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Interesting Stuff Thread

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    #4202
    Sarky
    Closed Accounts Posts: 31,967 ✭✭✭✭Sarky


    Promising lead turns gene therapy into chromosome therapy: Scientists switch off the extra entire chromosome that causes Down's Syndrome

    Science! Fixing God's mistakes because He sure as hell can't.


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    #4203
    FouxDaFaFa
    Registered Users Posts: 6,850 ✭✭✭FouxDaFaFa


    I've been watching a show on youtube called "The brain scoop" about zoology and taxidermy. The host, Emily, is charming and it's interesting and funny.

    Worth a look.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyDVyXSv-Hs


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    #4204
    recedite
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,993 ✭✭✭✭recedite


    The chromosome therapy seems to involve splicing an individual chromosome in a single stem cell. Equivalent in humans would be finding a zygote in its first few hours of existence and operating on it to modify a chromosome. Its an ethical question whether this is allowable, or whether its really much of an improvement compared to the widespread practice of "switching off" all the chromosomes by abortion. If it worked, the genetically modified people could also still be carriers for certain chromosomal abnormalities. Again, more ethical issues as to whether it is better to just eliminate such problems, in the long term, from the population, as would be the approach in China.


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    #4205
    Sarky
    Closed Accounts Posts: 31,967 ✭✭✭✭Sarky


    Aye, it's a big jump from modifying one cell to modifying a whole organism, but it's a start. And the things people will learn from this about genetics and biochemistry will probably lead to a whole tonne of new developments and treatments.

    Speculation time: I could see the off switch being administered to someone via a retrovirus, let it "infect" every cell's DNA, then once the change has been made, kill the virus off with a specific chemical or something. I have a hunch that inactive chromosomes wouldn't copy over to new cells, so I think there'd be a good chance of treated people wouldn't pass on fixed abnormalities. All sorts of technical challenges surrounding that, of course, but give it another decade and I'd be surprised if most of them hadn't been sorted out. Medical science is ingenious like that.


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    #4206
    sbsquarepants
    Registered Users Posts: 11,812 ✭✭✭✭sbsquarepants


    Sarky wrote: »
    Speculation time: I could see the off switch being administered to someone via a retrovirus, let it "infect" every cell's DNA, .

    Isn't that how vampires are made :eek::eek::eek:


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    #4207
    magicbastarder
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 48,576 CMod ✭✭✭✭magicbastarder


    ninja900 wrote: »
    It was the RCC leading edge not the tiles though??
    hey, i know it's the A&A forum, but let's not try to blame the church for *everything*.


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    #4208
    robindch
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 24,401 Mod ✭✭✭✭robindch


    Ireland leads the world in slow-mo photography:

    http://www.rte.ie/news/2013/0717/463097-trinity-college-dublin-pitch-experiment/
    RTE wrote:
    After decades of waiting, physicists at Trinity College have for the first time captured a rare scientific event on camera. 70 years after the experiment was set up, the scientists have videoed pitch dripping from a funnel.

    The experiment was begun by a colleague of Nobel Prize winner Ernest Walton in the physics department of Trinity in 1944. Its aim was to prove that the black carbonic substance pitch is a viscous or flowing material. The experiment involved placing several lumps of pitch into a funnel and placing the funnel in a jar.

    The jar was placed in a dusty cupboard, first in a store room and then in a lecture theatre and left. Over several decades a number of drips did form in the funnel and fall into the jar, giving credence to the hypothesis that pitch is indeed viscous.

    However, the dripping was never witnessed or captured on camera, which would have definitively proved the theory. A number of weeks ago, scientists in the department noticed that a drip had formed. In order to finally and definitively end the experiment, they set up a webcam to video the experiment around the clock.

    Last Thursday, the drip finally dropped into the jar, and was captured on camera. The physicists believe the experiment is among the oldest active experiments in the world. A similar experiment began in the 1920s in Queensland in Australia. It is considered to be the world's longest running laboratory experiment and has dripped eight times. However, so far, technical glitches have meant that the Australian experiment has never been caught dripping on camera.

    The Trinity College scientists have estimated that based on the results from the experiment, the viscosity of pitch is 2 million times that of honey. The findings are due to be published in the leading international scientific journal, Nature.


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    #4209
    robindch
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 24,401 Mod ✭✭✭✭robindch


    Remember that urban stat in which atheists make up only 0.2% of the US prison population? Well, The Friendly Atheist did some digging on that figure and found that it's (a) old and (b) inaccurate:

    http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2013/07/16/what-percentage-of-prisoners-are-atheists-its-a-lot-smaller-than-we-ever-imagined/

    Turns out that of the prisoners who reported their views upon religion, only 0.07% were atheist.


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    #4210
    robindch
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 24,401 Mod ✭✭✭✭robindch


    Meanwhile, Apollo 10 brings new meaning to the word "floater".

    263266.jpg


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    #4211
    Hotblack Desiato
    Registered Users Posts: 34,173 ✭✭✭✭Hotblack Desiato


    Watch Out For Homosexuals.

    Fingal County Council are certainly not competent to be making decisions about the most important piece of infrastructure on the island. They need to stick to badly designed cycle lanes and deciding on whether Mrs Murphy can have her kitchen extension.



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    #4212
    FouxDaFaFa
    Registered Users Posts: 6,850 ✭✭✭FouxDaFaFa


    ^^

    So...Homosexual = Murderous Paedophile?

    Good to know.

    Also, lol at the second guy wearing a tux to a basketball court. Smooth.


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    #4213
    Hotblack Desiato
    Registered Users Posts: 34,173 ✭✭✭✭Hotblack Desiato


    Amazing that kids in the UK in the 70s were shown this in school. :eek:

    (viewer discretion is advised)

    There again, some Irish schools were showing The Silent Scream :rolleyes:





    I can't help but think that in the final scene, the kids would've been a lot more comfortable with Irish 1600mm gauge instead of 1435mm standard gauge...

    Fingal County Council are certainly not competent to be making decisions about the most important piece of infrastructure on the island. They need to stick to badly designed cycle lanes and deciding on whether Mrs Murphy can have her kitchen extension.



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    #4214
    robindch
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 24,401 Mod ✭✭✭✭robindch


    ninja900 wrote: »
    Amazing that kids in the UK in the 70s were shown this in school.
    A true classic and one that's very much in the style of the later masterpiece, "Gabelstaplerfahrer Klaus", which tells the tender, if cautionary, tale of Klaus, the newly appointed forklift driver, who runs into a spot of bother on his first day on the shop floor.

    Take it away, Klaus:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9z77oztO6UQ


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    #4215
    Hotblack Desiato
    Registered Users Posts: 34,173 ✭✭✭✭Hotblack Desiato


    Interesting isn't it that the Germans have frequently substituted fahrer (lit.: traveller) for führer (lit.: driver, leader) within the last few decades, although a driving licence is still called a führerschein.

    Don't mention the war... :D

    Fingal County Council are certainly not competent to be making decisions about the most important piece of infrastructure on the island. They need to stick to badly designed cycle lanes and deciding on whether Mrs Murphy can have her kitchen extension.



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    #4216
    robindch
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 24,401 Mod ✭✭✭✭robindch


    Are you satisfied with your doctor? If you are, you could be more healthy if you weren't.

    http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/elements/2013/07/when-doctors-tell-patients-what-they-dont-want-to-hear.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter


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    #4217
    Pherekydes
    Registered Users Posts: 16,119 ✭✭✭✭Pherekydes


    robindch wrote: »
    Are you satisfied with your doctor? If you are, you could be more healthy if you weren't.

    http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/elements/2013/07/when-doctors-tell-patients-what-they-dont-want-to-hear.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

    My doctor seriously pissed me off the last time I saw him. He said "That'll be fifty-five euro, please."


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    #4218
    Sarky
    Closed Accounts Posts: 31,967 ✭✭✭✭Sarky


    Weird. If I go to a doctor I want to hear if there's something wrong with me. I would be very unimpressed with one who pussy-footed around a piece of unpleasant news. I'll trade bedside manner for competence any day.


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    #4219
    robindch
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 24,401 Mod ✭✭✭✭robindch


    No major world science figures at home? Well, look no further!

    http://madartlab.com/2013/07/11/a-sandbox-of-scientist-paper-dolls/

    Plus, Feynmann, Graphically:

    http://us.macmillan.com/feynman/JimOttaviani
    http://www.amazon.com/dp/1596438274


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    #4220
    Sarky
    Closed Accounts Posts: 31,967 ✭✭✭✭Sarky


    Religion in using wealth and power for good shocker!

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2013/jul/25/church-england-wonga

    Well, on paper, anyway. It could turn into a religious mafia loan shark thing I suppose...


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    #4221
    recedite
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,993 ✭✭✭✭recedite


    Nice one. Chief godman condemns moneylenders. Then announces he's starting up a moneylending business.


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    #4222
    Hotblack Desiato
    Registered Users Posts: 34,173 ✭✭✭✭Hotblack Desiato


    Cast him out of the temple! :pac:

    Fingal County Council are certainly not competent to be making decisions about the most important piece of infrastructure on the island. They need to stick to badly designed cycle lanes and deciding on whether Mrs Murphy can have her kitchen extension.



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    #4223
    Obliq
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,371 ✭✭✭Obliq


    robindch wrote: »
    No major world science figures at home? Well, look no further!

    http://madartlab.com/2013/07/11/a-sandbox-of-scientist-paper-dolls/

    Plus, Feynmann, Graphically:

    http://us.macmillan.com/feynman/JimOttaviani
    http://www.amazon.com/dp/1596438274

    Cool stuff! Yay! I love Madlab gear (have bought far too many soldering kits for the kids that when working, sound worse than bagpipes or car alarms) but I only glanced at the "art" section before. My youngest needs that book too,


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    #4224
    human 19
    Registered Users Posts: 838 ✭✭✭human 19


    The amazing death of an unfortunate Stink Ant, as seen on QI



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    #4225
    endacl
    Registered Users Posts: 22,243 ✭✭✭✭endacl


    human 19 wrote: »
    The amazing death of an unfortunate Stink Ant, as seen on QI


    All things bright and beautiful...

    :)


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    #4226
    Liamario
    Registered Users Posts: 2,094 ✭✭✭Liamario


    human 19 wrote: »
    The amazing death of an unfortunate Stink Ant, as seen on QI


    This is what the fungus in 'the last of us' video game is bases upon. Buy it!


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    #4227
    robindch
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 24,401 Mod ✭✭✭✭robindch


    In the latest yougov poll, this one on creationism, only 2% of atheists agree with the statement "God created human beings in their present form within the last ten thousand years":

    http://cdn.yougov.com/cumulus_uploads/document/d39q50o8bw/tabs_evolution_0708092013.pdf

    Well done (almost) everybody!


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    #4228
    Bannasidhe
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 19,219 Mod ✭✭✭✭Bannasidhe


    robindch wrote: »
    2% of atheists agree with the statement "God created human beings in their present form within the last ten thousand years":

    Ummm.....:confused:


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    #4229
    redfacedbear
    Registered Users Posts: 891 ✭✭✭redfacedbear


    In light of Crohn's disease's role in the taking of Zombrex from us (just from Boards, not completely!)

    Irish researchers discover protein important in inflamatory bowel diseases

    A protein called Pellino3 which protects against inflamation in the bowel is noticably lower in patients with Crohn's disease. It is hoped that the discovery might lead to new treatments for sufferers.


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    #4230
    Sarky
    Closed Accounts Posts: 31,967 ✭✭✭✭Sarky


    Heh, cool, I think I applied for a Crohns-based PhD with one of those UCC collaborators. It went to one of the lovely chaps I graduated with though. Ah well. A stress-free job is more fun ^_^


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    #4231
    Gbear
    Registered Users Posts: 12,775 ✭✭✭✭Gbear


    The gays have figured out how to defeat the evil Russians.

    Hit them where it hurts! Right in the vodders.


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