Philadelphia women and specific bacteria

Here's a very interesting article concerned the infection rates of MAC = mycobacterium avium complex.  It seems to be found most commonly in healthy, post menopausal, white women of higher socioeconomic status.  Oh, and in the Philadelphia area.  Doctors don't know why, but they're trying to figure it out.

http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/homepage-feature/item/54911?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=FBWHYY773

Glass Microbiology

Luke Jerram is an artist who creates sculptures and installations, as well as live projects.  His most recent collection, entitled "Glass Microbiology" was recently purchased by The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.  He has created glass replicas of the viruses HPV (human papillomavirus), HIV (human immunodeficiency virus), and influenza in addition to the parasite that causes malaria, and an E. coli bacterium.  Scientists know what these microscopic organisms (yes, I'm going to choose to call a virus a living entity) and are widely discussed in the scientific world.  However, these pieces of art now bring this information to a wider group of people.  They're beautiful!

Luke Jerram's Glass Microbiology site: http://www.lukejerram.com/glass/

Article about his work: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2276348/Glass-Microbiology-Luke-Jerrams-delicate-deadly-viruses-recreated-blown-glass.html#axzz2KBDwXso2

E. coli bacterium

Close

What are you doing on February 15th?  I know what the asteroid 2012 DA 14 will be doing - coming within 18,000 miles of Earth's surface.  It might sound far, but it's actually closer to us than the moon and some satellites. 

The asteroid is believed to be about 45 meters (~ 148 feet) in diameter, but will not be visible to the naked eye.

Check out its path and more information at NASA's Near Earth Object Program here: http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news174.html

Many small objects come close to Earth every year.  To give you a flavor of what is really going on in space, here's an article from TIME magazine discussing this very topic: http://science.time.com/2013/02/05/duck-close-shave-with-an-asteroid-coming/

The asteroid Mathilde, taken by the

NEAR spacecract on 6/16/97

Remembering Columbia

Tomorrow, February 1st, will mark ten years since Space Shuttle Columbia broke into pieces over Dallas, TX while returning from a 16 day mission.

It's always the question - do you remember where you were when it happened?

I can't remember what city I was in, but I do remember being in a hotel with my husband.  We had been arguing over something until CNN caught our eye.  The news station was showing clips of debris flying through the air that looked like comets.  Of course the story harkened back to the Challenger explosion of 1986, not only in incident but also in timing: Challenger was lost on January 28th, nearly 17 years before.  So ominous.

Wayne Hale worked for NASA for 32 years.  He's been the Space Shuttle Program Manager, Space Shuttle Program Deputy and Space Shuttle Flight Director.  He was involved in Columbia's mission and was waiting on the ground at the Kennedy Space Center with many other VIPs when the shuttle disintegrated.  He wrote a blog while working at NASA, but has since started his own that is unaffiliated.  His new series, called Ten Years Later, is quite moving and full of personal details concerning this fateful mission and the lessons we all have learned from it.

I highly recommend reading it: http://waynehale.wordpress.com/

It was my dream to work for NASA as a child.  I saw the Challenger explode when I was in second grade.  My teachers had rolled in a TV to show us the live launch because they thought it was going to be amazing.  These moments have stuck with me since then and I'll take a moment tomorrow to remember the seven astronauts who did not come home.

A reason for exercise

Last week's Nature magazine had a series of articles on aging.  One article (LINK!) says that with all the research, most scientists agree on two things:

1. Just about everyone will experience mental decline, typically in memory, by age 60.
2. Aerobic exercise delays/slows mental decline.

Go outside and run!

Meth.

I've debated putting a post up about this new anti-drug campaign, but in the end I decided to do it.  I warn you, the links that I attached to this post show some rather striking images of people's faces before and after taking methamphetamine.  If this doesn't turn kids off of taking meth, then I'm not sure what in the world would.  The poster also explains the tell-tale signs of meth-abusers, including "meth mouth," sunken cheeks, scabs on their faces and premature aging.

In full disclosure, one of the early comparison pictures shows a young woman who clearly has scars from facial burns.  This woman was involved in a meth lab explosion leading to a debate whether this could be classified as "due to taking meth."  I argue that it does.

Yes, the campaign takes the more horrifying pictures to make a point.  No, not every person who takes meth will end up with such terrible changes to their appearance, but it certainly makes a dramatic point.  If it scares even one kid away from taking this highly addictive drug, then it has served its purpose.

LINK to Meth poster: http://i46.tinypic.com/2ef3hiv.jpg

LINK to article discussing the poster: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2244031/The-horror-Meth-Before-pictures-reveal-shocking-transformation-faces-users-hooked-deadly-drug.html#comments

LINK to the MethProject for more information on its dangers: http://www.methproject.org/

I think we need to bring out the classic Anti-Drugs commercial for this post's picture:

Walking Again

::waves::  I'm back from a short blogging break.  I have three manuscripts in various levels of review/publication so I was very focused on that work for the past few weeks.  But, I'm back now!  Just in time for Thanksgiving!

I recently listed to a podcast on exoskeletons ("Stuff You Should Know").  As science minded as I am, I originally thought they were going to tell me how crustaceans and bugs made their hard skins, but exoskeletons also refers to the design of robotics to help human achievement.  These are machines that a human would physically wear while doing work.  DARPA recently asked for designs that will help soldiers carry heavier loads for longer periods, walk faster, and jump higher. 

One area they are truly amazing is helping those with paralysis to walk again.  Their muscles no longer respond to their central nervous system due to the severing of their spinal columns, but the robotics, acting as bones and muscle, can respond to other cues, such as leaning forward.  Here's an article from the New York Times about their progress.  Fascinating.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/12/technology/wearable-robots-that-can-help-people-walk-again.html

See ya, Sandy.

Sandy roared ashore between Sea Isle City and Avalon, NJ at 8pm last night as a Category 1 storm (maximum sustained winds of 80 mph).  This is 5 miles south of Atlantic City (pictures below) and just a few towns south of Ocean City, NJ (pictures below).

We made it through!  We didn't even lose power (but we did lose internet until this afternoon).  I went out to see the Schuylkill River cresting and was surprised to see it was much lower than last year's Hurricane Irene.  Unfortunately, many many places were not so lucky.


Ocean City, NJ High School:

Long Beach Island, NJ:

Ocean City, NJ (10th St):

Atlantic City, NJ (that's a piece of the boardwalk floating there):

World Trade Center / Freedom Tower construction site in NYC:

Stay safe during the clean up.  Be patient.  Some people, especially those along the Jersey shore and the people affected by the fire in Queens, were impacted deeply by this storm.
 

More Sandy...

       Well, I fail as an arm-chair meteorologist.  I've been watching Sandy's wind speed and central pressure over the past day.  Her winds were down to 75 mph and pressure was climbing well into the 900s mb.  I figured that the cooler waters up here would decrease the storm's strength, dropping it to a tropical storm before making landfall.  Mother Nature ruined that plan.  The storm is 205 miles from Atlantic City and packing 90 mile an hour winds.  That's a strong category 1 storm!

Sandy at ~ 8am:

Sandy at ~ 11am:

Oh, Sandy.

The sun is barely peaking out from behind the thick white and gray clouds right now.  I know this is the last of it for awhile!  The wind is picking up, but nothing really to write home about yet.

Here's an updated picture.  Look how big this storm is.  We're still not sure what to expect, but don't worry - Sandy's path takes her directly through Philadelphia.  I'll be sure to find out.

Villanova University, University of Delaware, and The University of Pennsylvania have been declared closed Monday and Tuesday.  No, I haven't heard any plans to shut down our transportation system like NYC already announced.

EDIT: SEPTA (Philadelphia's public transportation system) has announced it will suspend all bus, trolley, subway, and rail service starting at 12:30am Monday.  It is expected to last at least the majority of Monday.

Hurricane Sandy

As a citizen in the City of Brotherly Love, apparently I'm also a target for Hurricane Sandy.  Her 5-day prediction cone is centered squarely on Southern New Jersey and Philadelphia.  The hospital I work at sent out a multi-page, power-point-esque document yesterday outlining their emergency preparedness.  They've never done that before, which made me wonder just how big this storm was (quite honestly, I'd barely heard a blip about Hurricane Sandy before 3pm yesterday).

I love the names that are coming out about it right now.  Superstorm!  Diane Sawyer broke into local news last night to light up Philadelphians' ears with that one.  Today, CNN is calling it "Frankenstorm."  Very clever - that whole hurricane merging with cold front right around Halloween angle.  "Perfect Storm" was also bandied about on CNN this morning - saying it was twenty years later than originally suspected.  I'm not sure I understand this reference?

Anyway, since I'm sitting in the bulls-eye, I'll be sure to pass along some fun pictures like I did for Hurricane Irene.

Until then, here's a snapshot of Sandy right now.

Element 113

Let's be real, after plutonium (element #94) on the periodic table, the names of the elements get really weird.  Americium?  Einsteinium?  Nobelium?  Do you see a theme here?  They sound so silly (sorry, element namers of the world). 

It's hard work to identify a new element and it's even harder to gain the right to name it.  Japanese researchers recently made their third atom of element 113 (meaning an atom that has 113 protons in its nucleus).  They are not the first to make the element (Russians and Americans have already done it), but they are the first to do it three times.  This means that they might be able to name it!

Please let them pick a cooler name than ...Curium?  I'm all for honoring awesome scientists but these names are crazy.

JoVE

I literally don't know what to make of this "journal."  I'm only putting it in quotes because the format is not focused on words but rather videos.  I'm not sure if this is entirely accurate, but the idea of the journal grew from a frustrated scientist who couldn't reproduce another lab's protocol.  He read and read what the laboratory had published, but eventually went to the lab to watch how they did it.  Apparently that made all the difference.

I have a lot of thoughts on how science and technology should be integrated, but I'll save that for another post on Amedeo.  Until then, check out this YouTubed-out journal that my institution is currently mulling over buying a subscription to.

http://www.jove.com/ <-- Link!

^^ Roman God Jove ^^

National Geographic Photography

More entries are posted on the website for National Geographic's Photography contest.

Here's my new favorite:

Water droplets on plants after the rain.  They look like champagne glasses.  Absolutely beautiful!

This reminds me that I've recently seen advertisements for Nikon's Small World Gallery.  It's nearing time to see more of the microscopic world through the eyes of scientists, beautiful colors, and fascinating lenses.  More info from Nikon here: http://www.nikonsmallworld.com/.

Bacteria. Millions of bacteria.

See if you can read this without your eyes bugging open...

"...birth exposes the newborn to the microbiota of the mother, setting in motion the colonization of mucosal tissues in the digestive, respiratory, and urogenital tracts, and the skin by a diverse microbiota, which we coexist with throughout our lives.  The complex and dynamic interaction between the microbiota and its human host is the culmination of nearly half a billion years of co-evolution with vertebrates that has reciprocally shaped the repertoires of the microbiota and the immune system, such that microbiota inhumans is normally restrained and well-tolerated.

"Estimated at approximately 100 trillion organisms, most of which are bacteria..., the microbiota numbers about ten times the total cells in the human body with the greatest density populating the distal ileum and colon."

Maynard et al. Nature 489 pg 231 - 241 = LINK

Yup.  These few words summarize how we are born into a world of bacteria, how it comes to colonize certain areas of our body, and how that co-existence is a mutually beneficial prospect for both the bacteria and its human host (you). 

This harkens back to a previous post I put in Mini-Amedeo about all the different bacteria living in and on our bodies.  Scientists are studying the cross-sections of these microbes to understand why some people develop diseases, particularly Crohn's, inflammatory bowel syndrome, and cancer, but others do not.  Nature has several articles dedicated to current updates; it is fascinating.  LINK

HPV, The Human Papillomavirus

Last week's Nature magazine dedicated several news articles to the human papillomavirus.  Please check out the articles here: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v488/n7413/index.html#nf

Fact: "88% of the 275,008 women who died in 2008 from cervical cancer lived in developing countries."  This quote comes directly from this article: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v488/n7413_supp/full/488S7a.html


Currently, the HPV vaccine is an expensive three dose treatment that isn't a reasonable option outside of developed countries.  Scientists are currently working on designing vaccines that are cheaper, cover more HPV strains, and would need less doses.  Win for every women on the planet who is susceptible to this very preventative form of cancer.


Keep this map in mind:

Map from this article: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v488/n7413_supp/full/488S2a.html

Want to read more about HPV?  http://www.amedeo-amedeo.com/search/label/Series%3A%20Henrietta%20Lacks

Hurricane Isaac

It made it.  I knew it had a chance once I saw that the prediction cone went over Key West, Florida and into the Gulf of Mexico.  The warm waters there help strengthen storms.

As of 1 pm EDT, Hurricane Isaac has maximum sustained winds of 75 mph (Category 1 on the Saffir-Simpson scale) and its minimal pressure central pressure is 976 MB.

SETI at Home; Folding at Home

Want to help out science on a daily basis just by using your computer?  These are two options that are available to you - I find both to be great causes!

SETI, or the "Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence," has been collecting and analyzing radio signals from all over skies since the 1960s in the hunt for other intelligent life in our cosmos.  Unsure where exactly to point the telescopes or what frequency to find information on, SETI has more data than it can possibly go through.  Instead of filling up the processing capabilities on a few computers, these scientists have decided to spread out the information on many computers across the world.  Your computer, which will still functions normally while performing SETI analysis in the background, can be one!  Look it up, sign up, and check it out here: http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/

Biological scientists study proteins every single day.  Each one is created as a string of amino acids, but then folds up on itself to create a 3-dimensional structure capable of fulfilling some function (Lost?  Check out my Central Dogma post!)  Each string of amino acids folds into a shape that is specific, but we still don't understand many of the links between amino acid sequence and final, 3-dimensional shape.  Programs exist to model protein folding, but they require large processing capabilities.  Much like SETI@home, Folding@home also works by breaking down a large job into many smaller jobs capable of being run in the background on your home computer.  The information gained from these models can be helpful for future treatments in all sorts of human diseases.  Find out more on their website: http://folding.stanford.edu/English/HomePage

Aristotle or Plato?

Scientific American sent me a short, special report addition to their magazine this week.  Apparently, physics predicts upwards of four different levels of parallel universes and this pamphlet was going to explain it to me.  It didn't.  All it really did was make me have this face:

However, I did learn something interesting about myself and I now want to pose the question to you.

Are you Aristotelian or Platonic?

Aristotelian: "Physical reality is fundamental and mathematic[s] is ... a useful approximation."

Platonic: "Mathematics is the true reality and observers perceive it imperfectly."

So, which do you believe?  Our reality of gravity, planetary movement and energy is something math will only be able to approximate (Aristotelian) or that we are all governed by math, but we don't completely understand it all yet (Platonic)?

I am Platonic.


Reference: Tegmark, Max. "Parallel Universes: A Scientific American Special Report." Scientific American (2009).
PDF Copy: http://space.mit.edu/home/tegmark/PDF/multiverse_sciam.pdf

Birds are Astronomers

Exactly how animals are able to migrate across the Earth with accuracy and precision is still a somewhat murky topic.  Some use geographical markers (like lakes or land masses) while others rely on the Earth's magnetism the way compasses do and still more use devices that we have not yet uncovered.  They seem to just know.

One particular animal, the Indigo Bunting, uses stars.  A series of experiments showed that baby birds in the nest are watching the night sky and how the stars rotate around Polaris, or the North Star.  From this, they learn which way is due north are able to fly accordingly during migration.

A set of experiments placed baby Indigo Buntings in a planetarium and rotated the stars around Betelgeuse instead of Polaris.  When the birds were released, they flew as if Betelgeuse were the North Star.  It seems they are learning the pattern of star rotation before they can even fly.  Further support has found that Indigo Buntings have difficulty with direction on cloudy evenings.

Very interesting!

More Info: http://www.maa.org/devlin/devlin_10_99.html