Science, Art, Litt, Science based Art & Science Communication
Qs people asked me on science and my replies to them - Part 194
Krishna: Yes, fully.
Science, the study with which we gather knowledge about the universe, is running at rocket speed despite our inadequacies. Scientists are finding things because they exist in our universe. Discoveries are made because they are real. Inventions are based on the found knowledge about the universe.
But strangely most people think, some discoveries are just scientists’ opinions! They feel Inventions are causing problems and misery. These people are unable to come out of their ancient mindsets that make them believe that the earth is just 6000 years old, human beings didn’t evolve from lower organisms but ‘re created just like they are!
Unable to utilize the scientific knowledge, some people blame science like the bad worker blames his tools to cover his inefficiency.
They refuse to trust science, the most trust-worthy thing that this universe ‘s based and runs it!
What are the reasons for it? Lack of Critical Thinking skills. Various biases, fallacies and distortions that influence peoples’ cognition.
Human beings and intellectualism? It looks like a myth most of the time.
Human beings are ‘intellectually challenged’ like Asimov thinks.
Q: Is it true that some people really cry blood?
Krishna: Tears of blood? Some are hoaxes but some are real medical conditions : haemolacria (1)
The shocking nature of haemolacria means there's no shortage of examples of the condition through medical history.
The Greek physician Aëtius of Amida might have been referring to something similar when he described childhood diseases that involved blood leaking from the corner of the eye. Other historical medical writers such as Antonio Brassavola and Rembertus Dodoens have also allegedly reported cases associated with menstruation in adolescent women.
In more recent times, reports of bloody tears in young women have drawn a mix of both medical interest and media sensationalism.
Ten years ago, National Geographic documented a similar case in a 14-year-old Indian girl named Twinkle Dwivedi, whose condition was famously questioned as a hoax at the hands of the girl's mother.
In 2019, a medical study described a case of haemolacria similar to this recent one, in a 16-year-old girl admitted to a hospital in Bangladesh.
It's possible that in at least some cases, hormones could be playing a role. A 1991 study that tested for hidden or 'occult' blood in the tears of 125 healthy volunteers found traces of blood in nearly one fifth of them, most often during their menstrual cycle.
But the condition is by no means restricted to one gender; just two years ago, a middle-aged man showed up in an Italian emergency department with blood gushing from his eyes.
In that case, a possible cause was found: he appeared to have conjunctival hyperaemia, a slight excess of blood in the membrane covering his eyeball.
There are plenty of other health conditions that could also help explain some incidences of the bloody phenomenon, such as the blood clotting disease haemophilia, or the blood vessel disorder Osler-Weber-Rendu syndrome.
Some medications can also cause blood to leak into tear glands; and of course, there is always the possibility of some kind of trickery.
Unfortunately, in the case of this poor 11-year-old and her upset mother, none of these explanations offer peace of mind. Her diagnosis of haemolacria remains 'idiopathic' (of unknown cause), which more or less means 'one of those strange things'.
The good news is there's no reason to think the tears of blood are a cause for ongoing concern; in fact, they could easily vanish just as strangely and suddenly as they started.
Another case reported Here: https://casereports.bmj.com/content/2016/bcr-2016-218342
A 15-year-old girl presented with a 1-month history of intermittent, bilateral ‘bloody tears’
Q: Why is there such a great emphasis on education, and specifically getting a degree, these days, when there is more information available on the internet for a majority of fields?
Internet or virtual reality can’t match the reality.
Read here why: Lab scientists versus internet scientists
Q: Good exercises for a sore back?
Krishna:
1. Move. Try to take a few moments to move around every one to two hours during the work day. For your spine this means gently rotating, leaning forwards, backwards and sideways. Avoid extreme ranges, and don’t use weights or resistance to do this. Think of it like oiling the joints and moving that oil around by gently moving them.
2. Sort out your setup. While on the International Space Station, astronauts float rather than sitting. So they’re encouraged to keep a normal, upright position as much as possible, as well as exercising to maintain back strength. To keep good posture on Earth, making sure you set up your desk, chair and home office equipment correctly is key.
Ensure your screen is directly in front of you, with the middle of your screen at eye level. Be sure to sit back in a good chair that is upright and not reclined. Have your keyboard level, right in front of you, with your elbows by your side and at 90 degrees, ideally with wrists supported too. Make sure your feet are also flat on the floor in front of you.
3. Aim for a “neutral” upright posture. Try to avoid leaning forwards. Maybe even get someone to check your posture from the side. If you look hunched over, are leaning forwards, or craning your neck back to see your screen, then you have a high chance of developing spinal pain. You can reset to good posture by:
- Aim to have your ear in line with your shoulder, and that this is in line over your hip.
- Try to make sure your head is over your torso not sticking forwards, and that your head isn’t tilted up or down.
- Ideally have a slightly inwards arch in your lower back – but only a small one, as over doing it can hurt too.
- If you’re experiencing back pain, a small pillow being placed behind your lower back may help, or lying on your back, on the floor, once or twice a day may help move your spine into a better position.
4. Exercise. If, like our astronauts, you have some weak spinal stability muscles from poor posture – or not enough exercise from lockdown (or in their case, spaceflight) – some spinal exercises might help. Things like beginner level pilates exercises can help strengthen your spine.
But remember to gently suck in your belly button towards your spine (to about 30-40% of your max power but not 100%) during your exercise as this can help engage the right muscles. Remember to move around every hour or two. At the end of the day, a walk may also help minimise back pain and build strength.
Source: https://theconversation.com/back-pain-four-ways-to-fix-bad-lockdown...
Q: Are there any examples of scientists who turned into better politicians?
Krishna: Yes! I will give two examples of women scientists who turned into very good politicians
- Angela_Merkel ( German Chancellor): is a German politician who has been Chancellor of Germany since 2005. Merkel worked and studied at the Central Institute for Physical Chemistry of the Academy of Sciences in Berlin from 1978 to 1990. After being awarded a doctorate for her thesis on quantum Chemistry in 1986, she worked as a researcher and published several papers before becoming the German Chancellor.
2. Kirsty Duncan, Canada's first Minister of Science 's a scientist herself! Duncan was an associate professor of Health Studies at the Univ. of Toronto, where she taught global environmental processes and medical geography. Duncan is the former research director for the AIC Institute of Corporate Citizenship at the Rotman School of Management.
Q: What could be the scientific reason behind the process of removing an evil spirit from a person?
Krishna: First, science says there is no evidence of evil spirits. How can something that doesn’t exist according to science can be removed and have a scientific reason behind it?
Some people will have delusions and hallucinations. Some paranormal experiences are easily explainable, based on faulty activity in the brain. Reports of poltergeists invisibly moving objects seem to be consistent with damage to certain regions of the right hemisphere that are responsible for visual processing; certain forms of epilepsy, meanwhile, can cause the spooky feeling that a presence is stalking you close by – perhaps underlying accounts of faceless “shadow people” lurking in the surroundings.
When these underlying things such as faulty brain activity are medically ‘treated’ using scientific knowledge, or the things that cause these hallucinations and delusions are removed, the person can be cured. Not by magic but by using science.
Q: What does majority opinion mean in terms of science? Does it relate to agreements/disagreements with hypotheses and theories?
Krishna: NO! Politicians, medical doctors and the general public can expect and say several things. Science can’t be rushed like that. It is the scientists who ultimately do and decide things, neither politicians, nor doctors.
Read here why: Deccan Chronicle ePaper
The scientific method inherently takes time, and involves basic research to first identify the problem and subsequently applying that research to test and build on scientists’ understanding. Now, scientists are trying to do both at the same time. This is not just fixing a plane while it’s flying — it’s fixing a plane that’s flying while its blueprints are still being drawn.
Read here why are scientists taking so much time to find a vaccine for corona virus:
Qs people asked me on science and my replies to them - Part 175
Scientists’ verdict: India can’t get a Covid-19 vaccine by 15 August. Be realistic.
Footnotes:
1. https://www.sciencealert.com/this-11-year-old-girl-spontaneously-st...
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Permalink Reply by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on
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Why is communication important in science?
I am glad you asked this question.
There are two important types of communication in science.
Doing hard research by scientists in fort-like labs that are inaccessable to the outside world is one side of Science. Then communicating it in the right manner the world can understand and get benefited by it is a different ball game altogether.
Scientists publish their work in science journals with all the data and statistics and in a language that seems like Greek and Latin to the man on the street even if he is literate. Then think about the situation of illiterates. To a large section of people, these science journals don't exist at all!
These journals are used by scientists to communicate their work only to their colleagues in their field. Scientists publish their work so that their colleagues can understand what work is going on in the field and build further on the knowledge, challenge them so that they can test whether their work can withstand falsification, reproduce it over and over again so that it can be established as a fact.
Usually transferring the complex science concepts from the labs to the ordinary world in the manner that makes some sense will be done by science journalists. They do it in the way in which they understand because it is very difficult even for them to understand the jargon and data and depend on the scientists' explanations to communicate the difficult subject. Therefore a miscommunication is taking place (1) with the result that science is being misunderstood.
Main Reason for misinformation in science: Nearly all the messages about science are coming from people who are 'talking about' science 'rather than doing' science. That is why sci-com by real scientists is very important ... to arrest fake information (2).
Therefore, it has become vital for scientists themselves to come out of their labs and communicate their work themselves. Some scientists are turning into science communicator scientists so that they can present the science in the right way to the general public.
Now why is it important to bring science in the correct way to the general public?
If the general public cannot understand science, they cannot use it at all.
Again, if they don’t understand science in the right way, they cannot utilize the knowledge to the maximum extent possible. Half knowledge is more dangerous than no knowledge.
If they misunderstand the science concepts, they might hate them and move away from them.
If they don’t understand the significance of science properly, they might go to other people who give false hopes, cheat, cause pain, and even loss of life in some cases. Yes, bad science communication can actually have life and death implications.
It's important for lay people to have some understanding of the science involved in the important problems we are facing right now like climate change, antibiotic resistance, vaccine safety, etc. to take right decisions and cooperate with the governing bodies.
So "Telling people about science is just as important as conducting the science" for scientists.
Science communication
Science communication, science communication, science communication
An useful tool that converts difficult to understand things into easy translation
Brings in human beings many a right vibration
Communicators are people who guide this beautiful mutation
Sometimes convincingly,
Yet other times cajolingly,
Using metaphors freely,
Making people trust science merrily!
If science communicators fail to convince,
In order to solve the problems we face
There is no other go but to use force
The field that gets maligned in this process is Science!
Communicators have a difficult role to play
Art, literature, text, speeches and plays are the methods to sway
Whichever route used to convey
Science messages should reach the masses every way!
Source: Science communication
(This poem is written by me)
Please follow the space Science Communication on quora
Footnotes:
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/scicurious-brain/2012/04/18/sma...
Science Communication -
-
-
Why is communication important in science?
I am glad you asked this question.
There are two important types of communication in science.
Doing hard research by scientists in fort-like labs that are inaccessable to the outside world is one side of Science. Then communicating it in the right manner the world can understand and get benefited by it is a different ball game altogether.
Scientists publish their work in science journals with all the data and statistics and in a language that seems like Greek and Latin to the man on the street even if he is literate. Then think about the situation of illiterates. To a large section of people, these science journals don't exist at all!
These journals are used by scientists to communicate their work only to their colleagues in their field. Scientists publish their work so that their colleagues can understand what work is going on in the field and build further on the knowledge, challenge them so that they can test whether their work can withstand falsification, reproduce it over and over again so that it can be established as a fact.
Usually transferring the complex science concepts from the labs to the ordinary world in the manner that makes some sense will be done by science journalists. They do it in the way in which they understand because it is very difficult even for them to understand the jargon and data and depend on the scientists' explanations to communicate the difficult subject. Therefore a miscommunication is taking place (1) with the result that science is being misunderstood.
Main Reason for misinformation in science: Nearly all the messages about science are coming from people who are 'talking about' science 'rather than doing' science. That is why sci-com by real scientists is very important ... to arrest fake information (2).
Therefore, it has become vital for scientists themselves to come out of their labs and communicate their work themselves. Some scientists are turning into science communicator scientists so that they can present the science in the right way to the general public.
Now why is it important to bring science in the correct way to the general public?
If the general public cannot understand science, they cannot use it at all.
Again, if they don’t understand science in the right way, they cannot utilize the knowledge to the maximum extent possible. Half knowledge is more dangerous than no knowledge.
If they misunderstand the science concepts, they might hate them and move away from them.
If they don’t understand the significance of science properly, they might go to other people who give false hopes, cheat, cause pain, and even loss of life in some cases. Yes, bad science communication can actually have life and death implications.
It's important for lay people to have some understanding of the science involved in the important problems we are facing right now like climate change, antibiotic resistance, vaccine safety, etc. to take right decisions and cooperate with the governing bodies.
So "Telling people about science is just as important as conducting the science" for scientists.
Science communication
Science communication, science communication, science communication
An useful tool that converts difficult to understand things into easy translation
Brings in human beings many a right vibration
Communicators are people who guide this beautiful mutation
Sometimes convincingly,
Yet other times cajolingly,
Using metaphors freely,
Making people trust science merrily!
If science communicators fail to convince,
In order to solve the problems we face
There is no other go but to use force
The field that gets maligned in this process is Science!
Communicators have a difficult role to play
Art, literature, text, speeches and plays are the methods to sway
Whichever route used to convey
Science messages should reach the masses every way!
Source: Science communication
(This poem is written by me)
Please follow the space Science Communication on quora
Footnotes:
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/scicurious-brain/2012/04/18/sma...
Science Communication -
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