Hello All,

I haven’t blogged for a minute, but I have a really really good excuse . I have been super-busy helping my mother prepare for her full knee replacement surgery! That’s right, a FULL KNEE REPLACEMENT.

I titled this geek out post surgeons rock because it absolutely amazes me that Doctors and surgeons have advanced so much that they can replace whole body parts. It is a whole different thing knowing something and actually seeing it happen personally. Watching my mother take on the pain that comes with the surgery with so much grace and the unwavering confidence of the surgeons was a huge inspiration to me. It puts many things into perspective.

Even more amazing, whilst at my mums bedside I tried to keep up-to date with general news and I came across this story on the guardian detailing one of last weeks medical miracles, a successful full face transplant.

FACE TRANSPLANT GEEKS! SOMEONE GOT A NEW FACE! AMAZING.

Press play to watch the video of this amazing story that made headline news:

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But wait, does anyone remember the lady who’s face got ripped up by a chimpanzee? I remember the shock of that story and how it made world-wide news, even Oprah interview her. Click on the blue link if you want to watch that interview with Oprah but you must click play below and see the miracle these surgeons worked on this womans face. Outstanding work.

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Now for my music segment and this may seem like a strange choice of song but I chose it for two reasons. One, me and my younger sister have been “schooling” each other on “new” and “old” music whilst watching mama sleep, walk and eat in the hospital, so this is a combo of my “old” Mayer Hawthorne and her “new” Rizzle Kicks lol. Two, I actually like the song and it fits the theme of this post as I am starting to worry that my mama will soon remember that she will soon have the ability to chase me down again and I cant just slowly walk away!

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Until next time, count your blessings and stay blessed.

Ex

Happy Monday Geeks,

Last-night my alarm on my phone went off and reminded me to sit-down in-front of the TV and watch Satellites on BBC 2 (if you missed it, you can catch it on BBC i-Player). Why I hear you ask? because it was being presented by my personal geek black female scientist role model. I went to a talk of hers at UCL many years back and have developed a secret career crush on her ever since (not so secret now, Maggie if you are reading this, please call me )

This immense woman has achieved so much that today’s headline in the evening standard was “Maggie Aderin-Pocock: A woman on a mission, proving science isn’t just for rich, white men”.  YES.YES.YES. I GEEKED OUT.

Maggie Aderin-Poncock was born in Britain to Nigerian parents who separated when she was four. She grew up in a council flat in Camden, north London, and was diagnosed with dyslexia at the age of eight. This did not stop her from going to university, earning a PhD in physics from Imperial College London, propelling a career developing space instruments at UCL and beyond, and embarking on a second career as a television science presenter. She is on a personal mission to explain science to the sort of kids she mixed with as a child in inner-city London. OOOOF. SHE IS AMAZING.

Click here for the link to the full article. My favorite part is when it reads:

“she mentions that at some point in the interview she may have to breastfeed her baby daughter, Lauren”.

Proof that you can do both ladies, you can nurture a strong career and a baby, it is possible. I LOVE IT.

Here is a snippet of her show, press play;

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And here is an endearing interview with her I also wanted to share;

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I want to be her (minus the physics lol), and I will be with god’s blessings but in the meantime I wanted to say;

Thank you to Maggie for helping pave the way for young female black scientists, you inspire me. Here is your musical tribute, it presents inspiring superwomen like yourself-Gladys Knight, Patty LaBelle, Dionne Warwick and Oprah! POW

Until next time, be inspired.

E

Happy Monday Geeks,

This Geek Out Post is a little different but I geeked out nevertheless. I cannot tell you how happy I was to read in the news that India has taken a stand and wrestled with the pharmaceutical companies that monopolise life saving drugs.

India has decided to end the monopoly of pharmaceutical giant Bayer by overturning its patent of anti-cancer drug Nexavar. A domestic company, Natco, will now be allowed to produce a copy-cat version of Nexavar, and sell it for a fraction of the price. The decision means thousands of Indian cancer patients who would not otherwise be able to afford the drug, now have a realistic chance at treatment.

WELL DONE INDIA.

Very early on in my career I worked for one of the biggest pharmaceutical companies in the world, I lasted a total of three months. Pharmaceutical companies say overruling patents inhibits innovation of new medicines. I say that is a bunch of BS! excuse my french. Unfortunately, or fortunately, my heart was way too soft for that industry, and I made the decision to jump out while I still could.

Click here to read more about it and press play before for Al-Jazeera’s Inside Story

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I think India, Brazil, and Thailand deserve a clap for this, life saving drugs should not be policing peoples lives. Lets Evolve for the better.

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Discuss. Share. Thoughts. Please.

E

Hello Geeks,

How many of you have the game Angry Birds on your mobiles or have played it on someone elses? Personally, I am not a Angry Birds Nerd, they are the ones who will only move onto the next level after they have achieved the 3 stars (I have friends who are like that, you know who you are lol) but I am an Angry Birds and all things Apple Geek.

If you don’t know, Angry Birds is a strategy puzzle mobile game developed by Finnish computer game developer Rovio Mobile and was first developed by Apples iOS in December 2009. Since then, over 12 million copies of the game have been purchased from Apples App Store. The success of this highly addictive and fun game has prompted the company to design versions for other touchscreen-based smartphones, of-course and why not!

In the game, players use a slingshot to launch birds at pigs stationed on or within various structures, with the intent of destroying all the pigs on the playfield. As players advance through the game, new birds appear, some with special abilities that can be activated by the player.

The game has spawned two-sequels, but Rovio has now announced what it’s describing as its biggest launch since the original game. Angry Birds Space will be released on March 22nd, and the company has enlisted NASA and National Geographic as launch partners for the game. GEEKED OUT.

What that means, no-body knows just yet but I am guessing things like zero gravity and  “lightspeed destruction” birds. Rovio promise it to be BIG and plan to reveal more details as March draws nearer and they better coz the trailer below doesn’t give much away, it just teases. Roll on March.

Have a great Sunday All

Ex

Hey Geeks,

Ok, so everyone that knows me personally, KNOWS I AM A BIG TRIBE CALLED QUEST FAN and Q-TIP FAN. So this is a geek out “on next levels” lol…I mean, who from my London family remembers being at Subterania,1994? Still one of the best shows EVER!! *Sigh* what I would do to go back in-time and experience that again.

If you missed it and you are a fan, you simply must click on this link and listen to the soundcloud of that show. The improvisation, live beat-making and freestyles are just amazing. Thank you to Flip the Script for sharing this musical jewel.

Last-night, when I got home, I noticed that okayafrica posted a video showing Q-Tip being swabbed and tracing his maternal DNA ancestry to the west African Djola tribe!!! Lets just say, I thoroughly GEEKED OUT

Click play to find out which West African country his DNA took him…

Hope you enjoyed my new Geek Out and Good day to you all.

Ex

“Remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet” Stephen Hawking

It is my little sisters birthday today and because I am in that mood I thought I would let you all in on my Stephen Hawking Geek Out.  The man is a legend in the Scientific World and I am honored to have met him only three years ago, definitely one of the high-lights of my career so far.

This is, of course, Stephen Hawking, the Cambridge University physicist, who was born on 8 January 1942. His life and celebrity are hard to seperate from the astounding story of how he echieved such feats while living with a form of motor neurone disease. He was famously diagnosed aged just 21 and given just a few years to live by doctors. He is still here and going strong. Amazing.

On the 8th of January 2012, Professor Hawking celebrated his 70th birthday.  Eminent physicists from around the globe descended on Cambridge to honour one of their own and celebrate the life of the world’s most famous living scientist. The Cambridge cosmologist has worked on the inflation of the early universe and a quantum theory of gravity, and famously suggested that black holes emit radiation and so slowly disappear. A Brief History of Time has sold more than 10m copies worldwide. Click on the link to get your own copy.

To coincide with Professor Stephen Hawking’s 70th birthday, the University of Cambridge’s Centre for Theoretical Cosmology, in conjunction with Intel, hosted a public symposium entitled ‘The State of the Universe’. Watch the video below, and listen to the man himself speak, it is actually amazing.

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The Professor also had a guest appearance on episodes of The Simpsons and Star Trek in which Data plays poker with Stephen Hawking, Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein. Genius!

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Happy Belated Birthday Professor Hawking, thank you for sharing your light.

E

Hey Geeks,

This one is short and sweet. It took me a while to get into Family Guy but get into it I eventually did. The show has some moments and skits that literally floor me sometimes.

Here is one I found earlier

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and while we are at it, i’m gonna share another of my all time favorites

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ha ha haaaaa haahhaaaaaa

Ex

Hello Geeks,

Firstly, I want to say Happy FIG New Year to you all. Hope you all played safe

Secondly, I wanted to share with you one of my yearly geek out sessions, by no other than IBM. Towards the end of each year, IBM looks at emerging technologies and market and societal trends that they believe will change our lives.

They put all this information together and predict 5 major changes which always blow me away. Click on this link to find out more and/or check out the video below

Also, check out previous predictions, most are not far off! Let me know what you think, leave a comment and if you liked it share it.

Ex

A few months back I came across an article about Emeli in a magazine and I remember walking into my friends studio and calmly saying to him (holding down my geekdom, as you do sometimes)

“have you heard of this girl? she is gonna be really big in the music industry soon and she is studying medicine”

Inside this was happening:

” OMG look, look, this girl is really dope and she is cool and she is gonna be a Dr and famous, and she is a geek, a good role model for young girls and she is telling the whole world- Insert mini-me in my head doing the E shuffle”

Sandé studied medicine at the University of Glasgow, with an intercalated degree in neuroscience.  She said that education was one of the most important things to her, stating that if her music career failed, she has education to fall back on. Sandé said that her manager, Adrian Sykes, waited patiently since she was 16, saying “Adrian really respects that I want to get an education behind me. He also knows my parents are keen that I finish university.”

Although, she has not finished her degree, I am not mad at her. For one, she has been vocal about how hard of a decision that was, she was also being REAL, this is her time to fulfill one of her dreams and she should be proud of herself for realising it. And she is pretty good at it, winning the BRIT’s Critics Choice Award. Check her out here

here is her new single

I woke up to such sad news today, I couldn’t even bring myself to do the mandatory RIP on Facebook. I have had a “secret” crush on this man as far back as I can remember, a little girl watching football in Sudan on a small TV surrounded by my dad and my uncles. The more I learned, read, heard, saw of him the more I grew to love him.

My Dr Hero and Secret Crush

The world has lost another beacon of light. A Genius. A truly remarkable man. Besides football, a doctor, a writer, a musician, a political activist and even a theater director. He is and always will be my idol Geek, and I shall continue to look up-to to him. May you rest in perfect and absolute peace. Ameen.

Here is a short but nice article published in the Guardian on the man himself and a beautiful tribute video

Post up any tributes you found and/or your own tributes in form of song, words or photos.

Ex