The problem here is not a scientific one but an ethical one.

But we are so afraid of the word cancer, whatever is said to cause cancer, we try to stay away from it - unless it is alcohol or cigarettes it seems.... So it's easier to spread a rumour that this chocolate spread is bad because it contains carcinogenic palm oil than explaining the truth.

The truth is that palm oil business is MASSIVE and to make space to all these palm trees from which the oil will be extracted and purified, a LOT of rainforests have been destroyed in Indonesia and Malaysia to name but a few countries and this of course has had a big incidence on the living conditions of some animal species. As a result, orangutans are on the verge of extinction!

Now because this is not a scientific matter, I'd prefer staying clear of this ethical question and refer those of you who are interested in this to this website which explains a little bit more about it.

Please note that although this article is about chocolate spread, Palm oil is in a LOT of products, you can find a list of which on this website.

References

Krissansen, J Am Coll Nutr. (2007) 26(6): 7135-7235. Emerging Health properties of Whey proteins and their clinical implications.

Fattore and Fanelli,Int. J. Food Sci Nutr. (2013). Palm oil and palmitic acid: A review on cardiovascular effects and carcinogenicity.

Nesaretnam and Meganathan, Ann N Y acad Sci (2011) 1229:18-22. Tocotrienol: Inflammation and cancer.

Komarasamy and Sekaran, J. Oleo Sci.(2012) 61(4):227-39. The anti-prolitive effects of palm oil-derived products and its mode of actions in human malignantmelanoma MeWo cells.

See you soon for more SSS,

Did you Know? #2 - Eggs in cakes

noreply@blogger.com (Esmeralda Vermeulen) — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 16:27:00 +0000

My Dear Sexy Readers,

Our new SSS DYK serie is on its way with the first instalment being on how do we know if eggs are still edible, but...

Eggs are part of cake recipes for their emulsification, coagulation and foaming properties.

An emulsion is a mix of two ingredients that are not normally mixable like water and oil. An emulsifier helps the mix to "stick" together.

From HERE

Egg yolk and mustard are food emulsifiers (detergents are another type of emulsifiers and are called surfactants. For more info on detergents, check out SSS previous mini-serie on What's in your shampoo?). Eggs in cakes help the fats to stay dispersed in the mix which promotes thickening of the mixture.
When eggs are heated, they bind the ingredients together and give the smooth texture.
Also responsible for these delicious taste buds sensations is the Lecithin protein in egg yolk which reduces the moisture loss, therefore contributing to the softness. The egg whites also give texture and lightness thanks to their foaming capabilities.
For more info on cake making, check out this previous SSS post on the difference between baking powder and yeast .

Did you Know collection

See you soon for more SSS ;)

So what would you like to be when you grow up?

noreply@blogger.com (Esmeralda Vermeulen) — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 14:08:00 +0000

My Dear Sexy Readers,

Who said that Science wasn't cool anymore, that our young generation is not interested in it? Maybe it is so, but things might change soon as 15yo Jack Andraka takes over the scientific world with his inventive cancer diagnostic tool!!

So because he is only 15, it would be highly inappropriate to call him sexy, let's just say he is soooo cool, he blew everyone's mind by imagining an easy to use, extra cheap and super sensitive special piece of paper that would detect if you are developing pancreatic cancer (but also ovarian, lung and maybe breast cancers). And the best, how did he work that out? By using information found on Google!!!!!!! So? Isn't that cool?
You can read more about it, here!
In brief, his project is a new dipstick type diagnostic test for pancreatic cancer using a novel paper sensor, similar to that of the diabetic test strip. This strip tests for the level of mesothelin, a pancreatic cancer biomarker, in blood or urine, to determine whether or not a patient has early-stage pancreatic cancer. He says the test is also effective for detecting ovarian and lung cancer, due to the same mesothelin biomarker they have in common.

See you soon for more Cool and SS Science,

Scientists = Science Artists?

noreply@blogger.com (Esmeralda Vermeulen) — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 12:02:00 +0000

My Dear Sexy Readers,

I've always wondered if being a scientist wasn't closer to being an artist than most people think! I mean we have to be creative and imaginative in our experiment designs. Most of all, we have to find a meaning in each result which is something that sometimes resembles finding a meaning out of a black and white canvas - in more ways than you think ;)!

The Vitruvian man by Leonardo Da Vinci

Youtube is full of videos on science, but some are so good, they make us smile because the person(s) who did them captured so well the spirit and the scientist eternal frustration. Recently, I stumbled upon this one on FB. It just shows how life as a scientist is governed by how well our experiments go and by funding

See you Soon for more SSS,

So Sexy Sciencey Things on Pinterest #5

noreply@blogger.com (Esmeralda Vermeulen) — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 15:56:00 +0000

My Dear Sexy Readers,

Here is today's Pinterest SSS/Valentine board snap shot:

You can follow my Science So Sexy board on Pinterest or have a look at the links here below to get to my previous boards snap shots. Thank you for visiting SSS and following me on the different social media platforms (check out the links on the right).

Science So Sexy Pinterest collection:
SSS #1
SSS #2
SSS #3
SSS #4
SSS #5

See you soon,

Did you know? A new SSS serie - #1 - Fresh eggs sink

noreply@blogger.com (Esmeralda Vermeulen) — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 12:23:00 +0000

My Dear Sexy Readers,

Have you ever got lost on google or wikipedia? You got there to find out something and 2 hours later you were still on it but you got so side tracked reading interesting stuff you forgot why you were there in the first place? That is exactly why I'm starting this brand new serie on linked SSS (Short Sexy Subjects) we knew once and we forgot about, as well of SSS (Super Sexy Science) facts.
Well here is my chance to try to make you forget about work and stuff and get lost right here on SSS :)

Fresh eggs sink in fresh water while rotten eggs float.

As time goes, water vapours and gases escape from the porous egg shell. This makes the egg to decompose and the yolk to shrink, making the air pocket grow bigger. This new free space is filled by more and more ambiant air that filters in.

From HERE

The more air it contains, the more it floats.
So a fresh egg will completely sink at the bottom of a bowl of fresh water (no salt added like when you're cooking - here is why). As the days go by, the egg will start tilting on its small angle with its wide angle (where the air pocket is) floating. When the egg becomes stale, the air pocket is so important it will make the egg floats.
Here you go, SSS readers, to illustrate this first SSS Did you Know, I found you a cool video:

Did you Know Collection

See you soon for more SSS :)

So Sexy Sciencey Things on Pinterest #4

noreply@blogger.com (Esmeralda Vermeulen) — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 16:08:00 +0000

My Dear Sexy Readers,

I hope you are all keeping well, thank you for visiting again SSS.
Don't forget that I'm open to requests as to what you'd like to know more about, so feel free to drop me a line in the comments section, on SSS Facebook Page, or elsewhere SSS is.
For this week Pinterest SSS board, we have varied sexy pins, a close up on Neurons, on kidney stones, on a snow flake, a match, sperm and soap... Ah ah...

Pinterest SSS #4

Science So Sexy Pinterest collection

See you soon for more SSS,

Eating healthy to be healthy never rang so true - An onion story

noreply@blogger.com (Esmeralda Vermeulen) — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 16:23:00 +0000

Dear Sexy Readers,

Out with friends and talking about the fact that we are all coming down with a cold or other illness at the moment, my friend M. then replied that he hasn't fallen ill in 3 years because he has been regularly eating rings of raw onions! I just looked at him and said "What the Hell are you talking about? Dude, that's probably a myth" and thought to myself "Jeez, I need to check that out for my SSS peeps"...
BTW, Onions have previously made the SSS team when we looked at why we cry when we chop them, check it out ;)

Onions, your best winter friend?
Why, first I googled it and what did I find? An amazing old wive's tale whereby cut onions left in rooms would protect inhabitants from illnesses. While you can read accounts of people of how they recovered from pneumonia after leaving half an onion pierced with a fork in a glass on their bedside table, there is no scientific proof to show that onions can actually absorb bacteria and viruses and free your room of these (after all) non-airborne germs!!
What you can find however regarding the consumption of onions is a division in "beliefs" with one party (non-scientific one) that claims that eating onions - that have absorbed germs - is bad for your health and will transfer the germs to your body and the other party (scientific one) that doesn't refute the potential boost onions can give to your immunity in the fight against germs.

Onions - anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory wonders
Turned out that many ingredients in your kitchen have health benefits such as garlic and turmeric to name but a few!
But I think first we need to look at what is an anti-oxidant and what the fuss is all about:

Antioxidant
An antioxidant by definition prevents oxidation. Oxidation reactions in our body are essential but some of them produce free radicals. Those free radicals can cause serious damage by messing with the structure of big molecules that are necessary for the fitness of your system. That is why it is important to get rid of them, but an imbalance between those free radicals and your antioxidants can lead to the development of diseases.

From HERE

Anti-inflammatory
As its name says, it reduces inflammation. Inflammation is the response of our body to infection/injury. In the case of an injury or an external inflammation such as acne and dermatitis, the 4 typical signs of inflammation at a site are being red, hot, painful and swollen. But inflammatory diseases also include allergies, cancer, atherosclerosis, appendicitis etc...

From HERE

My onions
So what is it exactly that is so good for you! Well in fact in onions there are 3 goodnesses called Quercetin, Kaempferol and Myricetin. These are what scientists call Flavonols.
FYI: Flavonol are part of a big family, the Flavonoids, and its sister Flavanal is found in dark chocolate (and gives its bitterness).
You can find Flavonols in fruits, vegetables, leaves and grains but they are present at their highest concentrations in onions, tea, apples, berries, kale and broccoli. You can also find them as supplemented ingredients in food, mostly as preservatives.
Quercetin is most abundant in onions and apples.
In terms of magic wonders, Kaempferol has been shown to reduce the risk of developing disorders such as cancer and cardiovascular diseases for their properties as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, anticancer, cardioprotective, neuroprotective, antidiabetic, antiosteoporotic, anxiolytic, analgesic and antiallergic.
Myricetin, also present in red wine, has antioxidant properties and some research suggests that it could help keep your cholesterol low.
Also a big study on people diet habits has shown that smokers had a lower risk of developing pancreatic cancer (both are linked) if they were including flavonol rich foods such as onions (and therefore a combination of these 3 flavonols) and apples (Nöthlings et al, 2007).

Raw or cooked?
As far as the studies go, there was no distinction between the two so I can only assume that it doesn't matter. In fact, in this paper, patients had to fill a form that listed several foods, including apple (ie.uncooked) and onions as such or as part of a mixed cooked dishes (Nöthlings et al, 2007).

Onion soup recipe
Waiting to hear from fellow bloggers for theirs, here is one out of the bbc good food website!

Here you go my dear sexy readers, Come back soon for some more SSS,

References
Wikipedia
Nöthlings et al, Am J Epidemiol 2007; 166: 924-931
Diplock et al., Br J Nutr 1998; 80 Supp1: S77-112
Tapsell et al., Med J Aust 2006; 185 Supp4: S4-24

So Sexy Sciencey Things on Pinterest #3

noreply@blogger.com (Esmeralda Vermeulen) — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 15:32:00 +0000

My Dear Sexy readers,

Here is a snapshot of my Pinterest Science So Sexy board, feel free to come and visit, alternatively I will post regularly a snapshot of all the wonderful things I found on Pinterest and is science related.

I know a lot of you know Pinterest but I'm sure you never check out the science section so here is my bit of sharing it to the world

Pinterest SSS #3

Science So Sexy Pinterest collection:
SSS #1
SSS #2
SSS #3
SSS #4

See you soon,

So Sexy Sciencey Things on Pinterest #2

noreply@blogger.com (Esmeralda Vermeulen) — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 14:05:00 +0000

My Dear Sexy Readers,

Here is a shot of my SSS board. Feel free to come and visit me on Pinterest.

Pinterest SSS #2

Science So Sexy Pinterest collection:
SSS #1
SSS #2
SSS #3
SSS #4

Feeling rough and dehydrated? Oh why?

noreply@blogger.com (Esmeralda Vermeulen) — Tue, 01 Jan 2013 16:39:00 +0000

Dear Sexy Readers,
(... Although I guess right now you don't feel very sexy... Did you overdo it?)

First and foremost:

I hope you all had a wonderful Xmas and partied hard for New Year!!! Let's welcome Sexy 2013, yeahhhhh...
So let's kick off this new year by looking at why the hell you all feel your skin is going to crack and what you should do about it!
Is the culprit alcohol? Coffee? Whatever happened last night, you swear that you'll never do it again? I bet you are not alone...

Why is my skin dry?
Well, simply because alcohol and coffee are diuretics. Meaning that they make you pee! and the more you drink the more you pee, but you pee more than what you drank: Your body is actually losing its own water. The result is that your mouth is the driest, your scalp is flaky, your face is about to crack and your hands are rough!

Diuretic?
A diuretic is something that promotes the formation of urine by the kidney. They do so by diverse means that disturb the balance between the kidney and electrolytes (sodium, chloride and potassium) normally absorbed.
Alcohol also reduces the production of a hormone called vasopressin. The role of that hormone is to tell your kidney to reabsorb water and not flush it out through the bladder. So if alcohol reduces that signal, the door to your bladder is wide open and just fills up with fluid!

How to avoid it?
Well well,... By not drinking? Or you could slightly counteract the effect by alternating your drinks with pints of water. And the well known advice to drink coffee to sober up is, as you now realise, the worst one as it just increases your dehydration problem.

What can I do to repair my skin?
Drink drink drink loads of water, avoid hot showers, don't rub your skin too harsh and moisturise it after your shower.

What moisturiser to use?
As anything in the beauty department you'll have to try what's best for you and your skin. You might wanna read some tips on ingredients found in beauty products (Lotions recipes, chemicals in make up). Some of you suffer from dermatitis and should be extra careful when choosing one. Check out this previous post of mine where I address a common skin problem namely Eczema.
However if you are a bit of wannabe chemist - like me!, I found you a few sites where you can get ideas on how to make your own:

Photo borrowed from HERE

Recipe for Home Made Moisturiser
You only need a few things such as Beeswax, carrier oil and water, maybe some butter and definitely some antibacterial agent!
Looking through many beauty blogs, I found this very sexy post on Crunchy Betty named Simple Homemade 3-ingredient facial Oil Moisturiser that explains a little bit of the different oils you can find to use as a base for your cream.
Then I found this post entitled How to make your own moisturiser and skin cream which is really good as it explain to you exactly what and how to put ingredients in your cream.
For a definitive recipe on how to blend your ingredients, check out Mirror Image: How to make Natural Body Moisturiser.
Can't wait to try out my own!!

Happy Rehydration Sexy People...
Don't forget that this step should be carried out into a healthy living plan. For more info on this, check out my previous post on Detox Intox

See you soon,

Need a cure for your Xmas indigestion?

noreply@blogger.com (Esmeralda Vermeulen) — Tue, 25 Dec 2012 20:00:00 +0000

Dear Sexy Readers,

I bet right now you're feeling stuffed!!!! key word here being STUFFED!!!! Ah ah, me too!!! As I know many of you Love natural organic remedies, here is a quick home made recipe I found in this amazing book by James Wong

It's called Seaweed Stomach Soother:

For this you will need:

* 2 cups of Irish Moss, you can find this at Neil's Yard for example,

Irish Moss, From HERE

* 4 tbsp Fennel seeds, any good supermarket
* 4 tbsp Mint leaves, ditto
* 500mL Water
* 125mL Glycerine, you can find this in you supermarket at the baking section
* 4tbsp Bicarbonate of Soda, same as Glycerine

* a saucepan
* a liquidizer
* a sieve
* a muslin
* a sterilized bottle

How to do?
* Simmer the Irish moss, fennel and mint in water for 20-30min or until the water has halfed its volume.
* Blend it all and add glycerine
* Strain through a sieve, covered with a muslin
* Let it cool down
* Whisk in the bicarbonate
* Keep it in a sterilized bottle, in the fridge for up to 1 month
* Take 2 tsp when you feel bad

How to sterilize a bottle?
Well, the easiest is to leave a bottle in boiling water for at least 10 minutes!

Enjoy these last few days of 2012, see you soon!

Sexy Reads on SSS... A retrospective

noreply@blogger.com (Esmeralda Vermeulen) — Sun, 23 Dec 2012 14:33:00 +0000

Dear Sexy Readers,
As the year 2012 is coming to an end, and we survived the end of the world on the 21st, it's time for a few tips on how to prepare that beautiful skin and hair of yours.
Far from being a beauty blog - there are so many incredible ones out there - let me draw your attention to a few things, if I may....

Starting with a bit of cookery information! After all some of you will be in full cooking/baking zone this holiday season, so why not have a look at "What is the difference between Yeast and Baking Powder" if you run out of one and you wonder if you could replace one for the other...

Also, if you suddenly cry a river while chopping onions, by checking out this one out, you'll know why.

Then once you have finished in the kitchen and it's time to prepare that pretty face of yours, you might be interested to know exactly what you put on your face. Don't be alarmed by the amount of chemicals in there but at least you'll be informed. All this information is contained in the Mini-Serie Chemicals in your make up.
And what about your shampoos? How does it work? Yours contains Parabens and SLS? Read the Mini-Serie What's in your shampoo, and you'll find out why it's all talk and no worries (except for some of you who suffer from Eczema - a topic covered elsewhere on SSS).

And then, when all the festivities are a thing of the past and you promise yourself that next year, you won't help yourself a second time to that succulent stuffed turkey or that Xmas pudding, you'll probably make a list of all the things that you HAVE to start doing in the 2013, like reading more, watching less TV, going to the gym and starting that new detox programme that your favorite chemist is raging about. But before spending all that money on a "detox treatment" (note that all the others resolutions are excellent ;) ), you might wanna read why it's all crap and only money-making scam!!

I wish you all my sexy readers, a fantastic Xmas and already a Happy New Year 2013! Let me know how your holidays went and if you found any of the info interesting,

So Sexy Sciencey Things on Pinterest #1

noreply@blogger.com (Esmeralda Vermeulen) — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 20:45:00 +0000

Dear Sexy Readers,
As many of you know, you can find yourself pinning and repinning for hours on Pinterest, right? I actually registered a while ago but kind of forgot about it until my Kindle Fire asked me where I wanted to share my pictures, Pinterest being one of the options... So here I am again, checking out all those beautiful pins and boards... For 3 hours!!!
So I decided to do a Science So Sexy board!

Though, I thought it was a shame that you can't then share your boards as a mosaique of your pins, I decided I would just PrntScrn and share with you my first SSS screen snap shot...

Pinterest SSS #1

For those of you who are on Pinterest and wanna follow SSS board, Join me On Esmeraldav

Science So Sexy Pinterest collection:
SSS #1
SSS #2
SSS #3
SSS #4