The topic of sex remains a taboo in some corners of society, but evidence of our interest in sex abounds:
In my experience, scientists as a group are generally pretty funny people. I realize that’s probably counterintuitive for some folks, but its a hill I’m willing to die on. Whether we are talking about an Ig Nobel or someone making their cat a coauthor, scientists niche interests and quick wit can really kill with the right crowd.
By far the group that takes this to another level is geneticists, particularly fly geneticists. I have yet to determined if fruit flies are just great joke writers, or if this developed as some sort of coping mechanism to deal with having to work in a fly facility. What I do know is that they love a funny or clever gene name.
Continue readingA friend of mine recently confessed to me that he preferred to think of himself as a virgin birth. When I asked why, he said he likes to think that his parents never had sex. I have no idea where he thinks he got his Y chromosome from, as his mother has only the two Xs, but I suppose invoking miracles to do away with inconvenient thoughts is hardly something he invented. Much like industrial meat production and the effectiveness of sneeze guards at salad bars, the topic of parental sex is one item we would probably rather leave unexamined.
Some organisms don’t need to avoid this topic, Continue reading
I was recently at the dentist for a check-up and they had a chart on the wall, kind of like this one here. In short it tells you how much radiation you’re exposed to when you engage in different activities. For example flying from New York to Los Angeles exposes you to about the same amount of radiation as eight dental X-rays. Believe it or not, flying exposes you to an increased amount of radiation coming from space. A single flight across the ocean is no big deal but long-term elevated radiation exposure can increase your risk of some kinds of cancer, and it’s why workers that are exposed to elevated levels of things like X-rays are monitored to make sure exposure is kept to a minimum.
It got me thinking, while I listened to the slow and steady suction of spit from my oral cavity, “I wonder if Lois Lane, would have to wear a radiation safety badge?” I am totally unsure about the radiation output Continue reading
There are some things humans do better than bacteria. We, generally, are better at writing novels and constructing screenplays. That said some individuals are only marginally better at communicating their needs to others. Some bacteria communicate quite effectively chemically, while some people may not have such a record for clarity.
There is one area bacteria, such as E. coli and Bacillus subtilis, indisputably have us beat and that is in metabolism. These organisms can take a few simple salts, a carbon source (sugar), and just a few trace metals on the glass wear and readily grow. You or I … not so much. Though I’m sure if you carbonate that mixture and ad caffeine it would probably make a simply disgusting energy drink. You could market it as “Basal Media: It’s got what bacteria crave.”
Continue readingI’ve never done LSD. It’s not that I haven’t had the time, it’s just I’ve never really had a desire to have hallucinations. I have enough trouble keeping track of what size bed sheets I need to buy. I am pretty sure auditory and visual hallucinations would just induce me to buy extra king sized sheets for my queen sized bed.
Despite my reluctance, there is definitely a market for psychedelic drugs. There is even a recent trend to write articles about how taking low doses of LSD might enhance work performance, make you more creative, and save your marriage. To be perfectly honest Continue reading
Being boiled alive has never seemed like an exciting activity to me. It’s not that I don’t enjoy a good cup of boiled water (tea leaves preferably included) I would just rather not be immersed in it. It has a remarkably negative impact on human life expectancy, because we just aren’t built to withstand temperatures of 212ºF (100ºC). I’ve also got to believe, that awareness of the safety hazard of very hot substances, is far from a recent development. One has to imagine that shortly after fire was discovered, some one to two million years ago, that it was followed by the discovery of stop, drop, and roll.
Boiling bacteria on the other hand, was a largely unconsidered endeavour until much later. Antonie von Leeuwenhoek learned that such things existed back in the late 1600’s when he was busy Continue reading
The Retro Scientist 