Rise Of The Silver Squiggle*

Some of you may have noticed something new in the header picture - what's up with that squiggly thing that looks like a mirror image of a question mark?

A good question!

That, my friends, is the shiny new logo for Fresh Brainz.

And there is an actual legend behind its birth.

Make that two legends.

















Fig 1. GFP-expressing D40X cells (100X magnification)

Apocryphal: I was attempting a transient transfection of the D40X cell line using an overexpression vector that I made. It is a Cyan-C / Ju-C fusion protein coupled to an IRES driving EGFP expression as the readout. When I lipofected the plasmid into a 10-cm tissue culture dish of D40X cells, the GFP expression pattern (see Fig 1) was so distinctive that I decided to use it as my blog logo.

Actual: I spent almost a year tinkering with a logo design that either looks like the letter "F", resembles a question mark or outlines the silhouette of a human brain. This silver squiggle just barely manages to do all three.

Yes, the truth is not as spectacular, I know.

*sigh*

Oh before I forget - Fresh Brainz is happy to introduce yet another perky mascot for a new category of posts!
















Paris the Hot Button will be the avatar for future articles about fast-breaking news, socio-political controversies and other current affairs.

And yes, Paris is really named after this weepy young devotchka who is currently doing the old in-out-in.

Jail, that is.


Would you like to know more?

About other Fresh Brainz mascots:
- Fran the Strawberry
- Sally the T.Rex
- Brad the Brain-skull
- Mike the Microphone
- Nick the Camera-robot
- Svetlana the Spacewalker
- Nameless the Blue Question Mark

About Rise of The Silver Surfer:
- Official Website

* Sorry about the pun.

Four "D"s Of Creativity

An avid Fresh Brainz reader* has recommended an article that examines the use of antidepressant drugs (especially Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors or SSRI) in children.

Unlike adults, the brains of children are still actively developing and thus SSRIs may cause long-term changes to their brain chemistry, resulting in negative effects such as anxiety and increased suicide risk.

Click on this link for more details: Kids on Meds - Trouble Ahead

However, not everyone agrees that the long-term effects are necessarily bad. Some clinicians believe that SSRIs have the potential for more benefits and less side effects in children, compared to adults. More research data is needed to resolve this issue.

In the meantime, experts say that the benefits of SSRIs still outweigh their risks if the diagnosis for childhood depression is made accurately.

I think it is a challenge to diagnose clinical depression accurately. Everyone experiences periods of extreme low sometimes - it is hard to pinpoint whether it is the situation or the person herself/himself who is the major cause of the misery.

Which suddenly reminds me - Fresh Brainz believes that Creativity is driven by these four "D" batteries:

Depression
Despair
Denial
Disillusionment

Happy, contented and well-adjusted people don't create new works of art, invent new technology or discover scientific knowledge and medical cures.

Not at all.

They join the government and become administrators instead.

Heh, that sounds cranky, but it's definitely true.


Would you like to know more?

- Childhood depression
- Antidepressants for children (FDA review)

*Thanks S.R. for this article alert!

Interview With A Post-doc

Fresh Brainz is thrilled to bring you yet another interview with the people behind Singaporean science. This week I am chatting with a post-doc who has a bubbly character and is often cheerful in the lab.

How does she sustain her optimism? Let's go find out!

She prefers not to reveal her identity, so I will call her A*Na for this interview and I've drawn an anime cartoon that is my best representation of her personality.

Heh, I'm not very good at drawing anime.

On with the dialogue!

A*Na: *sees my clipboard containing prepared questions* Wah, so 夸张(exaggerated) ah!

Me: *tee hee* This won't take long. How did you decide to do scientific research?

A*Na: Because I have nothing else to do mah. Just joking lah! My father wanted me to get a PhD. The best option for me is science.

Me: What is your favourite part about doing science?

A*Na: I like to analyze things, I'm the thinking kind. I like to prove my hypothesis correct.

Me: What if your hypothesis is wrong?

A*Na: If wrong, then reformulate the hypothesis lah. I like to plan the experiment and then do it.

Me: What if other people plan the experiments for you?

A*Na: Don't like. If other people plan the experiments then I will not be as enthusiastic.

Me: What do you hate most about doing science?

A*Na: When I do stupid things during my experiment. Because of a stupid mistake.

Me: What about some external factors?

A*Na: I hate it when people keep trying to prove their point.

Me: You mean like confirmation bias? When people selectively fish for evidence?

A*Na: Yes, that's right.

Me: Do you remember your happiest day in science?

A*Na: Oh, there were two actually. When I got my first first-author publication after my PhD. And also when somebody from another group postulated the same hypothesis as me.

Me: What about your most unhappy day?

A*Na: When another group published part of my work during my PhD. At first I felt like giving up, but later I became happy because they showed the same result that I found. This means that my research work is solid.

Me: Which is more important - family or career?

A*Na: Family come first. But luckily my husband is supportive of my career.

Me: Your husband is an endangered species!

A*Na: *laughs*

Me: What is your favourite comfort food?

A*Na: Ice cream. I like Ben & Jerry's ice cream, especially Chubby Hubby.

Me: What flavour is that? I don't eat there...

A*Na: It's caramel with peanut butter and pretzel bits.

Me: What is your favourite chocolate?

A*Na: Belgian chocolate... what you call those?

Me: You mean like praline?

A*Na: Yah, praline.

Me: Is there a fashion accessory that you cannot do without?

A*Na: A watch. I must wear one, usually a digital watch.

Me: To tell the time?

A*Na: Yes.

Me: I mean for a purely fashion purpose. Not for a practical function.

A*Na: Purely fashion? Then it would be earrings.

Me: Is makeup more important or dress more important?

A*Na: Dress is more important for me, because my skin is sensitive. I try to avoid makeup.

Me: OK, last question. What is the most important thing in the world for you?

A*Na: Family ties.

Me: OK, thank you!

A*Na: Can I see the cartoon now?


Would you like to know more?

Other Fresh Brainz interviews:

- Interview with a PhD student
- Interview with a scientist

Only Seven???

Watch this:


















Only SEVEN???

I can't believe the sloppiness of their methodology. I mean, what if the blokes were put off by her coquettish expression?

Or the fact that she is facing them would discourage them from sneaking a peek?

Or the fact that those cheating bastards counted multiple hits for one guy who was obviously turning his head to check out the woman's face?

Such flaky "science".

*slaps forehead*

Sadly, to tell you the honest truth - my straw poll of a few random guys at the lab also confirms their results.

To sum up the sentiments of most guys (clearly excluding me!) :

Boobs = no ogle

Bum = go ogle

Wait... something doesn't sound right.


Would you like to know more?

- More video clips from Brainiac

Fracking Painful Ulcer

I accidentally bit myself last week while stuffing my face with a bowl of fishball noodles.

So now I have a big, fat ulcer that hurts like hell.

Since you didn't ask to see it, here's a big, fat photo of it.

Heh.














It's approximately twice as painful as it looks. Give or take maybe 20%.

Veteran Fresh Brainz readers ("Freshbrainiacz" perhaps?) know that I hate ulcers. I detest them so much I wrote a whole Uncyclopedia article on them.

The problem is that I get them so fracking often. One of our postdocs says that he never gets ulcers. That can only mean that I lack a cogwheel in my head that prevents the teeth from clamping down when other mouth parts are in the way.

Or maybe all the gears are loose anyway.

Speaking of "fracking" suddenly reminds me of fractals: did you notice how my ulcer resembles the Mandelbrot set?




















In the case of my ulcer, the X-axis is facing down towards my finger. It has two round shapes just like the Mandelbrot set picture - the larger wound (cardioid) inflicted by my super-sharp upper right canine.

Well I'm not a mathematician, so I'll leave the detailed explanation of fractals to the professionals.

I'll just comment that the fractal concepts of repeated functions (iteration) and self-similarity are also important to biologists.

One major mystery of biology is: how does a multicellular organism assemble itself during the embryo development process?

A large mammal has to grow from one cell to several trillion cells in a matter of months. This process must be tightly regulated so that the animal forms correctly.

However, mammals only have tens of thousands of genes. One trick to "fold" more complexity into a limited number of genes is to repeat the genetic programming during development.

The same set of genes are used to form both the forelimbs and the hindlimbs. They are then used again in a different orientation to form the digits of the hands and feet. In fact you can consider a finger as a self-similar component of the whole arm. In this way the animal can develop many parts using fewer genes.

Just like the diversity of structures that you can make using a small selection of Lego bricks:















And the myriad ways that I can make my teeth punch through the inside of my mouth.


Dammit.


Would you like to know more?

- How long is the coastline of England?
- Fish with the ancestral genetic program for tetrapod limb formation