I hope everybody's week has gone well. I know mine has been an interesting one to say the least. My car broke down as I was driving someone home from their car breaking down. They finally transferred the cable in my apartment from Nova Cable to Comcast, which means I'm without cable for the next month or so (no worries I have Netflix). And out of a possible three softball games I could have played this week, I got to play zero because of the stupid rain. However, I did received my first new molecule to work on this week and have settled into my office nicely.
Side note about my office: It seems as though the boys and girls have separated themselves within the lab. My office which is on the first floor has myself and three other guys in it, where as the other half of our office space on the first floor is occupied by four or five girls (one is only part time in IPPH, I believe). It's kind of like being in third grade again.
Anyway, my routine is working nicely into my blogging. You can only sit and read about drugs for so long before you need to take a little break. Thus I think you'll find this edition of the Friday Fragments to be fairly robust...
-Researchers in the UK have discovered a vaccine for a specific cancer. I am not sure about the actual logistics of the situation, but it sounds more like a treatment than a vaccine, because they used a virus to inject prostate cancer presenting antigens into mice, where the immune system took over and eradicated the tumor. To me that sounds like a treatment or cure for the cancer not a vaccine but whatever, it works! Check out the full paper here or a brief overview here.
-Here is an awesome graphic showing what happens on the internet in 60 seconds...the volume of emails is the most striking thing to me!
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| Buzz and Woody Unleashed! |
-In electronics news, HP is working on flexible displays to used on wrists during combat. They also list price tags as a possible use. I'm thinking it would make great QB wristband. Also, if you have some time to kill, this is an excellent article about wearable electronics. I actually had to save the link and read it at home because it looked interesting but it is quite lengthy (so good for wasting time between 4-5pm or Fridays).
-In September 2012, the FDA is mandate that all cigarette boxes have one of nine new warning images to help deter people from smoking. Some are good, some are gross, and some are just plain cheesy. Decide for yourself.
-Ok Bryan here is a plug for your blog and what you're good at. A few weeks ago, my friend Bryan wrote a good post on the Neuroscience of Alcohol over at his blog Mildly Competent. Well, as fate would have it a came across a similar article written by someone who is paid to write about science stuff. It discusses the Buffalo Theory and the actual neuroscience of how we react to alcohol. I would recommend reading Bryan's first and then if you're still interested, you can read the other one.
-Lastly, I found this article about a math proof nicknamed the 3n+1 theory. Evidently, if you take any number and divide by 2 if even, or multiply by three and add 1 if odd, and continue to do this with your subsequent answers you will always get 2. However no one has been able to write an actual proof about it until now. Well kind of, it has been withdrawn since I found the article but it's still fun to contemplate.
Monday blues, huh? Sounds like someone's alter ego needs to come out and play!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the Shout-Out, Matt! I love that the Neuron paper came from the University I'm about to attend. :p I also love that it involved Neural Stem Cells (if only a little bit). You're reading more about my favorite fields than I am this summer!!!
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