On bad days I find it a convenient excuse, but on more fanciful days it seems like a super-power: I am only 1/10 human! Although my dimples and chin are a demonstrable fusion of my mother and father's genetic material, the vast majority of the cells in my body are a dynamic consortium of bacteria. It's estimated that there is a kilogram of bacteria in your gut alone, and since the majority of bacteria refuse to be cultured, we have underestimated their diversity and probably underestimated just how intimately they are involved in human health.
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It is unfortunate that Climate Change is one of those controversial issues in the US, and the world in general, which frames the argument in moral terms. The other issues that come to mind are Gay Marriage, Abortion, and Immigration Reform. Moral issues unfortunately are difficult to decipher, and many political theorists would agree, belong outside of the realm of political discourse. Thousands of years of history tells us that when issues are framed as moral imperatives, the issue never gets settled. Just think back to the protestant reformation, for starters. Or the moral issues raised by the idea the earth revolves around the sun, rather than the inverse arrangement.
Caped superheroes in spandex underwear are hard to take seriously. So are flying amorphous monsters and cyborg aliens sent from the future. However, all of this is fair game in the realm of the comic book.
It may come as no surprise, then, that comic books have been branded as children’s play, largely due to their fantastic content. Although there was a slight movement to embrace comics in the 1940s, academics have largely turned their collective nose up at the idea of studying comics. Today, however, social scientists are beginning to realize the wealth of information stored in these pictorial narratives.
The concept of a collision is one of the most important ones in the Universe. A new life is created when a spermatozoid collides with an ovum, love is sparked when two individuals run into (collide with) each other, exotic subatomic particles are created upon a collision of protons/electrons/muons etc., an argument is born upon a collision of interests and opinions, finally the transformation of matter is initiated by collisions between atoms, molecules and photons. Collisions are all around us!
One of the thin
gs that makes astronomy so interesting and appealing is how visual it is. Looking up at the night sky we instinctively want to connect the dots between the stars to draw swans and bears and teapots. But it was the introduction of the telescope as a means of studying the heavens 400 years ago by Galileo that allowed us to realize there was more to those points of light than dots in the sky. Bigger and bigger telescopes allowed us to see more detail of thes
gs that makes astronomy so interesting and appealing is how visual it is. Looking up at the night sky we instinctively want to connect the dots between the stars to draw swans and bears and teapots. But it was the introduction of the telescope as a means of studying the heavens 400 years ago by Galileo that allowed us to realize there was more to those points of light than dots in the sky. Bigger and bigger telescopes allowed us to see more detail of thes
Biosensor development demands creative solutions to a familiar challenge. It is the challenge a picky child faces when she is presented with a steaming bowl of vegetable soup.
The child first identifies the target: peas. “I do not like peas.” Cautiously spooning through the dark broth, she scans the material in the bowl to determine if peas are present. When the adults aren’t looking, the resourceful child might even poke her fingers into the liquid to assist with pea detection. Characteristics of various components are distinguished by her eyes and fingers and interpreted by her brain for identification. Orange, circular: carrots. White, slimy: noodles. Green, spherical: peas. Peas. “Yuck!!! Peas!!!”
The child first identifies the target: peas. “I do not like peas.” Cautiously spooning through the dark broth, she scans the material in the bowl to determine if peas are present. When the adults aren’t looking, the resourceful child might even poke her fingers into the liquid to assist with pea detection. Characteristics of various components are distinguished by her eyes and fingers and interpreted by her brain for identification. Orange, circular: carrots. White, slimy: noodles. Green, spherical: peas. Peas. “Yuck!!! Peas!!!”
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