Pura Vida and Costa Rica March 20, 2009

Within the next few days, my readers will notice a cessation of blog posts.

Why? I will be in Costa Rica with other graduate students from the Department of Biological Sciences at Kent State University working on a series of research projects including; 1) litter retention and transport within tropical streams, and 2) circadian-dependent patterns of insect drift. Below is a picture of the research station and one of the most poisonous and aggressive snakes in the world–the fer-de-lance, a viper –which I am abound to encounter….

Pura Vida, for now.

Winning Science Fair Entry March 17, 2009

Condom Breakage per the Coital Machine

Recently, Nature News highlighted a fascinating study published in the journal Contraception that assessed the risks and reasons for condom breakage. A coital machine, as illustrated below, was engineered by a group of scientists to simulate the act of sexual intercouse at various intensities. Talk about a winning science fair entry….

This engineering masterpiece simulates sexual intercouse of various intensities as a means of assessing the risks and reasons of condom breakage

The Bane of Nembutal March 14, 2009

Nembutal is an anesthetic commonly used for invasive surgeries in animals. We use Nembutal to insert microdialysis probes aimed at the suprachiasmic nucleus (see blog “The SCN” for its neuroanatomical location and function). Administering the correct dose of Nembutal is of most cirtical importance because the magnitude of difference between an underdose and an overdose is very miniscule as we have found from time to time….BAH!

Happy Pi Day! March 14, 2009

03-14-09

The History of Sleep Medicine via Podcast March 12, 2009

Today, I was listening to a podcast by Sleep Review Magazine featuring Dr. William Charles Dement (see a previous blog entry titled “Dement Rules!” for a brief overview of some of Dr. D’s many contributions to the field of sleep medicine).

Dement Rules via podcast!

IQ, Earthworms, and Green Porno March 10, 2009

Tonight, I went to Case Western Reserve University’s monthly Science Cafe at the Great Lake Brewery in Cleveland, Ohio. While nursing a “Burning River” pale ale and intently listening to Dr. Joseph Fagan’s research on IQ as an early determinant of mental retardation in infants, I was intrigued to learn that novelty seeking behaviors, such as the phenomenon of attending to new faces, is evident across species (and in this case Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, and Genus); earthworms seek novelty as well. After utilizing the “pegboard hypothesis” of memory recall, this trivial fact about earthworms reminded me of another trivial fact about earthworms; I recommend watching the short Sundance films on courting and mating behaviors in earthworms and other insecta titled “Green Porno”.

Mushroom Stamp! March 6, 2009

I have spent most of the morning editing graphs in Microsoft Paint and Adobe Photoshop for a paper I am writing. I greatly wish my friend Justin Fabrikant was here to assist me because Justin Fabirkant is a professional Microsoft Paint artist, as you will see in the following video. I urge you to overlook the vulgarity and indecency of Justin Fabrikant’s work, and instead appreciate his talent for creating aethestically pleasing images (and VIDEOS!) using only Microsoft Paint…….MUSHROOM STAMP!

Correlation or Causation? Sleep and Psychiatric Disorders March 6, 2009

I commend www.montegraphia.com for discovering this article. It recapitulates the misdiagnosis of sleep disorders for psychiatric disorders. On the list includes ADHD, depression, schizophrenic, bipolar and post traumatic stress disorders: Correlation or Causation?

Two summers ago, I was involved in a similar study at Dr. Mary A.Carskadon’s lab assessing the comorbidity of sleep-disordered breathing and ADHD in children and how it affects learning and memory.

Happy Square Root Day! March 4, 2009

03.03.09

The next one is not until 04.04.16.

Women’s American Pole Vault Record Broken March 3, 2009

This weekend, Olympic silver medalist Jenn Stuczynski broke the indoor American pole vault record by jumping 15 FEET 9 and ¾ INCHES at the Boston Indoor Games. The impressiveness of this feat is clearly demonstrated in the picture; the length of Jenn’s pole (Give or take 15 feet plus another 8 inches to account for planting it into the sunken box) is shorter than the height of the crossbar, meaning that Jenn has to invert her entire body almost 2 feet above the length of the pole. In 2003, USA TODAY ranked pole vaulting as the third hardest task in athletics (driving a race car 200 mph and hitting a baseball at 100 mph ranked second and first, respectively). Using media-friendly scientific jargon, “vaulting is a matter of redirecting kinectic energy of the runner’s approach speed upward, aided by a long fiberglass pole. To do it, athletes need speed for the sprint, strength for lift-off and flexibility to bend the body over the bar.”

Science has spoken; pole vaulting and Jenn Stuczynski’s record breaking performance are both awesome.