#rainingskye

[jncera]

thank you all so much!!!! all these cute messages really mean a lot to me <3 <3 thank you <3

[jncera]

Congrats on the engagement!!! Wishing you lots of prosperity!

thank you! i’m hoping that prosperity includes lots of cute dogs yeah? :D

[leexjoonxanon]

Hey bud, no matter what happens, I'll always have the same url. I hope you can chat with me whenever you miss the old guys :)

*hugs* ne, you are one of the very few still around from the old days

[makasouls]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY! :D

Thanks, hon!

[jncera]

omg omg omg so as I was watching the finale I couldn't help but think of your bending genes post, and when Bolin started Lavabending I got curious, what if the firebending gene from his mother and the earthbending gene from his father were codominant or something and that's possibly why he can do so?

Maaayyybe! Or, lava-bending is just a special ability for earth benders, just like how lightning-bending is to fire benders. Bolin just has the ability to control earth that's been heated by friction. 

If you want a possible molecular explanation, his alternate splicing just created an mRNA that could be translated into lava-bending proteins--or at least something that allowed him to control the earth within lava. The gene was there all along... just took some extra outside oomph--in this case, some motivation and good ol fight-or-flight. Certain proteins get created during stress responses, so one of them probably trigged the whole alternate splicing doodlydoo. 

[bentfire]

oooh playlist thing hmm.... Softness :D (sorry it's so crappily vague I was staring at my towel)

paper heart (╥﹏╥) aka my heart is all squished 'cause your rude ass broke it smh

01. super junior; it's you02. sistar19; gone... not around any longer03. beast; fiction04. after school; first love05. wax; coin laundry06. the nuts; love note07. jjcc; at first08. g.na; i'll back off so you can live

[sarcatt]

Congratulations! That was a very adorable proposal!

Haha I'm glad it was at least entertaining. <3 Hehehe I'm a loser cause I get giddy thinking about it. <3

[jncera]

Also what do you think about the ebola situation :/ and the possible vaccine and all (ps. you're kinda my role model rn because you're super cool outside of work and into STEM and in my opinion that's ridiculously soo cool :3)

(Aaahhh! Thank you! That’s so inspiring for me to hear! I will try my best to be a good role model :) Thank you so much!)

The drug in discussion is ZMapp. It is not a vaccine, and is only used for treatment after one becomes infected with Ebola. However, it’s still in its very early experimental stages. It hasn’t even been tested in humans yet. For all scientists know, it could kill the infected person. 

ZMapp was given to the 2 American patients as a last ditch effort. The patients knew the risks, and took the gamble. Thankfully, they are now recovering. 

However, since the drug is still in its experimental stages, there is a limited number of doses available (because why would you mass produce something that might not work?). This is the logistical reason why Africa isn’t receiving the drug right now. It would take several months to mass manufacture the drug, and by that time, the Ebola outbreak might have cleared itself out already. (Ebola’s strength is its weakness. Since the virus kills so quickly, it gets to a point where the patients die before the virus can find a new host. That’s why the best thing to do during an outbreak right now is to quarantine the infected.) And yeah sure, we’ll have the drug ready for the next outbreak, but it’s a drug that hasn’t been tested in humans yet! Scientists can also bring the drugs to Africa and do the clinical trials there, but that brings us back to the low-doses-situation.

There’s also the ethical question. 

Since the risks aren’t known for ZMapp yet, is it right for the US to give another country a drug that could potentially kill or permanently disable patients? Sure, the drug seems to be working for the American patients, but what if tomorrow they suddenly become paralyzed for life, or all their white blood cells die, or they start developing a really aggressive form of cancer? The US reaaallly doesn’t want to be responsible for that in another country, because other things aside, that’s kind of a terrible thing to do to people. 

It’s kind of a catch-22. Send like 5 doses of the drug or however much the lab has, maybe save lives, but unknown dangerous risks? Or don’t send drug, let Ebola take its course, and 70% of the victims will die? There’s no good option here.

Many are claiming that racism plays a part. Maybe it does. But if you look at the logistical and ethical arguments alone, you’ll find that it’s already a tough decision to make. Even I can’t decide what should be done. I want lives to be saved, but I don’t want to save someone just to have them die from a drug I gave them.