Nerdy Science Blog

When I saw this “Fresh homemade cookies” from PHD Comics, I saw me inside that comic. Not the lecturer, but the student.

I met a lot of lecturers trying every methods to get people attending lectures, these were what they have done:

1. Refuse to record lecture audio, or they might just act like they forget to switch on the recorder. (Lame, due to the protests of the students, they can’t do that.)
2. Refuse to upload any lecture slides online, only give out printouts in the lecture. (This is useful, but due to some environmentalists, they can’t print anymore.)
3. Discuss exam questions during the lecture with least attendance. (Works, but just once in a semester.)
4. Being sarcastic in the audio recorded. (Lame!)
5. Making some mistakes in the lecture notes, and then during the lecture say, “Ahah! I made mistakes. Arghh! Too bad. For those who didn’t attend lectures can’t see where the mistakes are.”
6. Teaching with “this”, “and”, “here”, “there” and “that”. (Example: “From here to there, and this and that, that’s how it works.”)
7. Prohibit you taking the paper for the subject if your attendance rate is low. (Heck, there are so many students enrolled, it’s a tedious job just to take the attendance.)

The following solutions are proudly presented by me to all the lecturers who desperate for higher attendance rate:

1. Waive the tuition fees if attendance rate is more than 90%.
2. Have all the lectures in the afternoon. (No friggin’ 8am lectures.)
3. Bonus are given in finals to those who always attended.

Let’s face it, it’s a realistic world.

Popularity: 10% [?]

EARTHLINGS is a feature length documentary about humanity’s absolute dependence on animals (for pets, food, clothing, entertainment, and … all » scientific research) but also illustrates our complete disrespect for these so-called “non-human providers.” The film is narrated by Academy Award nominee Joaquin Phoenix (GLADIATOR) and features music by the critically acclaimed platinum artist Moby.

I think everyone ought to watch this documentary. After watching it, I had stopped eating meats for a week long (just simply horrified by the video). Everytime I smell something fishy in pork, my mind just flashback to the pig farm in the video, that’s so disturbing. I had dissect animals, I had seen real life operation, those don’t freak me out. This video, just freaking disgusting. I’m disgusted by how those people act in the video (though not every meat farm are acting like that). The part that upset me the most is some dude just throw a healthy living dog into the truck and crushed it to death.

After watching the video, I wondered are those meats Americans’ daily meats supply? Are those meats leading to Americans’ obesity? Are those meats the contributors to the dysfunction of many Americans’ brains and making them ignorant?

Popularity: 16% [?]

There’s a Chinese proverb saying that a mouse’s crap can spoil the whole pot of porridge. This is very true, one person in a lab can screw up research that has been carried out for years. One of my fellow friend show me this email she received:

Hi,

I’ve come up blank, best bet is probably just to complete the poster
yourself. I don’t care if you choose to only put your name on the poster
as i have and likely will contribute nothing to it. Same goes for the
group member participation sheets.

Sorry,

You-know-who-you-are

Maybe you think this is funny (me too), but it isn’t funny to the poor groupmate. Choose your working partners carefully, though it is said that sometimes it’s unpredictable, but just try to make the best choice before you start off. If you just run out of luck getting someone as shitty as mouse’s poop, accept it and deal with it. It’s part of everyday’s life.

[pic]

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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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Popularity: 100% [?]