A friend emailed this. I’m stuck between being shocked (at the cruelty toward the poor goldfish) and being amazed that it actually worked. Still not exactly sure how or why that actually worked.
You can watch more fun videos here.
Money wasted on poor research
Posted by vidyant on October 12, 2011
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Some researchers just reported that taking too many vitamins is bad for health after following 38,000 US women for two decades. One of the doctors even commented, “We think the paradigm ‘The more the better’ is wrong.” And that makes for front page BBC news?
If you drink too much water too fast, you will die from it, and somebody out there thought that you could just load the body up with vitamins and it will be fine? They really needed to spend thousands of dollars to show something that is intuitive to my high school students? I find it so annoying that research like this gets even a cent of our funding (yes, this was in Finland but the corollary applies in the US) because with the economy in the gutter and money being squeezed out of NIH left and right, it is hard for good research to get money and here these people are wasting money on showing that too much of one thing can be bad for the body. You, my sir, deserve an Ig Nobel Prize.
And BBC, please don’t try to emulate American news by publishing articles just to get a reaction from the populace. I beg of you to uphold your investigative journalism standards that have been exemplary for decades.
Antibiotic Resistant Gonorrhea strain reported
Posted by vidyant on October 10, 2011
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In one of my previous posts, I briefly talked about a never-ending war between science and disease-causing bacteria. We come up with antibiotics and they stubbornly develop a resistance to them. It doesn’t help that we over-prescribe antibiotics here in America and that they are sold as over-the-counter candies in much of the rest of the world.
neisseria gonorrhea bacteria (BBC)
There is now a new public health scare. According to BBC, a new strain of bacteria that causes gonorrhea, called H041, has been reported in Japan. It has apparently become resistant to all cephalosporin-based antibiotics, which are closely related to penicillins.
Hank Campbell from Science 2.0 states
The ideal scenario, since we can’t control behavior… is a vaccine but N. gonorrhea mutates quickly and is too complex to develop a vaccine. It can also promote antibiotic resistance in other microbes through gene transfer.
BBC is probably just over-dramatizing the whole issue to get people to react and get more traffic to their website. I am sure that for now the doctors will give some combinations of antibiotics to target this new strain just like they do for any other bacteria that develops resistance, but it will still be something to keep an eye on and follow as new information is revealed.
Michelle Bachmann wants to force women to listen to heartbeats before undergoing abortion.
Posted by vidyant on October 10, 2011
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It’s no secret that Michele Gaffewoman’s campaign is nearing its death. She has run out of money and several of her top aides have left the campaign in the last few days.
In what seems to be a last desperate attempt to save the campaign, she is trying to garner support from evangelicals and Tea Partiers by sponsoring a new lunatic bill in Congress.
The “Heartbeat Informed Consent Act” would require doctors to give ultrasounds to women in their early stages of pregnancy in order to demonstrate cardiac activity. In later stages, they would have to subject women to listen to fetal heartbeats via “the handheld Doppler monitor” before being allowed to perform an abortion. Failure to do such would result in a $100,000 fine. More details about this bone-headed bill are available here.
Michele Bachmann
If it wasn’t for her eye-candy value (she is by far the hottest presidential candidate in the history of the planet, which is also really the only thing the republicans have bettered themselves in since the last presidential election. Sorry, Sarah Palin. It was good while it lasted. And dearest Hillary, I always thought of you as more of a friend. I just could never get past the mustache) and the sheer amusement I get every time she opens her mouth, I would have wished for her campaign to die already. But she is may be the only reason I want to watch the republican debates. So, please don’t run your damn campaign into the ground, Michelle Bachmann. Help me in helping me.
Sorry for the hiatus.
Posted by vidyant on October 9, 2011
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To the two-and-a-half people who once in a blue moon do decide check up on this blog when life becomes so shamefully boring that they are left with no other option: I promise that I haven’t stopped blogging. I just started my new job, which is kicking my butt! It’s a teaching position so you can imagine the preparation and the grading, it being my first year.
As soon as things start to settle in and I stop working fourteen hour days for a dismal salary, I will get back to annoying you.
Yours truly.
Gov Rick Perry admits to teaching creationism in schools
Posted by vidyant on August 21, 2011
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Update: A must-read from Mother Jones “The 5 funniest things the great late Molly Ivins said about Rick Perry (aka ‘Gov. Goodhair’).”
Governor Rick Perry of Texas who is in the running for Republican Presidential candidacy recently told a 9-year old boy that “evolution is a theory that’s out there and it’s got some gaps in it. In Texas, we teach both creationism and evolution in high schools.” It’s interesting that he should say that because to my knowledge teachers are forbidden from teaching creationism by the US Supreme Court law and by Texas curriculum standards.
Now. Was it a slip of the tongue and just an honest mistake? I doubt that given his history of appointing social conservatives and intelligent design proponents to the Texas school board. I think he just confirmed everybody’s suspicion that in Texas educators look the other way when it comes to teaching creationism.
It really angers me that a politician who has no science background whatsoever should become so involved in matters he doesn’t fully understand. What ever happened to the Separation of Church and State – First Amendment to the very Constitution that conservatives hold so highly and mightily but ignore it when convenient? And why should teachers inject their beliefs to form young minds’ Keep reading »
A page from a Christian Science Textbook
Posted by vidyant on August 21, 2011
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I don’t know how a teacher can abstain from giving students the information they need to become good scientists in the future. It’s beyond me and I don’t think I’ll ever understand such reckless abandon of these useless teachers. Can you actually imagine what a creationist textbook would look like? (Just look below).
(via Ask Student)
Christian Science Textbook
Update: On a related matter, Governor Rick Perry of Texas who is in the running for Republican Presidential candidacy recently told a 9-year old boy that “evolution is a theory that’s out there and it’s got some gaps in it. In Texas, we teach both creationism and evolution in high schools.” It’s interesting that he should say that because to my knowledge teachers are forbidden from teaching creationism by the US Supreme Court law and by Texas curriculum standards. More on that here.
10 Fascinating Facts about your body
Posted by vidyant on August 20, 2011
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I’m in love with these infogaphics. I didn’t even know they existed until recently and now I can’t get enough of them. This one from Today I found out about all kinds of cool stuff you have been itching to find out since third grade.
10 Interesting Human Body Facts (Click to enlarge)
IoD – More sleep can lead to more sex.
Posted by vidyant on August 17, 2011
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Need, I say more? There may be a lot of other things going wrong for you in that department, but at least one thing you can fix. Sleep more and get more action! 
Of course, there are more advantages of sleeping more like lower risk of cancer, obesity, heart disease, and death. Via Rad Infographics.
Sleep, or else... (Click on image to enlarge)
Amazing Mind-bending illusions
Posted by vidyant on August 17, 2011
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