Super Full Moon

I hope I could have some time tomorrow night to take a look at the beautiful moon. Tomorrow, we will see the super full moon, the moon is going to be 14% bigger than usual and it will bring extra-high "perigean tides" but there is nothing to worry about. The moon will be 356,575km from the earth, making it 7% closer than average. This phenomenon takes place once every 18 years or so, according to the scientists.

I think this will be a perfect time to grab your camera and take a great shot with this beautiful super full moon!

Anesthetic Approach that Revolutionize Pain Management

Researchers have discovered an anesthetic approach that seems to achieve a long-lasting nerve block that eliminates pain sensation while not affecting motor function.

Researchers at Children's Hospital Boston have discovered an anesthetic approach that has the ability to achieve a long-lasting nerve block that eliminates pain sensation while not affecting motor function. The research was led by Daniel Kohane, MD, PhD, from the Division of Critical Care Medicine at Children's, originally sought only to find an agent that would prolong the anesthetics' effects. This discovery is very important because it can help for childbirth that would block pain without interfering with the mother's ability to push, so that giving birth will be less painful, or for musculoskeletal disorders in which it is important to maintain mobility.

After this discovery their next steps will be to explore the effects of different permeability enhancers and examine their safety, since at high doses the drug combination could potentially be toxic to the nerves.

Come to think of it, lots of people--including myself, ignore their illness because of fear of pain. That is why this new approach is so vital to revolutionize the pain management especially during surgery. For full article click here.

"See-Through-Goldfish"

Do you like having an aquarium full of variety of fish or a just a small bowl with a goldfish on it? Speaking of goldfish, here is something you should know and you might want one in your aquarium...



Ryukin is not your ordinary goldfish. It is a "translucent fish" created by Japanese scientists. The very reason why they created this is to eliminate dissecting. So if you found dissecting animals at your science class, you must be very thankful. This goldfish has an invisible scale, you can see its brain, heart and other internal organ while its alive. Isn't its amazing?! Ryukin goldfish was made by picking mutant hatchery goldfish with pale skin and breeding them together. This see-through fish will live 20 years and grow up to 10 inches long.

Happy Birthday Sir Isaac Newton

I just noticed early this morning when I opened the google site there is an apple branch on top of the logo. I wonder what's this about. Well, google celebrate the birthday of a man with a brilliant mind--Sir Isaac Newton. Born on January 4, 1643. He was an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, alchemist, and theologian, in fact he is one of the most influential scientists in history. Newton showed that the motions of objects on Earth and of celestial bodies are governed by the same set of natural laws by demonstrating the consistency between Kepler's laws of planetary motion and his theory of gravitation, thus removing the last doubts about heliocentrism and advancing the scientific revolution.

He also built the first practical reflecting telescope and developed a theory of colour based on the observation that a prism decomposes white light into the many colours that form the visible spectrum. He also formulated an empirical law of cooling and studied the speed of sound.

In mathematics, He shares the credit with Gottfried Leibniz for the development of the differential and integral calculus. He also demonstrated the generalised binomial theorem, developed the so-called "Newton's method" for approximating the zeroes of a function, and contributed to the study of power series.

Newton remains influential to scientists, as demonstrated by a 2005 survey of members of Britain's Royal Society (formerly headed by Newton) and in 1999, leading physicists from all over the world voted Einstein "greatest physicist ever".

Newton was also highly religious, though an unorthodox Christian, writing more on Biblical hermeneutics than the natural science he is remembered for today.

So, why apple? Newton often told the story that he was inspired to formulate his theory of gravitation by watching the fall of an apple from a tree.

Modern Cremation Will Produce Ferfilizer

Our world is really crowded that there is a new and modern process to dispose human remains. It is called resomation--a process where the human corps will be cremated and will eventually turn into a fertilizer. This process was developed by a Scottish company, Resomation Ltd. To understand how in the world they came up with this idea is, its just like a natural process of decomposition, but they have to hasten it just like pressing the fast-forward button of your remote control. The process will be through alkaline hydrolysis, which occurs when the body is sealed inside a vault-like tube filled with water and lye and steam-heated to 300 degrees and after three hours, a powdery bone fragments and 200 gallons of fluid are all that remains. Comparing to traditional cremation and burial, alkaline hydrolysis doesn’t lead to toxic chemicals like dioxin and formaldehyde being released into the atmosphere or water supply.

This may not be accepted by everybody, it will a personal choice for anybody who would let their relatives/loveones to undergo this process. But I think those that are concern about the environment crisis--global warming, they consider this approach as acceptable and just the right thing. As we can see, even the process is natural and eco-friendly, I think the leaders will still have to struggle to deal with this idea.

How about you? Just curious of what do you think about this. I would be glad if you do comment. As effective and promising as this may seem, this could be a common way to deal with human remains anytime soon.

New Prehistoric Crocs Was Discovered

I spent the whole afternoon reading some great facts about our nature. I have this big interest in the science thing, in fact I am a fan of Nat Geo Channel and its Magazine. God gave us the wonders of nature that we enjoy but now sadly to say, we are destroying it. As part of knowing everything around us, we have to dig and find out what it looks like way before human rule the earth. Millions of years had past, and its good to know that we are able to find pieces of bones and fossils that will unswer our questions to figure out what they look like.

One of the contributor who continue to discover things hidden underneath our land is National Geographic Team. This news is just recent--Paul Sereno, Paleontologist, University of Chicago and his team from Nat Geo, had discovered almost half a dozen fossilized remains of new species of crocs. The team tried to assembled it to see what they might look like.

The first is 20-feet long, has a triple fanged reptile dubbed Boar Croc - could gallop and it had a head and mouth that could bring down a dinosaur.

Second, Little duck croc - flat-billed with long-sleek leg bones and about 3-feet long.

Third, Pancake Croc - 20 feet long with a thin, 3-foot long set of jaws.

Fourth, Dog Croc - about 3-feet long and had a very large forebrain, possibly indicating higher intelligence, probably comfortable on land as in the water

Last, Rat Croc was about 3-feet long with a pair of buckteeth in the lower jaw to flesh out small prey.

Wow, life is tough when these guys rule the whole land. No sympathy and apathy what matter is eat, not be eaten and survive...