Category Archives: SCIENCE- 6 + THEMES

Science

Tick borne diseases are spreading fast.

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But enough about the tick-borne diseases in my neck of the woods. Ticks make people sick everywhere in the U.S. People in the South and South Central states—especially North Carolina, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Missouri—have to contend with Rocky Mountain spotted fever, a nasty bacterial infection spread by dog and wood ticks that can be fatal if antibiotic treatment isn’t started within several days of symptoms. They also have to watch out for ehrlichiosis, a bacterial infection spread by the Lone Star tick; tularemia, a bacterial infection that can be spread by several ticks; Southern tick-associated rash illness, an infection whose cause is unknown and is frequently confused with Lyme; and Heartland virus, which is so new that no one knows much about it yet. Midwesterners have Lyme disease, anaplasmosis, and powassan to deal with. And out West, tick-borne diseases are less common, but they run the gamut: People bitten by ticks can come down with Rocky Mountain spotted fever, anaplosmosis, Lyme, tularemia, and three other lovely ones: Colorado tick fever, tick-borne relapsing fever, and 364D rickettsiosis. Think you’re safe because you live in a big city? Nah. American dog ticks, which can transmit Rocky Mountain spotted fever, are crawling around many urban areas, and in recent years blacklegged ticks have been found in almost every borough of New York City. A whopping half of NYC blacklegged ticks harbor the bacterium that causes Lyme disease. Freaked out yet?

If you don’t remember being scared of tick-borne diseases when you were a kid, or even a decade ago, that’s because you weren’t. The reported prevalence of tick-borne diseases has basically doubled in the U.S. since 2003 and tripled since 1995. Some of this increase may be due to greater awareness and detection, but ticks are also spreading to new areas, “and in some places, the ticks have been getting more abundant and a higher percentage are infected,” Ostfeld explains. (Scientists don’t know exactly why this is happening—it could have something to do with how the U.S. landscape is changing, and climate change may also play a role.)

Source: Tick borne diseases are spreading fast.

‘Mayday! Emergency Landing. We’re on Fire.’ – The Atlantic

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For most of human history, the possibility of flight was confined to myths and nighttime dreams. A century-plus past the Wright Brothers, flight now conveys either jam-packed discomfort among the (statistically very safe) airlines, privilege for the private-jet world, or danger for other kinds of small planes. Rege’s video is meant to illustrate some of the beauty of the process — as the Avenger clip does in a different way.

SOAR from hadi dimachkieh on Vimeo.

 

SOAR from hadi dimachkieh on Vimeo.

Notes for specialists: the airplane Rege is flying is a new Cirrus SR-20. It is made by Cirrus Aircraft in Duluth, the company I’ve written about for years, and is one of the famous “planes with a parachute” that can be lowered safely to the ground by a parachute in the event of an impending crash.

Source: ‘Mayday! Emergency Landing. We’re on Fire.’ – The Atlantic

Measurement of Work, Power and Energy Expenditure

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Measurement of Work, Power and Energy Expenditure

I.  Measurement of Work and Energy Expenditure – Basic Concepts

A.  Applications:

  1. Training and dietary regimens for athletes
  2. Exercise prescription for general population
  3. Understanding of metabolic requirements for rest and exercise
  4. Effectiveness of exercise training to improve performance, fitness, or overall health

B.  System International (SI) Units

  1. Metric Prefixessi_Metric System Prefixes Metric Conversion Staircase-How many STEPS from Kilogram to gramHow to Convert Metric Units (Video) not sure I like these? Use UNIT ANALYSIS (aka Dimensional Analysis: ignore numbers, set up units to cancel, then use a calculator!)
  2. SI units
    1. –   Mass: kilogram (kg)
    2. –   Distance: meter (m)
    3. –   Time: second (s)
    4. –   Force: Newton (N)
    5. –   Work: Joule (J)
    6. –   Energy: Joule (J)
    7. –   Torque: N*m (=J)
    8. –   Power: Watt (W)
    9. –   Velocity: m/s

C.  Weight and Mass are NOT the same

  1. Mass – measured in grams (or kg etc.), independent of gravity
  2. Weight = FORCE = mass * acceleration                         – NOT gravity independent – gravity on Earth – 9.8 m/s2

II.  Definitions of Work and Power

A.  Work:

  1. Work = Force x distance
  2. Work expressed in: joules (= kg*m2/s2), kpm, kcal, foot-lbs
  3. Kgm (kg x meters) may be used by some (see text) but it is lazy and basically wrong!
  4. N*m CAN be used (newtons x meters)

B.  Power: Continue reading →

An Argument AGAINST the “illogical” metric system! Richard Nilsen

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But when it comes to the arguments for adoption, I demur. No, the metric system is not “more logical” than the so-called English system. And in many ways, it simply fails the test for logic, at least if by logic you mean usefulness.

I admit that when it comes to particle physics and engineering, the fact that you can do a good deal of your math by simply moving a decimal point has a lot in its favor. For the very large and the very small: for astrophysicists and nano-technologists, the 10-based metric system is the logical choice.

But I resent the patronizing tone so many pedants take toward the older system, as if it made no sense at all — when in fact, it makes a great deal of sense. There is a logic to the English system, and one that makes our lives easier — and more human.

Just start with the thermometer. When  Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit invented the mercury thermometer in 1714, he devised his system of measuring temperature in very human terms. Zero degrees was a cold as he make brine before it froze, and 100 degrees was (he was a little off) body temperature.

And using the Fahrenheit thermometer, when it is 0 degrees F, you know it is cold, and when it hits 100 in the shade, you know you’re hot.

The Celsius, or centigrade system that is used in metric nations, is based on the boiling and freezing points of fresh water. Sounds logical, perhaps, but I’m not water, I’m human. Why should it be considered logical to base your thermometer on water?

via metric system | Richard Nilsen.

Arming the Immune System Against Cancer – Biologist | Cancer Researcher

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But your laboratory came up with an answer. What did you discover?

My lab has done a lot of basic research on how T-cells find and mark viruses, bacteria and defective cells. In the 1990s, my team and another group showed that there was a molecule on T-cells that actually acts like an off switch or a brake pedal when T-cells encounter an infected cell.

Instead of attacking the cell, this molecule puts a kind of brake on the immune response. We call it a checkpoint, and it may be why many of those therapeutic anticancer vaccines couldn’t work. We think the immune system may have multiple checkpoints.

I wondered whether we could block this off switch to keep the T-cells turned on. And that’s what we did. We developed an antibody to plug this off-switch. It worked great in mouse models of many types of cancer.

Continue reading the main storyContinue reading the main story

More importantly, it worked for some people with skin cancer. The first drug developed out of this was Yervoy, which was approved by the F.D.A. in 2011 against metastatic and inoperable advanced melanomas.

Long-term follow up of 5,000 melanoma patients who received it found that 22 percent survived for at least 10 years, some longer.

Is that a good number?

Oh, yeah. These were patients with usually seven months, maybe a year, to live.

A woman in Santa Monica was one of the first people to get the drug. She had two kids in high school. She’d failed at everything.

And so Dr. Antoni Ribas at U.C.L.A. said: “Well, we’ve got this experimental thing. We don’t know if it will work. It may be toxic.” She said, “I’ll do anything if I can just live a few more months to see my son graduate high school.” And so they treated her. And her tumors went away within about four months.

I met her 10 years later. She said, “You know, my kids are through school, married, starting families.”

There are a lot of stories like that.

via Arming the Immune System Against Cancer – NYTimes.com.

How plants adapt: Calcium waves help the roots tell the shoots

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calcium waves help plants react to environment*

Arabidopsis thaliana growing in salt water. The plant on the right has more of the protein channel TPC1, thought to be involved in calcium signaling in plants. The plant at center has less TPC1 than normal, and the one on the left is considered normal. Credit: Won-Gyu Choi/Gilroy Lab
It’s a finding that has implications for those interested in how plants adapt to and thrive in changing environments. For instance, it may help agricultural scientists understand how to make more salt- or drought-tolerant plants.

“How do you think plants live?” Gilroy asks. “If I poke you, I see an instant response. You move away. Plants live in a slightly different world. They are rooted to the ground, literally, and they respond to the world either by growing or creating chemicals.”

Calcium is involved in transmitting information in the cells of humans and other animals, contracting muscles, sending nerve signals and more.

In plants, scientists believed it had to also play a role in processing information and sending rapid signals so that plants can respond quickly to their environments.

Imagine you are a plant being eaten by a caterpillar: “It’s like a lion chewing your leg,” says Gilroy. “If an insect is chewing your leaf, you’re gone unless you determine something effective immediately.”

But no one had ever been able to see it before. Even Gilroy’s team found it by accident.

via How plants adapt: Calcium waves help the roots tell the shoots.

Southern california underwater marine life field guide: Submit Your Photos!

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Underwater Field Guide to the Flora and Fauna of Southern California

California Fish ID

Welcome to the Southern California Underwater field guide. More than 450 species are represented here, covering a geographic area from San Diego to Santa Barbara.

  • You are invited to contribute photos to this field guide. To make a submission, or for assistance in identifying something unknown, please email sgietler@yahoo.com
  • All photos are copyrighted by each photographer and should not be used without their permissions. Field guide contributors are listed below.

We hope these galleries help you appreciate the marvelous wonders in our oceans. If this field guide was useful, please feel free to sign the guestbook at the very bottom of the page, and add your comments. Thanks  – Scott Gietler

Reef and Pelagic Fish  Perch, bass, wrasses, garibaldis, mackerals click here

Bottom Dwelling fish  Eels, flatfish, gobies, blennies, kelpfish, poachers click here

Rockfish, Sculpins, Scorpionfish click here

 

Sharks and Rays click here

via Southern california underwater marine life field guide.

Gates Foundation Uses Art to Encourage Vaccination – NYTimes.com

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By MELENA RYZIKJAN. 6, 2015

A tableau of a vaccination. Credit Alexia Sinclair

Artists, it’s fair to say, usually don’t know much about bacteria. Vik Muniz is an exception. Mr. Muniz, the Brazilian-born photographer known for his unorthodox materials, has been working with the M.I.T. bioengineer and designer Tal Danino on a series of trompe l’oeil images of microscopic organisms: cancer cells, healthy cells and bacteria.

At first glance, they look like ornate and colorful patterns. In reality, they represent teeming, living things. Among his latest: a pink print that could pass for floral wallpaper. But it’s made up of liver cells infected with the Vaccinia virus, which is used to make the smallpox vaccine.

“Normally, patterns are soothing structures,” Mr. Muniz said, “and all of a sudden, there’s a lot of drama.”

The work now has another meaning. It will be used in a new online campaign, The Art of Saving a Life, sponsored by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The intent is to promote vaccination just in time for an international effort to raise funds to inoculate millions, especially in poor nations.

via Gates Foundation Uses Art to Encourage Vaccination – NYTimes.com.