Nerdy Science Blog

British scientists from Loughborough University have developed a method to predict how likely a person to catch a cold.  This method can be easily done by individuals at home.  The test measures the protein concentration in saliva to study if a person is at risk of infection.  Bacteria-fighting antibody, immunoglobulin A (IgA), is being tested in this method.  IgA usually fell significantly before a person catch a cold.  The cold-prediction saliva test has not been released to the market yet, more research need to be done to increase accuracy.

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What is “cameltoe“?  From the word itself, you can guess that it’s the toe of the camel.  I first learnt about this word was from the movie “Weatherman”, and recently I heard it again from South Park.  Cameltoe is a slang refering to woman wearing tight fitting clothes and showing the outline of vulva.

Recently when I was in the immunology tutorial, my friends and I noticed that there was this guy wearing a really tight outfit, and showing the legendary cameltoe.  He was presenting the development of lymphocytes.  Then his cameltoe reminded us of “antibodies”.

As we know, the immunoglobulin molecules are composed of light chains and heavy chains, which formed the Y shape.  That looks exactly like a cameltoe!  Each immunoglobulin G (IgG) is consisted of two light chains and two heavy chains (like the picture on the left).  Using cameltoe to teach antibodies is really an interesting and memorable way, and that doesn’t make your lecture boring.

I just learn that “cameltoe” is not suitable to use on him, as that is for female.  “Moose knuckle” is the one what is used on males.

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