Here is the link xo
http://cybilseyes.wordpress.com/
See ya there!
6.01.2011
Humpday Cram
Once a week I make time to watch an hour or two of current scientific lecture, read a few articles, or research an odd hypothesis to broaden my intellectual horizon. I like the rush of learning. I am not particular about what subject I am looking into either, mostly I tend to be stimulated by things that in all honesty I won't "need" to know.I hear from many that I am a monstrous vat of useless knowledge. *sticks out tongue* Shove it haters. You're just jealous of my huge boobs... I mean brains!
I enjoy astrophysics, quantum mechanics, biology, anatomy of most every life form, archeology, philosophy, cultural history, theology, debates of any kind, sociology... well lets just say there is an infinite list of things that make me say hmmm. lol
I like to think that I surround myself with interesting open minded people that have similar interests. So here is my Humpday Cram. Feel free to dig through it and enjoy.
Big Ideas presents Seth Lloyd of the Massachusetts Institute for Technology on Quantum Life, how organisms have evolved to make use of quantum effects.
So there was that. About an hour of nerd giggling and odd scientific inside jokes, mixed in with A LOT of really interesting hypothesis and information.
Eyebrow arch 1. That these tiny little bacteria that thrive in hot vents under the ocean make up 30-40% of the biomass of the ENTIRE Earth. That's right folks. All the life on Earth= 100% these tiny little organisms make up 1/3 of the life on our planet. I know right?
Eyebrow arch 2. The scientific explanation for photosynthesis. Not the lame American grade school version= the process in plants that turns light into food, Nope, I got a real freaking explanation. The actual way the Exciton hops through the molecules to get to the reaction center and make energy... I am clapping my hands at this point in the video. Yes I was excited to get a real grasp on the inner workings of some silly little bacteria, that lives kilometers under the ocean, sliming up the side of a hot vent.
Eyebrow arch 3. The bird beak with magnetite in it. Seriously.. wow. Very cool little doohickey those pigeons have... but can anyone tell me why in the hell do they smack into buildings doing mach 2? The experiments they did proved that the magnetite helps them figure out which way the field is orientated but not which direction is north and south.. they need green or blue light photons to know that... And we call them bird brains.
Eyebrow now stuck to my hairline at this point: The mechanisms of the olfactory senses... How exactly our brains perceive over ten thousand scents but only has 400 (ish) kinds of receptors. The hypothesis that we smell by using a lock and key mechanism (a molecule locks into a receptor and we determine the scent by which lock was stabbed) and also with the added bonus that receptors measure the vibration of molecules... phonon assisted tunneling. Chemicals that have the same key shape should in theory smell exactly the same, but they differ. This is because when a chemically equivalent molecule (the same shape but different weights and vibrations) fits in a receptor... but when stabbed into the "lock" they vibrate at a different frequency allowing the receptor to decide which molecule it is in fact sensing.
I know.. My big nerdy eyes are huge at this idea too.
I ran across this article that reminded me of the movie I am Legend. Really innovative ideas but sufficiently creepy at the same time.
Then I saw this video, It is about protesters tearing into a Potato crop field in Belgium. They are there banging their drums and stomping on spuds because the crop is being genetically altered so that an insecticide is actually produced inside the plant. The insecticide is impossible to wash it off. This is accomplished by inserting genes from the bacteria Bacillus Thuringiensis into the potato. The Institute For Responsible Technology and the Organic Consumers Association have long been concerned about the potential impact this Bt toxin could have on human health. It doesn’t take a hippie environmentalist to realize that these aggressively growing and highly dangerous crops are a threat to every single natural organism on Earth.
Ok well I have to run around and gather offspring and whatnot. Hope you enjoyed nerdy science corner with Raychelle!
Mwah
R
I enjoy astrophysics, quantum mechanics, biology, anatomy of most every life form, archeology, philosophy, cultural history, theology, debates of any kind, sociology... well lets just say there is an infinite list of things that make me say hmmm. lol
I like to think that I surround myself with interesting open minded people that have similar interests. So here is my Humpday Cram. Feel free to dig through it and enjoy.
Big Ideas presents Seth Lloyd of the Massachusetts Institute for Technology on Quantum Life, how organisms have evolved to make use of quantum effects.
So there was that. About an hour of nerd giggling and odd scientific inside jokes, mixed in with A LOT of really interesting hypothesis and information.
Eyebrow arch 1. That these tiny little bacteria that thrive in hot vents under the ocean make up 30-40% of the biomass of the ENTIRE Earth. That's right folks. All the life on Earth= 100% these tiny little organisms make up 1/3 of the life on our planet. I know right?
Eyebrow arch 2. The scientific explanation for photosynthesis. Not the lame American grade school version= the process in plants that turns light into food, Nope, I got a real freaking explanation. The actual way the Exciton hops through the molecules to get to the reaction center and make energy... I am clapping my hands at this point in the video. Yes I was excited to get a real grasp on the inner workings of some silly little bacteria, that lives kilometers under the ocean, sliming up the side of a hot vent.
Eyebrow arch 3. The bird beak with magnetite in it. Seriously.. wow. Very cool little doohickey those pigeons have... but can anyone tell me why in the hell do they smack into buildings doing mach 2? The experiments they did proved that the magnetite helps them figure out which way the field is orientated but not which direction is north and south.. they need green or blue light photons to know that... And we call them bird brains.
Eyebrow now stuck to my hairline at this point: The mechanisms of the olfactory senses... How exactly our brains perceive over ten thousand scents but only has 400 (ish) kinds of receptors. The hypothesis that we smell by using a lock and key mechanism (a molecule locks into a receptor and we determine the scent by which lock was stabbed) and also with the added bonus that receptors measure the vibration of molecules... phonon assisted tunneling. Chemicals that have the same key shape should in theory smell exactly the same, but they differ. This is because when a chemically equivalent molecule (the same shape but different weights and vibrations) fits in a receptor... but when stabbed into the "lock" they vibrate at a different frequency allowing the receptor to decide which molecule it is in fact sensing.
I know.. My big nerdy eyes are huge at this idea too.
I ran across this article that reminded me of the movie I am Legend. Really innovative ideas but sufficiently creepy at the same time.
Then I saw this video, It is about protesters tearing into a Potato crop field in Belgium. They are there banging their drums and stomping on spuds because the crop is being genetically altered so that an insecticide is actually produced inside the plant. The insecticide is impossible to wash it off. This is accomplished by inserting genes from the bacteria Bacillus Thuringiensis into the potato. The Institute For Responsible Technology and the Organic Consumers Association have long been concerned about the potential impact this Bt toxin could have on human health. It doesn’t take a hippie environmentalist to realize that these aggressively growing and highly dangerous crops are a threat to every single natural organism on Earth.
Ok well I have to run around and gather offspring and whatnot. Hope you enjoyed nerdy science corner with Raychelle!
Mwah
R
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