Bio Notes

[najaaozixxjsiaaiaiia]

[therelatableimages]

[s-c-i-guy]

Bill Nye Fights Back

How a mild-mannered children’s celebrity plans to save science in America—or go down swinging.

Read the full article on Popular Science

[sagansense]

From the article:

“We would not have this”—he paused—“all this, without the body of knowledge of science.” He added, “And to have people suppress that, ignore that, it’s certainly their First Amendment right, but it’s not in our best interest. And I don’t just mean the people of Kentucky or America, I mean humanity.”

Read and enjoy. If you tuned into the Ham/Nye “debate” you aren’t missing much, but the piece is a nice peek into the personal life of Bill and a reflection of the current state of science illiteracy in America.

[hydrolases]

Give ‘em the ol’ one-two punch for science!

[sixpenceee]

I read about this awhile ago in a book.

People who receive organ donations go through personality changes and characteristic similar to those of the donor. 

 In a study, a patient received a heart transplant from a man who was killed by gunshot to the face, and the organ recipient then reported to have dreams of seeing hot flashes of light directly on his face.

In another case, Claire Sylvia, a heart transplant recipient who received the organ from an 18-year-old male that died in a motorcycle accident, reported having a craving for beer and chicken nuggets after the surgery.

She also began to have reoccurring dreams about a man named ‘Tim L.’ Upon searching the obituaries, Sylvia found out her donor’s name was Tim and that he loved all of the food that she craved

SOURCE

These cases may support the cell memory theory. But as someone who wants to study the human consciousness, I have this one question.

What does this say about the human mind? Is it only stored in the brain? Can our cells also have the capacity to store information such as memory and personality? Are they aware of what makes us, who we are? Are they conscious in that sense?

[thisischanandlerbong-blog]

HOLYSHIT

[sixpenceee]

CAN WE ALL STARTING TALKING ABOUT THIS PLS

[tryingnottoprocrastinate]

i haven't read much on this stuff but... just throwing stuff out there... in my understanding, everything is controlled in some way by the brain. even muscle memory is your brain encoding the signals that will make your muscles move that way (idk if muscles themselves have the capacity to remember how they moved?) - so maybe it's the signalling process. maybe, with the example of muscle memory, maybe the muscles have created stronger connections with certain feedback processes so that more of those signals are sent to the brain, which will then send the appropriate response to activate the muscle in that pattern of firing... i think that would be a feedforward mechanism... anyway patterns of firing can be remembered so maybe it's not that anything is stored within each individual cell, but there is a pattern of firing amongst a bunch of cells, which then got transplanted into another body and then adapted to affect the new brain? idk lol idea splurging

[tryingnottoprocrastinate]

"Vesicular eruptions with fluid filled lesions which burst and scab in response to the immune system" is probably one of the grosser sentences I’ve had to write today. This is a description I had in my notes for Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV-1, -2). Cold sores. *shudders*

[tryingnottoprocrastinate]

HAH! This was on my exam yo

[tryingnottoprocrastinate]

"Vesicular eruptions with fluid filled lesions which burst and scab in response to the immune system" is probably one of the grosser sentences I've had to write today. This is a description I had in my notes for Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV-1, -2). Cold sores. *shudders*

[minimumfall]

  How much oomph is in your stride? Each step you take releases enough energy to light up a bulb, and rather than let it go to waste, SolePower stores the energy as usable electrical power  

[minimumfall]

No more queues: pay with your hands (Science Alert)

A clever technology allows customers to pay with their veins.

:O Whoa wait what

[sixpenceee]

As someone who wants to study the human consciousness I found this very interesting.

Scott Routley was a “vegetable”. A car accident seriously injured both sides of his brain, and for 12 years, he was completely unresponsive.

Unable to speak or track people with his eyes, it seemed that Routley was unaware of his surroundings, and doctors assumed he was lost in limbo. They were wrong.

In 2012, Professor Adrian Owen decided to run tests on comatose patients like Scott Routley. Curious if some “vegetables” were actually conscious, Owen put Routley in an fMRI and told him to imagine walking through his home. Suddenly, the brain scan showed activity. Routley not only heard Owen, he was responding.

Next, the two worked out a code. Owen asked a series of “yes or no” questions, and if the answer was “yes,” Routley thought about walking around his house. If the answer was “no,” Routley thought about playing tennis.

These different actions showed activity different parts of the brain. Owen started off with easy questions like, “Is the sky blue?” However, they changed medical science when Owen asked, “Are you in pain?” and Routley answered, “No.” It was the first time a comatose patient with serious brain damage had let doctors know about his condition.

While Scott Routley is still trapped in his body, he finally has a way to reach out to the people around him. This finding has huge implications.

SOURCE

[sixpenceee]

As someone who wants to study the human consciousness I found this very interesting.

Scott Routley was a “vegetable”. A car accident seriously injured both sides of his brain, and for 12 years, he was completely unresponsive.

Unable to speak or track people with his eyes, it seemed that Routley was unaware of his surroundings, and doctors assumed he was lost in limbo. They were wrong.

In 2012, Professor Adrian Owen decided to run tests on comatose patients like Scott Routley. Curious if some “vegetables” were actually conscious, Owen put Routley in an fMRI and told him to imagine walking through his home. Suddenly, the brain scan showed activity. Routley not only heard Owen, he was responding.

Next, the two worked out a code. Owen asked a series of “yes or no” questions, and if the answer was “yes,” Routley thought about walking around his house. If the answer was “no,” Routley thought about playing tennis.

These different actions showed activity different parts of the brain. Owen started off with easy questions like, “Is the sky blue?” However, they changed medical science when Owen asked, “Are you in pain?” and Routley answered, “No.” It was the first time a comatose patient with serious brain damage had let doctors know about his condition.

While Scott Routley is still trapped in his body, he finally has a way to reach out to the people around him. This finding has huge implications.

SOURCE

[minimumfall]

From ScienceAlert 

BIG NEWS: Self-healing muscle tissue has been grown in the lab for the first time. The tissue integrates quickly into a mouse and has the ability to heal itself both in the lab and inside an animal. This is a huge breakthrough that could help treat patients with injuries and diseases affecting muscles.

Read more: http://bit.ly/1huU8Ik

Actual paper in PNAS

OMG??????!?!?!?!?!?!??!

[tryingnottoprocrastinate]

From ScienceAlert

Infrared contact lenses and mobile phones may be on the horizon after the development of the first room-temperature light detector that can sense the full infrared spectrum. Unlike current infrared detectors on the market, which require bulky cooling equipment, the graphene light detector can be stacked in a thin device.

Read more: http://bit.ly/1kBDyqD via The University of Michigan

[moarrrmagazine]

Seedboom your surrounding!!!

Seedboms are made with an explosive mix of peat free organic compost, coir and a selection of flower seeds embedded in a recycled paper shell.

Seedboms break down over time and biodegrade into the environment leaving only flowers behind.

This is simply brilliant!!

[chalkandwater]

Dilation and constriction of these organelles, called chromatophores, are responsible for the squid’s ability to change color.

Inside Nature’s Giants: The Giant Squid (2010)

[joshkerr]

Kenguru is a tiny electric hatchback for wheelchair users By Ellis Hamburger, theverge.com

Ken­gu­ru’s elec­tric car has no seats, and you drive it by putting your hands on motorcycle-style han­dle­bars. It’s built for wheel­chair users, who can roll right through the rear hatch of the car into the dri­ver’s area. The Austin-based…

[bunnika-deactivated20180603]

THIS IS SO COOL.

[disgustinghuman]

fucking amazing wow

[subjuggulation]

NO BUT DO YOU UNDERSTAND HOW GREAT THIS IS? DO YOU REALLY? PEOPLE IN WHEELCHAIRS CAN HAVE SMALL CARS NOW, THEY DON’T HAVE TO RELY ON EXPENSIVE LIFTS TO HELP GET THEM INTO CARS, THEY DON’T HAVE TO MODIFY THEIR CARS FOR THEIR NEEDS BECAUSE THE CAR IS ALREADY DESIGNED SPECIFICALLY FOR THEM. THIS IS ACTUALLY SO GREAT AND IT GIVES SO MANY PEOPLE THE OPPORTUNITY TO BE MORE INDEPENDENT AND IT MAKES ME SO HAPPY!

[igotpillstheyremultiplying]

Have I reblogged this already? Don’t care.

[afniel]

AYYY INDEPENDENCE FOR MOBILITY DEVICE USERS YEAAAAAH!!!

This shit is my jam! I don’t use a wheelchair myself more than very very occasionally (knock on wood, I have had to in airports before) but this is great!

[tryingnottoprocrastinate]

What's the point of technology if we're not allowed to take pictures of our microscope slides and label THEM instead of having to "draw what we see"... you'd think we should be practicing accuracy rather than how to sketch cells in pencil seriously.

[tryingnottoprocrastinate]

What does Prastinate mean?

woooow i've had that blog for so long i've never noticed that i spelt procrastinate wrong ahahahhHAHAHhahahHAHAHAHAHhahahahA!