Aristotle’s Wheel Paradox. Can You Figure Out What The Paradox Is? (What Doesn’t Make Sense?) More

How many did you know? All worth reading more about!!

11 New Facts Science Has Revealed About The Body

1. Hundreds of genes spring to life after you die - and they keep functioning for up to four days. 

2. Livers grow by almost half during waking hours. 

3. The root cause of eczema has finally been identified.

4. We were wrong - the testes are connected to the immune system after all. 

5. The causes of hair loss and greying are linked, and for the first time, scientists have identified the cells responsible.

6. A brand new human organ has been classified - the mesentery - an organ that’s been hiding in plain sight in our digestive system this whole time.

7. An unexpected new lung function has been found - they also play a key role in blood production, with the ability to produce more than 10 million platelets (tiny blood cells) per hour.

8. Your appendix might actually be serving an important biological function- and one that our species isn’t ready to give up just yet.

9. The brain literally starts eating itself when it doesn’t get enough sleep. brain to clear a huge amount of neurons and synaptic connections away.

10. Neuroscientists have discovered a whole new role for the brain’s cerebellum - it could actually play a key role in shaping human behaviour.

11. Our gut bacteria are messing with us in ways we could never have imagined.  Neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s might actually start out in the gut, rather than the brain, and there’s mounting evidence that the human microbiome could be to blame for chronic fatigue syndrome.

Since 2009, Ada Lovelace Day has aimed “to raise the profile of women in science, technology, engineering and maths by encouraging people around the world to talk about the women whose work they admire.”  The day’s namesake, Ada Lovelace (1815-1852), was the daughter of Lord Byron and Anne Isabella Milbanke.  Ada, in possession of a keen intellect and deep passion for machinery, was educated in mathematics at the insistence of her mother. Later in life, Ada studied the workings of the Analytical Engine developed by mathematician and inventor Charles Babbage. In her notes on the engine, Ada described an algorithm for computing numbers – an algorithm which would distinguish Ada as one of the world’s “first computer programmers.”  

In honor of Ada Lovelace Day, we present some images from the CHF Archives of women working in various chemistry labs. Click on each photo for additional information.

And for more women in science content, consider taking a look at the films in The Catalyst Series: Women in Chemistry by the Chemical Heritage Foundation.

Everyday Phenomena: The Maillard Reaction

At first glance, steak, French fries, bread, milk caramel, and soy sauce don’t have very many similarities. However, the preparation of these foods all have one thing in common: browning that occurs via the Maillard (my-YAR) reaction.

The Maillard reaction was first discovered in 1912 by Louis-Camille Maillard, and refers to a long chain of reactions that ultimately leads to browning of food. This chain typically begins with the condensation of an amine (often the amino acid lysine) with a reducing sugar (containing an aldehyde); one example of this Amadori rearrangement is shown above with lysine and glucose.

This Amadori product can react in a variety of different ways, including dehydration and deamination to produce a diverse array of molecules that give browned food a distinctive flavor; a few of these compounds are shown above. At the end of the sequence of reactions that occur during browning is a class of polymeric compounds known as melanoidins, which lend a brown color to the food.

Below about 140°C (280°F), the Maillard reaction does not proceed at an appreciable rate, although alkaline conditions (such as the lye used to make pretzels) can accelerate the process. Without this reaction, many foods we enjoy now wouldn’t be nearly as tasty!

Further Reading: Hodge, J. E., J. Agric. Food Chem. 1953, 1 (15), 928-943 (Full text)

Family names for Family trees in Japanese

(source: http://www.e-keizu.com/info/family.html )

The numbers below match the blue number above in the image.

[M]祖父（そふ sofu）, [F]祖母（そぼ sobo）

[M]曾祖父（そうそふ sousofu）, [F]曾祖母（そうそぼ sousobo）

[M]高祖父（こうそふ kousofu）, [F]高祖母（こうそぼ kousobo）

For big brother/sister of 1, [M]大伯父（おおおじ oooji）,[F]大伯母（おおおば oooba） For little brother/sister of 1, [M]大叔父（おおおじ oooji）,[F] 大叔母（おおおば oooba）

For big brother/sister of 2, [M]曾祖伯父（そうそはくふ sousohakufu）,[F] 曾祖伯母（そうそはくぼ sousohakubo） For little brother/sister of 2, [M]曾祖叔父（そうそしゅくふ sousosyukufu）,[F] 曾祖叔母（そうそしゅくぼ sousosyukubo）

For big brother/sister of 3, [M]高祖伯父（こうそはくふ kousohakufu）,[F] 高祖伯母（こうそはくぼ kousohakubo） For little brother/sister of 3, [M]高祖叔父（こうそしゅくふ kousosyukufu）,[F] 高祖叔母（こうそしゅくぼ kousosyukubo）

For big brother/sister of your father/mother, [M]伯父（おじ oji）,[F]伯母（おば oba） For little brother/sister of your father/mother, [M]叔父（おじ oji）,[F]叔母（おば oba）

For elder than you, [M]いとこ( itoko )・従兄（じゅうけい juukei）,[F]いとこ( itoko )・従姉（じゅうし juushi） For younger than you, [M]いとこ( itoko )・従弟（じゅうてい juutei）,[F] いとこ( itoko )・従妹（じゅうまい juumai）

[M]いとこ違い( itokochigai )・従甥（じゅうせい juusei）,[F]いとこ違い( itokochigai )・従姪（じゅうてつ juutetsu）

従姪孫（じゅうてっそん juutesson）

For elder than your father/mother, [M]いとこ違い( itokochigai )・従伯父（じゅうはくふ juuhakufu）,[F]いとこ違い( itokochigai )・従伯母（じゅうはくぼ juuhakubo ） For younger than your father/mother, [M]いとこ違い( itokochigai )・従叔父（じゅうしゅくふ juushukufu）,[F]いとこ違い( itokochigai )・従叔母（じゅうしゅくぼ juushukubo）

For elder than you, [M]またいとこ( mataitoko )・はとこ( hatoko )・再従兄（さいじゅうけい saijuukei）,[F]またいとこ( mataitoko )・はとこ( hatoko )・再従姉（さいじゅうし saijuushi） For younger than you, [M]またいとこ( mataitoko )・はとこ( hatoko )・再従弟（さいじゅうてい saijuutei）,[F]またいとこ( mataitoko )・はとこ( hatoko )・再従妹（さいじゅうまい saijuumai ）

[M]甥（おい oi）,[F]姪（めい mei ）

[M]姪孫（てっそん tesson）・又甥（またおい mataoi）,[F]姪孫（てっそん tesson）・又姪（まためい matamei）

[M/F]曾姪孫（そうてっそん soutesson）

[M/F]玄姪孫（げんてっそん gentesson）

[M/F]孫（まご mago）

[M/F]ひ孫( himago )・曾孫（そうそん souson）

[M/F]やしゃご( yashago )・玄孫（げんそん genson）

[M/F]来孫（らいそん raison）

[M/F]昆孫（こんそん konson）

[M/F]仍孫（じょうそん jouson）

[M/F]雲孫（うんそん unson）

For elder than 1, [M]従祖伯父(じゅうそはくふ juusohakufu )・従大伯父（いとこおおおじ itokooooji ）,[F]従祖伯母( じゅうそはくぼ juusohakubo )・従大伯母（いとこおおおば itokooooba） For younger than 1, [M]従祖叔父(じゅうそおじ juusooji)・従大叔父（いとこおおおじ itokooooji）,[F]従祖叔母(じゅうそおば juusooba)・従大叔母（いとこおおおば itokooooba）

[M/F]三いとこ(みいとこ miitoko)・その又いとこ（そのまたいとこ sonomataitoko）

Also

You: 自分(じぶん jibun) Mather:母(はは haha) / Father: 父（ちち tsitsi）

(source: http://www.e-keizu.com/info/family.html )

Although I am a Japanese, I can’t call them all correctly… Does your language have the names?

Hayao Miyazaki’s Happy New Year Greetings Drawings

Bonus-

A temperature chart for my fellow Americans who can’t do the Celsius-Fahrenheit equation from memory and for people in the civilized countries who’re too busy making fun of Fahrenheit to do the conversions themselves.

Prevalence of homosexuality in men is stable throughout time since many carry the genes

Around half of all heterosexual men and women potentially carry so-called homosexuality genes that are passed on from one generation to the next. This has helped homosexuality to be present among humans throughout history and in all cultures, even though homosexual men normally do not have many descendants who can directly inherit their genes. This idea is reported by Giorgi Chaladze of the Ilia State University in Georgia, and published in Springer’s journal Archives of Sexual Behavior. Chaladze used a computational model that, among others, includes aspects of heredity and the tendency of homosexual men to come from larger families.

Chaladze, G. Heterosexual Male Carriers Could Explain Persistence of Homosexuality in Men: Individual-Based Simulations of an X-Linked Inheritance Model. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 2016 DOI: 10.1007/s10508-016-0742-2

David in Singapore, Serious Moonlight Tour 1983

Photo © Denis O’Regan

Awesome infographic work by designer Yang Liu. Check out her book ’East Meets West’ (Amazon).

I just completed the finishing touches on my new poster, a detailed map of the Mandelbrot Set in a vintage style. I’m calling it the Mandelmap.

The Mandelbrot Set is a fractal shape with infinite detail that you can zoom in on. I often explore the Mandelbrot Set to find trippy patterns to create gifs with, but when I started I felt like I was just poking around at random. So I wanted to create a printed guide for myself to find my way around… I soon realized this was going to be a lot of work, so I decided I might as well take it to the next level and make an awesome poster that would be not just for myself but for everyone else to enjoy too.

What you see here is the result of more than a year’s research, planning, and execution. It’s a 36x24 inch poster rendered fully at 300 dpi, and everything you see was created from scratch. I will be posting more updates and information as I get the test prints in, and I hope to have this poster available to buy within the next couple months!

www.mandelmap.com