Nerdy Science Blog

Scientists achieve major genetics breakthrough

University of Adelaide geneticist Dr Jozef Gecz and a team of Belgium and UK scientists have achieved a major breakthrough in discovering the causes of intellectual disability.

Dr Gecz, a senior researcher who is based at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital in Adelaide, has collaborated with an international research team to reveal that various mutations of a small part of the X chromosome lead to mental retardation.

Man has better chance of being a retard.

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Geographic distribution of environmental factors influencing human skin coloration:

Skin coloration in indigenous peoples is strongly related to levels of ultraviolet radiation (UVR). In this study, the relationships of skin reflectance to seasonal UVR levels and other environmental variables were investigated, with the aim of determining which variables contributed most significantly to skin reflectance. The UVR data recorded by satellite were combined with environmental variables and data on human skin reflectance in a geographic information system (GIS). These were then analyzed visually and statistically through exploratory data analysis, correlation analysis, principal components analysis, least-squares regression analysis, and nonlinear techniques. The main finding of this study was that the evolution of skin reflectance could be almost fully modeled as a linear effect of UVR in the autumn alone. This linear model needs only minor modification, by the introduction of terms for the maximum amount of UVR, and for summer precipitation and winter precipitation, to account for almost all the variation in skin reflectance. A further significant finding was that the effect of summer UVR seems to reach a threshold beyond which further adaptation is difficult. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2004. © 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

It gave me a good laugh when I saw Gene Expression named it “What the shades of humanity should be”

(link [via])

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When I was in Australia, I barely slept.  These are the reasons:

1. Online.
2. Assignments.
3. Friends
4. Weather.
5. Sun.
6. I slept during the lectures.

Australians dangerously sleep deprived

With 11.7 per cent experiencing excessive daytime sleepiness and 18.4 per cent reporting sleeping less than 6.5 hours per night. the study warns the impact of sleep and sleepiness on the public health could be
large.

Online and assignments are the major causes that I didn’t sleep well.  Assignments often required the use of computer, and also information searchings.  It can be said that 80% of the time when I was doing assignments, I was distracted to do other things online, such as facebook, chatting, web surfing, blogging, etc.

Friends also play as an important role of sleep deprived.  Although Australia has boring night life, but there are 24/7 McDonalds, KFC, pool, etc.  We can also hanging out at the beach, and it’s freaking cold but fun.  You might ask why should we hang out at night.  It’s simply because we can’t sleep.  With friends around, there are so many things to do.

Australian weather is like a woman’s mood.  It’s constantly changing.  Sometimes it was really hot at night, and sometimes I was freezing.

Sun, the primary source of power.  There are 4 seasons in Australia, which is unlike Malaysia.  Different season has different length of daytime.  When it was summer, I was so active hanging out till late night until I realize it’s not day time anymore.  During winter, I tend to laze around.  Without sunlight, everything seems to be in resting phase, and we feel sleepy but don’t want to sleep.

Lectures are not the best time to sleep, but they are strong lullaby.  I think I was cursed to sleep during lectures.  Some people suggested me to drink coffee, but I not very fond of caffein.  Caffeine made me feel uncomfortable.

The consequences of not sleeping well throughout the year did deteriorate my health.  Luckily I still exercise everyday.

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Pact with UK uni:

INTI International Education Group signed an agreement with the United Kingdom’s Newcastle University at the INTI-University College (INTI-UC) campus in Putra Nilai recently.

The memorandum of agreement covers an arrangement for students to pursue one year of studies at INTI-UC and complete the remaining two years at Newcastle for a degree in biomedical sciences, biotechnology, biochemistry and immunology, or medical biology and immunology.

Both institutions also hope to promote faculty exchanges and staff development, research and other joint endeavours.

Providing the courses is not enough. The quality of teaching is also important. I’ve heard that many twinning programmes’ teaching quality are really bad.

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Brain overloaded.  Not a good picture for nerds.

(pic)

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I saw this manga when borrowing books from comic store, “Team Medical Dragon”. This is its description, I’ve problem understanding it.

Only to care the disease, not to care the sick. They don’t even notice the fact that “Leading part of the scene of medical treatment is a practice”. The “Ikyoku-Kouzasei” of a university hospital made many doctors of this sort. Still… they produce those doctors.

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This is another exciting news in Malaysia biotechnology field.

KUANTAN: Pahang will host the world’s largest stem cell manufacturing facility when US-based Bio-Cellular Research Organisation (BCRO) sets up operations in Janda Baik, Bentong, this year.

The deal will be formalised in a memorandum of understanding to be signed between the state government-owned Pahang Technology Resources Sdn Bhd (PTR) and BCRO Stem Cell Xenotransplantation Sdn Bhd tomorrow.

State Science, Innovation, Information and Information Technology Committee chairman Datuk Mohd Sharkar Shamsuddin claimed that the company will manufacture stem cell that is ‘halal‘. This creates another large market in Islamic world.

Brought to you by:

In order to get registered on ipowerweb, a web owner usually needs to sign a hosting contract. This facility is provided in the form of online registration by anhosting. Then, the hosting provider provides the services on dedicated servers. Sometimes the package also includes the web development services or more commonly some professional tips regarding the web design of the site being hosted.

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“Ducking shiv!”

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I read Greg Laden’s “The Buttocks is not an excretory organ“, and I gave it a deep thought. Honestly, I was confused. Are buttocks organ?

The agency said the show was indecent because “it depicts sexual organs and excretory organs — specifically an adult woman’s buttocks.”

The agency rejected the network’s argument that “the buttocks are not a sexual organ.”

—— Yahoo! News: Nude buttocks may cost ABC $1.4 million

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I messaged my friend asking this question. She told me that anus is an organ, for sure. I said anus is not the thing I was asking, I asked about B-U-T-T-O-C-K-S. Then she gave up, and emphasized that anus is an organ.

I checked the meaning of buttocks from thefreedictionary.com.

but·tock (n.)
1.
a. Either of the two rounded prominences on the human torso that are posterior to the hips and formed by the gluteal muscles and underlying structures.
b. The analogous part of the body on certain mammals.
2. buttocks The rear pelvic area of the human body.

In biology, organ means group of tissues that perform specific function(s). Functions of buttock? Sit, smack, and reduce momentum.

So pelvis meat, fat and muscle are part of the organ? I never remember I learnt that buttocks are organ.

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Researchers from University of Sunderland created this infra-red helmet that can cure Alzheimer’s in 10 minutes a day.  The helmet used low power infra-red (1072nm), which will not harm you and can be worn under the sun (if you want to).  Dr Gordon Dougal claimed that the helmet can reverse the process of cell death and decline of organ, which will ultimately lead to memory enchanment, learning perfomance and ability.

(link)

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