Flavors of the Month - February 2012

Again, the month as flown by me.  My other posts deserve more time to be polished but I can keep my Flavors of the Month going without too much trouble...

Personal Flavor of the Month - Drake

Although my mother does not consider this to be music I really like his Take Care album.  I once agreed with my mother in that rap wasn't really music. But as I have gotten older I have realized that music is any form of melodic expression of one's self.  So Drake is about as musical as it gets once you start listening to the lyrics.  [Warning Explicit at times, NSFW] I really enjoy Shot for Me and Headlines.  It doesn't compare with my all-time favorite Drake song Forever.  I mean can lyrics really get better than; "Last name EVER, first name GREATEST! Like a sprained ankle, boy I ain't nothing to play with!"

New Flavor for February - Ellie Goulding

So she isn't that new in that she is pretty big in the UK.  But her song Lights is just too catchy to warrant any other artist for this month.  The UK has been giving us some decent artist latest like Adele and The Script so Ellie could be the next one to big it big here in the states as well.

Friday Fragments - With Commercials

Well, 10 days of February have literally by as I was pretty sure today was only the 3rd of February until someone informed otherwise during class.  Anyway, being busy is not a bad thing unless you want to try and keep up with the writing of your blog.  Enough, here are a few fragments to get you through the last hour of the day.

-All the Superbowl Ads in one place...if you can't waste at least 15 minutes looking at these then maybe you need to stop and smell the roses.


Personal Favorite - Nissan NSX


-Self-guided bullets.  Like missiles only with bullets.  Now the AI of every first person shooter should have no excuse to miss you when you are shooting your way through some 3rd world country.

-SpaceX had a test of their rocket which could one day send people back to the moon, or even Mars.  Sign me up!

-This awesome website shows you the scale of the universe, enjoy!

Flavors of the Month - January 2012

All-Time Favorite Album

I not only aspire to be a scientist one day but I will continually aspire to be a well-rounded individual.  And if you know me at all you know that I enjoy music, pretty much any kind of music. I played the saxophone for 7ish years between elementary, junior high, high school, and even a little in college.  Now I enjoy learning guitar and soon bass.  I also enjoy trying to pick out new artists before they hit it really big.  For example, I picked up the "Harder to Breathe" single by Maroon 5 back in 2002 and never put it down.  I think you may have heard of them. I also stumbled upon some European singles by some artist named Lady Gaga back in 2006.  A band by the name of Fall Out Boy released a weird concept video for "Sugar We're Going Down" which almost nobody remembers, and most recently my favorite artist to make it big has been Mike Posner, who's One Foot Out the Door mixtape is one of my all-time favorites.  So towards the end of every month I will present two Flavors of the Month.  My personal favorite for that month and an artist to keep your eye on to make it big.

Personal Flavor for January 2012 - Mutemath

Having just released their third studio album, "Odd Soul,"  I have dusted off their old stuff too and been listening to them a lot this month. Their self-title debut album is still my favorite but their newest album offers a synthesized take on rock/pop. It's definitely worth a listen if you haven't heard them before. And I'm pretty sure you've heard their best song Typical before...



Co-New Flavor for January 2012 - Cady Groves
She is very unknown and I have only heard her songs on XM radio for now but I first caught wind of her in a duet with Plug-in Stereo (Oh Darling), when I was looking for good songs to practice finger-picking on the guitar.  She has since released a song called "This Little Girl" and it is getting a ton of playing time on the pop stations on XM.  I originally thought this girl was about 16 years old but her bio says she is 21.

Co-New Flavor for January 2012 - Cher Lloyd

A huge success in England she is coming stateside with her song "With ur Love" ft. Mike Posner (hence how I came across her).  Classified as "Swag Pop," whatever in the world that is, it is similar to Mike Posner's style.  She is young but has a great voice (youtube her).

Only time will tell if either of the new flavors will have the same fate as some of the other people I have found on the brink of stardom. 

Friday Fragments - Quantum Lasers using Teamwork?

After about a month hiatus the Friday Fragments are back.  For those of you who are new to my site, the Friday Fragments are just a collection of interesting stories and links that usually are centered around science but can offer a wide arrange of info.  Enjoy!

-First, my shameless "Plug of the Week."  The Bucket List is a new blog that my friend Rob started to document his experiences trying to complete his baseball bucket list. It's the off-season now but head on over, slap a bookmark on it, and check it out from time to time if you're a baseball/sports fan.  It may inspire you do check off a few items on your bucket list as well.

-Fun with Lasers and Balloons!  Always love a good laser video, but wait and see what happens when they pull out the white balloon!




-Now while the jury is still out on the whole breaking the speed of light theory, scientists have recently published a paper about the quantum speed limit (which I thought would be the same as the speed light but once again quantum mechanics throws me a curve ball).  If you like physics, read this quick summary of their findings.


-This kid got lost inside a computer....granted it was in the 1950's when computers took up the size of whole rooms but still.


-This week I came across a small article about pharmacies and the controversial Plan B birth control.  A new study has found that some pharmacists are taking the moral issue into their own hands and not allowing girls of legal age to buy the emergency contraceptive (17 years or older) even when they have some in stock.  Now whether or not you agree with Plan B and whether it is morally and ethically alright, pharmacists do NOT have the right to deny someone of a medicine if they are legally allowed to purchase it.  I'm just saying!


-I hope you're all ready for the massive solar storm coming our way.  Wait, it's happening as we speak.  That's right, one of the largest solar storms in the last decade is bombarding our planet right now and fortunately nothing major has been affected.  Unless you are traveling in space or use precision GPS (down to the foot) for your job, you probably wouldn't notice the effects at all.


-I'll leave you with one of the best displays of teamwork...

All this work just to play the Demo of Mario Kart 7?  Worth it!

Five Medical Breakthroughs that Could Change the World - Introduction

Each day I spend a little time reading about the latest news in medicine and health. So I felt compelled to make a list of five medical breakthroughs that I believe not only are going to happen in the near future, but would also have the largest impact on humanity.  Instead of writing one really long post I have decided to reveal the list below (for those you like spoilers or don’t like reading much at all).  I will give a brief overview of each and then in the next five weeks I will address each one of these in a more in depth post with links so you can scour the internet yourself.  So I present my “Five Medical Breakthroughs that Could Change the World!”

5) Artificial Organs and Blood without Rejection – The first artificial organs were invented back roughly in 1885, so this is not a new concept.  However, every organ transplant (artificial or not) is essentially rejected by the host because of immunology issues.  The newest trick would be to make new organs and blood using the patient’s own cells thus eliminating the rejection and donor aspects of medical transplants.  We already have some of this technology with synthetic blood and spray on skin on the horizon. (Warning this involves stem cell research so be prepared.)

4) Systematic Streamlining of Medical Information – More of a political viewpoint, I have heard and read about this concept many times but it never seems to get enough steam to become a reality.  However, with the growing number of drug interactions and how small the world is becoming between travel and technology, this database may become a necessity.  I’ll look at both the pros and cons, but this will inevitably always become more of a political debate than a medical one.

Our understanding of genetics
grows every day!

3) Personalized Medicine (Genetics) – Using our DNA to find a predisposition to a disease is nothing new but using your DNA to actually make a drug that caters to your needs is a very real possibility.  A very expensive but real possibility.  Imagine being sick, going into the doctor to give a blood sample and walking out of the doctor’s office a few hours later with a drug that only works for your genetic make-up.  Awesome right?

2) Cure for Cancer – I have a caveat for this one.  Cancer inherently cannot be “cured” because of the nature of how cancer works.  That doesn’t mean that our treatments aren’t getting close to essentially curing many types of cancer.  I promise I will explain, if you’re patient.

The most detailed model of the HIV model to date.

1) HIV Cure – The Holy Grail of 21^st century medicine is hiding somewhere right around the corner.  And what’s even more promising is that the research into an HIV cure seems to be leading us to a cure for almost all viral infections such as the common cold (quick example).  Yes, developing both a vaccine and a treatment for HIV is becoming more and more possible and hopefully scholars in the future will write textbooks about the great HIV outbreak much like the Black Plague; meaning it is over!

There you have it.  I will giving a more in depth look at each of these with the possibility for a few bonus breakthroughs along the way.  

New Year's Resolutions

Happy New Year!  Wait, January almost over already?! Well, time just flies when [fill in your own lame metaphor here].  Anyway, I'm back and have some cool posts coming up soon.  Friday Fragments, Ask a Scientist, and Under the Hood are all coming back along with some new perspectives on both pharmaceutics and life in general.  I have no excuses for why I have not written anything lately other than I have been busy.  Honestly it goes with one of my New Year Resolutions (number 2 below).  To kick off the new year I am going to give a few of my resolutions, give a little incite behind why make resolutions, and maybe inspire someone to commit to their own resolution.  Let's get started...

Let's do it!!!

The reason I want to share my resolutions is because I believe telling someone else of your goals is one of the best ways to stay true to them.

Matt's 2012 New Year Resolutions

1) Go Skydiving - Yes, I want to jump out of a plane and free fall back to earth.  It is way out of my comfort zone and I will probably piss myself once that airplane door opens, but I want to do it because you only live once!

2) "Carpe diem" - Or "seize the day" for those of you who weren't cool like me and took Latin as a foreign language in high school.  Basically this boils down to living each day as though it was your last.  Don't hold back and don't put something off to tomorrow if you can do it now.  Be spontaneous and adventurous and life will come to you!

3) No more pop - That's right, I have completely given up pop, soda, coke, whatever you want to call it. It's a great place to start to try and get you diet in order if you have been struggling to eat better.  I actually started giving up pop back in August of last year, but it took a while to completely give it up.  Now, this doesn't mean you will never see me drink a Dr. Pepper again.  It just means that pop has become a special "treat" to celebrate the good times.

I believe this is the exact watch I had in Jr. High.

4) Wear a watch - Another small change but I have tried to wear a watch daily since I was 12 years old and it has never lasted more than a few weeks.  Granted it was a Mickey Mouse watch followed by a cheesy Purdue watch.  Well, we are three weeks into 2012 and I am still wearing a watch like an adult, and it looks like an adult watch too.

5) Commit to my blog - Self explanatory!

There is a small sampling of my resolutions that I made at the beginning of 2012.  Now let's discuss why resolutions are important. The new year, however arbitrary it may be, is a great time to commit to new things.  Why? Because we are creatures of habit and until something pulls us out of our ruts we will continue on the same path.  Does that mean that if you fall off the resolution or didn't make any resolutions that you have to wait until 2013.  Absolutely not!  Do it today!  Write the resolutions down with the date and call it "Dan's New Year" or "Cathy's New Year."  (Obviously use your name instead of Dan).  And much like a Chinese New Year which doesn't coincide with the calendar year, commit to your new ideals for an entire year.  It's unique and creative which will in itself allow you to mature as a person. Plus you just made up a holiday for yourself, so I will be doing this sometime soon for myself!

All in all, resolutions come down to one fact; only you can make them happen.  Do it for your family, do it for your friends, but most importantly do it for yourself.  Each and every one of us is worth putting effort into ourselves!  Best of luck and Happy New Year!

(Also, anyone wanting to go skydiving hit me up!)

My Year in Review

Merry Christmas!

No worries, I'm still alive!  But seriously, I'm sorry I haven't posted anything lately.  With the end of the semester, finals, projects, and life I have been quite busy since Thanksgiving.  I feel like I blinked and it is five days until Christmas!  And to top it off, a lot as come forward in the name of science and news not to mention just the normal current events.  I have a folder of links to items that either I find really fascinating or I feel could use discussion.  But I feel with the end of the year I should give a little perspective on this past year.  It will probably be more of a personal review than that of big events but we will see where it takes us (it's kinda like a Christmas letter from me to you without the hassle of buying a whole bunch of cheesy Christmas cards with puppies in Santa hats on them).

The beginning of 2011 brought about changes much like the beginning of any new year seems to do.  It is ironic that just changing the number we associate with the year can cause such dramatic changes in life because of our symbiotic relationship with time.  I was beginning my second semester of graduate school and looking forward to enjoying a few more months of college with some of my best friends.  Now life doesn't always work out the way you think but in the end I believe everything happens for a reason.  I struggled with moving on in my life without my close friends always by my side.  But I am so proud to be friends with each and every one of you in our unique relationships!  The rest of the spring was a typical school semester with finals and the normal ups and downs of school.

The SC wolfpack!

The summer however is where I believe 2011, for me, began to take an identity for itself.  It began with possibly the best trip I have every taken with a few of my closest friends.  Spending a week on the beach in South Carolina, literally shooting the breeze (it was really windy all week) was amazing.  Thank you goes to my grandparents who set us up with the awesome condo next to the beach.  It was a very fitting way to  bookend that chapter of our lives!

Once back from the vacation, I began the summer at Purdue working on research.  I was able to really get my hands dirty for the first time and begin interacting with other students and professors in the lab.  I essentially used the summer to gain momentum towards my work in the next few years; learning my way around the lab and how the system works so I can just focus on the science of it now.  Outside of lab, I spent the summer trying to find my new identity.  I was at a crossroads in my life, a quarter-life crisis if you will. And so I made it a mission to challenge myself in every way I could think of.  Socially, physically, mentally, I spent the summer stepping outside of my comfort zone and I can honestly say that I have grown as a person since then.  Life isn't always easy or perfect, but understanding the big picture is important and I am much more confident person because of it. Between destroying "Droids" with the guys from MCUT to running around the state of Indiana with my pharm friends, I had a ton a fun with friends old and new!  I challenge you reading this to step outside your comfort zone at least in the coming days.  It doesn't have to be a large step but do something you normally wouldn't.  For example, go visit a friend in another city on a whim with no set agenda or arrangements; or try a new cuisine with co-worker who you haven't connected with yet. Obviously anything that you feel is outside your comfort zone will work those are just a couple examples of the many things I did this summer. Remember, you only get one life to live so you should do the things you want, be with the people you want, and be where you want to be! Don't wait for tomorrow!

Tough Mudder team!  You all are so awesome!!! Hoorah!

The momentum of the summer literally threw me into the fall school semester.  I began following a friend around the state as he expanded his stand-up comedy routine.  That is a totally new scene for me and I appreciate the opportunity to be a very small part of that.  It gives me a sense of perspective from my sheltered lab life.  Tailgating and weekend excursions seem to highlight my fall.  Can I say that I didn't make mistakes during the fall?  Absolutely not!  But you learn the most from mistakes and failures.  In all areas of my life I have learned a lot about myself and carried those experiences, good or bad, with me everyday.  Oh and let's not forget the 4 month adventure that was training for Tough Mudder!  I hope anyone who wants to see what they are made of as a person has the guts to try TM, goes for it.  I truly believe anyone can succeed if you put your mind (and body) to it!

Overall, I enter the holiday season with a new perspective on life and myself.  I am far from perfect (not that I thought I was before) but understanding this concept has led me to develop my confidence and expand my horizons.  The take home message from this post is that in the course of a year, I have been on a roller coaster of emotions and experiences.  But if you can open your heart, you can come out the other side with a smile and know that you are living life to the fullest.  You can do anything you put your mind to!


Writer's Note - Obviously I couldn't fill in all my 2011 experiences into this post as it would get unwieldy.  But I promise if you want to trade stories about your year I'd be happy to tell you about the rest of the shenanigans and professional experiences that I had this year! (Evil Laugh Here)