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Lifeson

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About Lifeson

  • Birthday 05/27/1990

Profile Information

  • Location
    Salem, VA
  • Interests
    Biochemistry, Alternative Energy, Medicine, Guitar, Books
  • Favorite Area of Science
    Biochemistry
  • Occupation
    Student

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  1. Its the most sciencey non-science show out there. You can see some rudimentary elements of the scientific method (i.e. they always have a hypothesis to test, a method to test them with standardized controls, results and a conclusion) however a lot of the true scientific content seems to be lost to the gods of TV ratings. Lets be honest, most of America doesn't want to see an experiment done 20+ times to prove the conclusion without a doubt nor a lot of the method-building hickups that always seem to happen during experimentation and research. The show strikes the best entertainment and science mix out there, so much so that it might be this generations Bill Nye.
  2. Maybe its not a gel. It might be just a viscous liquid. Gels will probably be too solid to move back in place like what happened in the video. That motion looks to me like liquid responding to pressure and moving out of the way, then gradually moving back into place. I would try using heavy syrups to create this effect. Something with the viscosity of maple syrup or molasses might be a good start. This is of course my off-the-cuff opinion with no experimentation whatsoever. Have fun with this, it looks really awesome
  3. Its a good idea, and in particular one I want to explore when I finally get my immunology Ph.d. The problem that I see with this plan is that typically when you make a virus less pathogenic, you make it inactive as well, i.e. it does nothing to the body to alter its DNA or attack its cells. I did hear though that a harmless strain of the AIDS virus was used a while back in an experiment to cure a brian disorder in France and it seemed like that worked like a charm last I hear about it, so I may be wrong, or this may be a special case. If it were possible to modify the virus' DNA to not become inactive and do what you describe w/o causing major symptoms, this would be a viable treatment.
  4. No. Ionic bonding occurs when one molecule loses an electron and one gains an electron or. The resulting exchange creates a cation and an anion held together by their opposite charges. Hydrogen bonds are similar to ionic bonds in that respect, however they are bonds of partial charges; charges created by the polar properties of the molecule that don't quite equal enough of a force to be a true strong bond. Virtually anything that hydrogen bonds has a polar-covalent bond and an electron exchange would involve the breaking of the bond (as in deprotonation mentioned by Horza2002) to form another compound. So water cannot create an ionic bond without losing an atom of some kind.
  5. We do a chemistry magic show at our school and light small wads of it for a packed auditorium full of students and parents (With safety precautions, ie. heat-resistant gloves and goggles). A fun thing to try would be to create a rope of the stuff and set it off. Should burn very quickly down the rope.
  6. It looks good, but I have heard horror stories about Acer. I've read that Gateway, HP and Acer are the three worst brands to buy a laptop from and from my experience with gateway, I can say that Gateway definitely belongs on that list. Dell is probably your best bet, my entire college runs on dell and they only time they act up is when IT does something retarded to them.
  7. I always viewed it as a combination of things, starting from the most basic to the more complex. All in all they are all bits of information. For example, the bases make up codons which code for genes which code for amino acids that make up proteins. So each part of DNA, in my mind, can be considered a piece of information. for example, think of each letter in this reply as a base pair. Without these letters, you can't make words, which in this example make codons. Without words you can't make sentences which would be amino acids in this example. And without sentences I can't form this reply which would be the protein. So base pairs are a form of information as you need them to get to the next, more complicated level.
  8. As much as we would all love for Healthcare to be safely regulated and free for the masses, what the government is doing to healthcare is taking a system that has some flaws and completely destroying it. Government regulation means limitation. you see it in the news everywhere in this new bill that the senate just passed; limits on the number of tests one can run, limits on what kinds of tests can be run, taxes on "unnecessary" surgeries, and taxes on medicine and medical equipment (Thats right, taxes on medical equipment and medicine so hospitals can't get what they need) all to pay for this bill which doesn't really help the poor people who can't afford insurance but those who valued an expensive car, house or other material goods more than healthcare.
  9. I'm trying to be either an MD or a MD/Ph.D when all my education is over and done with. However in order to get there i have to face down the MCAT I was wondering if anyone out there can recommend some good studying materials for this behemoth of a standardized exam. Thank you all in advance
  10. Medical Virology by Fenner and White. The first edition. Found it in the college library and saw that it hadn't been checked out in 13 years probably has something to do with the lack of a medical program on campus...
  11. Hey I'm Lifeson. I'm an undergrad at Roanoke College studying Biochemistry. I am a medical and alternative energy info junkie
  12. I just got my copy of Time today that has an article about the 50 greatest inventions of the year. The one that caught my eye was entitled "The Electric Microbe". According to the article, a microbe known as Geobacter uses pili to generate electricity from mud and waste water. Engineering has been done at the University of Amherst in Massachusetts by Professor Derek Lovley and his team to increase the productivity of Geobacter eightfold. Any more information on this subject will be appreciated as alternative energy is a side interest of mine. Thanks Merged post follows: Consecutive posts mergedBefore I forget, Creds for the info: Time, November 23 2009 issue. p 72. Article by Jeffrey Kluger
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