Nerdy Science Blog

It requires high speed without exerting the aura of killing to kill a fly.

Professor Michael Dickinson and graduate student Gwyneth Card found the answer to how flies evade most of the swats.  When flies sense threat (and don’t forget their eyes can have 360-degree field of view), its tiny little brain will calculate and comes up with an escape plan immediately.  After coming up with a plan, it will changes its limps positions and fly away at fastest speed.  The whole process only takes about 100 milliseconds.

This study reminds me of a Japanese superhero television series, Kamen Rider BLACK (a.k.a. Masked Rider BLACK).  I am impressed with how the scriptwriters and designers came up with a superhero with the look of a fly (or black grasshopper?).  His hyperactive brain can calculate and come up with a plan to destroy his foes within 100 milliseconds every time he faced death at the end of the show.

Dickinson did not just tell you why you can’t hit the fly, but also teach you how to hit the fly by aiming to hit in front of the fly (it will just hop a bit forward to evade your swat).  The research was published on August 28 in the journal Current Biology titled “Visually Mediated Motor Planning in the Escape Response of Drosophila”.

Evolve fish is a pro-Evolution symbol.  As creationists claimed that everything is created by higher intelligence, or Jesus, and their fish don’t have a leg to stand on.  Evolve fish is a fish with legs that is designed by pro-evolution group.

If you are pro-evolution, perhaps you can consider buying this plastic plaque with adhesive and stick on your car.  This Evolve Fish Plaque features a fish with legs and one of the hands is holding a wrench.  The 5×2 plaque costs $5.99 each.

“Your baby might be cripple, however we could not confirm that until he was born.”  What would you react if a doctor tells you that?

The same situation happened in Malaysia.  News at here (Chinese), and I translated certain paragraphs in this post:

….

In a speech given by Mohd Ali Rustam, he mistakenly said police as the court, “The court asked him (Anwar) to provide his DNA to prove that he is innocent.  But why he rejected?  Is there any problem?  This is because he is guilty and he seems very worried!”

“He argued that the sample will not be obsolete, but if you want to test whether you are suffering from diabetes, would you use old sample or the latest one?  Of course the latest one!  The fact is so simple and we should inform everyone regardless of race.”

….

DNA fingerprinting is not blood testing.  If DNA sample will be obsolete, that means Human Genome Project is a fraud.  You don’t need to clone a dinosaur to map its genetic map.  I guess this is why Malaysia Government is encouraging the people for science education, but seems like it forget to educate the politicians.  This DNA-is-blood-testing thinking should be corrected.  So for those jobless science graduates, stop googling that you have no jobs!  You can choose to become journalist and educate the public especially the politicians who think they outsmart everyone (Yes, some politicians think that talking about DNA is cool although they have no idea what it is).

[head tip: Kean Jin]

Are you getting nervous when you see someone that is attractive to you?  This nerve cells t-shirt won’t solve your problem.

I like the design of this 100% long sleeved T-shirt very much.  There is a patch of yellow and red nerve cell, and a writing of “sensational” at the bottom left on the back.

However the tee is expensive, it costs £19.00 each.  The size is UK size and there are t-shirts for both men and women.

Dr. George Wilson urged people to eat kangaroo to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.  Compared to sheep and cows, kangaroos produced less methane gas due to different microorganisms in kangaroos’ guts.  Kangaroo meat is also high in protein but low in cholesterol and fat.  However I do not agree with Dr Wilson that kangaroo taste good.  I tried it once, and it’s really horrible.

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I must be crazy thinking all these random things while watching the Olympic Opening last night.

This was the scene where the drummers beating drums with light stick as the light was off.  This reminded me of the fluorescence chromosomes.

This was the scene which the Olympic Rings were raised in a 3D-style.  I thought it’s some kind of new plasmids conjugation mechanisms.

This round ball resembled a cell, and the people walking on it were the molecules on the cell surface, such as receptors.

There was this Zheng He’s voyage scene that reminded me of DNA strand, but I could not find the picture for it.

It’s winter in Melbourne, and it’s 9 degree Celcius when I am typing this.  Besides turning on heater and wearing thick jacket, is there any other way to keep myself warm?  Apparently Yasser Mahmoud found that chilli could solve the problem.  Capsaicin causes chilli to be spicy, was once believed that it only created the burning sensation but not heat itself.  However Yasser Mahmoud found that it also induces cells convert energy into heat, also known as thermogenesis.

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Thanks Pablo for sharing the website that enables you to chat with Bill Gates (rather than God).

I’ve a nice little chat with Bill Gates.  The site loading is extremely slow, and it jams sometimes (like my msn).  Luckily messages are able to sent over successfully.

(link)

If you are a creationist, perhaps you will like this mousepad.

“See No Science;

Hear No Science;

Speak No Science.”

The Creationists speak no science Mousepad costs $12.99 USD.  The mousepad is backed with rubber to prevent sliding and it is machine washable.  By the way, mousepad is one of the products of science and technology.

Assistant Professor Tingrui Pan and postdoctoral researcher Hailin Cong developed ’smart’ contact lenses that will make you cry when you try to peep at women’s panties.  Silver powder is placed on the polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and then they are shaped into contact-lens shape.  PDMS-silver functions as conductive wires and also has antimicrobial properties.  When you look at the panties, it will cause a glaucoma effect, which is a disease caused by build-up of pressure in the eyes and can lead to blindness.  Although the smart contact lenses won’t help you record the panties you see, it can send the eyes pressure data for doctors to learn more about glaucoma and improve glaucoma treatment.

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