Bacterial cells in the body outnumber human cells by a factor of 10 to 1. Yet only recently have researchers begun to elucidate the beneficial roles these microbes play in fostering health. Some of these bacteria possess genes that encode for beneficial compounds that the body cannot make on its own. Other bacteria seem to train the body not to overreact to outside threats. Advances in computing and gene sequencing are allowing investigators to create a detailed catalogue of all the bacterial genes that make up this so-called microbiome. Unfortunately, the inadvertent destruction of beneficial microbes by the use of antibiotics, among other things, may be leading to an increase in autoimmune disorders and obesity.
Magicians use such sensory illusions in their tricks, but they also heavily use cognitive illusions, manipulating people’s attention, trains of logic and even memory. Although magicians probably haven’t studied these phenomena with the scientific method—they don’t do controlled experiments—their techniques have been tested over time, perfected by practice and performed under conditions of high scrutiny by skeptical audiences looking to spot the trick.
Magic tricks often work by covert misdirection, drawing the spectator’s attention away from the secret “method” that makes a trick work.
Neuroscientists are scrutinizing magic tricks to learn how they can be put to work in experimental studies that probe aspects of consciousness not necessarily grounded in current sensory reality.
Brain imaging shows that some regions are particularly active during certain kinds of magic tricks
Most scientists agree that sleep has significant benefits for learning and memory.
Conventional wisdom holds that recently formed memories are replayed during sleep and in the process become more sharply etched in the brain.
Emerging evidence suggests that sleep also serves as a reset button, loosening neural connections throughout the brain to put this organ back in a state in which learning can take place.
Innovation matters in an enormous variety of professions. It elevates the careers of chefs, university presidents, psychotherapists, police detectives, journalists, teachers, engineers, architects, attorneys and surgeons, among other professionals.
Although creativity was long considered a gift of a select minority, psychologists have now revealed its seeds in mental processes, such as decision making, language and memory, that all of us possess.
Techniques for boosting creative potential may involve breaking down established ways of viewing the world or invoking unconscious thought processes.
Seeking Scientists for Science Cafe! The WA National Science Week Coordinating Committee invites you to participate in the 2012 Science Cafe. We are seeking 80 West Australian Scientists to share their passion for science with year 10 and 11 students from across Perth at a morning tea hosted at The University of Western Australia. On Wednesday, August 15th at 9:00 AM, students will attend this event at Winthrop Hall and the University of Western Australia to get to know science professionals and learn more about their fields. For information on participating, please contact Kerry Mazzotti at kerry.mazzotti@scitech.org.au
“Intellectual integrity made it quite impossible for me to accept the myths and dogmas of even very great scientists, more particularly of the belligerent and so-called advanced nations. Indeed, those intellectuals who accepted them were abdicating their functions for the joy of feeling themselves at one with the herd.”— Bertrand Russell 1872-1969. (How true! - Krishna)
My comment on the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g032MPrSjFA&feature=player_embedded I am from the field of science and it is disgusting to see how women are being stereotyped and made to look like fashion-crazy idiots! Do women scientists look like this? Definitely not! This is not the way to attract girls into the field of science. Tell them interesting and inspirational stories about women scientists and their discoveries, inventions and achievements if you really want to bring them into the field of science.It doesn't matter if the actual science chicks don't look like this.
Somebody's reply: It doesn't matter if the actual science chicks don't look like this. That is not the target audience.
My reply:
If this is the case, these girls will be utterly disappointed once they get into the field of science! And they will leave it if they find out the truth and the very idea of attracting girls into the field of science with these types of images will be a big disaster! Because they should get attracted to the truths and facts of science and not false images!
The main ingredients for a successful career in science are curiosity and enthusiasm, not lip gloss - The wall street journal
It's certainly true that chronic stress, lasting weeks and months, has deleterious effects including, notably, suppression of the immune response. But short-term stress -- the fight-or-flight response, a mobilization of bodily resources lasting minutes or hours in response to immediate threats -- stimulates immune activity, said lead author Firdaus Dhabhar, PhD, an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and member of the Stanford Institute for Immunity, Transplantation and Infection.
Artistic types are not the only ones whose eyes glaze over when confronted with too many numbers, according to research out Monday that suggests scientists, too, find lots of equations hard to read.
The study by researchers at the University of Bristol analyzed nearly 650 studies on ecology and evolution published in three leading journals in 1998.
They found that papers with more equations in the text were less likely to be cited in future papers, signaling that scientists may not be paying attention to research that is jammed with mathematical details.
Studies with the most math in them were referenced 50 percent less often than those with little or no math, said the study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a US peer-reviewed journal.
Heavy use of equations impedes communication among biologists. Nearly all areas of science rely on close links between mathematical theory and experimental work. If new theories are presented in a way that is off-putting to other scientists, then no one will perform the crucial experiments needed to test those theories. This presents a barrier to scientific progress.
Adding a bit of verbal flourish might help experts get their point across. Scientists need to think more carefully about how they present the mathematical details of their work. The ideal solution is not to hide the maths away, but to add more explanatory text to take the reader carefully through the assumptions and implications of the theory.
The discovery of an arsenic-loving microbe that NASA said would rewrite biology textbooks and offered hope of life on other planets now looks like a case study in how science corrects its mistakes, researchers report.
In our own lifetime, chances are we will see phenomenal 'futuristic wizardry' enabled by manipulating the Higgs field(s). An analogy we might think of is Quantum Tunneling. It seemed pure, ethereal 'naval gazing', until we used it to create the revolution of solid state physics/electronics that has transformed our lives more significantly than perhaps any other insight.
If it IS possible to manipulate the Higgs field, imagine how it might enable inertia-less travel. What if relativistic speed limitations can be circumvented by eliminating the influence of the Higgs field? Could we leave the planet's gravitation with less energy? Could it enable interstellar travel? Could it revolutionize the development and construction of mass-carrying vehicles? Cars? Ships? Planes? Cargo? Hoverboards? ;)
We've now discovered the outline of a new continent. There is no telling where it will take us.
How is it that common elements such as carbon, nitrogen and oxygen happened to have just the kind of atomic structure that they needed to combine to make the molecules upon which life depends? Has the universe been consciously designed? - Richard Morris
The only thing that has advanced the species or society for the last 500 years is evidence based science. Evidence based science stands on its own by comparing to it *evidence*.
Scientists master the art of piquing public interest
Be it Higgs Boson or Mars, smart communication makes complex theories fascinating
In each case, the science teams did a great job at capturing the public’s mind by providing excellent metaphors and descriptions of why the project was important.
As Jim Bell, one of Curiosity’s team members, stated, “It’s human nature to explore… By going to difficult or dangerous places, we carry the rest of our species along with us. These stories become part of our culture, part of our heritage... It’s a human endeavour that is part science, part inspiration.”
“Maybe we’re on Mars because we have to be, because there’s a deep nomadic impulse built into us… And the next place to wander to is Mars. But whatever the reason you’re on Mars… I’m glad you’re there. And I wish I was with you.”
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
Some Microbiology:
Bacterial cells in the body outnumber human cells by a factor of 10 to 1. Yet only recently have researchers begun to elucidate the beneficial roles these microbes play in fostering health.
Some of these bacteria possess genes that encode for beneficial compounds that the body cannot make on its own. Other bacteria seem to train the body not to overreact to outside threats.
Advances in computing and gene sequencing are allowing investigators to create a detailed catalogue of all the bacterial genes that make up this so-called microbiome.
Unfortunately, the inadvertent destruction of beneficial microbes by the use of antibiotics, among other things, may be leading to an increase in autoimmune disorders and obesity.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=microbiome-graphic...
May 18, 2012
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2012/may/18/science-careers-under-m...
Science careers under the microscope
May 20, 2012
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2012/05/17/152913171/the-essence-...
May 20, 2012
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/audio/2012/may/21/science-weekly-...
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bangalore/Do-it-yourself-an...
May 22, 2012
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
The science of magic:
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/2012/05/14/how-neu...
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/2012/05/22/neurosc...
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=magic-and-the-brain
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=magic-neuroscience...
Magicians use such sensory illusions in their tricks, but they also heavily use cognitive illusions, manipulating people’s attention, trains of logic and even memory. Although magicians probably haven’t studied these phenomena with the scientific method—they don’t do controlled experiments—their techniques have been tested over time, perfected by practice and performed under conditions of high scrutiny by skeptical audiences looking to spot the trick.
May 24, 2012
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
Benefits of sleep:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=sleeps-secret-repa...
May 25, 2012
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
http://www.senseaboutscience.org/
May 28, 2012
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
http://www.sciencenewsdaily.org/archaeology-fossils-news/cluster153...
May 28, 2012
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
How Hurricanes are formed:
May 30, 2012
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/the-origin-of-life-the-lat...
New light on the origin of life
May 30, 2012
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/olympics/science-and-swimming...
Jun 2, 2012
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
http://www.scientificamerican.com/video.cfm?id=instant-egghead-why-...
Why is HIV so difficult to control
Jun 8, 2012
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
The science of creativity:
Breaking the Rules
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=put-your-creative-...
Jun 9, 2012
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
Seeking Scientists for Science Cafe!
The WA National Science Week Coordinating Committee invites you to participate in the 2012 Science Cafe. We are seeking 80 West Australian Scientists to share their passion for science with year 10 and 11 students from across Perth at a morning tea hosted at The University of Western Australia. On Wednesday, August 15th at 9:00 AM, students will attend this event at Winthrop Hall and the University of Western Australia to get to know science professionals and learn more about their fields. For information on participating, please contact Kerry Mazzotti at kerry.mazzotti@scitech.org.au
Jun 13, 2012
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/scicurious-brain/2012/06/11/exe...
Jun 13, 2012
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
“Intellectual integrity made it quite impossible for me to accept the myths and dogmas of even very great scientists, more particularly of the belligerent and so-called advanced nations. Indeed, those intellectuals who accepted them were abdicating their functions for the joy of feeling themselves at one with the herd.”— Bertrand Russell 1872-1969. (How true! - Krishna)
Jun 17, 2012
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
Jun 19, 2012
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/scientists-must-make-rese...
Scientists must make research an open book
Details of publicly funded projects should be made available free to all online, ministers will insist
Jun 19, 2012
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
http://www.science-to-touch.com/en/index.html
Jun 22, 2012
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
My comment on the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g032MPrSjFA&feature=player_embedded
I am from the field of science and it is disgusting to see how women are being stereotyped and made to look like fashion-crazy idiots!
Do women scientists look like this? Definitely not! This is not the way to attract girls into the field of science. Tell them interesting and inspirational stories about women scientists and their discoveries, inventions and achievements if you really want to bring them into the field of science.It doesn't matter if the actual science chicks don't look like this.
Somebody's reply: It doesn't matter if the actual science chicks don't look like this. That is not the target audience.
My reply:
If this is the case, these girls will be utterly disappointed once they get into the field of science! And they will leave it if they find out the truth and the very idea of attracting girls into the field of science with these types of images will be a big disaster! Because they should get attracted to the truths and facts of science and not false images!
The main ingredients for a successful career in science are curiosity and enthusiasm, not lip gloss - The wall street journal
These ones look good:
http://science-girl-thing.eu/profiles-of-women-in-science
http://science-girl-thing.eu/jobs
Jun 23, 2012
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/06/120621223525.htm
Stress can boost immune system!
It's certainly true that chronic stress, lasting weeks and months, has deleterious effects including, notably, suppression of the immune response. But short-term stress -- the fight-or-flight response, a mobilization of bodily resources lasting minutes or hours in response to immediate threats -- stimulates immune activity, said lead author Firdaus Dhabhar, PhD, an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and member of the Stanford Institute for Immunity, Transplantation and Infection.
Jun 23, 2012
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
Science and Security:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/protection-for-science-and-s...
Jun 24, 2012
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
Why blame science for human foibles?
http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/open-page/article3563310.ece
Jun 24, 2012
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
http://www.science-niblets.org/
http://www.science-niblets.org/natural-phenomena.html
http://www.science-niblets.org/biology-and-life-science.html
Jun 25, 2012
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
Scientists think math is hard too!
Artistic types are not the only ones whose eyes glaze over when confronted with too many numbers, according to research out Monday that suggests scientists, too, find lots of equations hard to read.
The study by researchers at the University of Bristol analyzed nearly 650 studies on ecology and evolution published in three leading journals in 1998.
They found that papers with more equations in the text were less likely to be cited in future papers, signaling that scientists may not be paying attention to research that is jammed with mathematical details.
Studies with the most math in them were referenced 50 percent less often than those with little or no math, said the study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a US peer-reviewed journal.
Heavy use of equations impedes communication among biologists. Nearly all areas of science rely on close links between mathematical theory and experimental work. If new theories are presented in a way that is off-putting to other scientists, then no one will perform the crucial experiments needed to test those theories. This presents a barrier to scientific progress.
Adding a bit of verbal flourish might help experts get their point across. Scientists need to think more carefully about how they present the mathematical details of their work. The ideal solution is not to hide the maths away, but to add more explanatory text to take the reader carefully through the assumptions and implications of the theory.
Source: AFP
Another article on this:
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/2012/06/28/scienti...
Jun 27, 2012
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
Scientific explanations of unknown phenomena which are dubbed as "miracles" :
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=supernova-red-cruc...
Jun 29, 2012
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
Effective presentations for scientists:
http://www.labmanager.com/?articles.view/articleNo/3136/
Jun 30, 2012
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/story/2012-07-07/arsenic-micro...
The discovery of an arsenic-loving microbe that NASA said would rewrite biology textbooks and offered hope of life on other planets now looks like a case study in how science corrects its mistakes, researchers report.
Jul 9, 2012
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
In our own lifetime, chances are we will see phenomenal 'futuristic wizardry' enabled by manipulating the Higgs field(s).
An analogy we might think of is Quantum Tunneling. It seemed pure, ethereal 'naval gazing', until we used it to create the revolution of solid state physics/electronics that has transformed our lives more significantly than perhaps any other insight.
If it IS possible to manipulate the Higgs field, imagine how it might enable inertia-less travel. What if relativistic speed limitations can be circumvented by eliminating the influence of the Higgs field?
Could we leave the planet's gravitation with less energy?
Could it enable interstellar travel?
Could it revolutionize the development and construction of mass-carrying vehicles? Cars? Ships? Planes? Cargo? Hoverboards? ;)
We've now discovered the outline of a new continent. There is no telling where it will take us.
http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/opinion/perspectives/physics-is...
Jul 9, 2012
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
Space for the benefit of mankind: symposium
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/264356/scientists-look-space-be...
Jul 15, 2012
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
How to write like a scientist:
http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career_magazine/previous_issue...
Jul 19, 2012
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
How Competition is effecting scientific research:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=intense-competitio...
Jul 26, 2012
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
Microbial abstract paintings:
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/oscillator/2012/07/24/bioplayti...
Jul 26, 2012
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
Lab disasters:
http://blog.labguru.com/lab-disasters/?goback=.gde_3031368_member_1...
Jul 26, 2012
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
How to write like a scientist:
http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career_magazine/previous_issue...
Jul 26, 2012
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
How is it that common elements such as carbon, nitrogen and oxygen happened to have just the kind of atomic structure that they needed to combine to make the molecules upon which life depends? Has the universe been consciously designed? - Richard Morris
Jul 30, 2012
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
http://allafrica.com/stories/201207311101.html
New Award for Women Scientists in Low Output Countries
Aug 1, 2012
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
Aug 11, 2012
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
The only thing that has advanced the species or society for the last 500 years is evidence based science. Evidence based science stands on its own by comparing to it *evidence*.
Aug 14, 2012
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2012/aug/13/science-research-fu...
Scientists go to war with their funding council
A war has erupted between senior research scientists and their main funding body over who decides which projects to support – and how
Aug 15, 2012
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
http://bcove.me/tini2bar
Aug 15, 2012
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
http://gulfnews.com/opinions/columnists/scientists-master-the-art-o...
Scientists master the art of piquing public interest
Be it Higgs Boson or Mars, smart communication makes complex theories fascinating
In each case, the science teams did a great job at capturing the public’s mind by providing excellent metaphors and descriptions of why the project was important.
As Jim Bell, one of Curiosity’s team members, stated, “It’s human nature to explore… By going to difficult or dangerous places, we carry the rest of our species along with us. These stories become part of our culture, part of our heritage... It’s a human endeavour that is part science, part inspiration.”
“Maybe we’re on Mars because we have to be, because there’s a deep nomadic impulse built into us… And the next place to wander to is Mars. But whatever the reason you’re on Mars… I’m glad you’re there. And I wish I was with you.”
Aug 17, 2012
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
The art of science caption:
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/compound-eye/2012/08/31/the-art...
Sep 2, 2012
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
A true scientist does not throw away data just because it does not fit one’s theory
Sep 5, 2012
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
Geology art exhibition:
http://www.mansfieldnewsjournal.com/article/20120903/LIFESTYLE/2090...
Sep 5, 2012
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
Myth busters of organic food:
http://gawker.com/5940461/science-suggests-that-organic-food-is-lar...
Sep 6, 2012
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
Sep 9, 2012
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
The science of Northern lights:
http://www.space.com/15213-northern-lights-aurora-guide-infographic...
http://www.space.com/15139-northern-lights-auroras-earth-facts-sdcm...
Sep 9, 2012
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
Want to walk on water? Here is how you can do it with the help of science:
Sep 9, 2012
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
Genes, DNA and chromosomes:
Sep 9, 2012