This picture is a good example of how the basic squirrel fishing model works. It’s best to find a fairly open space with enough room to walk around a bit. We stayed away from a group of ne’er do-well hippie hooligans who were playing games, as they were likely to inadvertently interfere with our fishing agenda. Keep in mind that squirrels often live in public places, so it might take time to find a secluded area. Trust me, though: it’s worth it in the long run. It doesn’t matter if people are somewhat close (see the man in the picture).…
The Science Creative Quarterly
From June, 2006
ISLET AMYLOID – A CULPRIT IN TYPE 2 DIABETES
It is estimated that nearly 194 million people worldwide have diabetes. This is an increase from the 1995 global estimation of 135 million which was published in a World Health Organization study in 1998[1]. The International Diabetes Federation reconfirms that type 2 diabetes, which is the non-insulin dependent type, constitutes about 85% to 95% of all diabetes cases in developed nations and accounts for an even higher percentage in developing nations. Diabetes continues to affect increasing numbers of people around the world while public awareness remains low. Figure 1. The importance of Islet Amyloid What is type 2 diabetes? Type…
THAWING OUT NORTHERN MAMMALS
For mammals in the northern regions of the world, global warming must seem a little more real than it does to humans below the Arctic Circle. In 2004, the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment released a report called Impacts of a Warming Climate that revealed dire and immediate consequences of climate change for species ranging from polar bears to seals [1]. Temperatures in the Arctic are increasing at twice the rate of the rest of the world, according to the report. Sea ice is rapidly melting and breaking up at a rate of about 3% per decade[2], winters are shortening, and…
A SIMPLE METHOD FOR RATING POTENTIALLY REVOLUTIONARY CONTRIBUTIONS TO PHYSICS
A minus 5 point starting credit. 1 point for every statement that is widely agreed on to be false. 2 points for every statement that is clearly vacuous. 3 points for every statement that is logically inconsistent. 5 points for each such statement that is adhered to despite careful correction. 5 points for using a thought experiment that contradicts the results of a widely accepted real experiment. 5 points for each word in all capital letters (except for those with defective keyboards). 5 points for each mention of “Einstien”, “Hawkins” or “Feynmann”. 10 points for each claim that quantum mechanics…
MASS SPECTROMETRY
(August 2004) Development of mass spectrometry began with J.J. Thomson’s vacuum tube, with which, in the early part of the 20th century, he demonstrated the existence of electrons and “positive rays.” Thomson observed that the new technique could also be used by chemists to analyze chemicals. Despite this far-sighted observation, the primary application of mass spectrometry remained in the realm of physics for nearly thirty years. It was used to discover a number of isotopes, to determine the relative abundance of isotopes, and to measure isotope masses. These important fundamental measurements laid the foundation for later developments in diverse fields…
SPOT YOUR GENES – AN OVERVIEW OF THE MICROARRAY
(August 2004) A cell functions by using its genes to produce proteins and although each cell within an organism will usually contain the same set of genes, there are significant differences in which genes are activated and how they are controlled. This is idea is easy to digest when you think about how a single-celled embryo goes on to produce all kinds of different tissues. At any rate, the mechanism by which genes are utilized is the same for all cells and involves the transcription of a gene into mRNA before being translated into a protein. The production of mRNA…
POEMS
The Big Picture* The man on the radio is speaking of his specialty and passion, theoretical astrophysics. The interviewer frets the big ones, wants to know what is there, on the other side of the end of the universe. Wants to know what it was was then before the Big Bang happened. I’ve heard these questions before; heard my son, at seven, brood over them, though not so much now as when he was five. You try, at some point, to place yourself in the here and now. The astronomer has kept his mind open to these wide questions, the…
EVOLUTION OF ALCOHOL SYNTHESIS
We need to appreciate beer more. Alcohol has a long history in human affairs, and has been important in purifying and preserving food and drink, and in making our parties livelier. We owe it all to a tiny little microorganism, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which converts complex plant sugars into smaller, simpler, more socially potent molecules of ethanol. This is a remarkable process that seems to be entirely to our benefit (it has even been argued that beer is proof of the existence of God*), but recent research has shown that the little buggers do it all entirely for their own selfish…