Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me, happy birth-day to me-e, happy birthday to me!
At approximately 11:29AM I will have completed 25 trips around the sun and will begin my 26th. I'm at home for the day celebrating with the family.
To commemorate the event I would like to share with you 'The Great Sperm Race'. After all, if one sperm in particular from my dad hadn't made it to my mom's egg, then I wouldn't be here! Check it out, you have to go through 4 different levels, navigating your special spermatocyte from an original population of 250,000,000 through the vagina, cervix, uterus, and fallopian tubes to the egg. I'm guessing it's a female programmer who originally made the game since they keep referring to the egg as 'the holy grail'.
Remember, don't get eaten by the leukocytes!
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Fiery Ice
Grad school is awesome because you get to meet so many talented people from so many different backgrounds. It turns out that my next door neighbor, who is a law student at Duke, is also a man of many other gifts. Not only does he have a healthy interest in philosophy, politics, and religion, but he's also a writer and talented musician.
Ryan was telling me last night that before too long he hopes to get an album out with his band, but in the meantime we're left with the good ole stand by ... YouTube! Check it out and let him know what you think of 'The oceans fiery ice'.
Ryan was telling me last night that before too long he hopes to get an album out with his band, but in the meantime we're left with the good ole stand by ... YouTube! Check it out and let him know what you think of 'The oceans fiery ice'.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
From slugs to turtles
In line with the slug post from the other day, my lab mate, who works on turtle sex determination, sent me a link to this video on YouTube that someone sent to her. Turtles determine whether or not to become male or female based on the incubation temperature of the egg. It's still an enigma as to how the temperature tips the scales on the balance to signal the embryo to develop as male or female; my lab mate is currently working hard to figure that out.
This video has nothing to do with turtle sex determination, and everything to do with turtle sex. Enjoy.
This video has nothing to do with turtle sex determination, and everything to do with turtle sex. Enjoy.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
The Pope is a Moron
Last week, Pope Benedict XVI (of the Catholic Church) visited Africa and commented on the HIV epidemic that currently plagues the continent. He announced that:
People often ask me what harm religion really causes the world. Religion kills. The Pope has blood on his hands because of teachings like this. There is a body count stacking up from followers who will adhere to what he says. He has the power to change behaviors and thus save lives, by endorsing the use of condoms if sexual intercourse occurs, yet he chooses not to.
These political cartoons summarize my sentiment:
Oh, and by the way. That whole abstinence thing as a way to prevent STDs, etc? It's a load of crap. Here's a study from 2005 demonstrating (in over 10,000 young people) that kids who take abstinence pledges get sexually transmitted diseases at the same rate as those who do not make pledges. There's no statistically significant difference. They speculate that it's likely pledgers who end up having sex are more likely not to use condoms, so they jack the rate up higher, per capita.
Religious conservatives need to stop lying about abstinence programs. They don't accomplish what they claim, and they put teens and young adults at higher risk by not promoting condom use. If only there was an STD that just affected religious people ...
You can't resolve it with the distribution of condoms. On the contrary, it increases the problem.What a moron. This is even more moronic than usual. Typically we just get the abstinence mumbo-jumbo. Now he's making another claim: that condoms increase the problem. Nothing could be further from the truth. Condoms do a very good job, though not perfect, at blocking infection from an HIV-positive individual who has sexual intercourse with someone who is HIV-negative.
People often ask me what harm religion really causes the world. Religion kills. The Pope has blood on his hands because of teachings like this. There is a body count stacking up from followers who will adhere to what he says. He has the power to change behaviors and thus save lives, by endorsing the use of condoms if sexual intercourse occurs, yet he chooses not to.
These political cartoons summarize my sentiment:
Oh, and by the way. That whole abstinence thing as a way to prevent STDs, etc? It's a load of crap. Here's a study from 2005 demonstrating (in over 10,000 young people) that kids who take abstinence pledges get sexually transmitted diseases at the same rate as those who do not make pledges. There's no statistically significant difference. They speculate that it's likely pledgers who end up having sex are more likely not to use condoms, so they jack the rate up higher, per capita.
Religious conservatives need to stop lying about abstinence programs. They don't accomplish what they claim, and they put teens and young adults at higher risk by not promoting condom use. If only there was an STD that just affected religious people ...
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