Science

Earth Day 2017

Each and every day is and should be Earth day. We have but one planet. She is unique as are the lifeforms that exist within her. It is a great shame that as a species we are so careless, thoughtless and destructive to a finite and endangered resource.

Greed and politics further erode that respect and put not just the Earth but everything living on it. Shame on us and if the Earth destroyed us today, I would shed no tears – as we would deserve every bit of it.

So when she lashes out with floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanoes, and sink-holes; instead of listening to her and correcting our bad behavior, we deny we have done anything or that there is anything wrong. SHAME.

It is a real shame that something that has been here eons before we existed is dying because of something it gave birth to and has nurtured for millennia. She is within her right to wipe us out and start anew; and unless we wake up and realize our mistakes and take corrective steps – nature always finds a way but we will not survive, there is poetic justice in that.


Earth Day 2017

Earth Day is an annual event celebrated on April 22. Worldwide, various events are held to demonstrate support for environmental protection. First celebrated in 1970, Earth Day events in more than 193 countries are now coordinated globally by the Earth Day Network.


World Water Day 2017
Show The Planet Some LOVE!

The need to respect the planet and be grateful for all that it provides should be a constant one. However, especially on this day of United Nation’s designated “World Water Day”, I hope that you will take a moment to realize the desperate perils threatening our planet’s water supply. Hopefully realize that unless we change our behavior to conserve, protect and replenish – WE WILL PAY THE PRICE AS A SPECIES, and we only have our own shortsighted failures to blame. Much of our world’s other life has already gone extinct – mostly due to our encroachments and bad behavior.

… try and leave the world for our children better than we inherited it, they should not bear our sins; we need to be better than we are and have been so far or we will bring about the extinction level event that will see the end of humanity …

World Water Day 2017

Globally, the vast majority of all the wastewater from our homes, cities, industry and agriculture flows back to nature without being treated or reused – polluting the environment, and losing valuable nutrients and other recoverable materials.

World Water Day is an annual event celebrated on 22 March. The day focuses attention on the importance of universal access to clean water, sanitation and hygiene facilities in developing countries. The day also focuses on advocating for the sustainable management of freshwater resources.

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Have a Pi, Maybe Two Today

The number π is a mathematical constant, the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter, commonly approximated as 3.14159. It has been represented by the Greek letter "π" since the mid-18th century, though it is also sometimes spelled out as "pi" (/paɪ/).

The number π is a mathematical constant, the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter, commonly approximated as 3.14159. It has been represented by the Greek letter “π” since the mid-18th century, though it is also sometimes spelled out as “pi” (/paɪ/).


Being an irrational number, π cannot be expressed exactly as a fraction (equivalently, its decimal representation never ends and never settles into a permanent repeating pattern). Still, fractions such as 22/7 and other rational numbers are commonly used to approximate π. The digits appear to be randomly distributed. In particular, the digit sequence of π is conjectured to satisfy a specific kind of statistical randomness, but to date no proof of this has been discovered. Also, π is a transcendental number, i.e., a number that is not the root of any non-zero polynomial having rational coefficients. This transcendence of π implies that it is impossible to solve the ancient challenge of squaring the circle with a compass and straightedge.

Being an irrational number, π cannot be expressed exactly as a fraction (equivalently, its decimal representation never ends and never settles into a permanent repeating pattern). Still, fractions such as 22/7 and other rational numbers are commonly used to approximate π. The digits appear to be randomly distributed. In particular, the digit sequence of π is conjectured to satisfy a specific kind of statistical randomness, but to date no proof of this has been discovered. Also, π is a transcendental number, i.e., a number that is not the root of any non-zero polynomial having rational coefficients. This transcendence of π implies that it is impossible to solve the ancient challenge of squaring the circle with a compass and straightedge.


Supermoon Over Los Angeles

Hope you enjoyed the Supermoon since we won’t see it again until December 6, 2052. I promise to buy anyone who shows up a beer but full disclosure, I might just be dead by then 🙂 No being morbid, just saying that this is probably the last one in my lifetime.

“Supermoon” is a term that has really caught on in the past few years, but astronomers have been calling it an “perigee full moon” for much longer, or “perigee-syzygy of the Earth-Moon-Sun system” if you really want to get technical.

A supermoon is the coincidence of a full moon or a new moon with the closest approach the Moon makes to the Earth on its elliptical orbit, resulting in the largest apparent size of the lunar disk as seen from Earth. The technical name is the perigee-syzygy of the Earth-Moon-Sun system. The term “supermoon” is not astronomical, but originated in modern astrology.

Nov 14, 2016 Supermoon - Los Angeles

“Fly Me to the Moon” comes to mind; plane makes a moonshot over Los Angeles.

The term “supermoon” was first used by an astrologer, Richard Nolle, more than three decades ago, according to EarthSky.

According to NASA, at perigee the moon is about 31,000 miles closer to Earth than at apogee, which is is farthest point in its orbit: “That distance equates to more than once around the circumference of Earth. Its looming proximity makes the moon appear 14 percent larger and 30 percent brighter in the sky than an apogee full moon.”

Timelapse Supermoon Over Los Angeles

Timelapse Supermoon Over Los Angeles


MIT Uses CRISPR to Engineer Synthetic DNA Capable of Event Memories

MIT Research

Score another win for CRISPR. Scientists at MIT are using the ever-intriguing genome-editing system to engineer human cells capable of recording and reporting the intensity and duration past events.

The analog memory storage system builds upon past work developed by scientists that programed cells to flip DNA sections when events – like exposure to specific chemicals – occurred. What sets the new research apart, however, is the addition exposure duration and intensity to the cell-reported information.

The older research has also largerly been relegated to bacteria. Moving the technology to human cells means, among other things, a potential method for studying the ways in which cellular events like gene regulation impact disease, according to MIT associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science, and of biological engineering, Timothy Lu.

The researchers are also able to get a bit fancier with things, with cells capable of recording multiple different input sources – in the case of this demo, doxycycline (an antibiotic and the lactose-like molecule, IPTG.

All of the information allows for a much closure study on the impact of infections and diseases like cancer. It could also potentially be used to follow the role of specialized cells during development from an embryo to full grown adult.

— Source [MIT]: MIT engineers human cells to store ‘memories’ in DNA