DNA

Did you know if you unwrap all the DNA that you have in your cells, you could reach the Moon 6000 TIMES?

Nebula

Did you know a nebula is usually formed by the gravitational collapse of gases in an interstellar medium? This causes the particles to have their own gravitational pull and form clumps which are the clouds.

 

Oxygen

Did you know that Leonardo Da Vinci proposed that air was made up of two gases? One for breathing and another for fueling fire.

Neurons

     Neurons
Neurons, an essential part of the body, without neurons we wouldn't be able to feel or react to anything around us. Besides going through the boring 7th grade science class material, let's really get deep into the science behind neurons.
      The Art of the Neurotransmitter
 Neurotransmitters are like the messengers in our body. They allow messages from the brain to be relayed to the rest of the body. These messages are sent as electrical impulses through a network of neurons. How do you think you know how to behave or how to flinch when something is coming flying at your face? Yes, the brain automatically responds, but what if the message was never received? That would be a problem. These neurotransmitters also carry different chemicals throughout your body to change your behavior. These are some of the chemicals that are sent throughout your body.
Serotonin- Serotonin is a chemical that is sent from the brain to control mood, appetite, and sleep. Depression can be cause by low serotonin levels. Medication prescribed to patients with low serotonin levels act by blocking the serotonin from the sending neuron and thus, more serotonin stays in the synapse of the receiving neuron.
Dopamine- Dopamine helps control movement and adding the flow information to the front of the brain and is linked to thought processes and emotion. Too much or too little dopamine in the brain might be associated with ADHD or schizophrenia.
Glutamate- Glutamate is one of the most common neurotransmitters. Glutamate plays an important role in early brain development and helps with learning and memory.
    What may cause a dysfunction in the neurotransmitter pathways?
Many factors are in place when it comes to relaying messages from the brain to the rest of the body. The speed has to be just right, the tiny gap between the neurons have to be just right, and the neuron has to be in perfect functioning condition. if any of these things are a tiny bit off then something could go terribly wrong. You might be asking yourself at this point, then why aren't I twitching like a defective toy on my floor? That is because neurons continue to grow and make more connections with other neurons. These connections are the reason the the neurons in our body haven't died yet. As we grow older, many of our neurons start to die off, and the age of 75 you will have approximately, one tenth the number of neurons you had as a kid. Don't freak, but when you are born you have more neurons that you can possibly need. plus, the neurons you already have grow and form new connections. These connections make up for the neurons you lost. An additional bonus is the glial cell. This is a type of brain cell that divides to form new cells in order to increase the efficiency of your living neurons and provide a framework to help support them. Feel better now? Although your body is doing a lot to help make sure these neurons are kept safe, there are diseases that specifically target the neurons.
Have you ever heard of Motor Neuron Disease or ALS? If you haven't heard of that you must have heard about the Ice Bucket Challenge. If you haven't heard about either one of these things then you are about to! Motor Neuron Disease or ALS is a disease that specifically targets the nervous system. Guess what it does. If you know that motor neurons are what control your movements then you would know that ALS effects your movement and weakens your muscles. This is actually a really rare disease, less than 20,000 U.S. cases per year.  It is a progressive neurodegenerative disease, this means that it cause your motor neurons to die off. You have to remember that a neuron can't grow back like a regular cell, once it is gone, it is gone forever. However, there are some neurons that have the ability to grow back, but if you have ALS that is not the case. ALS causes you to struggle with many voluntary daily actions. Like reaching for the phone or shaking somebody's hand. ALS was discovered in 1869 by a French neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot. However, it officially brought national and international attention about the disease by Lou Gehrig in 1939. Many possible causes of ALS could accumulate from Genetic mutation, a chemical imbalance in glutamate, or a disorganized immune system. The immune system can begin to start attacking the body's neurons or the chemical imbalance of glutamate can kill off neurons. If you have a loved one that has ALS, I am really feeling for you! ALS is serious and I hope all of you readers out there learn and spread the word about ALS.

Pure

Did you know there are some elements that can take pure forms? Diamond and Graphite are both examples of the pure element of carbon.

Computer Slugs

The average computer user blinks seven times per minute. The normal rate is twenty times a minute.

Sweat

Did you know that sweat is actually odorless? It is actually bacteria that combine with your sweat that makes it smell and produce a body odor.

Rain

Did you know, the "smell of rain" is actually caused by a bacteria called Actinomycetes?  Man, I just love that smell of rain!

The Stegosaurus Dunce

The Stegosaurus Dinosaur is 30 feet long but has a brain the size of a walnut! 

Stem Cells

Sorry Guys, that this post came very late. But I have been very busy! I think I might be posting once a week from now on. So now for our next topic of interest!

   Stem Cells
Stem Cells, the most fascinating cell, in my opinion, in the human body. It may also be the future cure for many diseases such as Alzheimer's. But before we get any further down that road, let's first ask ourselves, what is a stem cell?
    Think of a stem cell as a backup or an interchangeable part. A stem cell, is literally just a cell that has no specific function or purpose. However, the special thing about stem cells is that they can literally become any type of cell. Stem cells are kind of like the repair system of the body. A stem cell can become a nerve cell, a brain cell, or a red blood cell. These cells are also capable of renewing themselves through cell division. As long as the organism is alive, the stem cells can help stock up when there is a shortage in a specific type of cell. Since, these cells do not have any specialized purpose that is why they are so important to the future of health. However, stem cells must be derived in the earliest stages before they are assigned a specific job. That way, scientist can "program" it to become something they want it to be. However, not all stem ells can turn into anything. There are specific categories of stem cells based on the different things these stem cells can become.
There is the:
     Totipotent Stem Cell- This type of stem cell can turn into any type of cell type. An example of one of these stem cells is the zygote formed at egg fertilization, also the first few cells from division of the zygote.
     Pluripotent Stem Cell- This type of stem cell is able to become almost all cell types.
      Multipotent Stem Cell- This type of stem cell can only differentiate into closely related family of cells.
      Oligopotent Cell- the ability to differentiate into a few cells.
      Unipotent- the ability to only produce cells of their own, however, they still have they characteristic of renewing itself so it is classified as a stem cell.
     Now that you have a little background on stem cells. How do these cells actually help contribute to science and technology? The most obvious answer would probably be tissue regeneration. Stem cells are able to turn into any type of cell, thus they should be able to replenish tissue cells. But most researchers working with stem cells are trying to use them to help cure disease. Alzheimer's is one of the biggies they are working on currently. Alzheimer's disease is the most common for of dementia. It is not the classic grandma scenario where she forgets her keys on the kitchen table. It is a lot more than that. Alzheimer's Disease attacks the part of the brain that controls memory.The survival range for Alzheimer's Disease is 4 to 20 years. Stem cells can possibly cure Alzheimer's Disease, If scientists can program stem cells to turn into brain cells then it would cure Alzheimer's Disease in a way. New brain cells will be reproduced and they can renew themselves. The old brain cells would die off by the disease. Although, the only flaw is that the brain is made up of a complex system of neurons. These stem cells that would be transplanted into the brain must overcome a series of difficult obstacles. They would have to travel to the parts of the brain that were effected by the disease. Also, they would have to produce a lot of the different types of neurons to actually replace the lost cells. Most importantly, they would have to effectively replace the broken connections of the complex network of neurons. Scientists are currently testing stem cell transplants on mice, (who would've thought, right?) and signs have shown benefits. The current research with stem cells can help scientists find new drugs to help counter the disease. Maybe in the next few years we will see stem cell research used on humans. I hope this has been fun. Bye guys!

The Carbon Superhero

Carbon Nanotubes

Today, science has ventured towards benefits of materials on the molecular level. A perfect example is the carbon nanotube. A cylindrical tube made of carbon atoms that have phenomenal characteristics mechanically, electrically, thermally, optically,  and chemically. It exerts 2000 times the strength and 5 times the elasticity of steel! Don't forget that it has 5 times the electrical conductivity, 15 times the thermal conductivity and 1,000 times the current capacity of copper, and has half the density of aluminum. Since it is made out of carbon nanotubes it has no downside when it comes to environmental and physical degradation. Unlike metals it does not thermally expand or contract, corrode, and it's not sensitive to radiation. Carbon nanotubes are members of the fulleren structural family, this family also has the famous buckyball. The diameter of the carbon nanotube can vary from 1 nanometer to 50 nanometers. Think about it, one nanometer is one thousandth of a meter! A nanotube's diameter can be approximately 10,000 times smaller than a human hair! Although, they may be very tiny they have huge impacts in the world of science and technology. 

            Now you maybe wondering, who is the brilliant genius that invented these carbon nanotubes?
Well, his name is Sumio Iijima. He was born on May 2, 1939 in Saitama Prefecture in 1939. He graduated from the University of Electro-Communications in Tokyo in 1963, and received a Bachelor of Engineering degree in 1963, and went on to receive a Master's degree in 1965 and finally completed his Ph.D. in solid-state physics in 1968 which he both received at Tohoku University in Sendai. In 1970, he accepted a job at Arizona Stat University, there he worked as a researcher in the field of electron microscopy. Part of his work was to study the atomic structure of carbon. He then returned to Japan in 1982, and worked with JRDC or the Research Development Corporation of Japan in the field of ultra-fine metal particles. In 1987, he began to work at NEC Fundamental Research Laboratories where he developed a program in advanced electron microscopy. This led him to return to his earliest interest in the atomic structure of carbon. Finally, the part you have all been waiting for, he discovered the carbon nanotube in June 1991. He found these carbon nanotubes when he was examining carbon materials under an electron microscope. As he put it, "I found an extremely thin needle like material... Soon thereafter the material was proved to have a graphite structure basically, and its details were disclosed. I named these materials 'carbon nanotubes' since they have a tubular structure of carbon atom sheets."
         So how are these carbon nanotubes really being applied to science right now? Many fields are starting to experiment with carbon nanotubes, one obvious field is Nanotechnology. Who saw that coming? But carbon nanotubes are also being applied to areas of health like dental, Researches are trying to improve dental implants by adding carbon nanotubes to the surface of the implanted material. Also, Researchers at MIT are building a sensor with carbon nanotubes in a certain gel; they want to inject this underneath the skin to help monitor the level of nitric oxide in the bloodstream. That way they can know about inflammation and other inflammatory diseases. The mice they tested have been functional for over a year. Not only health but the environment, materials, and electronics.
Carbon nanotubes could possibly help clean up oil spills by isolating the oil droplets. How is that gonna work? Glad you asked, the carbon nanotubes are attracted to oil but they will be infused with gold nanoparticles that are attracted to gold. Thus, the tubes will form spheres around the droplets of oil with the tubes pointing in and the gold pointing out, it's like a mini cage! Not only that but it acts like a sponge. Researchers have found that adding boron atoms to the carbon nanotubes can cause the nanotubes to grow into a sponge like material that can absorb a lot more oil than its weight. Have you ever heard of a transfomer? If you haven't go by the DVD, I suggest watching the only the first two, those are the best. The rest are starting to get a little boring for me, really. But, back to carbon nanotubes! NASA is currently working on a carbon nanotube composite that bends when a voltage is utilized. Thus, if an electrical voltage is applied, it can change the shape of say, aircraft wings and other structures. Pretty neat. But in areas of more inconvenience like those cracks you see in the road and you are just anticipating that annoying bump? Our friends at MIT developed a method called nanostitching. This is where if you have carbon nanotubes perpendicular to the carbon fibers, this will help hold the fibers together better.
      I know you would love to here more about these carbon nanotubes but I gotta run! I hope this post was very insightful of what scientists today are doing! If everything goes as planned, I might have a computer with transistors made up of carbon nanotubes! Bye Guys!

Welcome

Hey Everybody! Welcome to my Science Blog. Just to give you a heads up of what this blog will be about. Basically, it will just be about various science topics that I seem to find interesting, I hope you find them interesting as well! Please note, this is my very first time blogging, I would love feedback about my blog and see if it works out! Before we get into it right away, let me tell you a little about myself, I love the Star Wars films and I live in New York. I love engineering as well as science and have explored many different types of sciences all of which fascinate me! I do not judge people by their age and welcome all people to have a look at my blog. Everybody has the right to access knowledge and should not be restricted from obtaining this knowledge because of their age. I think when it comes to science, everybody has a special connection!