6 posts tagged “science”
This autoclave is scary!
IRENE
Have you seen the ones on the second floor?
ME
No?
IRENE
They are huge! People sized!
ME
Really? What do they use them for?
IRENE
I guess people.
ME
I don't think that's a good guess.
There's a pretty cool article in Nature right now about love and the science of love. They pretty much agree that love is like a drug and that there is a scientific basis for the obsession with females with big boobs. Here are some choice excerpts:
A female prairie vole rapidly becomes attached to the nearest male if her brain is infused with oxytocin. The hormone interacts with the reward and reinforcement system driven by the neurotransmitter dopamine — the same circuitry that drugs such as nicotine, cocaine and heroine act on in humans to produce euphoria and addiction.
On boobs:
Did you get that? Boob groping is just like doing cocaine. So any guys who are into ogling racks are basically drug addicts.
The notion that pair bonding in humans may have evolved through a tweaking of the brain mechanisms underlying maternal bonding could explain certain unique characteristics of human sexuality. For example, female sexual desire may have become decoupled from fertility, and the female breast may have become an erotic stimulus for males, to activate ancient maternal-bonding systems. The stimulation of the cervix and nipples during sexual intimacy are potent releasers of brain oxytocin, and may function to strengthen the emotional tie between partners.
Men are different:
Pair bonding in males involves similar brain circuitry to that in females, but different neurochemical pathways. In male prairie voles, for example, vasopressin — a hormone related to oxytocin — stimulates pair bonding, aggression towards potential rivals, and paternal instincts, such as grooming offspring in the nest.
I love him. I love him and his...nasal spray?
The view of love as an emergent property of a cocktail of ancient neuropeptides and neurotransmitters raises important issues for society. For one thing, drugs that manipulate brain systems at whim to enhance or diminish our love for another may not be far away. Experiments have shown that a nasal squirt of oxytocin enhances trust and tunes people into others' emotions.
There is neat follow up article with an awesome illustration in the NYT. Apparently there is also a love vaccine:
“If we give an oxytocin blocker to female voles, they become like 95 percent of other mammal species,” Dr. Young said. “They will not bond no matter how many times they mate with a male or hard how he tries to bond. They mate, it feels really good and they move on if another male comes along. If love is similarly biochemically based, you should in theory be able to suppress it in a similar way.”
And I guess this is...related? Good thing Valentine's Day is coming up. Bring on the nasal spray!
Begin rant:
First of all, it is FUCKING COLD in lab today. The air conditioning is on full blast. Which is absolutely ridiculous seeing as tomorrow is Earth Day and here we are, just BLASTING air conditioning and paying no heed to the ass loads of power being wasted cooling down this huge building even though, IT IS NOT HOT OUTSIDE. It is like, 70F. Come on people. That's not that hot. I was in Thailand when it was like 40C aka, 104F with like 99384729387% humidity and they DID NOT have air conditioning. Now that's how you save power, jackasses.
Secondly, I am SO FUCKING SICK OF SCIENCE IT IS KILLING ME. I think mostly it's because I'm so overwhelmed and I think I have like a million things to do and I'm behind myself. I'm collecting all this data that needs to be analyzed and all these pictures that have to be quantified and then all these samples and tissues that have to be imaged and studied, etc. HGHUHGHUHGHUGHHHG. <--- that's how I feel
Really, all I want to do is sit on my bed and and snuggle with my cute spoiled kitties and probably eat some peanut butter Puffins cereal, since I've been obsessed with that lately.
Also, what it really comes down to is that in T minus 5 weeks, I will have to have made a kick ass poster that shows everything that I have done so far with my pittance of a scientific life to show everyone in the world that is in my field at the 15th International Vascular Biology Meeting in Sydney, Australia. That's right. I am COMPLAINING about going to Australia. Believe me, this point is not lost on me. I am damn excited about it all. But I just really can't get that excited about it because I am so stressed about all the work I have to do! AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!
I don't really know what I should do. I have been working approximately 12-14 hours per day for the past year. No joke. I can't really relax because it's like I have a rabid 500lb koala on my back who is breathing down my neck to get shit done. I have about 3 weeks to put together a poster with data. Ha. Hahahahhahaa. (Insert more nervous laughter here.) And then I have two more weeks to finish up ALL the experiments I have running. (Fuck.) And then go to Sydney and secure myself a job. (Insert crazed hair pulling here.) Yeah, no sweat. I'll just go throw myself off of this over-air-conditioned building since THAT WILL BE EASIER. Why is getting a PhD a good idea again? So that George W. Bush can shit all over the economy so that there is no funding in research so that scientists will have to stab each other in the back and eat their own shoes to survive? Oh right. That's EXACTLY why I want to be a PhD. Also, I just want to make my last name longer by three letters.
Sigh.
The good news is that I'm going to New Zealand after the conference. The light at the end of the rabid koala infested tunnel.
End rant.
I mean, I guess I'm glad that they are interested in the...entertaining part of science?
They announced the winners of the 2007 Nobel Prize in Medicine yesterday. YAY! It is going to be divided three ways among the pioneers of genetically manipulated mice and gene targeting strategies. Mario Capecchi has an amazing story, which goes to show how you can go from being an orphan living on the streets, to a career at MIT and Harvard and then spurning the ivy leagues to winning the Nobel Prize. Just plain awesome.
I'm feeling like I should go check on my experiments. Hurray for science!
Hello my friends!
Sorry for the lack of posts. My camera was recently hijacked by a certain Limey and thusly I have no beautiful pictures of birthday sopresas and turkey yummies.
BUT, I do have this wonderful link to share with you all:
http://www.ucsusa.org/scientific_integrity/interference/a-to-z-guide-to-political.html
It is an uber outrageous list of errors of science from the Bush administration, as documented by the Union of
Concerned Scientists. They've just released a letter with 10,000 signatures including 50 Nobel prize winners condemning Bush's maniplulation of scientific data for political goals.
Um, I love them.
T minus 12 days before flying to the current theme of this blog! (Wowee! <-- Borat voice)
P.S. Here's South Park Me! (Go here for procrastination funness!)
