Great science news from a recent past Part III

Some more great science news from a recent past. Today I opted to go straight to a few theories I always had present in my mind, but never had the time to develop my personal study on. Thus, these articles published last year really helped me understand and even strengthen my own theories on many different subjects. Subjects such as:

The real function of the human appendix - because in a world where energy can never be wasted without good purpose, having such a useless appendix could never be possible. It actually serves a purpose in the development of a normal foetus (production of biogenic amines and peptide hormones) and in young adults (it is involved in immune functions like maturation of B lymphocytes and production of IgA antibodies). The fact that the appendix does not exist in domestic animals made research abandon some good theories on the actual role of it. 

Pressure or Pleasure for producing better science - This is always common days to Science, the typical battle between two different Schools of Thought: those who think pressure works better on people and those who think happiness/pleasure is the fuel to better working days. Overall this article reveals what everyone knows but delivers it in a really light and smart way. 1) Not everyone can be happy as people are people and that wont change, 2) unhappy members tend to bring down the rest of the crew (but bear in mind that their unhappiness reveals existing issues in your group - dont just discard the people and keep the problems), 3) Finding good arrangements and mentoring people towards harmony is always better than just letting them go, but when pride is excessive there is no other way, 4) Meeting half way should be the general attitude.

A virus is melting sea stars - Ill repeat that, a virus is melting sea stars (the Pandas of the seas for their loveliness). Even sea stars are not protected from crazy viral infections that do nasty things to organisms. When a virus is capable of melting sea stars one has to put a lot of stuff to perspective. This incredible article from November 2014 describes how these densoviruses (mimiviruses, phycodnaviruses, parvoviruses, etc) degrade sea stars flesh rapidly leaving just slime and ossicles to tell the story. A story told only after a lengthy DNA and RNA characterisation.

Image kindly taken from Political Blindspot - scientists finally find the function of the human appendix, [http://politicalblindspot.com/scientists-finally-discover-the-function-of-the-human-appendix/], las visted on the 20th of January 2015.

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Great science news from a recent past Part II

The first post of this series was published yesterday. If you feel youve missed on great science revelations that took place in 2014, by all means, go back and check! Today I continue posting some interesting news from pundits everywhere. Caffeine, workforce frustration and salt-propelled vehicles are the articles needing your uttermost attention.

Can we overdose on caffeine? The caffeineinformer posted on the myths and true facts that involve caffeine. Facts like the half-life of caffeine being of 4 to 6 hours or people nowadays starting to show signs of caffeine intoxication. Facts like caffeine withdrawal listed by physicians as a mental disorder.  Solutions? Rutacleanse (Rutaecarpine) to detoxify the body of caffeine, or just reading this interesting article.

Workforce demotivation is a reality - we all know it but it appears that in this time and age everyone is too busy to think plain things. Solutions mostly lie on plain Occams razor attitude, but we think our brains are for complicating rather than simplifying. This incredible article by Dina Gerdeman says it all; an article I found in Harvard Business Schools website and that should be printed and sent to all HR departments in the civilised world. It is so incredibly good I cannot resume it in just a sentence; but I must say that it actually reveals something I have always been against all my life - individual rewards in a company. YES, they lead to a drop in motivation and productivity. I am a navy seal in terms of corporative thinking, we rise together, we sink together. No man should be left behind but worked with.

Saltwater-powered car approved by EU - I actually offered my nephew a toy car of the sort (see image in the bottom). It comes in a million pieces and I think that frustrated him and his father (who is not that science-driven). But to know that the real one (see image on top) is a low-cost, environmentally-friendly car that creates no emissions and might be available in the future... thats great news. Experts say it will cost around a million quid, though :S

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Great science news from a recent past Part I

2014 was proficient in great science. News of developments in areas such as cancer research, infectious diseases and technological advances were popping up in the media everyday. Our busy lives dont really leave us any time to follow some of the great things that were achieved. If some of these never hit you, The Toxicologist Today is here to help you with some of the great articles and developments that really need your special attention this 2015!

Bacterial identification virtual lab - The world will know about the growing industry of serious games. Teaching will take a turn when serious games come to the equation for they are the future. In the meanwhile, check how Howard Hughes Medical Institute is teaching their website visitors to  familiarise with the science and techniques used to identify different types of bacteria based on their DNA sequences.

The winnower - an open access online science publishing platform that employs open-post publication peer review. This is gonna make Ben Goldacre feel that his words are actually causing waves of transformation. Thanks to Joshua Nicholson and Reinhard Stindl there is a growing movement towards transparency from start to finish in science communication, as they so well put. 

Crest toothpaste embeds plastic in our gums - Some countries have got the common sense to initiate a battle against polyethylene in our toothpaste. Particles of everlasting plastic that will live "forever" only breaking into other smaller particles. Inert but not invisible, and merely for decorative purposes. They are there to accumulate in places like the little channels in our gums, embedded within the sulcus under the gumline. Companies have gone mad, definitely! Check this great article by Trish Walraven and Erika Feltham.

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Great science news from a recent past Part IV

The saga of great science news published/broadcasted in 2014 continues. Not all is good as you would expect. For example, chocolate is on a downfall and there isnt much we can do about it. If the human kind has managed to avoid so many conflicts these last few decades is because chocolate was here to protect us against the ups and downs of the endocrine system of manic politiciens. Before you start panicking yourself, take a peek at the good news also...!

People are eating way too much chocolate for God sake! This is the overall idea transmitted by Mars, Inc and Barry Callebaut, the worlds biggest chocolate-makers. Farms are producing less cocoa than what is in demand and the scenario only tends to get worse. In 2014 humans ate 70 thousand metric tons more cocoa than produced, but predictions reinstate that by 2020 we will have achieved a 14-fold increase! Reasons why? Us being all dopamine fiends, dry weather in Africa (like if it ever changed since I was born and put my eyes on the TV news), profitable farming being disrespected and profitless worldwide, the Chinese sweet teeth!!!!! The solution might come from research in Central Africa, but judge it by yourself by visiting this article by Roberto Ferdman published in the Washington Post last November 2014.

Gene therapy for bacteria could help solve consequences of the stupidity surrounding over-usage of broad-spectrum antibiotics. The idea is to develop such therapy that certain strains will almost act like PCR primers by producing sequence-specific antimicrobial effects. Its all part of a new trendy area of research that makes use of phage-based delivery techniques known to give bacteria resistance to beta-lactam antibiotics, such as ampicillin, for example.Take a look at this genuinely excellent post by Tim Sandle published in the Pharmaceutical Microbiology blog.

Opinions of hundred of UK scientists on what makes high-quality research delivered the word "rigorous/(extremely thorough and careful)", something that is difficult to attain in this modern academic-research world where time is money, ever more. Symptoms of a scientific career cancer that reveals what I have been saying from the start of this blog and before - Academia nowadays promotes unbearable competitive academic research, no job security and intolerable pressure. Most of my younger colleagues dont want to see it, thus suffering in an Ostridge-Blues kind of syndrome; the older ones are just too embedded in the system that dont even want to face it anymore. And all crashes violently with the "postdoctoral years". A discussion so important and intense that links to yet another impressive quality article on the "Shaping the future of research". This is a must-read. What do you want?, its a Nature article from December 2014.

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