BioNumbers

Okay, it's TGIF, again. let me bring you another information which fits the TGIF better than the plastic bottle one I just posted.

BioNumbers

What is that? As written on the website, Bionumbers is a collaborative community effort to establish a database of useful biological numbers. The best part is, you can also add the number you like to know on the wishlist.

I think it is a good and also a cool idea. BioNumbers is generated mainly by our dear neighbors - the Kirschner-ers. The contributors are also in a good mix of biologists and non-biologists (or should I say Systems Biologists?)

Oh! Those Plastic Bottles!

Guillaume, our former French postdoc, joked in his farewell party said the greatest French invention ever is to earn money by selling water in plastic bottles. It sounded funny then, but not anymore once you know something.

I bet you all have seen following signs on the plastic bottles, but, do you know what that mean?



Take a look on the document/website below. It's amazing that how much important information we have ignored all the time until become parents.

Smart Plastics Guide - Healthier Food Uses of Plastics (PDF file)

The Bisphenol-A Debate: A Suspect Chemical in Plastic Bottles and Cans

Quote:

Bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical that mimics the action of the human hormone estrogen, can leach from polycarbonate plastic.3 Human exposure to BPA is widespread. A Centers for Disease Control study detected BPA in the urine of 95 percent of adults sampled. Scientists have measured BPA in the blood of pregnant women, in umbilical cord blood and in the placenta, all at levels demonstrated in animals to alter development.

Fetuses and young children at greatest risk Young children’s immature immune systems, rapid development and different eating patterns make them more vulnerable to toxic exposures. Long term exposures to these chemicals or a few large exposures at a critical time in development could adversely impact children’s health.

So, eat and drink healthier, for yourself, and your beloved ones too.

Microscope in Culture Room

忘記了有沒有提過我們有個專管 culture room 的 manager，可以幫我們凍存細胞，做 stable cell line 等等的事。

最近不知誰給的建議，說跟「拿著細胞到隔壁去看螢光表現情形再走回 culture room」比起來，直接放一台螢光顯微鏡在 culture room 裡一定很方便。那 manager 聽了也就真的去請款買了台放在 culture room 裡。

不要覺得怎麼這麼好，開始羨慕，這其實是個頗怪異又不合用的想法，因為通常要看見細胞裡表現的螢光訊號，得把房間裡的燈關了才行，culture room 還有別人使用，一直開關燈也是很麻煩的事；結果就是花了一大筆錢但擺在那到現在一個禮拜還沒人去用過。

A student in a RICH department!

玩石點頭

凡凡的最新玩具，石頭。


不知道在排列甚麼東西，這麼有興味？

看到黑影就‧‧‧

凡凡很愛喝水，出來我們會隨身帶著給小孩子喝的瓶裝礦泉水。偏偏凡凡愛喝水之外還很喜歡玩這個瓶子，每次大概有一半的水都是這樣子玩掉的。

後來好像發現了怎麼有個黑影一直跟著自己，開始跑來跑去想甩掉它。

飛機！飛機！

下午帶凡凡去住家旁邊 Design School 的草地上玩，一聽到飛機轟隆隆的聲音，凡凡便會仰頭尋找飛機的縱跡，特感興趣，有時嘴巴還會發出「嗚~嗚~嗚~」的引擎聲音。

如果找不到，會換個地方繼續尋找。不過有時想到別的好玩的玩意兒，就會忘了飛機的事了。



不管正在做甚麼事，都會立刻停下來開始找，找到就會用手指給你看。

「跳」舞

這陣子是 moving season，家裡也趁此機會更替了好些東西；耿慧的電視，俊仁的音響，都功成身退了。

新的音響花樣比較多，螢幕上紅紅綠綠閃呀閃的，立刻成為了凡凡最感興趣的新玩意兒，時常跑去按按這個鈕，壓壓那個鍵。

有時不知怎地給凡凡轉到了廣播，聽到音樂，凡凡馬上就開始扭呀跳了起來。

TGIF Paper Is Back!

Okay, today is Friday. Let's read a paper which fits this great TGIF moment.

Enjoy and have a nice weekend.
--

Med Hypotheses. 2001 Jan;56(1):33-9

Radiogenic metabolism: an alternative cellular energy source

Benford MS.

PreComp Inc. and Public Health Information Services Inc., Dublin, Ohio, USA. MSBENFORD@aol.com

The concept of 'healing energy' is commonly used in complementary and alternative medicine; however, efforts to define this concept using contemporary scientific theory, and measure it using modern scientific methods, have been limited to date. Recent experimental testing by Benford et al. observed a uniform, substantial, and consistent decrease in gamma radiation during alternative healing sessions, thus supporting a new energy-balance paradigm hypothesizing ionizing radiation as an alternative cellular energy source. This hypothesis extends the known elements of radiogenic metabolism to potentially explain a number of presumably biopositive energy-related phenomena, including fasting and radiation hormesis, as well as to demystify unexplained anomalies such as idiopathic thermogenesis, halos and auras, and incorruptibility of human corpses.

PMID: 11133253 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

I'll Be There for You

Another "I'll be there for you".

Even though I love watching Friends, I still like this one better. (BTW, I just found my school's library has almost every popular TV series in her DVD collection, such as Friends, Scrubs, Lost, etc. WOW!)

There was a time that "Bon Jovi" is one of the hottest bands in Taiwan (another is "Europe" which actually I liked more then). They are known as 邦喬飛 in Chinese. But it is rarely known that they was once called "棒球飛" in the beginning when Bon Jovi just entered Taiwan's market. It sounds like a joke but it is not. I did see their name printed as 棒球飛 on the cover of their cassette album, in a music store in Kaohsiung.

"New Jersey" is one of my favorite album in my collection (or I should say "was" since FanFan has taken it as his toy now). And "I'll be there for you" is the song I like most in that album. I love the lyrics very much.



I'll Be There for You - Bon Jovi

I guess this time you're really leaving \ I heard your suitcase say goodbye \Well as my broken heart lies bleeding \ You say true love, it's suicide

You say you've cried a thousand rivers \ And now you're swimming for the shore \ You left me drowning in my tears \ And you won't save me anymore

I pray to God you'll give me one more chance, girl \ I'll be there for you \ These five words I swear to you \ When you breathe I want to be the air for you \ I'll be there for you \ I'd live and I'd die for you \ Steal the sun from the sky for you \ Words can't say what a love can do \ I'll be there for you

I know you know we're had some good times \ Now they have their own hiding place \ I can't promise you tomorrow \ But I can't buy back yesterday

And Baby you know my hands are dirty \ But I wanted to be your valentine \ I'll be the water when you get thirsty, baby \ When you get drunk, I'll be the wine

I'll be there for you \ These five words I swear to you \ When you breathe I want to be the air for you \ I'll be there for you \ I'd live and I'd die for you \ Steal the sun from the sky for you \ Words can't say what a love can do \ I'll be there for you

And I wasn't there when you were happy \ I wasn't there when you were down \ I didn't mean to miss your birthday, baby \ I wish I'd seen you blow those candles out

I'll be there for you \ These five words I swear to you \ When you breathe I want to be the air for you \ I'll be there for you \ I'd live and I'd die for you \ Steal the sun from the sky for you \ Words can't say what a love can do \ I'll be there for you

China Airlines B737 Explosion at Japan Naha Airport

昨天在當地的新聞也看到了這片段，主播也直呼奇蹟。

有些來這裡的人不在台灣，沒法接受台灣新聞台全天候的新聞轟炸；所以把相關片段整理在一起方便觀看。

先不論事故原因與責任歸屬，這次華航機組人員能在短時間內成功疏散全機一百多位旅客，仍是很值得肯定的事。

我對機上一些被訪問旅客的一些評論有點保留，一方面觀點不同，乘客無法瞭解機組人員做了哪些他們看不到的 protocol，再者事後回想多少失真，機上慌亂成一片，我想也沒多少人會真的注意到機組員說了甚麼或做了甚麼。還看到有人說她一上機就聞到燒焦的味道了‧‧‧

據說是地勤先發現漏油通報，不然照影片顯示的情況，或許差個一兩分鐘結果就完全不同了。可以看到在約略在爆炸的同時，機長從機首躍下。只能說真的是奇蹟。

航站拍攝畫面


機上美國海軍陸戰隊的版本，可能多少也是有點誇張。


日本新聞 - footage from another angle

NHK