I am mentally ill. I have clinical depression. CD is a thoroughly miserable illness. I’m incredibly lucky to live at a time when CD like mine is easily treated by medication. Two pills every morning, and I’m myself again. The point of writing this isn’t to tell the world that I’ve got clinical depression, or to say “Gosh I like my drugs”. The reason that I’m writing this is gripe about how people react when they hear that I take psychiatric medication. For some reason, the fact that my brain has a problem that’s easy to fix using medication is…
The Science Creative Quarterly
From October, 2006
AMERICA AND ADIPOCYTES: WHY LIPOSUCTION IS NOT THE ANSWER
Roughly 65% of Americans are overweight, 23% are obese, and not surprisingly these numbers continue to rise.[1] There are three classifications of obesity as published by the World Health Organization (WHO) utilizing the body mass index (BMI) which is computed by dividing weight in kilograms by height in meters. [2] Individuals with a BMI greater that 25 are considered overweight or of class I, people with a BMI greater than 30 are obese (class II), and those with a BMI over 40 are morbidly obese, and have an associated increased risk of death. [2] The obesity problem translates into over…
FORMERLY KNOWN AS PLUTO
It’s official. Pluto has resigned from the solar system. Citing the recent vote by the International Astronomical Union to change its status from planet to dwarf planet, the former ninth rock from the sun has responded with a firm “Thanks, but no thanks.” First, a committee of astronomers came up with a new definition that would have seen Pluto demoted from full planetary status to a subcategory called “plutons.” Then the full membership rejected that compromise and made it clear that Pluto wasn’t a real planet. “Nice try,” said the fiery ice ball. “But it’s rather condescending, don’t you think?…
A FABRICATED PAPER: FOLLOW YOUR NOSE – ON BIRDS FARTING AND STUFF
(This paper was designed by the author for a class assignment and as such is completely fabricated) TITLE: Follow your Nose FIRST PARAGRAPH Every bird examined to date has a fully functional olfactory system that is strikingly similar to the mammalian system. Also, many avian species are able to produce odour. However, researchers have struggled to demonstrate the existence of social odours or chemical signals in the avian community… (download pdf of paper here)
WEATHER IS NOT A PEST
With summer past, I remember the flies and other assorted citizens of bugdom at my house. Some were silent like models of mathematical motion, and some buzzed loudly, almost as if you could see their pursed lips – air forced through their invertebrate skeletons. All seemed pervasive, as if to target my children endlessly whilst they play. And I remember my paternal instinct kicking in, deciding that I must do something about these flies. Nasty flies. So in my efforts to learn more, I came across images of my enemy. Images like this one below: And looking closely, even as…
TUNA FISH: AN OVERVIEW
Bitten off More Small tin open like a fist is misleading. On the inside not a hair- bone bristles. Modern Ecology One day the housecats woke up enormous. Don’t know irony from goldfish said a large voice small-ly. The Melt The perfect union of lunch and sea, hot cheese stringing everything together. And the Cow will lie down with the Tuna Fish. Hello brother– one large stomach to another. Ballad of the Tuna from Snowy River It did not come from Snowy River or any river. No voice runs deep enough to sing this. Meanwhile in the Rowboat A silver…
I AM HDL. HEAR ME ROAR
Dear Diary, What a day. Things are crazy at work. I have so much to do. It seems that Al’s high blood pressure, his decades of eating poorly, not exercising, being stressed out, and smoking like a chimney, is soon going to catch up with him. The fact that both his mom and his dad died prematurely due to massive myocardial infarctions, not to mention that Al has diabetes and the metabolic syndrome, only make matters worse. He has ALL the major risk factors for atherosclerotic disease. I spent the last few days just floating around in Al’s blood, surveying…
IS THERE SUCH A THING AS ISLAMIC SCIENCE? THE INFLUENCE OF ISLAM ON THE WORLD OF SCIENCE
At present, when many think of the Middle East, the first word that comes to mind is oil, following close after unfortunately is war. However, the Middle East has a rich history in the development of science. Oddly enough, or perhaps not so strangely, Islam, the prominent religion of Middle Easterners, is intimately connected with the study and development of science. A study, therefore, of Islam’s influence on science is an enlightening journey. Never before or since has the Middle East been so profoundly shaken by the words of a simple merchant from Mecca in Arabian Peninsula: Muhammad ibn Abdullah…
I.D. ON THE STAND
A retelling of Kitzmiller vs. Dover Area School District,with apologies to Ernest L. Thayer The outlook wasn’t brilliant ‘neath that Pennsylvania sky: The courts stood N to zip before the new case here to try. Creationism in the schools had died a legal death, And now as Rothschild rose, Gishville IDers held their breath. The Pandas text was soon invoked in early draft. The I- D faithful clung to dogma calling evolution lie. They thought, “If only Behe could shore up this house of sand — We’d get it in the classroom yet, with Behe on the stand.” But Gillen…