The Nikon Small World prize is an annual competition for microscopic photography which always has stunning images, like this one of a chicken embryo:
Or this amazing photo of a mouse hippocampus with the individual neurons coloured:
Archive for the ‘Science’ category
Small Is Beautiful
October 20th, 2008
Lice and good health and other spurious correlations
September 5th, 2008Interesting post from a great blog about the tendency of the media and scientific literature to present statistical correlations as if they prove some important causal relationship. We see examples of this nearly every day in the media it seems. I think it’s one of the dangers of trying to draw conclusions purely from statistics without examining the causes and effects properly.
Junkfood Science: Lice and good health and other spurious correlations
Stroke of Insight
June 5th, 2008A great lecture by a brain researcher who herself suffered a stroke. And it’s a good chance to see a real human brain on a platter!
There are lots of other great talks on the TED website as well.
Jill Bolte Taylor got a research opportunity few brain scientists would wish for: She had a massive stroke, and watched as her brain functions — motion, speech, self-awareness –- shut down one by one. An astonishing story.
We are the Extraterrestrials
May 30th, 2008Astounding photos today of a tribe found in the Amazon, in Brazil, that are as yet uncontacted by “civilization”. The pics were taken by a Brazilian government department which is in charge of such tribes, and keeps the land around them untouched in “Ethno-Environmental Protected Areas”. Apparently in this one Area there are 4 different tribes who know nothing of each other or of the outside world.
Here’s one of the photos:
Smile, you’re on Candid Camera! I mean, if you’re not going to contact these tribes, why the f fly over them in a plane taking happy snaps? Surely that rather gives the game away?
It’s an interesting ethical dilemma though. Obviously the Brazilians have decided it’s best to not contact these tribes and leave them to their own autonomy. But is there a duty to contact them and bring them the benefits of modern medicine? Or is the likely outcome their decimation by foreign microbes anyway? I guess it’s never turned out well in the past. But how long can you keep these people uncontacted? Will they never be integrated with the rest of humanity?
My favourite uncontacted tribe are the Sentinelese, who live on an island in the Andaman Islands near India. Whenever anyone from the outside attempts to land on the island, the Sentinelese immediately attack and kill them – most recently two fishermen in 2006. They even drove off the helicopter that was attempting to collect the bodies with a hail of arrows. Thus it is assumed that they pretty much don’t want to be contacted, so they are now left to their own devices.
Check here for a full list of known uncontacted peoples.
Phoenix has Landed
May 29th, 2008I am very excited about the latest mission to Mars, Phoenix, which has touched down in the Martian Arctic. It will be hunting for organic molecules and traces of life in the zone where the frozen polar ice becomes Martian desert. Here is its current view of Mars:
There is something so inherently cool about getting this pictures from another planet on the internet so quickly!
It’s still settling in, getting its robotic arms limbered up and so on, but expect some fascinating stuff from Mars in the near future! More info here.
A Handy Guide To Your Poo
May 9th, 2008In the course of my day I came across this useful chart called the Bristol Stool Guide. It is an attempt to classify poos into 7 categories, as below:
Types 1 and 2 indicate constipation. Types 3 and 4 are the “ideal poos” especially the latter, as I call it, a “teflon coated poo”. Types 5 and 6 indicate diarrhea and 7 – well Type 7 means you are really messed up!
I hope we’ve all learned something today.
Cunning Plans Falling Into Place
January 18th, 2008After the good news about the house, now I have been offered a place at the University of Sydney in the Bachelor of Medical Science. They take 200 people per year so it is pretty good going. Now I have to find someone to go and enrol for me on Tuesday afternoon otherwise the offer will lapse! Any volunteers?
Here are the papers I’m going to be doing this year in my part-time studies. I’m hoping I can cross credit what I’ve done so that I only need to do maths and physics. The maths ones sound crazy, in fact I can’t understand the descriptions at all!
MATH1001 – Differential Calculus
This unit of study looks at complex numbers, functions of a single variable, limits and continuity, vector functions and functions of two variables. Differential calculus is extended to functions of two variables. Taylor’s theorem as a higher order mean value theorem.MATH1002 – Linear Algebra
This unit of study introduces vectors and vector algebra, linear algebra including solutions of linear systems, matrices, determinants, eigenvalues and eigenvectors.MATH1003 – Integral Calculus and Modelling
This unit of study first develops the idea of the definite integral from Riemann sums, leading to the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus. Various forms of integration are considered, such as integration by parts.The second part is an introduction to the use of first and second order differential equations to model a variety of scientific phenomena.PHYS1002 – Physics 1 (Fundamentals)
This unit of study is designed for students who have not studied Physics previously or scored below 65 in HSC Physics. The lecture series contains modules on the language of physics, mechanics, and oscillations and waves.PHYS1004 – Physics 1 (Environmental & Life Science)
This unit of study has been designed specifically for students interested in further study in environmental and life sciences. The lecture series contains modules on the topics of properties of matter, electromagnetism, and radiation and its interactions with matter.
The Beginning of the End of the End?
August 24th, 2007David Sinclair, an Australian scientist now at Harvard University, reckons he has found a new medical treatment… for aging! Controversial but very interesting. In this video he explains the discovery. There’s a good article about him and his work here.
Don’t rush out and start drinking red wine though; you would need to drink 1500 bottles of wine PER DAY to receive the equivalent dosage as these mice!
RIP Baiji
August 8th, 2007
The Yangtze River dolphin is no more – the first cetacean to disappear as a result of human activity.
After a fruitless search lasting six weeks, scientists failed to find a single Yangtze river dolphin, also known as the Baiji, in its natural habitat in China. They will now propose that the dolphin be formally reclassified this autumn as “possibly extinct” and say there is no longer any hope of resurrecting the species using a captive breeding programme.
Semester Two
June 20th, 2007I have just enrolled in the following two papers for next semester:
BMSC 241 – Heredity and Gene Expression
An introduction to the structure and behaviour of chromosomes, genes, DNA; and to the processes of heredity and the mechanisms by which genetic information is transmitted and expressed in humans and other animals. Some discussion of the genetics of plants and micro-organisms is included. Introduction to DNA technologies.
BMSC 243 – Physiology and Pharmacology
Included in this course will be the study of the functioning and roles of the central and peripheral nervous and hormonal systems in control of cardiovascular and respiratory activity, digestion and absorption, metabolic responses to different environmental and energy demands; sensory systems; muscle physiology, etc. The emphasis is on mammalian physiology with particular reference to human functions. The elements of pharmacology are introduced in the context of modulation of normal function.
My dream of becoming Dana Scully is moving closer… pass me the red hair dye….
