Learning To Read

Learning to read seems very complicated, yet most people are able to acquire the basics by a very early age. Although we have formal instruction in school, young children are primed for literacy by imitating those around them. For example infants raised in families with people who read will pick up books and move their eyes from left to right.

Click here to read original research.

Copyright 2010 Brendan Craughwell. All rights reserved. SCIENTIFIC STATION is a trademark of Brendan Craughwell. All rights reserved.

Learning Factors

Grammar, structure, and argumentation are identified as the three main aspects of a scientific article. Are these three all inclusive? What other factors are necessary? How about style?

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Copyright 2010 Brendan Craughwell. All rights reserved. SCIENTIFIC STATION is a trademark of Brendan Craughwell. All rights reserved.

Simplifying Lignin

Biology is not all about altering genes. Gene tinkering to make a new product is engineering. It uses research to achieve its goal. Many people think of this as being science. Biology is the study of life. Its focus is to understand what is going on. Manipulating life is not the purpose. Biology as all science "when it comes down to it . . . is just trying to quantify the complications of the puzzle" to quote Wit.

The research covered in this episode compares the lignin synthesis pathway in Arabidopsis to that in Lycophyta. Arabidopsis is the main plant used in genetic research. It is a flowering plant. Lycophyta and the flowering plants diverged before plants started making seeds. They have very different reproductive strategies.

Most genetic research is conducted on plants perceived to be economically important. A lot of times scientists have to solicit funding based on what financial advantage will be gained and not on the pure knowledge that will be learned. This study of the genetics of the Lycophyta lignin pathway was indicated as being helpful in learning how to make flowering plant by-products easier to deal with in industry.

Click here to read original research.

Copyright 2010 Brendan Craughwell. All rights reserved. SCIENTIFIC STATION is a trademark of Brendan Craughwell. All rights reserved.

Ancient Roman Booty

Found things are great! Imagine coming across sunken treasure. Mostly we would want it to contain gold. It would be disappointing to discover it held a cargo of lead.

The lead found in an ancient Roman ship actually has an unexpected value. It is less radioactive than lead found on the surface today. This allows it to be used in quantum research.

Those Roman sailors could not have known their cargo would be more valuable because of the shipwreck.

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Copyright 2010 Brendan Craughwell. All rights reserved. SCIENTIFIC STATION is a trademark of Brendan Craughwell. All rights reserved.

Salmonella and HIV

Our immune systems are amazing. They keep us from being attacked by outside invaders and our own cells that have gone rouge. Those with HIV have special concerns, because the virus makes their immune systems we are still trying to understand.

This research into those infected with HIV and Salmonella gives insight into unusual immune inhibitions that can make people really sick.

Click here to read original research.

Copyright 2010 Brendan Craughwell. All rights reserved. SCIENTIFIC STATION is a trademark of Brendan Craughwell. All rights reserved.

Transcendence

Transcendence is a state of mind. Could it also be a "state of brain"? Researchers detect part of the cortex explains our transcendent feelings.

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Copyright 2010 Brendan Craughwell. All rights reserved. SCIENTIFIC STATION is a trademark of Brendan Craughwell. All rights reserved.

Stuttering Gene

A metabolic cause of stuttering may have been identified. Those who stutter seem to share mutations in 3 genes that control part of their metabolism. This research strengthens the case that stuttering is a biological and not a behavioral condition.

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Copyright 2010 Brendan Craughwell. All rights reserved. SCIENTIFIC STATION is a trademark of Brendan Craughwell. All rights reserved.

Sharing Food

Sharing is a simple idea we teach children, but how many of us actually practice it ourselves? False killer whales have been observed sharing food with other whales and on occasion humans after hunting.

Considering that the whales' habitat is threatened by human activity, we should consider learning a lesson in sharing with these creatures.

Click here to read articles by the researcher.

Copyright 2010 Brendan Craughwell. All rights reserved. SCIENTIFIC STATION is a trademark of Brendan Craughwell. All rights reserved.

Fatigue

Chronic fatigue syndrome is a silent disease. Those who have it suffer, but no cause is known and there are no visible symptoms. It is hard for a lot of people who don't have it to understand what it's like to have CFS.

Recently it was proposed that a mouse virus was the cause. This attracted attention, because it having a target gave hope for a treatment and there would be something tangible to understand about the illness. Research now shows that XMRV (the mouse virus) is not likely the cause of CFS. The search for what this illness is continues.

Click here to read article.

Copyright 2010 Brendan Craughwell. All rights reserved. SCIENTIFIC STATION is a trademark of Brendan Craughwell. All rights reserved.

Elephant Walk

Elephants don't do jumping jacks or skip, but they can run fast and walk across a continent. Elephant legs are designed to help them migrate long distances and carry up to 5 tons. Watching an elephant walk one can imagine they are gliding. They distribute weight differently from us with each step. Research recently confirmed that they step more lightly than us (relatively speaking in terms of percent of body weight). To do the research the elephants had to be video taped using motion capture, and each step had to be measured using a very large scale. The attached article should have a photograph of the set-up.

Click here to read original article.

Brain Research

A lot of people are afraid of going to the doctor. Fear of doctors and medical research is impairing scientists' ability to conduct brain studies in China. Some have sought to relax the rigor demanded of scientific articles before they can be published. Others are trying to piggy-back brain research on patients seeking treatment for other conditions.

What information should doctors be allowed to share about their patients for medical research?

Click here to read article.

Antibiotics

Finish your antibiotics!

Not taking the complete course gives bacteria the chance to become resistant to treatment. Scientists finally know how this happens.

When bacteria are exposed to non-lethal doses of antibiotics they release reactive oxygen into their cells. This causes mutations in the DNA. Some of these mutations provide the bacteria protection against the drugs.

Doctors prescibe doses of antibiotics that will kill the infecting bacteria. When we don't take all the medicine as prescribed our bodies contain just enough of the drugs to cause the mutations but not enough to clear ourselves of the infection.

Do yourself and the rest of humanity a favor and take your doctor's advice. These resistant bacteria can spread to other people and endanger their lives.

Click here to read more.

Copyright 2010 Brendan Craughwell. All rights reserved. SCIENTIFIC STATION is a trademark of Brendan Craughwell. All rights reserved.

Whales and Diatoms

Whales are the worlds largest animals and diatoms are single celled organisms. Despite their small size, diatoms have had a big impact on whales. Filter feeding whales siphon diatoms out of sea water and eat them. In their feeding quest, whales follow diatom blooms. Population habits of diatoms make whales adjust to get the best meals. Overtime whales have evolved to best exploit diatom patterns.

Click here to read the first research abstract and here to read the second research abstract.

Copyright 2010 Brendan Craughwell. All rights reserved. SCIENTIFIC STATION is a trademark of Brendan Craughwell. All rights reserved.

Wireless Regulation

What does asking who owns the wireless networks have to do with science? The way the government regulates who can own them determines the return on investment those owners get. This affects quality of service, because a more competitive market should make the most successful be those providing the best service. Economic researchers looked at market data before and after regulation changes in the secondary market (resale of network rights.) The findings are consistent with theory.

Click here for research abstract.

Copyright 2010 Brendan Craughwell. All rights reserved. SCIENTIFIC STATION is a trademark of Brendan Craughwell. All rights reserved.

Human Routes

Privacy is defined anew by each generation. We become comfortable with revealing personal information depending on the demands of social norms. Whether it is idyll gossip or shopping habits being tracked at the grocery store, other people try to predict what we will do by studying what we appear to have done.

If we look closely at what it is people can learn about us, we see that we actually share lots of details about our activity. This study shows that knowing simple facts about the members of a population's current location can be used to predict future actions. This work can be applied to understanding daily movements and spread of infectious diseases.

Click here to read research abstract.

Copyright 2009 Brendan Craughwell. All rights reserved. SCIENTIFIC STATION is a trademark of Brendan Craughwell. All rights reserved.