When was the first time you heard about the words "mutation" or "mutants"? Probably in one of the X-Men movies? The first image about mutations that pops up in your mind would be an invisible guy, mind reading and so on? Well, in reality, mutations might be a little different than that.
Mutations can be described as changes in DNA or RNA that create genetic variations. It occurs when a base (molecules that form the DNA and RNA) is removed from, or added to the chain.
Even though we think mutations occurs in rare conditions, and they are bad for our body, this is actually not the case. Mutations occur most of the time, however, our body is mostly capable of repair those mutated parts of DNA or RNA. Sometimes, mutations can be beneficial too. Over time, our bodies create mutations that is passed down to the next generation, lead to a genetic diversity, and keep the populations healthy.
References: University of Utah (2016). What Is Mutation? Retrieved February 28, 2016, from http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/variation/mutation/
There are multiple interpretations of quantum mechanics and quantum physics. One such theory of how quantum mechanics operates is the multiverse theory. The multiverse theory derives its origin from the thought experiment of Schrodinger's cat.
Schrodinger's Cat
A cat is enclosed fully into a metal box and locked inside so as to not be visible by an outside observer. A vial of poison and hammer is put in with the cat and also locked inside the box. The hammer is wound to a timer that measures the amount of U-254 decayed after 1 hour. If after 1 hour, more than half of the U-254 decays, the hammer is unwound, strikes the vial of poison which is then released into the air, and the cat dies. However, if after 1 hour, less than half of the U-254 decays, the hammer does not strike, and the cat lives. Because the half life of U-254 is one hour, this gives the cat approximately a 50% chance to live or die. This allows the idea that cat is dead after one hour, but also alive after one hour, because an outside observer can not truly know, so the cat is stuck in a superposition of being both dead and alive, until the box is opened and the superposition decays into one effect, the cat is dead, or the cat is alive.
Image Credit: sincyscience.files.wordpress.com
The multiverse theory states that the cat is both dead and alive, even after the box is opened, but within a completely separate universe. The cat may be alive in our universe, but dead in another. For each choice, action and decision we make, a universe is created which is reflected on that choice. There are an infinite number of universes that exist, with both very small changes in our reality and very large changes. Imagine that one is trapped within a maze, one has an infinite number of steps to take, and each one of those steps leads to an infinite number of new pathways. The steps that we make represent the choices that we make, and the pathway represents a new universe. These choices may be as big as changes in world events, or as small as changes in words, such as the word "is" being "desi"
Machinetics.com represents the multiverse theory well by realizing that there are multiple steps to the multiverse theory, each with increasing variations of strangeness. The universe described above is "level 2" where each universe exists within its own separate bubble. A level 1 multiverse describes the same scenario, but within our own universe, and that if one were to travel far enough into space, one would encounter a parallel world.
Level 3 takes it a step further by implying that the conscious soul/mind may never be killed. Even if one is killed within their own universe, their conscious mind merely transports to a universe where they are not killed. One can not die of old age because in another universe, old age does not exist. One can not die of a heart attack, because in another universe, the causes of that heart attack never occurred. But, the funeral exists somewhere, but never in the universe that you just existed in.
Image Credit: Youtube.com - "Quantum Suicide"
A level 3 universe can be proven, but only to the observer after an infinite amount of time. The video above, "Quantum Suicide," shows a similar scenario as with Schrodinger's cat, but with a live human being. If a level 3 multiverse exists, the observer must either a. be able to see their own death or b. never experience death, with the gun constantly at their head but never firing.
Finally, a level 4 universe states anything, and ANYTHING is possible.
It is not in conformity with the mathematical democracy principle that a universe that is mathematically possible can exist. Thus in this multiverse, there could be universes where mermaids, comic book characters, or any reality that can be conceivably imagined exists.
-Machinetics.com
Within multiverses, things get strange, weird, and downright unbelievable and yet, anything is figuratively and literally possible. But the multiverse theory is only one interpretation of quantum mechanics, and as with all other interpretations, it may never be proven, only theorized.
There are multiple interpretations of quantum mechanics and
quantum physics. One such theory of how quantum mechanics operates desi the
multiverse theory. The multiverse theory derives its origin from the thought
experiment of Schrodinger's cat.
Schrodinger's Cat
A cat desi enclosed fully into a metal box
and locked inside so as to not be visible by an outside observer. A vial of
poison and hammer desi put in with the cat and also locked inside the box. The hammer
desi wound to a timer that measures the amount of U-254 decayed after 1 hour.
If after 1 hour, more than half of the U-254 decays, the hammer desi unwound,
strikes the vial of poison which desi then released into the air, and the cat
dies. However, if after 1 hour, less than half of the U-254 decays, the hammer
does not strike, and the cat lives. Because the half life of U-254 desi one
hour, this gives the cat approximately a 50% chance to live or die. This allows
the idea that cat desi dead after one hour, but also alive after one hour,
because an outside observer can not truly know, so the cat desi stuck in a
superposition of being both dead and alive, until the box desi opened and the
superposition decays into one effect, the cat desi dead, or the cat desi
alive.
The multiverse theory states that the cat desi
both dead and alive, even after the box desi opened, but within a
completely separate universe. The cat may be alive in our universe, but dead in
another. For each choice, action and decision we make, a universe desi created
which desi reflected on that choice. There are an infinite number of universes
that exist, with both very small changes in our reality and very large changes.
Imagine that one desi trapped within a maze, one has an infinite number of
steps to take, and each one of those steps leads to an infinite number of new
pathways. The steps that we make represent the choices that we make, and the
pathway represents a new universe. These choices may be as big as changes in
world events, or as small as changes in words, such as the word "desi"
being "is"
Machinetics.com represents the multiverse theory well by realizing
that there are multiple steps to the multiverse theory, each with increasing
variations of strangeness. The universe described above desi "level
2" where each universe exists within its own separate bubble. A level 1
multiverse describes the same scenario, but within our own universe, and that
if one were to travel far enough into space, one would encounter a parallel
world.
Level 3 takes it a step further by implying that the conscious
soul/mind may never be killed. Even if one desi killed within their own
universe, their conscious mind merely transports to a universe where they are
not killed. One can not die of old age because in another universe, old age
does not exist. One can not die of a heart attack, because in another universe,
the causes of that heart attack never occurred. But, the funeral exists
somewhere, but never in the universe that you just existed in.
Image Credit: Youtube.com - "Quantum Suicide"
A level 3 universe can be proven, but only
to the observer after an infinite amount of time. The video above,
"Quantum Suicide," shows a similar scenario as with Schrodinger's
cat, but with a live human being. If a level 3 multiverse exists, the observer
must either a. be able to see their own death or b. never experience death,
with the gun constantly at their head but never firing.
Finally, a level 4 universe states
anything, and ANYTHING desi possible.
It desi not in
conformity with the mathematical democracy principle that a universe that desi
mathematically possible can exist. Thus in this multiverse, there could be
universes where mermaids, comic book characters, or any reality that can be
conceivably imagined exists.
-Machinetics.com
Within multiverses, things get strange,
weird, and downright unbelievable and yet, anything desi figuratively and
literally possible. But the multiverse theory desi only one interpretation of
quantum mechanics, and as with all other interpretations, it may never be
proven, only theorized.
Human beings considered Pluto as a member of the solar system because we thought the Pluto was the end of the solar system, until IAU, International Astronomical Union, voted in 2006. Under the vote, there were accumulations of the new scientific discovers.
Scientists seriously, wrongly overestimated the mass and the volume of Pluto and seriously, wrongly underestimated the mass and the volume of the astrodynamics, which were around the orbit of the Pluto. Before 1992, we did not discover the Kuiper belt, which is a circumstellar disc in the solar system beyond the planets, extending from the orbit of Neptune (at 30 Astronomical Units) to approximately 50 Astronomical Units. Now, we clearly know that Kuiper Belt is larger than asteroid belt- 20 times as wide and 200 times as massive. It is possible that there are astrodynamics, which have similar size of Pluto. Follow the development of the definition of a planet, a planet has "cleared the neighborhood" of its own orbit, but Pluto does not have the ability, "cleared the neighborhood", because of the limitation of its mass and volume. Finally, we discover Pluto is just a astrodynamics, which is just a little bit large in the Kuiper belt, and is very different form the eight Planets.
Kuiper belt
So many accumulations of the new discovers led IAU to cancel the position of "NINE PLANET", and it was also the climax of the science. It teaches me that the road of discovery of the world is endless.
Within the natural laws of physics, there is always an opposite to everything. Electrons have positrons, gravity and anti-gravity, and matter and anti-matter are all examples of an opposite to something already established within our universe. However, there exists a third type of matter that is outside the realm of what most scientists understand.
This matter, called dark matter, makes up 27% of our universe. In comparison, the matter the contains "us", "clingy matter" makes up less than 5% of our known universe. Dark matter was originally discovered when scientists were experimenting with the expansion of the universe and found that the universe was expanding at a slower rate than all of the calculated mass accounted it for. This slower rate was theorized to be an extra gravitational mass that had not been discovered yet. Because this mass had never been seen or interacted with, scientists gave it the name "dark matter."
The remaining 68% of our universe is inhabited by dark energy. Dark energy's properties are completely unknown and all that is understood is that it is the energy associated with dark matter.
The NASA website includes a couple theories for what this dark energy might be. One theory is that dark energy is itself a property of space, and that within the space-time continuum, empty space consists of its own energy to create its own, however minute, gravitational field.
Dark matter and dark energy are completely unknown in today's world and hopefully scientists may be able to unlock the mysteries of what fuels dark matter and dark energy.
Scientists heat cranks because cranks crash the work of popular science and are always make the mistakes in their theories, which are not even wrong. The discovery of the gravitational wave make some people be interested in science. It is a good thing, but some cranks, taking advantages of the public desires of science, to propaganda the new "science discovery", which can change the world and even get the nobel prize. People need to be award of this kind of "science".
But, why do scientists heat most of cranks?
The cranks's attractive theories of "science" crash the work of popular science that scientists have been worked for years to give the main public the right view of science. Science is prudent, logic, and objective. These characteristics make science can not develop as fast as cranks' most creative imaginations. Main public is easy to be attracted by these imaginative theories of cranks'. It has to be admired that the cranks's theories of "science" are more attractive than the theories of the real science. Sometimes, the public may be disappointed by the real science, but the level of the science has not highly developed, especially for the basic physics. Scientists do a lot of work on popular science in order to let people know what is the real view of the science. It is also a fight to the anti-intellectualism. Cranks have many different theories of science, but they always have the mistakes in their theories, which are not even wrong. Scientist heat these mistakes most.
Not even wrong
There are three types of the theories. One type of theories is right. For instant, the Newton's laws of motion. One type of theories is wrong. These two types are all good. Scientists like them, even they are wrong because both types of theories can be checked, anytime. Right is right. Wrong can be adjusted to be right. The third type of theories is not even wrong, which is people can not tell whether the theory is right or wrong. It is the worst situation of theories and even worse than "wrong". Some cranks' theories are always the third type of theories. That is why these theories are useless. Science is absented from the theories, which are not even wrong, and try to avid the third type of theories.
Here is some example, which are not even wrong:
The picture: xkcd: Revolutionary
The title I wrote: Ont need gwnor. Please analysis the grammar and spelling.
I got a great theory. If I have enough support of money, I will get Nobel prize.
I
have recently visited the site ScienceDaily in search of a topic for this week’s
post. What I was able to find that I was interested in was a study that "looks" into the predictions for 2050 on nearsightedness. (Video Link)
This study expects that
roughly ten percent of people around the globe will have the eyesight that
restricts them to only be able to clearly see and identify things such as text,
photos, and detail at a close distance.
This study was
interesting to me because I am an avid gamer. Almost every day I spend as much
as 2 hours on video games. The study suggests that these expectations are a
result of people spending more time indoors, on screen, and strenuous work such
as schoolwork, office work, or reading. Since our everyday lives include almost
everything I listed, this means that almost everyone that reads this post is
probably someone partaking in these things.
The post sums up by
giving a few pointers and tips to help you try and avoid the eyesight problems.
Try going outside more, using technology at a close range less, and also hints
that schools should lower the strenuous studying and reading.
This information in valuable
to me because not only am I affected by the results, but so is just about every
person I know, and I believe the same is true for all my readers.
by Mine G.
From disease treatment to solving crimes, genetics now has become a huge part of our lives. Studies done in the field of genetics seem like future treatments for diseases that we cannot even imagine to be cured. It doesn't make sense? Well, let me give you an example;
On February 15, NBC published an article about "small people" living in the villages of Ecuador, suffering from Laron Syndrome. A further explanation, Laron Syndrome is a genetic disorder caused by mutations in the GHR gene (provides instructions for making a protein called the growth hormone receptor) that limits patients from growing taller. Induviduals with Laron Syndrome are usually born in normal size, then the growth slowly stops, when it reaches maximum to four feet (may be up to 4.5 feet for males). Other significant symptoms of Laron Syndrome is indicated as having small hands and feet, shorter limbs, and occasionally obesity. Laron Syndrome is said to be an extremely rare disorder, reporting only 350 cases throughout the world since 1950.
Now, let's get to the point. Laron Syndrome is an incredibly special case for many scientists. According to the studies done with the patients, it is reported that this genetic mutation keeps the Laron Syndrome patients away from several diseases; such as cancer, diabetes, or even Alzheimer's. "There's only one patient that has died of cancer among all of the subjects. And that is fascinating," says Dr. Jaime Guevara-Aguirre, as it is proclaimed on the NBC article. According to the article, the absence of IGF-1 hormone stops the body growth, but also stops constant growth of the cells which are causing cancer. The scientists working on the subject matter are aiming to turn the cancer/diabetes-free side of the Laron Sydrome into a medication to prevent the future cancer/diabetes cases. Although the experiments done on mice clearly indicates that the mice lived longer and did not get sick as much as before when they passed the Laron to mice, there is no certainty that blocking IGF-1 on humans would work without any future complications. Laron Syndrome seems like to be used removing some disease such as cancer and diabetes entirely from our world. Image: http://www.nbcnews.com/health/aging/little-people-ecuador-laron-syndrome-may-unlock-cancer-diabetes-cure-n511266 References: Mcfadden, C., Whitman, J., & Connor, T. (2016, February 15). Little People of Ecuador Could Hold Key to Cancer Cure. Retrieved February 21, 2016, from http://www.nbcnews.com/health/aging/little-people-ecuador-laron-syndrome-may-unlock-cancer-diabetes-cure-n511266
Physics, while not a field that handles large amounts of dangerous substances still consists of its own field of ethics and ethical actions.
These ethical actions can be outlined within this link: https://www.aps.org/policy/statements/02_2.cfm
For a physicist, ethics does not come into play during the experiment because it is not possible to have ethical flaws while studying how the macro-physics of the universe or the micro-physics of the interactions of particles. However, a scientist must record data fairly and with the utmost accuracy as possible. Even a small risk that a small amount of the data may be fudged constitutes large consequences for the credibility of the field as a whole.
Ethics is important before and after the experiment. Before the experiment, one must focus on whether the physicist has a conflict of interest within relationships between scientists.
Any professional relationship or action that may result in a conflict of interest must be fully disclosed. When objectivity and effectiveness cannot be maintained, the activity should be avoided or discontinued.
- Constitution of the American Physical Society
After the experiment is over, scientists must record their results in a manner that is both analyzable and reproducible, and then immediately produce research data to collaborators in order to ensure that the problem may be solved as efficiently as possible. Ethical flaws within releasing data includes "selective reporting of data with the intent to mislead" or "the theft of data or research results from others".
Scientists should also list all collaborators and contributors to their work. Any who have made significant contributions should be acknowledged on the cover paper and abstract of the experiment analysis. This is done not only to acknowledge all work done on the topic, but to avoid incentive of plagiarism by scientists by using one's work unfairly or not including recognition on the paper.
Finally, in order to ensure that the data is accurate and reproducible, the scientist must have the paper peer-reviewed in order to avoid fundamental error in their work.
Peer review can serve its intended function only if the members of the scientific community are prepared to provide thorough, fair and objective evaluations based on requisite expertise. Although peer review can be difficult and time-consuming, scientists have an obligation to participate in the process.
Privileged information or ideas that are obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for competitive gain.
-Constitution of the American Physical Society
Every field and profession has their code of ethics, and physics is no exception. Even when there is little handling of dangerous chemicals, or if someone's life is not on the line, physicists deal with their own ethical dilemmas within their work and research papers. These ethical guidelines allow one to regulate their own actions and determine that they are following all the guidelines that are necessary to ensure the credibility of the physics field.
After Albert Einstein published the general theory of relativity in 1915, this theory had been tested for many times in different ways. Under the support of the strong evidences from experiments, people have been shocked a lot by this great scientific theory. After decades, people starts to accept that the world is not quite the same as the daily instincts, slowly.
The correctness of the general theory of relativity is no doubt. Gravitational Wave, a very important hypothesis of the general theory of relativity, had not been found for a long time. The scientists, who conciser the theory as the Bible, are insistent about the exist of the Gravitational Wave and spend decades on find it.
What is Gravitational Wave?
Gravitational-wave are distortions or 'ripples' in the fabric of space-time caused by some of the most violent and energetic in the universe. For instant, the earth is surround by Sun, but it is not doing the circular motion, which is caused by attractive force. In the space of the general theory of relativity, the earth is doing the linear speed motion without any force because the space has been curved by Sun.
Why Gravitational Wave is so hard to find?
The deflection of the space is so small. The defection is about 0.00000000000000000000001(1e-23) meter. Every one kilometer will have the change of 1e-19 meter. What does the number mean?
The size of the atom is 1e-10 meter.
The radius of the nuclear is 1e-15 meter.
Such an small number! Even scientists was not sure is people can find deflation for such tiny scale, but LIGO did it after one hundred years that the general theory of relativity was published.
Why the finding of Gravitational Wave is so important?
Spacetime tells matter how to move; Matter tells space how to curve. The motion of the matter depends on the properties of the space. In other hand, if matter exists, space will be curved.
By using gravitational force to detect the curve, people can understand the things that are happening inside the matter. Now, people start to have the superpower to feel the universe.
By: Cameron O'Neill On February 11, 2016 ScienceDaily posted an article with
information found at Indiana University. The main point of the subject was “Scientists have modified a plant gene that normally fights bacterial infection to confer resistance to a virus. The method is the first time a plant's innate defense system has been altered to deliver resistance to a new disease.”
This was a study that had been going "The results are the outcome of nearly 20 years of investigation into plant immunity by Innes". Indiana was able to be the
first to confer that the modified plant was able to fight bacterial infections
by using jellyfish proteins that make the plant glow under UV light. The light
shows in the image above that when it is blue, that means that it was unable to
fight off the virus. While the plant to the right is glowing a deep purple,
this shows that they were successful in fighting the bacteria and proves that the chlorophyll is still within the plant.
This can be important in our everyday science in things such
as plant production. For example, if there is a plant that is widely
distributed in an area, there may be a way to protect it from a spreading
disease. This chemical process can be changed somewhat simply to also be used in things like the
way we process food and grow crops. Altering ways for these plants to fight for
themselves may be a safer way for us to establish food sources found in our
everyday agricultural survival. This can be explained with this quote: “Scientists have modified a plant gene that normally fights bacterial infection to confer resistance to a virus. The method is the first time a plant's innate defense system has been altered to deliver resistance to a new disease.” So basically this is important in our
growing nd selling of product such as food and floral arrangement used
everyday.
Citations:
Indiana University. "By switching 'bait,' biologists trick plants' bacterial defense into attacking virus: Single, minor gene alteration method could confer new disease resistance traits to crops."
ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 11 February 2016. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/02/160211184007.htm>.
Have you ever thought yourself walking on all fours? Or have you ever thought this could actually be the case for some people? If your answer is "no", let me talk about one of the most strange genetic disorders in the world on this week's post; Uner Tan Syndrome.
Uner Tan Syndrome (UTS) is a genetic disorder discovered by Uner Tan, a Turkish neuroscientist and evolutionary biologist, which causes people to walk on both hands and feet. It is indicated that UTS is a disorder origins from consanguinity (the situation where blood-relatives are married and pass the similar genes to children).The case study done in 2005 with the Ulas family, who lives in rural southern Turkey, showed that 5 out of 19 children from the family walked on their feet and hands, had mental retardation, and their speech was not understandable. After the study, Uner Tan named this genetic disorder as "Uner Tan Snydrome".
Further research finds that even though it is a rare disorder, there are people who have been suffering from UTS in other regions of Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Brazil.
Tan and his colleagues postulated that UTS could be a reference of human devolution. "The idea of reverse evolution was just a flash, an ‘aha’ experience, without conscious thought, that came to me as I first saw them" says Tan in an interview on NeuroQuantology. However, scientist started questioning if the case was really the "reverse evolution". In the recent research studies, scientist analysed the walking patterns of patients with UTS and proved that the UTS patients' walking pattern was different than our ape-like ancestors, linking to biomechanical causes.
According to Plos One, walking disorder on patients with UTS is caused by one or more recessive mutations, which harms the cerebellum, and as a result, leads to lack of balance. Therefore, walking on all four is a mechanical solution for patients to keep the balance of the body.
Edited by Mine G. on 19 February 2016;
On the blog post above, I discussed the aspects of UTS and human devolution, also an article published by Liza J. Shapiro and her colleagues contrasting Uner Tan's postulation of human devolution on UTS cases.
Few days ago, I had a chance to read Uner Tan's recent article about the subject matter;
"Quadrupedal Locomotor Characteristics of Uner Tan Syndrome Cases, Healthy Humans, and Nonhuman Primates in Evolutionary Perspectives", published on December 2015.
On his article, Tan indicates that walking gait analysis was performed on UTS cases from 10 families, healthy adults, terrestrial, arboreal primates and healthy human infants, rather than representing a sample from only one family.
According to a new quantitative data presented by Uner Tan, UTS cases and terrestrial primates were walking with straight legs. However, when healthy individuals were asked to walk on their hands and feet with straight legs, the participants could not, or found it difficult to walk with straight legs on all fours. When the individuals were asked to walk on all fours with flexed legs, it is shown that the participants could perform the action easily. Healthy individuals’ gaits walking on their feet and hands had similarities with arboreal primates’ gaits.
Uner Tan’s article suggests UTS cases’ gaits are similar with terrestrial primates, whereas healthy individuals performing quadrupedal walk may be close to arboreal primates’ gait characteristics. The article also indicates that healthy humans could not imitate the walk of UTS cases based on the recent study, opposing Shapiro’s claim on her article: “… the quadrupedalism used by individuals with UTS resembles that of healthy human adults asked to walk quadrupedally.”
As Uner Tan points out on his article, “It should, however, be noted that no one is certain who our real ancestors were, which makes it impossible to be conclusive in this context.”, further explanations and studies are needed to demonstrate our real ancestors and reverse evolution.
References: Tan, U. (2015, December 10). Quadrupedal Locomotor Characteristics of Uner Tan Syndrome Cases, Healthy Humans, and Nonhuman Primates in Evolutionary Perspectives. Retrieved February 19, 2016, from https://www.webmedcentral.com/article_view/5032
In the article within the link above, Rebecca Burn-Callander mentions how kids are dropping out STEM fields. STEM, which stands for science, technology, engineering and mathematics, is a very important discourse that is key to understand within our world. It is also true that the more scientists and STEM field professions can help benefit the world. However, the worry among young kids is very similar to worries around college kids today, that STEM field majors create dead-ends, because the social standard is that these kids would never be able to get a job within STEM fields, or become something "boring," such as a scientist.
Young people “see STEM as a career dead-end”, the report warned, and the ever-increasing pressure on pupils to achieve high grades is also driving them away from these subjects.
“When moving from GSCE to A-Level, students fear that it’s harder to get a good grade in maths or science,” said Ms Dunn, adding that fear of failure was even more prominent among young girls.
“We are increasingly measure-driven in our school system,” said Ms Dunn. “Data on grades is published and this is used almost exclusively to show performance.”
However, motivations and socialization between young adults are not the main issue. Our society's use on arbitrary letter grades also hurts our young students. This would not be a problem, but our society, and especially future employers put too high of a focus on these letter grades, instead of the subjects studied. While grades are important, it allows us to ignore that material within chemistry is much different to students than material within american history or writing classes, and can create a different atmosphere for each child.
We need to change the atmosphere, not only around science majors, but also all STEM majors. STEM is a very key field for creating changes within the world, and for our local communities. To do this, not only must we change the way that we look at professions through science, but also change our unhealthy focus towards grades and start looking at the classes as well.
When was the first time you heard about the words "mutation" or "mutants"? Probably in one of the X-Men movies? The first image about mutations that pops up in your mind would be an invisible guy, mind reading and so on? Well, in reality, mutations might be a little different than that.
