Justification

Posted on January 16, 2025 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged Biology, Chemistry, Environment, Learning, Nature, Physics, rebuttal, Science, science programmes, ThinkingLeave a comment

I’ve got into a bit of a debate on Facebook about whether the exhaust from airplanes is from water vapour (yes) or chemicals (no). I’ve got especially annoyed since they have said they will be getting rid of fact checkers. I think if you see something on line that does not make sense you should not ignore it but at least put in an alternative realistic point of view. I finished one comment with the words Occams Razor.

Following a series of comments when I rebutted each strange argument with an alternative reasonable comment, someone asked where was I getting my information from? I could of course just said Google. But I don’t. I have had a long life and I like learning information. My memory is very retentive. I can remember telephone numbers from more than 40 years ago (0992 37963) my old home number. I learnt the Greek Alphabet for fun… Alpha, beta, Gamma, delta, epsilon, zeta, eta, theta….. Etc…

So I answered the question, how do I know things by stating :

Mainly science programmes on radio and TV. Reading the new scientist magazine, I’m also interested in the environment and am a member of various nature groups. I’m interested in astronomy. I took science classes at school (biology and chemistry) and had to take physics in one of my diploma courses. I’ve always been interested in science and try and keep abrest of up to date information. My favourite authors when I was growing up were Arthur C Clarke, Issac Asimov, Carl Sagan and Richard Feynman. I enjoy reading biographies of scientists such as Mme Marie Curie and about the Leakies who discovered the Australopithicine Ape Lucy. I am interested in what’s going on in the world. Does this answer your question? I just enloy thinking things through and trying to understand. If that is wrong I will stop commenting.

I try and be polite and as accurate as I can be.

Good question

Posted on April 11, 2024 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged Art, Biology, dailyprompt, dailyprompt-1905, Learning, Memory, School, Sixth form, Time12 Comments

Describe something you learned in high school.

I’m not sure what high school is? When I was at school we went to primary, then secondary school. The top (final year) was the sixth form where you took your final exams.

One of those was biology, we studied a lot of information, photosynthesis, stomata in leaves (the holes underneath leaves that allow gases in and out. Things like the function of the kidney (was there something called a glomerulus?), the layers of skin, probably the structure of the eye? I think liking art helped because I could draw diagrams.

I enjoyed biology and am glad I chose it as one of my subjects.

Successful?

Posted on October 19, 2023October 19, 2023 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged Biology, Chemistry, dailyprompt, dailyprompt-2093, invention, Knowledge, Marie Curie, Physics, Science, Scientists, thalidomide2 Comments

When you think of the word “successful,” who’s the first person that comes to mind and why?

It’s taken me ages to decide on a person or group of people to represent this.

I could have chosen a single person, a musician, an actor, sportsperson, vet, doctor, or a news caster, and of course the richest people in the world.

But no, I’ve decided scientists would be the best choice. There success has bought us so many inventions and knowledge. Yes there have been bad inventions too, but these are because of political influence to some extent? Yes, there are bad scientists that either create bad things, or alter the results of research to allow bad things to happen. For example Thalidomide was originally being used for elderly arthritic patients, but to sell more of the drug it was sold to pregnant women as a tablet that would stop morning sickness, with the resultant tetaragenic damage to babies (see the Sunday? Times report into it’s effects).

But then these are weighed against chemistry’s inventions such as the creation of analine dye that led to the discovery of quinine? The invention of batteries, using chemistry and physics. The use of x rays following discoveries by Marie Curie. And biological knowledge including genetic treatments, monoclonal antibodies, knowledge of how our behaviour is damaging the environment.

As with all successes they are balanced with failures. Each person will have their own opinions on this.

Mostly scientists

Posted on May 7, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Astronomy, Biology, Chemistry, dailyprompt, dailyprompt-1928, History, Learning, Life, Memories, Physics, robots, Scientists, Time4 Comments

List the people you admire and look to for advice…

Issac Asimov, three laws of robotics

Carl Sagan, pale blue dot, astronomer and scientist

Noel Fitzpatrick, exceptional veterinary surgeon

Marie Curie, discovered Polonium and Radium

Sir Patrick Moore, famous amateur astronomer,

Sir Oliver Lodge, invented the spark plug

Dr Jane Goodall, primatologist

Rosamund Franklin, jointly discovered DNA, British Chemist

David Attenborough, naturalist, broadcaster and environmentalist

Chris Packham, Environmentalist and broadcaster

Professor Dame Jocelyn Bell-Burnell, discovered Pulsars

Mary Anning, discovered fossils.

Albert Einstein, General and Special theories of relativity.

Richard Feynman, American physicist. Wrote ‘Surely you’re joking Mr Feynman’ and other books.

Is that a long enough list? I like to try and understand basic science, I don’t know enough, but I try and get some understanding. I think Asimov got me thinking about science at an early age. He not only wrote science fiction, but books about chemistry and other sciences. So I found out about the early chemist’s, physicists and astronomers. By reading his books they introduced me to Carl Sagan, who wrote books such as Cosmos.

At the same time I used to (and still do) watch ‘The sky at night’ on TV. So I learnt a bit about astronomy, but also about people like Jocelyn Bell-Burnell who discovered pulsars, and other scientists including Issac Newton.

David Attenborough introduced me to gorilla’s, in his TV programme ‘life on earth’ and so I heard about Jane Goodall and her work with primates.

Finally in the 1970’s there was a TV series that dramatised the lives of Marie and Pierre Curie. Having read about her in Asimov books it was fascinating to see what she had been doing in the early twentieth century.

It’s a random list, but it helps me explain my interests…

Bones named

Posted on February 6, 2023February 7, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Biology, bones, Hand, Human, Human biology, Life, Memory, mnemonic, Question, TwitterLeave a comment

Someone on twitter asked ‘what do you know for certain?’ so I had a think about it and came up with something I remember from my human biology class.

The names of the bones of the hand, scaphoid, lunate, triquetral, pisiform, trapezium, trapezius, capitate, hamate. The mnemonic to remember it is : Spanish ladies take pills that they can hop. I guess it worked because I still remember them!

Stinging eyes

Posted on June 29, 2022June 29, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Biology, Eye, Eyes, glaucoma, Life, Looking, Photographs, retina, retinopathy, scan, VisionLeave a comment

Ouch! When you have the back of your eyes photographed you have to have eyedrops put in that sting. Then for a few hours afterwards your pupils are dilated so that if you walk around in the sunshine everything is dazzling and the world is blurred.

Of course I asked how the pictures looked and the technician said she couldn’t go into detail it they looked OK and she would send the results on to be reported on.

I’m really pleased my eye are OK, I don’t want damage to my retinas. It would be awful not to see things properly. Not be able to paint things or draw. I’m relieved, it’s an annual checkup so I hope to continue to be OK.

Another prompt

Posted on January 26, 2021 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged #30daysketchbookchallenge, Biology, Chemistry, Drawing, Equipment, glassware, laboratory, physical world, Physics, ThinkingLeave a comment

Laboratory was the #30daysketchbookchallenge for today. I decided to draw some glass vessels full of coloured liquids. I suppose that’s the stereotypical image people have of the equipment in laboratories, but they come in all sorts of types, for physics, chemistry, biology, geology, archeology, with lasers, scanning electron microscopes, x-ray machines, burettes and pipettes….. So much to find out about the world around us…

Hedgehog information.

Posted on July 26, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Biology, Blogging, Don't feed hedgehogs this, Gardening, Hedgehog food, Hedgehogs, Information, Life, News, Random, Shed4 Comments

I hope you can read this. Hubby has been going out and buying ‘specialist’ hedgehog food from the local pet shop. Then a friend on Facebook posted this! I don’t want to be responsible for harming them so that’s the last lot of hog food we will be buying. There is also a meaty version so we might get some of that.

Art…

Posted on June 15, 2020June 15, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Architecture, Art, Biology, Design, Drawing, Essential workers, Mechanical design, Medicine, Non essential workers, Online design, Pictures, Science, Sunday Times article, Technical drawingLeave a comment

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The Sunday Times newspaper has run an article which compares essential and non essential workers.

Their survey had a list of images, essential has doctors I think at the top, and artists at the top of non essential jobs. So it says artists are the least essential workers?

I feel this argument should be challenged.

So no one ever designs things using their artistic skills, or paints scenery, or designs art for their walls, or cars, or wallpaper, or covers for books, or diagrams for science books, or medical textbooks. Or designs for online gaming art, or creating beautiful jewellery, or clothes or shoes. Or patterns on China and pottery. No art is used in news papers to show images of essential or non essential workers, how could anyone be employed to illustrate anything? No one ever read a cartoon or a children’s book! Obviously……! No one ever drew rainbows for the NHS. Children don’t need art to learn how to understand biology or architecture or any other complex concept. Richard Feynmann and Steven Hawking never used pictures to explain their theories of quantum mechanics. What about technical drawing? But… statues are now grey boxes, Leonardo is a turtle…. And he was never drawn!

Why is snot green?

Posted on September 24, 2019September 24, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Bacteria, Biology, Cold, Flu, Ill, Mucus, Snotty, Virus2 Comments

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I’m feeling quite unwell, sneezing and coughing, so I had a chat with my hubby who studied science.

If you don’t want to read more please leave the room..

The answer is it doesn’t have to be. It depends on the bacteria causing it.

Sorry if you are eating.

It’s a complex muco polysaccharide according to my hubby, made up of sugars in very long chains. It acts like a dye. Being green or yellow or other colours. It depends on the bacteria causing it. Viruses are colourless so I guess if you have one and get coloured mucus you might have a secondary infection?

So anyway on that note I will get some honey and lemon.

Mallaband-Brown

Tag: Biology