Down With Fractions!

“Fractions have had their day, being useful for by-hand calculation,” DeTurck said as part of a 60-second lecture series. “But in this digital age, they’re as obsolete as Roman numerals are.”

Do you think this is a good idea?  No more fractions?  We better hope someone knows how to use them, so they can generate programs for the masses to get answers to many daily problems that require fractions.  There are “quarters” everywhere and “halves” too…  Doctors, nurses, chemists, biologists, physicists use fractions daily to convert one unit into another.  I am not sure how we could get by without teaching fractions to students at a young age in fact.  Thoughts?

Logarithm

If you are poking around online and you find a good resource for learning Logarithm’s, please post it as a comment.  Here is an example:

http://www.chem.tamu.edu/class/fyp/mathrev/mr-log.html

Log or Ln sites would be great!

Parasite Turn Ants Into Berries?

Now this is neat… supposedly there are MANY nematodes that we humans know little about, but these ants know something about them… that is for sure.  These nematodes cause the ant’s rear end to balloon up like a berry, which makes birds much more interested in having an ant lunch.  The birds then pass the nematodes and spread them around the forest – how cool is that?  See the link below…

Parasite morphs ant into ripe red berry from PhysOrg.com

A newly discovered parasite so dramatically transforms its host, an ant, that the ant comes to resemble a juicy red berry, ripe for picking, according to a report accepted for publication in The American Naturalist. This is the first example of fruit mimicry caused by a parasite, the co-authors say.

[...]

Synthetic Life?

This is a quick little video explaining synthetic biology.  Maybe this is the first step in creating a synthetic organism?  Using the model that is already on earth of course. 

What is Synthetic Biology?

Defending Food

Science Friday covered a story on how food has been minimized down into the fundamental nutrients rather than the enjoyment and benefits of the whole food.  So, rather than eating fish – you may eat a pill that contains the fish oil?  Why not?  Well, maybe the food is important whole.  Have a listen…  (Note: the file is large (16MB); you may want to right-click and download the file)

Here is a link to the story: http://www.sciencefriday.com/program/archives/200801043

My Brain Image Made Me Do It!

The podcast for Scientific American this week discussed neuroscience and the law.  This topic brings so many different thoughts into my head.  They might be the same thoughts people had before DNA evidence linked people to crimes?  (Excitement and doubt!  Is this possible?  Is this reliable?)    On the other hand, with neuroscience there are potentially less concrete concepts at work (at this point) when linking activities of human and neuroscience.  Whether people think that this type of talk will excuse bad behavior OR help get to the cause of the behavior is an interesting discussion.  Thoughts?

The podcast also makes me think of the movie Minority Report!

Law and Neuroscience Project

LDL Sizes?

There is obviously more to heart disease (and other related diseases) than simple total cholesterol and LDL/HDL ratios.  The myriad of information continuously has people searching for possible treatments or preventative lifestyle changes.  One factor I recently read about was related to the particle size of LDL’s.  Science Friday had a segment on good calories vs. bad calories and mentioned this concept.  Although I remember hearing something about LDL particle size before, I found this related article and found it interesting.  The human body is such a large system and it never ceases to amaze me with its complexities. 

Just a Test

I am just seeing if embedding a powerpoint is possible. 

Has Anyone Seen the Kilogram?

A student brought this article to my attention regarding the mass of a kilogram. 

Getting the measure of a kilogram describes the mass changes in the standard kilogram and the attempts to redefine this extremely important mass measurement.  If all balances and scales are calibrated off this standard, one can see the reaching implications if the mass of this standard changes.  It makes me think about accuracy and the difficulty in reproducing a massed object identical to a standard.  As technology improves maybe we will be able to count the “trillion trillion” atoms needed to standardize on a atom’s mass. 

Whom Should We Trust?

As I think about the banning of phthalates in toys for children that just took place in California, it makes me wonder about where we should put our trust on scientific issues.  Do we trust that politicians have proper consultation prior to creating a new law?  Are there financial consequences influencing scientists to make their decisions?  Scientists know that chemical effects are certainly a factor of exposure concentration and exposure time in addition to body mass.  Many good studies have and can be done to determine the effects of certain chemicals on people.  Regardless of the issue, it would be nice to think that our ultimate plan takes into consideration the health of all life – not just the health of a company’s bottom line.

This does also make me think of the wonderful opportunities for science majors to use their scientific understanding to better inform the public in issues just like this.

Google or Google scholar: phthalates