Sunday Comics

Another great one from SMBC....

Celebrity Saturday: Kurt and Bernard Vonnegut

Many people are familiar with Kurt Vonnegut, lauded author of such classics as Slaughterhouse V and Breakfast of Champions (and the less well-known, but equally fantastic Galapagos).  If you're not much of a literary buff, you may remember Vonnegut from his cameo in Rodney Dangerfield's Back to School, where Dangerfield hires Vonnegut to write his term paper about Slaughterhouse V (and then the paper gets a poor grade).

What you may not know is that Kurt's brother, Bernard Vonnegut was a pretty successful scientist.  Having obtained his PhD in Physical Chemistry from M.I.T., Bernard spent many years working for General Electric where he came up with the idea for "seeding" clouds with silver iodide to get them to release rain droplets (or snow flakes, depending on the temp).  This technology has been used ever since the 1940s to help fight forest fires, and more recently, you may remember that it was used to help alleviate the air pollution in Beijing just prior to the Olympics.
At right, an image from Life Magazine, 1948 with the following caption: M.I.T. grad Dr. Bernard Vonnegut, 35, one of the young brains, working on Irving Langmuir's weather research team while making notes in G. E. research laboratory.

In this photo: Bernard Vonnegut

Photo: Alfred Eisenstaedt/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images

Oct 01, 1948

Wisdom Teeth and Un-intelligent Design

A little while ago, I had my "wisdom" teeth pulled.  It was my first time "going under" anesthesia, and, from what I can remember, I rather enjoyed that aspect of it... Except for the part when I woke up before the procedure was over, but then even that was a pretty good time...  Apparently, the doctor and his assistants were marveling over how large one of my wisdom teeth was.  So, when I awoke to hear shouts of "wow! that's a big one!" and "yeah, that is really huge", I replied "that's what she said."  Which, perhaps because of the drugs, I thought was hilarious, though it didn't seem to go over so well with everyone else in the room.  Probably because they weren't expecting me to take part in the conversation and were rushing around to put me back "under".  In my haze, I must have also asked if I could have the tooth as they were somewhat adamant about giving it to me on the way out (pictured at right).  Other than that, I also got to take home a nice bottle of vicodin and some antibiotics.  After spending most of the day asleep, and a week or so recovering, I spent a little time thinking about what sort of blog fodder this whole tale might make.  The first thing that comes to mind is how the whole practice of dentistry really is a testament to the validity of evolutionary theory and a prime example of UNintelligent design.  You see, if our jaws were designed to hold all of our teeth, then wisdom teeth wouldn't get impacted and wouldn't have to be removed.  Also, our teeth in general wouldn't be so crowded and likely to push each other crooked requiring so many people to get braces.  And iff we had less, but perhaps wider teeth, or maybe wider gaps between our teeth, they would be easier to clean and less likely to get food stuck between them resulting in cavities that need fillings, and thus Ambrose Bierce would never have opined that dentists are "prestidigitators who, putting metal into your mouth, simultaneously remove it from your pockets."  Of course, these sorts of flaws are exactly what evolution predicts, particularly in the case of wisdom teeth and the human lower jaw.  As our primate ancestors evolved, two important things happened, our diet changed and our brains got bigger.  Our early primate diet consisted of eating a lot of fibrous plant materials and gradually grew to include things like meat and fish and then ultimately to artificially selected and farmed (and eventually processed) foods that require less mashing.  This made third molars ("wisdom teeth") non-essential for survival (and reproduction), and therefore changes in jaw shape could evolve without being selected against.  The second change, our increasing brain size, caused our jaws to get smaller as a consequence of changes to the overall shape of the skull.  Since there was a selective advantage to having bigger brains, and no serious disadvantage to smaller jaws, our skulls evolved in this way, with the end result being lots of trips to the dentist, othodontist, and oral surgeon.

Climatology vs. Meteorology

The former is the study of climate, or long term trends in temperatures and other weather related conditions, the latter is, of course, the study of meteors... or rather it should be, but instead is the poorly named study of short term weather patterns and, usually, broadcast journalism.  Apparently, there is a debate between (some) meteorologists and climatologists about global warming.  To be clear, the vast majority of both groups agree that climate change is real and exacerbated by human activities, however, almost a third of meteorologists dissent (compared to less than ten percent of climatologists).  Of course, this is just another example of how the media plays up two sides to a story and gives them equal credence despite the fact that the two sides are most definitely not equal.  Most meteorologists have only a "4 year" degree that prepares them to be tv weather personalities (generally covering a broad range of topics including weather, climatology, communications and broadcasting).  By contrast, climatologists are, by and large, PhDs who, in addition to a comparable bachelor's ("4 yr.") degree. have several years of graduate and post-graduate experience studying and actively researching climate.  So to claim that meteorologists are qualified to debate climatologists on climate change would be like me claiming authority in a debate with an astronomer about whether or not Pluto is a planet simply because I had a couple semesters of Physics as part of my undergraduate biology degree.
Pluto is not a planet, and I am not an astronomer.
Climate change is real, and it is impacted by human activities...
And a meteorologist is not the same thing as a climatologist.  But then, I think this video demonstrates the point pretty clearly...

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Science Catfight - Joe Bastardi vs. Brenda Ekwurzel
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Reform

And for those who are wondering, the reason is put "4 year degree" in quotes is because I know many people who have taken more than 4 years to get their Bachelor's degree (and I know some who have done it in 3).

Rapamycin may delay ageing and help to prevent Alzheimer's disease

Recently there have been some investigations into the effects of Rapamycin, a drug that is already FDA approved to help prevent the rejection of organ transplants, on longevity and on Alzheimer's disease-like symptoms.  Rapamycin (a.k.a. Sirolimus) was originally developed as an antifungal after it was discovered in a soil bacteria that grows on Easter Island. (Easter island is also known as Rapa Nui, hence the name Rapamycin).  However, recent studies in mice have shown that long term treatment with the drug can extend the average lifespan.  Now there are two new studies showing that Rapamycin may also prevent or even help to treat symptoms of Alzheimer's disease.  The studies show that the drug is effective on both behavioral and physiological markers for Alzheimer's disease... that is, it prevented age related decline in memory and learning ability, and it decreased the accumulation of aberrant amyloid beta proteins.  Clearly, more research will need to be done, but, if these types of findings can be replicated in further preclinical and then clinical trials, it could mean a potential treatment for Alzheimer's, and perhaps other age related diseases.
Titles (links) to the articles are below...

Molecular interplay between mTOR, A{beta} and tau: Effects on cognitive impairments.

Inhibition of mTOR by Rapamycin Abolishes Cognitive Deficits and Reduces Amyloid-β Levels in a Mouse Model of Alzheimer's Disease

Just Because....

Sunday Comics

(if only Allen knew that bigger doesn't always mean better... at least not when you're talking brains)