“…rainy and a low of 2 …” kshhht “…climatologists meeting established a treaty that should further reduce CO2 exhausts by 20% over the next decade…” shh “…and here is their new song fresh from the producer…” kshhhh “…unprecedented flooding for this time of the year…” “Daaaa, could you please stop tweaking around on MY radio? And could you please drive a bit faster, I wanna bake something for ma before she returns.” She liked radios, something that none of her friends had. They tended to call them relics, which made her like them even more. With a smile the driver…
The Science Creative Quarterly
From textbook
SO WHAT’S THE BIG DEAL ABOUT BIRD FLU, ANYWAY?
When watching the news in recent weeks and months, you might think that the world has become inordinately fascinated with sick chickens. Our concern is not of potential Thanksgiving turkey shortages, but instead one of human health. Although many people have died from avian influenza, these deaths are not in and of themselves responsible for the widespread fear and international attention. Rather, we fear that these deaths are the harbingers of the world-wide influenza pandemic that is apparently long overdue. Is this fear justified, or are scientists just crying wolf? Is there actually fire behind the pandemic smoke? Does the…
SIZE MATTERS: THE IMPENDING DEATH OF THE Y CHROMOSOME
“And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” (Genesis 2:21-23) Biblical tradition tells the story of creation with man as the first sex, and woman the second, fashioned from Adam’s rib.…
IN THE NAME OF FAIR GAME…
Doping to enhance athletic performance happens at every level of the game; lately, we have heard about it in professional baseball, at the Olympics, at other international competitions and even at our local gyms. Performance pressure is ever increasing, especially considering the financial endorsements and sponsorships associated with success. As a consequence, some athletes continue their attempt to better themselves through extensive training, drive and motivation, while others look for a little help from organic chemistry. International and national sports organizations, in conjunction with laboratories around the world are trying very hard to “crack” down on drug abuse in sports.…
BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS DOES REPLICATION
To begin with, we’ll start with a chicken scratch drawing of a DNA molecule, which you know is double stranded. My poor pathetic attempt at illustration is therefore going to look like this: You also know that each strand of DNA is composed of building blocks called nucleotides, and that these nucleotides are always interacting in a complementary manner. For example, A’s are always with T’s, C’s are always with G’s, Beavis is always with Butthead, etc etc etc. Let’s draw them in like so: What you haven’t been told at this point is that chemically speaking, the two strands…
ON THE POTENTIAL PRESENCE OF BEER OR BEER-LIKE LIQUIDS IN OR RESULTING FROM VOLCANIC EMANATIONS
Symonds, Rose, Bluth, Gerlach (1994) have reported on the concentrations of various gases present in volcanic emanations for three volcanoes: Kilauea, Erta` Ale, and Momotombo. These gases typically include water vapor (H20), and, in order of their occurrence by volume, carbon dioxide (C02) and sulfur dioxide (S02). In addition, volcanoes are also known to release small amounts of several other gases, among them hydrogen sulfide (H2S), hydrogen (H2), carbon monoxide (CO), hydrogen chloride (HCL), hydrogen fluoride (HF), and helium (He). The United States Geological Survey, in a web site describing volcanic gases (2006), includes some of the data provided by…
GENES FOR SPEED
Things will be a lot different when we are older. Perhaps when your grandchild is born, right after they snip the umbilical cord, they will sequence their genome. Immediately, some computer will pick out genetic markers for specific disease states, and maybe a doctor (possibly some gene-ologist of sorts) will do a little bit of gene therapy to prevent the more serious diseases from developing. Perhaps for those really wealthy parents, a few more options may open for tweaking. If you don’t like the hair colour your child’s genes code for, just check the appropriate box and they can take…
THE COMPASSES OF BIRDS
Twice a year, arctic terns make an epic journey. They travel the length of the Earth, from breeding grounds in the high Arctic to their southern habitat in Antarctica and back—a one-way distance of almost 20,000 kilometres[1]. This migratory pattern allows terns to follow their food, and escape extreme winters at both ends of the globe. They also avoid the central latitudes, where the predators are. They have every reason to make the trip, but how do they manage the navigation? One popular suggestion is that the Earth’s natural magnetic poles help to guide birds in their migrations[2]. How they…
THE CONTROVERSY OF GROUP SELECTION THEORY
Though Darwin’s original theory of evolution and natural selection stresses the role of selective forces acting on individuals of varying fitness, group-oriented ‘altruistic’ behaviours within the animal kingdom, such as worker castes in social insects and alarm cries in bird flocks, have been documented repeatedly which at a glance appear to completely contradict traditional evolutionary theory (Williams, 1971). They pose a challenge to evolutionary biologists, because the theory of natural selection in its simplest form favours selfish individual behaviours over altruistic ones: Individuals who invest the most effort into their own reproduction and survival should leave the most offspring and…