The World of Science Today

Learning HTML5

2015-10-16T23:32:00.001+11:00

Been trying to grow my blog these past days. Today I spent a whole day learning HTML5, which was quite interesting for me, given I don't have any kind of certification in computing, so I didn't have any time for writing a new article.

Here is a wonderful picture of cells for the day though:

Original source: http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/view-image.php?image=42719&picture=cell

Photo of the Day - Mother Nature is Incredible!

2015-10-15T23:02:00.000+11:00

Taking a Peak

National Geographic description:
As beams of light from the setting sun burst through clouds, a triumphant hiker basks in their glow on a summit in Hawaii’s Ko’olau Range. The achievement, according to Liz Barney, who submitted this photo, was the culmination of rigorous preparation and effort. “It’s not a well-known trek … but for two women, it was their dream,” she says. “[The women] spent an entire year planning and training to cross the Ko’olau summit ridgeline in one self-sufficient thru-hike ... They failed multiple times before they finally succeeded.”

Image credit: Liz Barney via National Geographic Photo of the Day

Head to Liz Barney's blog for more incredible imagery

This photograph was submitted to the 2015 National Geographic Photo Contest

Original source: http://www.lizbarney.com/outdoors/summitpt1/

Understanding accents

2015-10-15T00:52:00.001+11:00

Lateral surface of the brain with Brodmann's areas numbered.

One thing I cannot do without is cinema. There is something about the big screen that arouses my imagination and helps me forget all my worries. Yesterday I watched Macbeth and it was a great movie. There is something that kept me from enjoying it even more though. The heavy Scottish accent by some of the actors (in combination with the Shakespearean language), was too hard for me to completely follow.

I have been studying and speaking English for almost 20 years. So what is it that helps us understand a word spoken with a different way?

The culprit in this case would be Wernicke's area, situated between the auditory and visual cortex of the brain. Until recently it was believed that only the part of Wernicke's area in the dominant hemisphere (the left hemisphere in 97% of people) was responsible for speech comprehension. There is increasingly more research evidence surfacing though, to support a role of the less-dominant hemisphere, participating in the comprehension of ambiguous words.

There is some research going on about training accent recognition in people, with specially designed dictionaries (Kat and Fung, 1999), but there isn't really much that can be done, as the underlying knowledge about the mechanisms directly involved in this process, is very little.

Now the next step is not finding what helps us understand language (thank God fMRI helped us a lot on this regard), but what keeps a healthy individual from recognizing spoken words.

It is funny how we can train computers and robots to understand our language and even our accent (siris cortana etc), but we don't even know what is going on in our brains, so we can do the same.

References:
Harpaz Y, Levkovitz Y, Lavidor M. (2009). Lexical ambiguity resolution in Wernicke's area and its right homologue. Cortex, Vol 45 (9), 1097–1103. DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2009.01.002

Kat L W, Fung P. (1999). "Fast accent identification and accented speech recognition". Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing, Proceedings. 1999 IEEE International Conference on , Vol.1, 221-224. DOI: 10.1109/ICASSP.1999.758102

Image credit: Henry Vandyke Carter, Henry Gray. (1918). Lateral surface of left cerebral hemisphere, viewed from the side. Anatomy of the Human Body, Fig. 726. Anatomy of the Human Body

Rheumatoid Arthritis: What to Avoid and What to Pursue

2015-10-13T20:31:00.000+11:00

X-ray Forearm With Arthritis At Wrist And Elbow (rheumatoid, gout)

Today I was conversing with a friend potentially suffering from Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), that wanted to know ways of relieving his pain. I tried to give all the best advise, that did not involve taking medication, for treating this dreadful disease.

Little did I know that an informative article in Tech Times was released earlier in the day, that sheds a little bit extra light into the factors that may aggravate RA.

"A team of researchers from All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) looked into 500 patients with RA who lived in New Delhi, India, in the past 10 years. They found that the symptoms worsened in the months of November and December. This two-month period is characterized by high levels of suspended particulate matter (SPM) 2.5 in the atmosphere."

Earlier this day I commented on a coral colony being bleached by CO2 emissions. Now apparently urban life during early winter aggravates RA. It doesn't seem we have been kind to our environment lately and this is increasingly worrying.

But first of all what is RA? It is an autoimmune disease that mainly affects the joints and causes chronic inflammation. And by autoimmune disease I mean when the immune system mistakenly attacks the body's tissues. As of yet RA has no cure.

So air pollution seems to worsen the pain on people suffering with this disease, but what can be done to alleviate this? A few things really. First and foremost you must have in mind to try keep calm and not stress. That is the best advise not only for this but for most of the problems that appear in front of you.

Second is a good diet and trying to keep fit. Exercise is something that may prove miraculous for people suffering with RA. It is however something that must be used with caution as to not make the symptoms more severe and after consulting with your doctor or physiotherapist for the correct set of exercises.

All I can say to the people suffering from RA is I am really sorry that you have to go through this pain every day and I hope you can find ways to alleviate your pain. Let's hope that medical research will once again find ways to battle this as it has done many times before.

Original story source: Air Pollution Can Aggravate Rheumatoid Arthritis But Exercise, Lifestyle Changes Can Relieve Symptoms

Additional information: Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) - MedicineNet.com

Image provided by: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/

Photo of the Day: CO2 Emissions Endanger Fish!

2015-10-13T18:13:00.000+11:00

"A world-first global analysis of marine responses to climbing human CO₂ emissions has painted a grim picture of future fisheries and ocean ecosystems."

Bleached Coral Colony

Image credit: © ead72 / Fotolia

Journal article:

Ivan Nagelkerken and Sean D. Connell. Global alteration of ocean ecosystem functioning due to increasing human CO2 emissions. PNAS, October 12, 2015 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1510856112

Story source:

University of Adelaide. "Global marine analysis suggests food chain collapse." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 12 October 2015. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/10/151012181037.htm>.

Photo of the Day: Engineering a Mini-Brain!

2015-10-12T21:54:00.000+11:00

"A bioengineering team at Brown University can grow “mini-brains” of neurons and supporting cells that form networks and are electrically active."

A bundle of neurons

Image credit: Hoffman-Kim lab/Brown University

Original source: An accessible approach to making a mini-brain

Motivational Quotes by Scientists

2015-10-12T18:27:00.001+11:00

Not every day has to be serious and nerdy. Here are ten motivational quotes by famous scientists to get your Monday going:

"Progress is made by trial and failure; the failures are generally a hundred times more numerous than the successes ; yet they are usually left unchronicled."

William Ramsay, 1852 to 1916 - Chemist

"Science is vastly more stimulating to the imagination than the classics."

J. B. S. Haldane, 1892 to 1964 - Biologist

"Valid criticism does you a favor."
Carl Sagan, 1934 to 1996 - Astronomer

We are storytelling animals, and cannot bear to acknowledge the ordinariness of our daily lives.

Stephen Jay Gould, 1941 to 2002 - Paleontologist

"Things are as they are because they were as they were."

Thomas Gold, 1920 to present - Astrophysicist

"Science is the acceptance of what works and the rejection of what does not. That needs more courage than we might think"

Jacob Bronowski, 1908 to 1974 - Mathematician, Biologist

"Plato is my friend, Aristotle is my friend, but my greatest friend is truth."

Sir Isaac Newton, 1642 to 1727 - Physicist, Mathematician

"I think one’s feelings waste themselves in words; they ought all to be distilled into actions, and into actions which bring results."

Florence Nightingale, 1820 to 1910 - Nurse, Statistician

"Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality."

Albert Einstein, 1859 to 1955 - Phycisist

"Wit is the best safety valve modern man has evolved; the more civilization, the more repression, the more the need there is for wit"

Sigmund Freud, 1856 to 1939 - Psychiatrist, Psychologist

And a website you may love browsing through: Explore 100 Famous Scientist Quotes Pages

Photo of the Day: Pluto's Blue Sky

2015-10-11T15:40:00.000+11:00

This may look like a simple circle with a blue glow around it, but it is not. This is an image of the planet Pluto with an amazing blue haze around it, formed by tiny particles called Tholins that scatter sunlight to give this amazing blue glow.

Image credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI

Original source and more information: New Horizons Finds Blue Skies and Water Ice on Pluto

Photo of the Day: Viruses impaired if their targets have diverse genes

2015-10-10T15:51:00.000+11:00

From a study from the University of Utah. "This scanning electron microscope image shows newly formed Friend virus particles (upper right in light blue) budding from an infected T-lymphocyte."

This strengthens the hypothesis that genetic variation between the same species of animals can help reduce the replication of a virus.

Image credit: Elizabeth Fischer and Austin Athman, NIAID, NIH

Original source: Viruses Impaired If Their Targets Have Diverse Genes

Courtesy: National Science Foundation

Gaming addiction. Does it really happen?

2015-10-10T15:28:00.000+11:00

Gaming addiction is a phenomenon that has a rising trend as we move forward to the future. What is that makes us game addicts though?

Civilization V - Game-play screenshot

Be honest here. Of those of you that play or played games, in some point in your life, did you not participate in the following situation? Your mom or dad calls you for dinner. You are in the middle of an "important" decision in a game and you scream back "I 'll be there in a minute". Then the one minute becomes five and the five ten. Finally you join them in the middle of dinner as if you were dealing with a life altering decision back there.

Of course some of you will say I don't get controlled by games, I don't play them. The difference is that you are not playing games. If you don't use something how will you be addicted to it. In the place of "games" you can put something else in there, like a TV program, reading, smoking a cigarette, work papers etc. A task you are doing that in the process causes you to be unsociable.

How does gaming addiction relates to science though? Apparently many studies have been conducted around this issue. An early research by Ko, Chih-Hung et al in 2009, showed that gaming addiction and substance addiction may share the same neurobiological mechanism.

The way they deduced that was by putting ten subjects with gaming addiction and ten controls, under fMRI and showing them gaming pictures and mosaic pictures. In the subjects with the gaming addiction when shown the gaming pictures the:

right orbitofrontal cortex,

right nucleus accumbens,

bilateral anterior cingulate and medial frontal cortex,

right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and

right caudate nucleus

areas of the brain were activated which are the same areas activated with substance abuse.

The same scientist team conducted a similar research in 2011 producing similar results.

This as far as the neurological implications go. The main issue though is the impact a gaming addiction has on your life. Sure, there are some people that use this addiction as part of who they are, winning competitions, earning money etc (note that these imply social adeptness and an energetic person, not sitting on your sofa all day).

But if a gaming addiction is not going to contribute anything on your life, is it really any less dangerous than a substance-abuse addiction? Maybe in the sense that is less dangerous for your body but as far as the sociological and psychological impact it has, it may be worth tuning it down a notch.

References:

Ko Chih-Hung, Liu Gin-Chung, Hsiao Sigmund, Yen Ju-Yu, Yang Ming-Jen, Lin Mei-Chen, Yen Cheng-Fang, Chen Cheng-Sheng. (2009). Brain Activities Associated With Gaming Urge Of Online Gaming Addiction. Journal of Psychiatric Research , Volume 43 , Issue 7 , 739 - 74.
DOI: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2008.09.012

Ko Chih-Hung, Liu Gin-Chung, Yen Ju-Yu, Chen Chiao-Yun, Yen Cheng-Fang and Chen Cheng-Sheng. (2013). Brain correlates of craving for online gaming under cue exposure in subjects with Internet gaming addiction and in remitted subjects. Addiction Biology, Volume 18, Issue 3, pages 559–569.

Article first published online: 26 OCT 2011

DOI: 10.1111/j.1369-1600.2011.00405.x

Photo of the Day: Moonlight Sonata!

2015-10-09T15:31:00.000+11:00

As seen from the beautiful island of Cyprus.

The Moon Entering Earth's Shadow

Image Credit & Copyright: Thodoris Tzalavras

Source and explanation: Astronomy Picture of the Day

Surgical restoration of hand and arm movements for quadriplegics!

2015-10-09T15:14:00.000+11:00

A few years ago while I was talking with a close friend, I brought up the subject of full body regeneration as a joke (that was me watching too much anime that time) and we debated whether that was possible to happen in the future, that being a hundred years or a million years from now.

Although this is not the case I am reporting here, the breakthrough technique that has been developed by scientists of the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, showed me that when it comes to science and innovation, dreams are not unachievable.

Slight restoration of hand and arm movement for quadriplegics, is a small step towards the big goal that is, full body movement restoration for people with spinal cord injuries.

The biggest gain though is not what is does for science, but the betterment of quality of life of the people suffering with spinal cord injuries.

What they basically achieved with this technique is improving the communication between the brain and muscles, by attaching healthy nerves on the upper arms to damaged nerves in the hands and arms.

It has to be noted though that this can be done to patients with injuries on the C6-C7 vertebrae (lower bones of the neck) and not on the C1-C5 vertebrae.

Helping a quadriplegic use his hands and arm, may not seem a lot to many, but to that person may mean the whole world. His quality of life can be radically improved just by that small step that science took.

More information on the subject and the technique can be read from the full story at: Surgeons restore hand, arm movement to quadriplegic patients by Kristina Sauerwein.

Journal article:

Ida K. Fox, Kristen M. Davidge, Christine B. Novak, Gwendolyn Hoben, Lorna C. Kahn, Neringa Juknis, Rimma Ruvinskaya, Susan E. Mackinnon. (2015). Nerve Transfers to Restore Upper Extremity Function in Cervical Spinal Cord Injury. Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, 136 (4): 780-792 DOI: 10.1097/PRS.0000000000001641

Photo of the Day: Optogenetics. Being Controlled by Light!

2015-10-08T13:07:00.000+11:00

It is like living inside a science-fiction movie. A revolutionary new technique called optogenetics lets scientists control your neurons by focusing light on them.

Image credit: Ed Boyden and Massachusetts Institute of Technology McGovern Institute

Original Source: Optogenetics -- revolutionary new research technique (Image 1)

Courtesy: National Science Foundation

The best place to be a scientist today

2015-10-08T12:45:00.000+11:00

A question that certainly circles in the minds of many scientists today is, "What is the best place to conduct research?". Europe, USA, China, Australia, Russia?

As it seems this variable changes more easily as the weather does. Recently China has an increasing culture focus into producing 'quality and open research', previously being accused of an increasing number of academic fraud.

The Nobel prize awarded to Chinese scientist Youyou Tu for the discovery of a new therapy of malaria, is a great example and indication of this focus. It's not the fact that a Chinese won a Nobel prize that is remarkable in this case, but that the research conducted and the discovery, were done within the confines of a Chinese Institute.

More on these news can be read in the article featured in Science Alert:

China now spends more on science than the EU, will soon overtake the US

The fact that China, the biggest nation in the world, is finally willing to spend more on science research, is joyous news for scientists all around the globe, as the scientific advancements are only bound to intensify as we move on to the future.

A potential healthy competition between scientists of different nations (not pharmaceutical and industrial moguls) is sure to push the boundaries of science research to new levels, and the potential of this could be no more better for the world.

Photo of the Day: Beautiful Shot of Mars

2015-10-07T22:07:00.000+11:00

Yesterday I watched the movie "The Martian" and I was astounded by the beautiful visual effects that showed Mars. Here is a glorious shot of the real planet.

A photo of mars taken by Viking Orbiter 1.

Image Credit: NASA | JPL | USGS

Original Source: Lush Oasis to Arid Desert: How Our View of Mars Has Changed

Data Science - The job of the present and future

2015-10-07T21:08:00.000+11:00

Often while conducting my job-hunt I have stumbled upon a job titled 'Data Scientist'. In the beginning uninformed and uneducated in the nerve-racking process of job-seeking, I believed it simply to be a job for someone qualified and capable of handling and manipulating data within different sectors of applied science.

How mistaken I was. The title nowadays may refer to a vast variety of employment sectors and not just the applied sciences. These may include Media, Education, Consulting, Retail, Social Networking and many others. As a matter of fact, this job description nowadays, rarely is used to describe an expertise based solely in Data Science.

The results of this survey showcased in Forbes, are quite revealing regarding the job potential of a Data Scientist:

Data Science Falls Into Many Roles

The title of Scientist used to mean something in the world. It seems today it has been reduced to something everyone with a basic core of skills can attain. We have to move with the ages.

And so I start this blog

2015-10-07T20:38:00.002+11:00

What is another unemployed scientist sitting at home getting lost in the piles of unsuccessful job applications going to do? How about starting a new blog that he can share his opinions on a matter he is passionate about? That is exactly what I am going to do here for myself first and foremost, and if anyone wants to join me in this journey, is welcome to drop by and leave me a comment.