Everythings in the Name!!!

So now its official. People who share surnames, actualy share a common ancestor! You knew that one didnt you? So a british research group did a genetic survey of 150 english surnames and and found out that they were descended from single man within 20 generations ago. The researchers wanted to see how good a surname is in predicting genetic relatedness, considering infidelity and other sources of genetic contamination. Apparently the more people with rarer surnames are more closely related. Nature reports that this may be of value in forensics, considering that most surnames reflect past (or maybe present) occupations. The study also came across 61 people whose last names were 'Bastard'. Now what was their occupation?

New advances in radio carbon dating has revealed that H. sapiens and H. Neanderthalensis only coexisted for a short time, and possibly didnt cross paths often enough. I have always wondered about the combination of those two species. How would sapiens know if he met a blond haired Neanderthal alone that they were two 'different' species? Or whether they had reproductive barriers? I mean, genetically, even chimp and human populations show geneflow between them (based on a study someone did a few years ago). They may have interbred, but we dont have enough left to say for sure.
That reminds me of a conversation I had with a 6ft blond woman. For a reason, that i cant mention here, she was wondering what the combination of her and chimp would be like. I instantly blurted out that the product would be a neanderthal! (no offence to chimps or blondes)!

Things to cheer for this year?

atBack after my trip to India and very much refreshed. Needed a vacation and a break, and i have gotten a good break. To sum up my trip, It was expensive, crowded and tiring. But on the upside, i got to spend some quality time with many of my dear and near ones. Highlight of the trip has to be my sighting of a beautiful lion tailed macaque.

back to other things now. Rearing to get back into the thick of things here. Science.

As far as science goes this year.. hmm.. Just today i saw the FDA has approved over-the-counter sales of a pill that will reduce fat uptake.. whooo hooo... man is that great news or what (I am just kidding). Just rolled the red carpet out for all those people who hate to diet or exercise ( including me) to go and have a feast. These pharmaceutical companies like Glaxo. Their research panel gets the task of coming up with, umm.. "a drug that will actually lead people live a poor lifestyle, and hence more drug sales for us". Now thats what you call a win-win situation.

People (MEN) who use shaving brushes and razors may want to watch out! Science magazine reported that some european companies may be making brushes from the hair of a badger species that is endangered. Good for me, I use electric.

till the next goof-job in science

The Iceman Cometh!

The looney scientist is too focused on the contents of the mummy's stomach and fails to notice the rising hand of the mummy. The arms are slowly raised and towards the unsuspecting scientist. Just as the mummy is about to get his death grip on the throat, the scientist notices the moving shadow.. the shadow of death. But by then its too late.

Sounds like a scene straight out of the movies, but the curse of the mummy was an all too real fear for many people around the world when 22 people died under mysterious circumstances following the exhumation of Tut-ankh-amun's tomb in the early 1900's. Although it is thought that the original cause of death in many cases may have been Aspergillus infection, there are many who believe the curse twist.

Now, in the year 2005, its Deja Vu again. But this time its the curse of the frozen warrior Oetzi or the Iceman as he is becoming fast popular (I would have thought that Kimi Raikkonen was the only iceman). This valiant warrier who bled to death after a mortal combat and was buried in snow for close to 6000 years was discoverd in 1991 by a touring german couple in the Alps of Italy. The death, under 'unclear circumstances', of Dr. Tom Loy -a Molecular Biologist- makes him the 7th casuality among people who have had anything to do with Oetzi. Although fellow scientists have vehemently rejected the Curse theory, but try as you may, many people have the habit of finding trends in places where there is none.

But the fascinating story, for me, about the iceman is that he is that random customer who has given us a wonderful glimpse into the past. He may have been a great fighter or he may have been a coward running away from his opponent, but he's the one who has stood the test of time and stayed in one piece. Talk about frozen in time...

Try Viagra if you want to save endangered species

This is a delayed post, but I was interested enough in this to write this up anyway. Last week Nature reported on an article about the impact of Viagra on endangered species. The well known erectile dysfunction (ED) drug from Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer has been on the market for a few years, but now some people are saying that this ED drug has reduced dependence on traditional oriental medicines which claim to treat ED. Chinese medicine formulas, especially for all things sexual, have for long encouraged the poaching industry for tigers, rhinos and other animals, by claiming that tiger penis soups and rhino horn ointments have benefits for the erectionally challenged. So people who tried viagra found it 'satisfactory' (?) enough to not return to traditional medicine. This, according to the report, is helping save several of these threatened animals.

When i read this article, I didnt know if should congratulate Pfizer for pulling this one on all of us, Laugh till my sides split open or whether I should commend Pfizer for their gracious effort in saving endangered species. Although the contents of the report are reasonable, what is conveniently omitted is that there are several other ED drugs on the market made by other pharmas. Moreover, Sidenafil Citrate - the drug thats called Viagra is available in generic form in many countries. So why is only Pfizers name being raised to heaven?!

Although I am not able to confirm on the comparative benefits of Viagra Vs Tiger Penis soup, going by the report and the logical benefit of shutting down the traditional tiger penis shops, I stronly recommend that you buy viagra. Everyone needs to decide when its time to be firm on something (pun intended).

State of Ignorance!

Some recent news in the matter of global climate change have been recieved with much outrage in my household, not to mention, by most of the scientific communtiy. To start with, there is a very eminent account of the lack of interest in all things scientific, including affairs concerning climate change, the kyoto pact and international concern regarding global emissions in the country of my present domicile, namely the US of A. This column published in the latest issue of the journal Conservation biology (Science: Who needs it? by Walter Reid) details how the media and the more importantly the public choose to disregard intellectual participation in this worldwide debate. For a moment I fear for my own future, living in a country that consciously shuns knowledge and is rapidly embracing other unintelligent concepts (how can a resist a cheapshot at ID?).

Then there is news about Crichton's new book, 'The state of Fear'. I haven't read this book, but apparently this novel goes to great lengths trying to claim that global warming is a huge propaganda cooked up by environmental scientists and ecologists. Now this is BS i couldn't digest, and honestly, who the bleep is M Crichton to offer his friggin opinion on climate change. More alarming is that, his book is going to make him best buddies with the US senate, who share his opinions, although not to that extreme. Crichton is as qualified to talk about climate change as your carpenter is to fix your teeth. I guess a lot of people will just end up will bad teeth!

Adventures on a sleepless night!

What a cup of tea can do! A few days ago, I brewed a nice hot cup of tea in the evening (prepared with milk and sugar) and enjoyed it. Apparently the caffiene didnt hit me till a few hours later, when even after working late on my laptop, till about midnight, I wasnt even remotely sleepy. So i continued working.. and the clock kept ticking. After a while it was about 3:30 in the morning and I realized that I needed to teach the next morning and that I really need to get a bit of sleep.

Try as I may, I couldnt fall asleep. The night was warm and humid, and my ears were filled with the buzzing noises of all kinds of electronic gadgets. The refrigerator was humming its monotone, the air-supply for the fish tank hummed its deep note. Sleep just seemed impossible and as I stared into the darkness, my mind was teeming with all kinds of information. They seemed like maggots crawling inside a rotting corpse. And add to that the mournful drone of the mentioned gadgets!
Just then I decided that I should try to fool my head somehow into falling asleep, and what followed was pretty interesting. I decided that I will concentrate on pitch darkness, like meditating, and shut out my conscious mind. So I shut my eyes tight and started imagining darkness in my head. A couple of minutes of this and the familiar sleepy effects came to me: I felt like I was shrinking, that my body was getting outgrown by my hands and feet. I could feel myself getting tiny and awkward. I was lying on my tummy at this time, and all I could realize was that my head lay uncomfortably on the pillow. Next i felt that my body was becoming numb or that my head was no longer connected to my body. From books i had read earlier, I knew this was the last stage before i fell asleep, and I tried harder to keep from getting disturbed. I lay like this for a few minutes, with the eerie feeling of a disarticulated head. But soon enough, the darn fridge kicked into a new round of humming and broke my concentration. Very soon my body became articulated again and after that my mind went back to its wicked games. Again. So I gave up on that and went out to the living room to sleep on the futon. It was 4:45 AM. I was by now probably so tired of trying to sleep, that I felt sleepy and in a few minutes I dozed off for a couple of hours.

The Vagaries of Nature

How some events evoke different responses in different people.

The other day I was at a tyre and lube place to get an oil change on my Volvo, and I overheard these two people debating the causes of the catastrophic damage to New Orleans. Now the woman was convinced that it was just punishment from GOD for all the bad things that happen in NO, especially the profanity on Bourbon steet; and the other guy meekly agreed to it and added that NO was the murder capital of the US. Two days later this was on the news! I even heard elsewhere that God was responsible for last years tsunami: those people dont believe in Jesus; What other explanation is there? Wow, I thought. Misinformation like this spreads, well faster than wildfire. Yours truly being a great sceptic of Intelligent Design, was suddenly baffled as to how an intelligent god created humans with such an obvious lack of intelligence.

While the scientific community is clamouring about the warnings that were ignored, the laity is happy to concoct stories that give these events a supernatural twist. That, in a way sums up the retrograde direction people are traveling in this country now, from a rational perspective. That may also throw some light on how primitive peoples surrounded themselves with gods and superstitions, except this is repeating itself in a 'modern world' of 'technological advancement'. Now what is a third world country again?    

A Solution?

Have I found a final solution to my blogging requirements? I have to start my first post with a bashing! I trie radio userland, but after repeated failures and troubles I abandoned it for the free blogger service from google! And it works. Now I can post my ramblings on my own website.