The Science of Life

I just finished the book " The Vaccine Narrative " by Dr. Jacob Heller.  I feel it is a good idea to post a review of it on here, since it fits all of what I am trying to do with this blog.  Fair warning, if you intend to read this book without spoilers, this review does have spoilers a plenty. Dr. Heller looks at the narrative through history of the pro-vaccination side of the public argument we all know about.  He opens with the sentiment that yes, he is pro-vaccination, but he also feels the need to correct misconceptions which are prevalent in the narrative propagated by his side of the public debate.  The best way to convince those with legitimate concerns about vaccines (not those who are anti-vax conspirators, but those who have questions as a result of those conspiracy theorists) is to be completely open and honest about all aspects of vaccines, not just those aspects which are positive.  The first step in being honest to concerned parents is to...

Hello internet, and welcome to The Science They Don't Want You to Know.  As I have mentioned in the first post of this series, I am doing research regarding the statistical viability of currently unconfirmed conspiracies (no leaked documents) by way of currently known conspiracies (documents have been leaked).  The primary purpose of this initial research is to gather particular information, specifically how many people were involved in the actual conspiracies and the length of time which these conspiracies took place.  If you have not read the first post, you should  read it here . The Nazi's have done some pretty horrible biological and medical experiments during the second world war.  From infecting them with diseases to cold and calculating torture to attaching an octopus arm to a recently sawed off body part of a Jewish person, these experiments were cruel and obscene, to put it mildly.  Leave it to the Nazi's to come up with some truly terrifying ...

These are the sources of information and video content for the Meat-Cancer link video, found here . The World Health Organization Science Press Release: "Carcinogenicity of consumption of red and processed meat"; published online on October 26th 2015 http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanonc/article/PIIS1470-2045%2815%2900444-1/fulltext They wish you to register before they provide the article for free, and it is a good idea to do so. Big Beef is bigger than Big Poultry.  Here's the proof: http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/ldpm-livestock,-dairy,-and-poultry-outlook/ldp-m-256.aspx The happy cows video can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onWzeDElz6w The Minecraft cow can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUSByiRUgE4 The Bull taking a dump can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwbxlSnKE9U Gameplay of DOTA 2 found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iphorNRO_Go The 18% Video can be found here: https://www.youtu...

These are the sources for my video " The Science of the News: Vaccines and Autism ". 1998 Paper Connecting Vaccines and Autism: " Ileal-Lymphoid-nodular hyperplasia, non-specific colitis, and pervasive developmental disorder in children "; Wakefield, A.J. et. al.; 28FEB1998; The Lancet; Vol 351; p. 637-641; doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(97)11096-0 1998 BBC Report: "Child vaccine linked to autism" The Independent report " Doctors link autism to MMR vaccination " Denmark MMR-Autism Link Study: " A Population-Based Study of Measles, Mumps, and Rubella Vaccination and Autism "; Madsen, K.M. Hviid, A. Vestergaard, M. Schendel, D. Wohlfahrt, J. Thorsen, P. Olsen, J. Melbye, M.; New England Journal of Medicine; vol. 348; 11/07/2002; 1477-1482 Scientific Reports in Direct Response to the 1998 Paper: " Association of Autistic Spectrum Disorder and the Measles, Mumps, and Rubella Vaccine "; Kumanan Wilson, MD, MSc, FRCP(C);...

Here are the sources for my video "Lucy and the Ten Percent Myth", which can be seen here . The Fair Use Clause:   Copyright Act of 1976, 17 U.S.C. § 107 . Evolutionary argument against this myth: Rosenberg, K.R., "The Evolution of Modern Childbirth" in American Journal of Physical Anthropology 35, 1992, p. 89–124 Energy consumption argument against this myth: Swaminathan, Nikhil (29 April 2008). "Why Does the Brain Need So Much Power?". Scientific American. Scientific American, a Division of Nature America, Inc. Retrieved 19 November 2010. Twenty Percent energy usage: Carpenter's Human Neuroanatomy by Malcolm B. Carpenter, Oliver Smith Strong, and Raymond Carl Truex; Ch. 1 Evidence for 100% use of the brain: Radford, Benjamin (8 February 2000). "The Ten-Percent Myth". "Do People Only Use 10 Percent Of Their Brains". Scientific American. 7 February 2008. Clips taken from the following movies and episodes: Lucy (20...

These are the sources for my video on the scientific definition of the term chemical, seen here . The colloquial definition of the word chemical comes from wiktionary , which defines chemicals as "an artificial chemical compound".  There is of course a negative conotation about the definition seen in the example they provide (" I color my hair with henna, not chemicals ").  The non-colloquial, scientific definition of the word chemical comes from three text books: “Biology: A Guide to the Natural World Fifth Edition”; David Krogh; 978-0-321-61655-5; p. 22 “Chemistry: The Central Science 11th Edition”; Theodore L. Brown; 978-0-13-600617-6; p. 5 “Essentials of Geology 4th edition”; Stephen Marshak; 978-0-393-91939-4; p. 7 They all agree that a chemical is “matter that has distinct properties and a constant composition that does not vary from sample to sample and cannot be separated by physical means.”

The Full on definitions of the word theory from the five texts referenced in my Theories video.  The citations are in the format ("Title"; Principle Author (there may or may not be secondary authors); ISBN; page number referenced; which UNLV course the book is for).   See the video here . These books may be obtained through any public library or digitally through your  favorite  means of obtaining digital copies of books. (“Biology: A Guide to the Natural World Fifth Edition”; David Krogh; 978-0-321-61655-5; p. 6; for UNLV's course BIOL 189 - Fundamentals of Life Sciences) It is unfortunate but true that the word theory means one thing in everyday speech and something almost completely different in scientific communication. In everyday speech, a theory can be little more than a hunch. It is an unproven idea that may or may not have any supportive evidence. In science, meanwhile, a theory is a general set of principles, supported by evidence, that expla...

I apologize for taking so long with this entry of my blog. I have been abnormally busy lately with my academics and poetry. Today, I am writing on how all of the sciences are related to one another, in the hopes that you will come to realize that the sciences are not as separate as popular culture and news has us believe. This blog will be geared to those individuals – weather you're the average person or a student of science, or a full blown scientist – who have the opinion that the different fields of science are completely isolated from one another. This sentiment is not true, and I hope to show the false-hood of this concept here. In physics, we have the concept of “The Right-Hand-Rule”. This pretty much determines whether the a force perpendicular to two vectors is “positive” or “negative”. Torque is a good example of this. The amount of torque placed on, say, a bolt by a crescent wrench is perpendicular to the position vector and the fo...

To begin, I would like to thank my biochemistry Professor, MaryKay Orgill, Ph. D., for fact checking this post, despite her busy schedule, and despite today being her birthday. Happy birthday Captain! Before I begin my topic today, I want to clear up some confusion the general population has about homonyms . The confusion is that the general use of a word is perceived to also be the scientific use of the same word. With the exception of the vast majority of astronomical terms (because astronomy, for the most part, has the capacity to be an exception), this is not true. These are homonyms, which are words in English which are spelled the same, sound the same, and have different definitions. In engineering, the term moment means to apply a force in a circular fashion, not a general short period of time. In biology, a Calorie is a specific unit of energy in chemical reactions, not merely something you have to consume. In chemistry, reactions are transfer of electrons ...

In this weeks blog, I will describe the second law of thermodynamics and how it applies to biochemical mechanisms. There seems to be a lot of confusion, misunderstanding, and downright misrepresentation of this topic, so the intent here is to clarify everything. The second law of thermodynamics states that the entropy always increases for spontaneous processes. Notice here that the reference frame is not specified. This is because, in most scientific realms, the context is assumed to either be an isolated system or the universe as a whole. Also notice that I said entropy always increases for a spontaneous process. For non-spontaneous processes, the entropy decreases. I will talk about spontaneous thermodynamic processes in this blog. Later today, I will post a an entry in my other blog talking about non-spontaneous thermal processes. The Second Law of Thermodynamics tells us whether a process is spontaneous or not. This is based on the h...

In the past few days, I had to switch classes. I had to drop Biology, but I have picked up Biochemistry to take its place, which is vital to my degree program. I bring this up because, seeing as how I want to have parallels between this blog and what I am learning in academia with an emphasis on the chemical, I view this as a more chemical outlook on biology, which is logical, seeing as how the name of the course is “Biochemistry”. With that in mind, let me begin with the meat of the blog. For those of you pre-medical students reading this blog who are taking organic chemistry and wondering why you need to take organic chemistry, this blog entry is one of many examples of why pre-meds need chemistry. There are also reasons why you should take physics, but that will be for future blog entries. All of us are made of chemicals. Stomach acid is a mixture of acids which are used for reacting with the food and drink we consume, to produce compounds which our intestines c...

In my last blog, I mentioned I would include four topics in this weeks blog: First, my plan for this blog. Second, the tracers for PET scans, in particular fluorine-18 tracers Third my answer to my prompt from last week Forth, a new prompt. I will do these topics in this order. I am starting my next semester on the 16 th of January. My courses will be Biology 196, Environmental Science 206, Math 286, and Chemistry 402. After todays blog, my plan is to post every week during the weekend (somewhere from Friday to Sunday) with a real world application of a topic from one of these courses for the next 17 weeks, starting next week (the weekend prior to the beginning of the semester). It is likely that I will post later in the weekend, but early-weekend posts are possible. Now, as promised, the tracers used for PET scans. PET scans are positron emission tomography, which makes a three-dimensional mapping of the functional processes of one aspect of the body, typically the brain....