Yahoo!ology

Before I get down to science-y stuff, I thought I'd mention my big news of the week. To make a short story long, I follow a local cycling blog called CoMo CyCo (Columbia Missouri Cycling Cooperative). I'm very fond of this blog and read it every day. Yesterday I left a comment on one of the previous posts. And in response, the CoMo CyCo PooBah (author of said blog), gave me a shout out (sort of) on yesterday's post. So if anyone is reading this blog because they meandered over from the CyCo, I hope you find it...well...not boring?

It was also a big week for another reason. Again, to give more information than is really necessary, I use Yahoo! as my browser's homepage. I don't necessarily endorse using this site as your homepage, and I don't even necessarily endorse using its search engine capabilities. I'm just saying that I, for one, do. The primary reason that I have made Yahoo! my homepage is because I like to read through the headlines of featured stories. I find them informative at times, and it's a good way to force-feed myself the day's big news. Or at least what some schmuck in Silicon Valley thinks of as big news. The reason I'm saying all of this is because, in an unusual move by the popular search engine, two really, really science-y stories were featured on their homepage within only a couple of days of each other. I mean, it's not rare to see these types of stories featured on their page, but by 'not rare,' I mean, like, once a month. So to properly observe this fluke by the folks at Yahoo!, I thought I'd spend some time briefly describing these two stories; both of which are pretty cool.

The first story was titled 'NASA finds shrimp dinner on ice beneath Antarctica,' and basically the title sums it all up. NASA, despite that it was thought that no complex life existed below Antarctic ice sheets, dug a 600 ft hole in an Antarctic ice sheet, lowered a camera, and found...drum roll please...complex life. More specifically, they found a live shrimp-like creature and a jellyfish tentacle. The article doesn't suggest what they were actually looking for. If it was thought that no complex life existed in that environment, then why go through the trouble of digging a hole and dropping a camera? Seems odd to me. But regardless, the news is pretty groundbreaking and has opened up all sorts of new questions, not to mention new possibilities of finding life on planets where it was thought that life could not exist.

The second story was titled 'The world's only immortal animal,' and I thought this one was totally crazy. The animal that the blog is referring to is a species of jellyfish. The jellyfish uses a cellular process called transdifferentiation to revert from its adult phase back to its polyp phase, and then back again. It's somewhat comparable to an adult human with the ability to revert back to an infant, just so that they can grow up and do it all over again. And again. And again. And so on. The result is an animal that never has to die. Interestingly, because they never have to die, their populations are increasing rapidly as they are spreading around the world from their native Caribbean habitat.

So now I'll leave you to ponder our world's many natural wonders. And by all means, if you're not already a regular reader, I highly recommend checking out the CoMo CyCo blog. Particularly for Columbia residents, it's as entertaining as it is informative. Sometimes.

The Changing Shape of Life and Polymers

There are two-fold reasons to celebrate on this somewhat cool, dreary Friday. The first reason, which anyone reading this blog probably already knows since they know me personally, is that it's my birthday.

Exciting!

The second reason is that, according to the Facebook update I just received, today's NPR Science Friday is being broadcast just down the road at the St. Louis Science Center. And for those of you who don't think this is cause for revelry and celebration, find a new blog. You're not nerdy enough for this one.

Because it's my birthday, a day that makes it unquestionably clear that I'm getting older and there's nothing I can do about, I sometimes find myself thinking of bygone days and the many birthdays that have come before. Therefore, I thought I would stick with the theme of 'memory' for this afternoon's post. If you're a neuroscientist (I've got a particular one in mind, but won't mention him by name), then you're probably going to be disappointed. I'm not talking about the biology and function of the brain's capacity to store information. Instead, I'm referring to the shape memory of materials. For the engineers among us, the first word that comes to mind when I say 'shape memory' is most likely Nitinol. Nitinol is a shape memory alloy of nickel and titanium and is commonly used as the scaffold material in angioplasty stents. The stents are designed in such a way that, at room temperature, the Nitinol scaffold constricts and collapses into a small, dense shape. A catheter is then used to place the stent at the location of a blocked blood vessel. Once in place, the Nitinol warms to body temperature and the scaffold expands, opening the blockage and restoring blood flow.

There are other materials that have this same shape memory based on temperature, and there are also other means of restoring some materials to their original shape - such as with magnetic fields or electrical current. Most of these materials have been specifically engineered for this purpose. However, a polymer produced by DuPont with the proprietary name Nafion that has been widely used in fuel cells has recently been added to the list of shape memory materials. According to an article in ScienceNews, Nafion is capable of 'remembering' three previously held shapes through cycles of heating and cooling. Even though materials with such properties are not overtly rare, it is unusual to just stumble upon one, as is the case with Nafion. It just goes to show that there's always more totally rad stuff out there to study, examine, and poke and prod.

And with that, I'm off to celebrate my birthday...and to celebrate being in the same state as Ira Flatow.

Grit Your Teeth, Wipe Your Brow, and Earn That Degree

While cruising through the usual suspects of science news websites this afternoon, I came across this gem at Sciencenews.org: 'Rise of female weaponry driven by poop fights.' That's the title of an article about lady dung beetles with larger, nastier horns having a greater chance of producing viable offspring because they are more likely to win in a fight over the best poo in which to lay their eggs. All I have to say is, wow. Just...wow.

Speaking of cool headlines, I heard a pretty good one while listening to the local community radio station today. The headline said something about Michael J. Fox receiving an honorary doctorate for his work on Parkinson's Disease awareness. So I came back to the office and did a quick internet search. Sure enough, it's true. As it turns out, Fox was awarded an honorary doctorate degree from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden. He'll be receiving the award today during a ceremony in New York. Also, you might recognize the name of the institute that is giving the honorary doctorate to Fox, as it's the organization that awards the Nobel Prize in medicine.

As someone who has worked for several years now towards a PhD degree, I have mixed feelings about the 'honorary doctorate.' I must say that sometimes it really feels like one's celebrity is enough to warrant an honorary degree, despite that person never having done anything to earn it. This sort of award system, in which you give someone something for doing absolutely nothing, really flies in the face of what the doctorate degree is all about. We're talking about the highest level of formal study here, not a hand-out. Not to say that my experience during my doctorate career has been all that grueling, but it hasn't been a cake-walk either. I've had my fair share of late nights, packed days, drastic failures, and breaking points in which I wanted to pull all my hair out and call it quits. But hey, no one said it would be easy. So why should it be easy for someone else who hasn't put in the work? That's all I'm really asking here.

But Michael J. Fox is a different story. He really has put the work in. And he's been doing it a lot longer than I have. I'm willing to go so far as to say that if anyone deserves an honorary doctorate, it's him. I don't necessarily think he's the only one who deserves it, but he's way up there on the list. So I think what I'm saying is that we should all have a drink on this beautiful Friday afternoon and toast to Michael J. Fox's success. He's earned our hearty congratulations, as well as an advanced degree.

So here's to you, Mike. Cheers!

Procrastination and Dereliction

As some may have noticed, I have been consistently neglecting this blog for the past couple of weeks. First of all, I would like to apologize for doing so, as I had promised myself that I would update with a new post at least once a week. I've fallen short of this goal as of late. Second, I would like to go ahead and provide lame excuses for why I have not been tending to my affairs.

My primary excuse is that my current research project has faltered slightly - although it has really been a one-step-forward-two-steps-back sort of dance from the beginning. This would not normally be a problem, but I have a proceedings manuscript that must be submitted early next week so that I can attend an upcoming conference. As of right now, the amount of data that I have available for this manuscript is approximately zero...zip...nada. So not only am I putting up a data-gathering blitz, but I'm also preparing to write a full-length manuscript. In addition, I just received reviewer comments back from a major peer-reviewed journal to which I had submitted a paper. The reviewer requests are lengthy, and include significant editing of the paper, as well as fresh new experiments to be tacked on.

In all, I'm basically just saying that I'm very busy. But it's very important that I submit my proceedings manuscript on time. This manuscript will ensure my position as a presenter at the SPIE Defense, Security, and Sensing conference in April. And I'm looking forward to taking some good notes and reporting back on some of the totally wicked stuff that is showcased at this event. In the meantime, I'll try to be more attentive to my blog. With any luck, I'll have time to add a real, live worthwhile post at the end of this week.

Science Can Even Make Beer Taste Better

As you may know, my research emphasis is in optical sensing technologies. You may also know that my current research focuses on the use of imprinted polymers as a method of detecting the presence of a particular molecule or compound. To keep up with the trends in my field, I was conducting a brief literature search yesterday and I ran across a news article about imprinted polymers. The article, published in Science Daily, describes a research group that is utilizing an imprinted polymer to remove a compound from beer that drives photo-oxidation of beer and other beverages. My jaw hit the floor. Not only is this idea totally awesome, but I've been considering contacting brew masters in the area to discuss potential research projects that could be applied to the beer making industry. After all, my dream since the age of 10 was to become a brew master. What better way to use my expertise in biological engineering than to apply it to my childhood aspirations?

Anyways, I wanted to quickly summarize how this process works so that you can appreciate the beauty of its simplicity. Molecular imprinted polymers, or MIPs, begin as a liquid solution that contains all the necessary reagents to create a solid polymer matrix. While still in an unpolymerized fluid state, the molecule that you are interested in grabbing from the environment, called the template, is added. In this case, the template would be Riboflavin - the compound that causes beer to become photo-oxidized (also referred to as light-stricken). At this point, crosslinking of the solution is initiated by an input of energy, most often in the form of heat, and you end up with a solid polymer that contains bound Riboflavin. Now comes the important part: the Riboflavin is chemically extracted from the polymer, leaving behind binding sites that are chemically- and shape-specific to Riboflavin. When the MIP is then re-exposed to a solution that contains Riboflavin, such as beer, the Riboflavin binds to the imprinted binding sites of the MIP, the polymer is removed from the beer taking the bound Riboflavin with it, and you end up with Riboflavin-free beer. So by simply dipping this polymer into the liquid, you can create a beer that is considerably less susceptible to becoming light-stricken, keeping the beer tasting fresh and hoppy for much longer.

What a wonderful world in which we live!

Take The Mask Off; You Look Like An Idiot

Last week, I droned on about our community's attempt to bring green technology solutions to the citizens of Columbia. I must say, I was really proud of that particular post because it's the first time I wrote about the goings-on of local affairs relating to science and technology. I realize that there is a great amount of ground-breaking research and technological development that goes on here, particularly within the confines of the University of Missouri system. However, we have information outlets ranging from our two local newspapers to campus-based publications that include the Maneater and Mizzou Engineer Magazine that seem to do a decent job of sharing notable scientific news with the public.

With this in mind, I set about trying to find yet another local story that I could discuss (with myself) here on this blog. While perusing through the stories on the homepage of the Columbia Daily Tribune, I ran across an AP story about how experts believe that the swine flu epidemic is more or less over. I know that this is not local, but it struck me as something I should consider speaking my mind about. Now, before I continue, I should mention that I am not a medical or human health expert, so I would recommend taking nothing I subsequently say seriously; these are just the public ramblings of a man who is procrastinating when more pressing and important matters should really be dealt with. I should also mention that I did become ill with what I believe was the swine flu, and can say with all honesty that I've been a whole lot sicker than that in my life.

I remember when the swine flu scare began, and it seemed vividly familiar to when the SARS scare occurred, which was sometime around 2002-2003. Basically, I'm referring to news stories showing Chinese people walking around wearing paper masks. Let's be clear about one thing, though: people did indeed die from both of these diseases. The World Health Organization estimates a 10% mortality rate for those infected with SARS, which is not a trivial statistic. Most of the fatalities, however, occurred in the elderly, which is common for most pathogens, as the elderly have a somewhat suppressed immune system compared to the young. In the case of the swine flu, the number of infections was much greater than SARS, but the mortality rate was much lower; around 0.02%. What was particularly frightening about the swine flu was that a small number of relatively healthy, young people developed viral pneumonia or acute respiratory distress syndrome due to the H1N1 virus, and consequently died. This is the main characteristic that caused the swine flu to stand out and cause a bit of a panic.

As I said, the image that sticks with me when I think about the swine flu outbreak was of the Chinese people on the nightly news wearing their paper masks. This caused me to scoff and shake my head at the television. Perhaps there is a logical reason that these masks might help lessen one's chances of contracting the virus, but I'm not seeing it. Like most common viral pathogens, such as the seasonal flu, the swine flu spreads primarily through contact with water droplets shed from an infected person coughing or sneezing, or touching an object after touching his/her mouth or nose. Oftentimes, those droplets are inhaled directly from the air. And so when I think about what those paper masks would be doing to help, I have to think that they're simply absorbing any infectious droplets or mist that could be in the air. The problem that I'm seeing here is that after absorbing the virus, the masks are just holding them there next to your pie-hole, giving them all the time in the world to gain access to your precious bodily fluids. So it would seem that wearing a mask would do nothing but slow - not stop - infection by the pathogen. But seeing people walking around with those things sure does a job of scaring the bejeezus out of everybody.

Our Own Little Solar Farm

For those living in Columbia who venture over to West Ash Street once in a while, you may have noticed a curious property that sits across the street from the rear fence of Shelter Gardens. There, in the midst of mall-area hustle and bustle is an open grassy expanse. And nestled into one corner of this city-owned field are two solar panels. There is a sign that reads 'Columbia Solar Initiative' or 'Columbia Solar Plant' or some such thing. Avid readers of this blog (a joke of course...I'm not entirely sure I have a single reader, let alone avid readers) will know by now that I have a particular interest in renewable energy and climate change, and so this strange property has always fascinated me. Why did the city plop two solar panels in the middle of Columbia-proper? Why are there only two solar panels in an area that could hold dozens? Why are they hidden in the corner? I've pondered these questions for months now, and as it turns out, so have the semi-competent reporters at the Columbia Missourian.

An article appearing in the Missourian in early 2008 indicates that Dow Chemical Co received a small grant to undertake feasibility studies of integrating solar energy into city power grids. So Dow partnered with the City of Columbia, and with the help of Missouri Solar Applications, built a rather puny 'solar power plant.' In another article later that same year, the Missourian reported that the city had begun selling power to residential households for a somewhat nominal fee. The project, which goes by the name of Solar One, allows a small number of Columbia residents to receive a portion of their energy from the source on West Ash, along with energy purchased by the city from a small array of solar panels on the roof of the Quaker Oats facility on Highway B. According to their website, it is anticipated that the project will continue to grow as other businesses add solar collection capabilities, after which the city will purchase a portion of the energy produced and distribute it to subscribing residents. If you're interested and would like to know more about this project, there's a pretty good video that can be found here.

After learning about the project, I'm pretty excited about it and I hope that they're able to meet their goal of producing 1% of Columbia's entire energy portfolio from solar by 2023. But their goal, while I'm sure is substantial and probably quite a challenge, seems a bit meager to me. Rather than relying on purchasing power from local residents, it seems like the city might be better off requesting funding via grants and other sources to expand their own solar power capabilities. I realize that the panels and auxiliary equipment are quite expensive, but the ideal vision that I see for Columbia's future is to turn the property on West Ash into a fully functioning solar farm, filled corner to corner with solar panel arrays. I can think of other city-owned locations where solar panels could be erected, too. Sure, 1% is great, but let's shoot for 10%...20%...50%. Go big or go home!

I know this won't happen anytime soon, but as the technology becomes cheaper and simultaneously more efficient, it could happen sooner than most of us think. In fact, I think I'll keep an eye on the West Ash Street property for signs of construction. Who knows, maybe the folks at Solar One and I are on the same page.