Nerdy Science Blog

I have never be near to a microwave, in fact I actually have microwave-phobia.

When I see the list of items that shouldn’t be microwaved, I am relieved that I need not to microwave anything. The list includes CDs, grapes, toothpicks, lightbulb (i doubt anyone would microwave that), etc.

Two years ago, I heard someone microwave his own hand as he unconciously put his hand into a microwave which is not switch off.

Link: About Chemistry - Things You Shouldn’t Microwave

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When I saw this news from Yahoo! News saying that scientist develops caffeinated doughnuts, I was stunned.

I was stunned not because the product is so incredible, but it is so dumb. Imagine when the product is out of the market, and I’d order, “give me a cup of coffee and a doughnuts without caffein” or “give me the caffeinated doughnuts and a cup of coffee without caffein”.

How dumb it sounds. I have no idea what’s the better way he meant, but sure he loves baked food and want to be waken by them, A LOT!

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Scientists often need to hanging around the laboratory for a long time, this leads them to the lacking of exercises.

An analysis of 524 nominees for the Nobels in physics and in chemistry between 1901 and 1950 showed that the group’s 135 winners lived about two years longer than the also-rans. The finding points to the health benefits of social status and suggests that status benefits the bodies of the cerebrally normal too.

—— LiveScience.com: Nobel Prize Winners Live Longer

If you notice, the Nobles laurettes mostly are god-damn-old. You will not have your share of Noble prize if you are dead. You might say, “I can’t running or jumping around in the lab.”

Nay, exercises don’t limit to running, jumping, swimming, or flying. You can do some simple body stretching. You can visit “Office Workout - Exercise you can do at work” to see what you can do. Just imagine the chair and the table are the one in your lab. I’d like to take some photos of myself doing the stretching works, but i’m having break now and i won’t be seeing lab for another month.

DO NOT RUN IN LABORATORY.

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Very often when we fall sick (i.e., fever, sore throat, flu and other common illness), our Chinese friends will tell us to stay away from ‘heaty foods’ such as spicy food, tom yam, char kuew teow, durian and etc, including chicken and egg to avoid our sickness from getting worse. Instead, we are advice to take simple cooked foods or ‘cooling foods’ such as porridge, noodle soup, herbal tea and etc which will give some soothing effect, with perception that these foods will help in get rid the ‘heaty’ from our body, and thus get well soon.

But if you have Indian friends who always having Indian meals with, they will tell you different thing: get some spices when you get sick!

This is their way of helping themselves whenever they are not feeling well, they will demand more curry onto their banana leaf while having their meal. One of the explanations I ever heard which sound logical is: the spices in curries can boost up the immune system in our body, so we get cure faster.

Well, I do not know how true it is, but recently researchers found out a chemical compound, capsaicin which can find in chilies might help in battle with cancer.

A study by the scientists, published online in the journal Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, has proven for the first time that the chemical compound capsaicin — which is responsible for the burning sensation when we eat chillies — can kill cells by directly targeting their energy source.

It could mean that patients could control or prevent the onset of cancer by eating a diet rich in capsaicin and that existing products to treat conditions such as psoriasis and muscle strain, which contain the compound and are already approved for medical use, could be adapted to tackle this more serious disease.

By looking at statement at below, perhaps next time we should give a try to curry.

He said: “This is incredibly exciting and may explain why people living in countries like Mexico and India, who traditionally eat a diet which is very spicy, tend to have lower incidences of many cancers that are prevalent in the western world.”

For full story, please go to “A Curry A Day Keeps The Doctor Away?” at Science Daily.

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BeautyBiotech listed top 10 comestic biotechnology events in the year 2006.

1. L’Oreal acquired The Body Shop
2. “The Body Shop” franchise in Malaysia sold by Bolton for RM80m at a Management Buyout (MBO)
3. INS legal battle with Lim Chew Yin and Yigaho

It’s point of view of a Malaysian.

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After reading youzi’s Two-Headed Reptile Fossil found in China, this remind me of a Chinese tale —— “Two-headed Snake”.

In ancient China, people believed that double-headed snake was a bad omen. There’s a boy named Sun Shu Ao, always hearing his grandmother telling him that whoever saw the two-headed snake will die definitely.

One day, when this lad was playing outside, he saw a two-headed snake. He smashed the snake till death with a rock. After killing the snake, he buried it and ran home telling his mom that he’s going to die because he saw the two-headed snake. Then the mother asked, “Where’s the two-headed snake?”

Sun Shu Ao replied that he killed that snake because he think of others can no longer see the snake. After hearing what Sun Shu Ao said, his mother consoled him and told him that he was not going to die because he’s so thoughtful and the two-headed snake just a misshapen snake. According to today’s knowledge, this phenomenon is caused by axial bifurcation.

What is axial bifurcation?

Axial bifurcation is also known as polycephaly. Polycephalic animal is animal with more than one head. This phenomenon happens when there is duplication in development because of wounded womb or the zygote of conjoined twins fails to separate completely. This can happen to human too.

(Picture Source)

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