June 4th, 2008 ecoli
No, it’s not a sandworm from Dune… (though the resemblance is uncanny):
It’s actually a Hookworm, a multicellular parasite that infects the intestine of humans and other mammals.
A study reported on in Microbiology Bytes explains a finding in which polyparasitic infections are implicated in the worsening of conditions of anemia in children. When hookworm and either Schistosoma japonicum or Trichuris co-infect a host higher levels of anemia are detected. This is despite the fact that these two parasites do not infect the same part of the host.
Interestingly, there is some synergistic affect that is occurring indirectly in the host. This provides some compelling evidence to conduct further epidemiological studies,to help control anemia by its corresponding parasitic pathogens. Further physiological studies are also needed, it appears to determine the synergistic role that these parasites play.
Posted in link out, medicine, microbiology, news | 1 Comment »
June 3rd, 2008 ecoli
Pure Pedantry cites this interesting article, showing that access to restaurants is statistically unrelated to the obesity epidemic.
The whole experiment can pretty much be summed up in these two graphs:
Though it has been suggested in the past, that eating at restaurant promotes a larger calorie intake, this study seems to show that this is unrelated to obesity at large.
Its interesting work, but I think there are too many assumptions that we are expected to take at their word. For example, what type of restaurants are these? Perhaps people who live near the restaurants are mostly eating at a health food vegan sandwhich place, while the other group is eating fast food.
The other issue, is that they assume that living near a restaurant indicates a higher likelyhood of eating out. While, it takes no imaginative leap to assume that, I think a study which claims statistical relavence needs to prove these sort of assumptions. For example, could we also not assume, that people who live near restaurants are sick and tired of seeing them all the time, and therefore would rather eat at home?
Posted in link out, musings | No Comments »
June 3rd, 2008 ecoli
I first heard this story on the radio and then again at Sciencedaily.
Images of sexy women tend to whet men’s sexual appetite. But stimulating new research in the Journal of Consumer Research says there’s more than meets the eye. A recent study shows that men who watched sexy videos or handled lingerie sought immediate gratification—even when they were making decisions about money, soda, and candy.
I don’t think this finding is that surprising, though it is interesting. What I suspect, is that the evolution has selected for males who seek immediate sexual gratification. Reproducing early and often is a trait selected for in the right conditions. What these results seem to suggest, is that there is a psychological link between sexual desire and other material desire, such as tasty snacks, or an impulse purchase.
Though, brain scanning experiments will have to be done to confirm this (if they haven’t been done already) what I expect is that these ‘desire’ traits will be linked in the area of the brain as well.
What I want to know next, is that if it works the other way around. Does seeing a delicious snack make us want to fufill sexual gratification as well?
Regardless, I’m sure the advertisers are all over this one. Soon, we’ll be seeing pictures of bikini-clad women in all male-oriented stores.
Posted in evolution, neurobiology, news | No Comments »
June 3rd, 2008 ecoli
For those of you who aren’t in the know, right now the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) conference is being held in Boston, Massachusetts. I’m not there, unfortunately, but it sounds like an amazing place to be if you’re a microbiologist. This enormous conference is being held at the Boston Convention Center, has drawn 12,000 people, taking up 23,100 hotel rooms. According to this report from Boston.com, the conference is estimated to bring in $15.6 million dollars in “economic activity” into the Boston area.
I look forward to hearing stories about the conference.
post script: Also, there seems to be some Science Social Media breakfast, that a couple of bloggers have been talking about. Apparantly, its open to the public, but not directly associated with ASM. That’s about as much detail as I can find. Does anyone want to explain, in further detail, what exactly this thing is?
Posted in microbiology, news | No Comments »
June 2nd, 2008 ecoli
I stumbled on this website and have seemed to have gotten hooked. It’s a game called “ConQuiztador.” A conquest game, where you control territories in the United States and attack territories held by two other players in order to expand your boarders, ala Risk. The catch is, instead of battling or rolling dice, you have to answer a trivia question correctly (and fast).
Good addicting flash game.
Posted in entertainment, link out | No Comments »
June 1st, 2008 ecoli
I’m sure I’m not the only who has noticed:
Google has changed it’s favicon, the icon that appears on the left hand side of the URL in most web browsers . They’ve moved away from their traditional upper case, classic “G”, to a lowercase “g.” Are they going for a sleeker look? Does this mark some bigger change in google?
We can only speculate, but I think they made the switch because Google is no longer just a company name, but a word that has become synonymous with the (now with a properly lowercase “i”) internet. “To google” has entered the ranks of English dictionaries, at least some online ones, as meaning:
to search for information on the Internet, esp. using the Google search engine
Google isn’t just a company anymore. It ‘belongs’ to the people, the internet-using public.
More on the story at the Google Blogoscope.
Posted in link out, musings, news | 8 Comments »
June 1st, 2008 ecoli
Cooking has always struck me as a potentially analytical and scientific process. It comes as no surprise, therefore, that some of the best scientists and thinkers I know are also excellent chefs. I stumbled across this site during a recipe hunt for ratatouille. Seems like a great site for all of us scientist/engineer chefs.
Posted in link out | No Comments »
June 1st, 2008 ecoli
This site is a bit frightening (and I’m not just talking about page layout taken from 1998). The site logs all the incidents of sexual abuse that the police catch on Myspace. There are literally hundreds of cases listed on the site.
If anyone was skeptical that there is a “Myspace problem” before, this site will definitely remove all doubt. It highlights the need for parents to become more aware of what your children are doing on the computer, and for parents to stay ahead of their children in terms of computer literacy.
There are hundreds of parents out there who seem to simply not care what their children get up to on the internet, and that’s simply unacceptable.
Thanks for Kim Komando for telling her listeners about the site on her radio show this morning.
Posted in education, link out, news | No Comments »
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