Nerdy Science Blog

Mathematics, or as we call it here in the UK, “maths”, is a cultural victim of our times. Very few people will admit publicly to struggling with reading, or claim that there is no need to understand long words, but many will say, even boast, that they “were never any good at maths” or that since they have a calculator, they do not need to know anything about it. People who are good at maths are seen a little bit like the “mad scientist” of contemporary contempt, although there is something worse about the “mad mathematician” – he (inevitably it is a he) is a loner, ugly, geeky, with curious taste in out of date jackets and glasses.

The only way to combat this is to encourage people to study it. For themselves. For fun. Believe me, it is not only possible but easy and it does make people rethink their prejudices when you are asked what you do in your spare time. For if you, a normal person, with nice clothes and a car, can study maths, well, then – it can’t be so bad, can it?

So why do it?

Firstly, because it is knowledge. It is not culturally contextual, ideologically biased knowledge, but a series of statements about the workings of the entire universe. This idea should be enough to give us pause for thought. When you study maths you study the world as it is. x² is 64, or 144, or 256, or whatever. It just is. Whenever you perform the operation of squaring on a number, you get the same result each time (if you’ve done it correctly). Squaring – multiplying a number by itself – is one of the most common operations in maths, and occurs almost everywhere in nature – from circles to bacterial growth to nuclear reactions. When you do this, you are not just pointlessly tapping numbers into a calculator, you are looking into the mysteries of the universe.

Secondly, because no amount of calculation is ever pointless. Even if you are one of these people who thinks algebra is rubbish, every calculation you perform is making your mind more flexible and quicker. It is making you if not more intelligent, then more able to use your intelligence. And how wonderful to perform a long multiplication without needing the calculator. Not because you can boast about it afterwards, but because your brain – you – can do it. You can. Not a lump of plastic you keep in a drawer or a bit of your laptop you hardly ever use, but you.

Maths is full of neat puzzles. Sometimes the ways through them seem abstruse or even perverse, but when you learn the steps you learn the logic of them and you can guide yourself through the stages of equations with a kind of calm that is intensely relaxing. It is, believe it or not, beautiful to work through an equation and give a value of x (or two, or three) at the end that you know – for certain – to be completely correct. It is also immensely satisfying to struggle through an equation or a problem and eventually, after having given up on it for days, to work it out. And it can happen. This mini sense of achievement is all the more glorious for being inconsequential: for you are learning, yes, solving problems, certainly, but you are also, by degrees, learning about yourself and your capacity to do things you did not think you could. And all without the fear of jumping out of a plane or whatever else it is people do to learn about themselves.

For myself, pure mathematics – the more abstract the better – is the glory of the subject. That it appears to have no relevance to the real world but belongs to an invisible category of forces or functions, which govern the world without being obvious to us all, is wonderful. But for those who don’t like this, and prefer to remain anchored in the real world, Statistics and Mechanics offer them the nuts and bolts opportunities to do maths and solve real world company/profit/marketing/engineering problems. In Statistics you get to work with extremely strange looking equations while actually doing something useful – standard deviation, for example.

Finally you have to admit that maths and the people who have unravelled it over the millennia is and are extremely clever. Take simultaneous equations. Solve two equations? At once? It can’t be done. Yes it can. Once you learn it, it makes total sense, but while you don’t, and you vaguely fear it, it seems like an act of magic. And no, I’m not giving it away now – look it up! Part of the pleasure in mathematics is the sheer seeming-cleverness of its laws – or, to return to an earlier point, the neatness and beauty of the way this entire world actually works.

It doesn’t matter what level you choose to study but do study this subject, if you can. It is easy and cheap to do it by correspondence course and there are lots of online materials to help. All you really need is a calculator, a pencil, a textbook and paper. You will struggle through bits, bits you will always hate, but at the end – a year, two years, five years – you will not only know more about the universe, but you will be a better, cleaner, sharper thinker. And mathematics will no longer just be a pointless load of numbers and letters, though of course there are plenty of those, but a part of your understanding. You will be happier for it, even if only by a fraction…

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It has been long since the last Nerdy Science t-shirts designed by Sam.  The tees helped me gained a lot of attention, and this time Sam is releasing his new Nerdy Science t-shirt design!

A for Apple

B for Boy

C 4 Bomb

Recalled from the past experience, the t-shirt is made in China, and the size is Asian size.  It is recommended to get bigger size (it will shrink as well).  Also it is thermal print, so please do not soak or machine wash.  I hope the t-shirt is as cheap or cheaper than last time (which was $5).  If you are interested in owning this new t-shirt design, please go to Sam’s blog and leave a comment (please make sure you fill in the correct email for confirmation).

Another classic comic produced by PHD Comics!  If there is a comment section for every single academic paper, I would definitely give lots of comments.

The comic not only state the frequency of comment given, and also gives new definition for OMG, LOL, and ROTFL.

OMG = Obfuscatingly Messy Graphs

LOL = Lacks Older Literature

ROTFL = Research Objects Totally Flimsy, Lazy

Don’t forget Weissberg, et al. are one old spammer.

Scientists from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health studied the genetics of common city rodents, namely Wild Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus), also known as wharf rats, sewer rats or brown rats, to understand the population structure of this species.  Wild Norway rats usually weight about two pounds.  A variety of diseases can be transmitted to humans through these rats.

Although city rats are spotted around the city, its population does not spread widely.  Scientists have studied nearly 300 rats from 11 locations within Baltimore, Maryland.  The genetic of the rats were studied to understand the gene flow of the rats between areas within the city.  The rats are found to be homely rats, as they do not travel more than a city block and are close to home.  They only travel to other areas unless threaten by any dangers, and these rodents will travel as far as 7 miles for repopulation.

The paper is published in recent issue of Molecular Ecology.  Such studies help to understand the population structure of rodents and may provide a better pest species control solution.

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Paleoanthropologists at Universitat Rovira i Virgili in Tarragona, Spain, studied the bones of Homo heidelbergensis, ancestor of Neanderthals, and showed that right-handed humans were dominating the ancient population.

It was believed that left-handed humans were coping with right-handed world for more than half a million years, but Marina Mosquera showed that the predomination of right-handed could have been even earlier.  Marina and team were investigating the teeth, known as the third hand, as an approach to determine the hand laterality.  Teeth were known as the third hand because it cuts meat and other objects with stone tools by clenching onto them.  The team analyzed 592 cuts mark on 163 teeth found at Sima de los Huesos cave at nothern Spain, and came to the conclusion that vast majority of the Homo heidelbergensis were right-handed.  However the study of teeth is not totally reliable as the cuts of the teeth may be caused by other activities or natural wear and tear.

The commonly used approach in studying hand laterality is studying the ancient human skulls as well as the marks left on their tools.  However studying the tools left on the animal bones are not reliable as the same marks can be created by lefties as well.  The study of chain of hand laterality modernity is associated to the evolving of lateralised brains which leads to development of language and technology.  Human is the only animal that has strong preference for performing tasks with specific hand.

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On May 15, 2009, UEM Land Bhd and Malaysian Biotechnology Corp Bhd (BiotechCorp) signed a memorandum of collaboration (MOC) to develop and set up a biotech hub, which will be known as “Bio-XCell”, together.  Both parties are expected to sign a definitive agreement in developing 70 hectares biotech hub in Nusajaya, Johor in a couple of months.  Currently the working relationship between both parties is governed by the MOC.

Zulkifli Tahmali, UEM Land strategic marketing and corporate communication director, told the reporters at Malaysian Pavilion at the Bio International Convention 2009 that both parties are still discussing the matter of land, infrastructure, facilities, and equity.  Zulkifli said that UEM Land Bhd will contribute its developmental expertise, whereas BiotechCorp will bring in its biotech expertise.  It is expected that “Bio-XCell” will benefits not only University Technology Malaysia locate nearby, but also Singapore’s advanced biotech industry.

There are also other projects currently developing in Nusajaya, which are the Johor State New Administrative Centre, Southern Industrial and Logistics Centre, International Destination Resort, Residences at Nusajaya, EduCity, Medical Park and the Puteri Harbour waterfront development.

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People in developed world often have severe vision loss when they are older than 65-year-old.  The severe vision loss is mainly caused by a late stage age-related macular degeneration (AMD).  AMD is normally associated with age, genetic markers and smoking behaviour.

Two reports in May issue of Archives of Ophthalmology show that more intakes of omega-three fatty acids and avoidance of trans-unsaturated fatty acids can lower the risks for such age-related eye disease.  Omega-three fats can normally be acquired from fish, nuts and olive oil.

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Obesity is a major emerging problem face by the world population these days.  Obesity is usually associated with premature death.  Obesity usually leads to many diseases, especially cardiovascular disease.  Through dietary control, obesity problem may be resolved.

French researchers found that polyphenols in red wine has a beneficial effects on obesity-associated disease.  The polyphenol extract is known as Provinols™.  Researchers feed two groups of Zucker fatty (ZF) rats with normal diet or Provinols™ for eight weeks.  The group of ZF rats received Provinols™ showed improved glucose metabolism, reduced circulating triglycerides and total cholesterol.  It is suggested by researchers to use red wine polyphenols as a prevention of cardiovascular and metabolic alterations associated with obesity.

However red wine consumption is recommended to be taken at dietary level.  The study was published on May 18, 2009 in PLoS ONE.

Reference:

Agouni A, Lagrue-Lak-Hal A-H, Mostefai HA, Tesse A, Mulder P, et al. (2009) Red Wine Polyphenols Prevent Metabolic and Cardiovascular Alterations Associated with Obesity in Zucker Fatty Rats (Fa/Fa). PLoS ONE 4(5): e5557. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0005557

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Stress is an inevitable process in dealing with the hassle and bustle of everyday life. For most people, ways of dealing with stress are notably exercise, travelling, shopping or just indulge in one’s own leisure activities. If these don’t work, some might even resort to drugs which would be a little extreme. Now, who would actually think of relaying on technology to achieve a stress-free level, say, within a short period of 15 minutes? Well, believe it or not, there is currently a medical device in the market known as STRESSERACER, no hard time guessing what’s the function by just reading the name, .

StressEracer (produced by Helicor Inc.) was launched in the year 2005. Since then, StressEracer has received positive response from the public. The award-winning medical device has also been featured on multiple medical conferences, meetings, magazines and even talk shows.

What the device does is that it measures the heart rate via the pulse of the fingertip and will be reflected as pulse rate wave on the LCD screen. In other words, it actually measures whether your biological mechanisms of breathing is in line with the proper state of relaxation. Each person has a unique breathing pattern, thus, StressEraser will help you to focus and practice your own set of breathing pattern, keeping the stress and relaxation response in balance. Within 15 minutes, the effects of stress can be effectively reversed, in turn achieving the calm and relax feeling of the mind and body. Sounds cool isn’t it? What’s more exciting is that the device easily fits into the size of the palm and is simple to operate, allowing you to carry it wherever you go. The price of the device? USD$179 plus shipping fee, including a 30-days stress-free guarantee.

(link)

At a local conference last year, I had a chance to meet up with a researcher who hails from the University of Manchester. He was one of the invited speakers to present a plenary lecture on the latest technology for protein detection. During tea section, he brought up an interesting view regarding adding milk to tea. Tea is known to contain a compound known as flavanoid which has antioxidant properties, and milk contains casein. Therefore, if milk is added to tea, the casein will bind to flavanoid render the tea to lose its antioxidant function.

In 2007, a research regarding the effects of milk on tea was carried out by a group of scientists from Berlin (lead by Verena Stangl, a professor in cardiology). The results which were published in the European Heart Journal shows that the concentration of one of the flavanoids of black tea-catechins, had reduced after milk was added. This results in elimination of the beneficial effects of black tea such as vasorelaxation of arteries, anti-inflammatory, and of course, antioxidant properties. These were proven on 16 healthy female volunteers and also on rats. The drinking habit of adding milk to tea is widely practiced in England, which ironically has higher incidence of cardiac diseases as compared to Asian countries.

Therefore, thinking of adding milk into your nice cup of tea in the next tea session? Think again.

(Source of pic: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/40/125297497_d02dd38997.jpg?v=0)