I’m looking forward to this HOA tomorrow. I meant to reshare this earlier. If you can’t watch it live, you’ll be able to enjoy it later.
Originally shared by Science on Google+
Menstruation and menopause are two fundamental biological processes in every woman’s lifetime. However, both these subjects are shrouded with secrecy, and it’s often difficult to have open conversations about them because of cultural taboos. But what are the consequences of silence? What are the economic impacts, the social injustices, and the health risks? Why is it so difficult to find consensus on what menopause is, and what its purpose is?
Join us for a Mosaic and Science on Google+ Hangout on air as we speak to author Rose George about these under-reported topics. Rose wrote two fascinating articles for Mosaic about menstruation and menopause, and we will be exploring these subjects in-depth.
This HOA will be hosted by Dr Buddhini Samarasinghe. You can tune in on Saturday 23rd January at 3 PM UK time. The hangout will be available for viewing on our YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/ScienceHangouts) after the event.
I would be willing to do an MRI on this fish to confirm that it’s brain is small. The Ass-fish, Acanthonus armatus, is known for it’s small brain relative to its head size. It’s not clear where the name Ass-fish came from but it’s ugly appearance matches the name.
It’s part of the cusk-eel family. From Wiki:
The cusk-eel family (Ophidiidae) is a group of marine bony fishes in the order Ophidiiformes. The scientific name is from the Greek ophis meaning “snake”, and refers to their eel-like appearance. However, they can be distinguished from true eels of the order Anguilliformes by their ventral fins, which are developed into a forked barbel-like organ below the mouth in the cusk-eels; in the true eels by contrast they are never well-developed and usually missing entirely.
While trying to learn more about cusk-eels, I learned that the deepest known living fish is another cusk-eel. Abyssobrotula galatheae was taken from a depth of 8,370 m (27,460 ft) in Puerto Rico.
Which reminded me of a popular eel like fish that’s supposed to bring good luck in parts of Asia. The Silver Arowana is much better looking than the Ass-fish.
Each year the Edge Foundation invites scientist to answer their annual question. This year’s question is a bit mundane. However, Buddhini Samarasinghe’s answer is excellent. If you scan through the lists of top medical/scientific achievements from 2015 you probably won’t catch anything about the immune system. It’s so important but overlooked. It’s also often exaggerated, i.e., if only we’d eat more garlic or turmeric, then we could cure cancer without those pesky chemicals. BTW, that’s sarcasm.
As Buddhini carefully mentioned in the article, I agree that we are just scratching the surface. There’s so much we don’t know about the immune system. It’s not a panacea for fighting cancer (yet). If you perturb one part for cancer therapy, for example, it’s quite possible you may trigger diabetes. That’s a wild example, but I’m sure you get my point. Cautious excitement.
Originally shared by Buddhini Samarasinghe
The Immune System: A Grand Unifying Theory for Biomedical Research
Every year, the Edge Foundation asks a thought-provoking question (known as the Edge Annual Question) and invites scientists and intellectuals to contribute with essays. This year’s Edge Annual Question is a predictive one. It asks, “What Do You Consider The Most Interesting Recent Scientific News? What Makes it Important?”. I had the pleasure of being invited to submit a contribution again this year, and I really enjoyed writing this essay during the Christmas break 🙂
Edge solicits answers from people who are experts in a wide variety of fields, ranging from neuroscience to quantum physics, from psychology to sociology. For biomedical science, at first the obvious choice for a response would be something like CRISPR – indeed, many of the other responses have covered this fantastic ‘genome editing’ tool that allows us to manipulate our own DNA. But as I thought about the question, I realised that at the end of the day, CRISPR is still just a tool, much like gene cloning was several years ago. However, there are intriguing, broader discoveries within biomedical science, with exciting implications for human diseases; in my opinion these outshine the discovery of CRISPR.
I am talking about the immune system’s role in disease.
“Since 430 BC we have known of biological structures and processes that protect the body against disease; but even today we are just beginning to understand how deeply involved they are in our lives. The immune system’s cellular sentries weave an intricate early warning network through the body; its signaling molecules—the cytokines—trigger and modulate our response to infection, including inflammation; it is involved in even so humble a process as the clotting of blood in a wound. Today we are beginning to grasp how—from cancer to diabetes, from heart disease to malaria, from dementia to depression—the immune system is involved at a fundamental level, providing us with the framework to understand, and to better treat these wide-ranging ailments”
When it comes to ‘interesting scientific news’, our self-interest will guarantee that anything we can do to extend and improve the quality of our lives will always be news. The immune system provides a unifying framework for understanding nearly every major condition that affects us, and on that basis it will always be newsworthy.
