Hope you are all having a great weekend so far. I wanted to share with you this piece of Art I saw at the British Museum at the Hajj Exhibition.
The piece is called Magnetism, by Artists Ahmed Mater (b.1979) and is a Photogravure etching of a cubic shaped magnet and iron fillings (similar to what is used in schools to teach the science of magnetism). It Represents pilgrims circulating the holy Kaaba in the city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia.
I Love this Image and hope you enjoy it too, please share it.
Again, apologies for taking so long between posts but mama comes first and I have been busy helping her complete her physio routine until she gets more confidant with it all. Today, we took mama to get her stitches removed post her knee replacement surgery. (Thank you to the lovely nurse who did her job brilliantly today). I have been meaning to post about this amazing young boy since I first came across his story and I thought what better day than today.
This young boy, Tony Hansberry II, age 14, has made medical history by developing a stitching technique that reduces surgical complications and the chance of error among less experienced surgeons. Say whaaaaat? I mean, really, do you remember what you were doing at the age of 14? 14!!! He is quoted as saying:
“The project I did was basically the comparison of novel laparoscopic instruments in doing a hysterectomy repair”
Click here to read more about his story and click play to watch him present his work to renowned surgeons.
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Recently, a huge amount of negative press has been circulating around young black men (London Riots, Trayvon Martin, Hunger Games twitts! etc). I hope you share this post as here is a positive and beautiful story about a young black boy. Tony is born to African-American parents and we should ALL be PROUD of his outstanding achievement so early on in his life. Everyone should be amazed by his story, black, yellow, white, purple or green.
I could not think of a better song than this to express to you how this story made me feel, if you do not know who Esperanza Spalding is and/or you have not heard this song, you NEED to click play. Enjoy.
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Have a great weekend everyone and I will try and keep up, I have loads if Q’s to answer, I will get onto them, I promise.
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.
I came across an interesting article reporting that researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have analysed which genes are switched on when men start to go bald. Do you know what that means? To put it bluntly, it means that scientist now have a shot at the prospect of treating, stopping or even reversing the thinning of hair aka male baldness.
I want you to know that when I read this, I let out a sigh of relief that I didn’t even fully recognise I had internalised. As a woman, I have to say that a full head of hair on a man is far more attractive to me than a not so full head of hair. Maybe not all the ladies reading this will agree, but I know for a fact that all my male friends who are starting to go bald are willing these scientists on. Most men start to go bald in middle age, but I’ve a friend who went bald in his early 20s! His pain and panic was definitely visible.
The rest of my male friends are trying to keep the last-dignified runs of full heads whilst yearning (secretly or openly) to keep a full head like Quest Loves immortalised in this beautiful piece of art, which you can pick up and order from United80, details below.
Address:
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Geometric Designs (GeoD): Offers fashion where Africa meets Europe through the wonderful blend of traditional African print and woven cottons with a touch of Eurocentric style.
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Onto the science. In studies of bald men and laboratory mice, US scientists pinpointed a protein that triggers hair loss. They found higher levels of the protein in the cells of hair follicles in bald patches compared with hairy areas. Drugs that target the pathway are already in development, they report in the journal Science Translational Medicine. Great news for all, especially the scientists who are sure to earn themselves a few bobs, and make a lot of hairdressers happy too.
Click here to read more or press play for the hardcore science which gave me the new statement follically challenged lol
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It might take a longtime but it could be coming back, right from the Roots (not bad eh? lol)
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Share the good news with your boys, boyfriends, brothers, fathers, uncles, godfathers and all male members.
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
This one is for all my tech and camera geeks. Scientists at the Institute of Technology in Cambridge have handed us the ability to see behind walls using a camera! WHAT! Like Superman, this camera could be invaluable in dangerous or inaccessible locations, such as inside machinery with moving parts, or in highly contaminated areas. However, as with any innovation, the worry is if Lex Luther got a hold of it and gave it to his troops, who knows what could happen…fill-in-the-gaps.
Back to the science. Click play and watch this pretty dope video to see for yourself how it works:
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Remember, a normal camera can only see objects that are right in front of it. Light that reaches the sensor from beyond the direct line of sight is too diffuse to convey useful information about the hidden scene, having been scattered by multiple reflections.
The new set-up, described today in Nature Communications (Hardcore tech geeks, click on the link for hard-core science), overcomes this problem by capturing ultra-fast time-of-flight information ( Love this Phrase, it basically means how long each photon has taken to reach the camera). This information is then decoded by a reconstruction algorithm developed by team member Andreas Velten. Currently, the whole process takes several minutes, but researchers hope that in the future, it will be reduced to less than 10 seconds.
10 Seconds! WOW, faster than a Polaroid picture , sha sha shake it, shake it, shake it like a Polaroid picture. EVERYONE NEEDS A LITTLE OUTKAST IN THEIR LIFE. ENJOY.
Until next time. Hope the sun is shinning where you are and you catch some sunspiration (my made up word that is a hybrid of sun and inspiration, I want to be included in your life, share it, Tweet it, Re-Tweet, blog it).
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.
I am a self-confessed Tea addict, everyone that knows me, KNOWS I’m a tea addict, and a tea snob, in-fact if you can’t make a good cup of tea, I am either never going to accept another cup from you or I will have to teach you myself. This cartoon says it all.
I keep hearing things like:
“You shouldn’t drink too much tea, it is not good for you”
“Let’s switch to de-caffeinated coffee or tea, it is better for you”
Conjuring images like this in peoples head!!!
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I mean, it is really not that bad and not to be rude but do you actually know what tea and caffeine do? or why it is not good for you? Sometimes…ofttimes, I am pretty sure most people don’t, so I am going to break it down for you here (even tho I am biased, but this is my blog so I choose pro-tea lol).
Caffeine actually stops the breakdown of energy so you have a surplus! In simple terms, ATP is what gives your body energy. Food is broken down and stored as ATP which is used as energy. When you start to feel yourself dragging, it is because you’ve used up all the ATP, because ATP cannot be stored for long term (hence why you need to eat more than once during the day, especially if what you are doing requires the use of energy)
So basically, it helps you “save” up some energy for things like, a evening run post work, or playing with the kids after-work, or a night on the dance floor or bedroom floor, as long as you don’t wait too long to get home…do I need to go on?
What’s even better is that, say you do run out of energy or ATP because, maybe you didn’t have breakfast or you are having back to back meetings/high-workload and missed lunch? Caffeine blocks the signal in your body, Adenosine, from binding and letting the body know you are out of energy. It tricks your body into thinking that there is energy there. The effects of the caffeine can kick in within 10 minutes and last up to 4-6 hours! Much faster than waiting for food to be broken down and stored as ATP. That’s why you crash from caffeine, when the effect runs out, your body tries to use ATP and there’s none there! Something like what’s happening below
Final thoughts: Caffeine can be your friend when ATP has failed you, saving you from that fatal crash. So its not all bad, it has a purpose in life and its purpose works in 10mins, much quicker than that super smoothie! LOL.
I rest my case, with the help of this BRILLIANT British parody song and video by Elemental. Please, put the kettle on and press play.
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This is not my normal Knock Knock but I do often get asked if caffeine is good for you or not. Some say it is good, some say it is bad for you but it does have a purpose and people have been consuming tea and coffee throughout the ages for this purpose.
Thank you for reading and please share the post if you enjoyed it.
It is Monday and sometimes it is helpful to get it all of your chest at the beginning of the week. Like I said before, I asked some of my Dr friends to let off some steam and tell me 5 things they would like to say to us but cant. Well this Dr went in and I got back 12 steam reducing rants! So I’m posting the first 6 and will post the other 6 next-time.
1-Medications – if your on regular medications and you have to see a doctor that’s not your GP, please carry a list with you if you can’t remember them (with doses). It really is not as easy ‘looking in the notes’ or figuring it out from you telling me it’s the ‘blue, green or purple’ tablet.
2. Getting Personal – If we ask you personal questions please either tell the truth or just state that you don’t want to answer but for the love of all things healthy, please DO NOT LIE. And, please don’t be offended, certain questions we have to ask regardless of who you are, believe me it is not my favorite past-time (tho sometimes fun lol)
3. Medical history – Please be responsible for your health. Know your medical history a little beyond a ‘heart/lung/kidney problem’. It really helps us figure out what you have come in with so we can help you and if you write it down you wont have to try and sound out the medical terms!
4. Painkillers– If ever in pain (toothache, period pains, headache etc..) and what your taking isn’t working, don’t take more than the stated dose. It makes NO difference to your pain, it just increases your chances of getting side effects. Try two different groups e.g ibuprofen and paracetamol together. You probably noticed the price difference on the market. If it’s the same drug, it does the same thing.
5. Nose bleeds – sometimes they just happen, for no reason. Yes, no reason at all, that doesn’t make me bad at my job and won’t make me make one up to make you feel better! Because I’m nice, here are some tips to help you out; Tilt your head FORWARD (never back) and pinch ur nose (fleshy part) for at least 15-20mins (this will feel like a lifetime but seriously keep time). Of course if it continues get some medical help.
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– 6. Ear Wax Attacks – DO NOT clean the inside of your ears (ear canals) with cotton buds, yes don’t. Instead of cleaning all you do is push more wax back in there and in the long run cause more problems. Go an see a professional for a proper ear wax clean. But please, you can use the Q-tip cotton buds to keep the outside canal and ear area clean, it’s just nasty when you don’t!
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WOW AMAZING, Q-tip cotton buds are BAD for your ears and don’t even help, I had no idea, all this time and I hate that feeling of the bud inside my ear (it makes me automatically cough like a crazy person, don’t ask me why? I have no idea but my sister knows when I’m cleaning my ears in the bathroom, it’s that bad!)
Hope you gained some knowledge and that you will share it post reading. Until next time, get on-top of your medical records!
I’ve had this quote on my mind lately, so thought I would share it with you on this sunny Sunday morning 🙂
Change is constant! This is a well known philosophical and scientific theory, discussed over many centuries by many different types of scientists and philosophers. Darwin was just one of them, and he related it to evolutionary biology and genetics.
Change is constant. Such a conundrum. It makes me think of clocks and time because when you look at a clock, the time changes but the face of it is always constant… hmmmm maybe coldplay can help.
Faith In Geeks 