Huntington’s Disease
Though I fear all diseases, the ones I fear most are genetic diseases, diseases due to a defective gene (or genes) in a person’s genome. Reading James Watson’s book—DNA: The Secret of Life—over four years ago, I was enthralled with a disease I had never heard of before, that scared me out of my wits: [...]
Six Degrees of Separation
I love Wikipedia. In fact, I spend about an hour each day surfing through random articles of things I know little about and find interesting. If I run into something I have no idea about, I make a mental note to Wikipedia-it as soon as I can. I use Wikipedia more than I use [...]
Do We Ever Touch Anything?
Today, while holding my Blackberry during lunchtime, my mind drifted. What I was wondering was if my Blackberry actually “touched” my hand as it laid on it. My brain told me it was touching my hand, and the brain was relayed this information by Merkel cells, Meissner’s corpuscles, and possibly Pacinian corpuscles. I think there [...]
In Honor of P.A.M. Dirac, A Founder of Quantum Theory
It is possible that nature produces beings of otherworldly intelligence from time to time, supreme minds that show up every hundreds or even thousands of years. As a university student, I am exposed to brilliant instructors, to uncanny students… people that deserve utmost respect and admiration. However, there are levels of intelligence that are down-right [...]
The Universe
I come up with some crazy ideas sometimes, or many times. Sometimes, to get places you have to stop being rational and think crazy, impossible, unrealistic things. I’m sure great scientists made the greatest of discoveries because they were thinking “outside the box”. Einstein said (sorry, I overuse him, but his quotes are great!): “Knowledge [...]