55 posts · 35,169 views
Disease research is something that everyone pays for (taxes), but that not everyone has access to or can easily understand. Try Nerdy wants to change all that, and encourage people to embrace their inner nerds.
NerdyOne
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- July 29, 2011
- 08:30 PM
- 1,135 views
Spit, soap, salt, spirits, then see!
The topic of today’s post is an oldie, but a real goodie. In short, I’m going to describe how you can isolate your own DNA, with stuff you most likely have right now in your kitchen. If you’re wondering, “Why on earth would I want to isolate my DNA?” then you may need to step up your nerdy game. Looking at your own DNA is just so cool, like, “Oh, look, it’s that stuff that encodes everything that I am!” Not only that, your DNA would make a great la........ Read more »
Hearn, R., & Arblaster, K. (2010) DNA extraction techniques for use in education. Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education, 38(3), 161-166. DOI: 10.1002/bmb.20351
- July 12, 2011
- 08:15 PM
- 1,080 views
What IS lupus, anyway?
“It’s always lupus.”
I’ve watched enough episodes of House, M.D. (and it doesn’t take many) to know that when Dr. Gregory House and his medical team try to nail down each episode’s tricky medical condition, they often suggest a diagnosis of lupus along the way to the right answer.
I’m not unashamed to admit that until recently I couldn’t actually answer the question, “What is lupus?”…. Can you?... Read more »
Espinosa G, & Cervera R. (2010) Belimumab, a BLyS-specific inhibitor for the treatment of systemic lupus erythematosus. Drugs of today (Barcelona, Spain : 1998), 46(12), 891-9. PMID: 21589946
- August 19, 2011
- 11:57 AM
- 1,040 views
An apple a day…makes muscles bigger?!
The title of this post is not much of an exaggeration on research published this past June. Scientists at the University of Iowa set out to find potential therapies to treat muscle atrophy, which is simply defined as a decrease in muscle mass. Muscle atrophy can occur for a whole host of reasons: fasting, aging, and simply being inactive among them. There are many diseases, like cancer, for which muscle wasting just comes with the territory. Until this study, there was no known drug to treat thi........ Read more »
Kunkel SD, Suneja M, Ebert SM, Bongers KS, Fox DK, Malmberg SE, Alipour F, Shields RK, & Adams CM. (2011) mRNA expression signatures of human skeletal muscle atrophy identify a natural compound that increases muscle mass. Cell metabolism, 13(6), 627-38. PMID: 21641545
Shishodia S, Majumdar S, Banerjee S, & Aggarwal BB. (2003) Ursolic acid inhibits nuclear factor-kappaB activation induced by carcinogenic agents through suppression of IkappaBalpha kinase and p65 phosphorylation: correlation with down-regulation of cyclooxygenase 2, matrix metalloproteinase 9, and cyclin D1. Cancer research, 63(15), 4375-83. PMID: 12907607
Pathak AK, Bhutani M, Nair AS, Ahn KS, Chakraborty A, Kadara H, Guha S, Sethi G, & Aggarwal BB. (2007) Ursolic acid inhibits STAT3 activation pathway leading to suppression of proliferation and chemosensitization of human multiple myeloma cells. Molecular cancer research : MCR, 5(9), 943-55. PMID: 17855663
Wilkinson K, Boyd JD, Glicksman M, Moore KJ, & El Khoury J. (2011) A high-content drug screen identifies ursolic acid as an inhibitor of amyloid-{beta} interactions with its receptor CD36. The Journal of biological chemistry. PMID: 21835916
- August 31, 2011
- 03:31 PM
- 1,027 views
Prions and the “science” of zombies
When I say that prions are one of the coolest biological phenomena in existence, I mean to say that they are one of the most sci-fi and potentially frightening things you could encounter. They are the causative agent behind mad cow disease, which you’ve probably heard of, and which might not seem too terrifying. But the way prions work, and the fact that there is a “human form” of mad cow disease, will be enough to give you the creeps.
Did I mention that prion infection is t........ Read more »
Trevitt CR, & Singh PN. (2003) Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease: pathology, epidemiology, and public health implications. The American journal of clinical nutrition, 78(3 Suppl). PMID: 12936961
Edgeworth JA, Gros N, Alden J, Joiner S, Wadsworth JD, Linehan J, Brandner S, Jackson GS, Weissmann C, & Collinge J. (2010) Spontaneous generation of mammalian prions. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 107(32), 14402-6. PMID: 20660771
Fryer HR, & McLean AR. (2011) There is no safe dose of prions. PloS one, 6(8). PMID: 21858197
- July 21, 2011
- 08:00 PM
- 1,012 views
Why bees might save the world (a.k.a. The buzz about bees)
If you weren’t yet aware, bees have been kind of a big deal in the science world lately. I’m not making this up: they can learn to recognize human faces, they can monitor air quality, and, oh yeah, they can solve problems faster than supercomputers.
Though this blog has already featured insects more than I would have imagined (i.e. at all), this post is about something I really feel the need to share. Because, every so often, I come across something for which the research is so ov........ Read more »
Li Y, Chen M, Xuan H, & Hu F. (2012) Effects of encapsulated propolis on blood glycemic control, lipid metabolism, and insulin resistance in type 2 diabetes mellitus rats. Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM, 981896. PMID: 21716678
El-Ghazaly MA, Rashed RR, & Khayyal MT. (2011) Anti-ulcerogenic effect of aqueous propolis extract and the influence of radiation exposure. International journal of radiation biology. PMID: 21745002
Pessolato AG, Martins DD, Ambrósio CE, Mançanares CA, & de Carvalho AF. (2011) Propolis and amnion reepithelialise second-degree burns in rats. Burns : journal of the International Society for Burn Injuries. PMID: 21741176
Daleprane JB, da Silva Freitas V, Pacheco A, Rudnicki M, Faine LA, Dörr FA, Ikegaki M, Salazar LA, Ong TP, & Abdalla DS. (2011) Anti-atherogenic and anti-angiogenic activities of polyphenols from propolis. The Journal of nutritional biochemistry. PMID: 21764281
Borges KS, Brassesco MS, Scrideli CA, Soares AE, & Tone LG. (2011) Antiproliferative effects of Tubi-bee propolis in glioblastoma cell lines. Genetics and molecular biology, 34(2), 310-4. PMID: 21734835
- July 12, 2011
- 08:00 PM
- 1,011 views
"They're doing WHAT?!" Revisiting ridiculed research
Fruit flies in France. Bear DNA in Montana. Catfish genome mapping in Alabama. The way some politicians tell it, taxpayers are footing the bill for a lot of really stupid research. But before you take their word for it, why not read on and do your own research so you can make that call for yourself?... Read more »
Lu J, Peatman E, Yang Q, Wang S, Hu Z, Reecy J, Kucuktas H, & Liu Z. (2011) The catfish genome database cBARBEL: an informatic platform for genome biology of ictalurid catfish. Nucleic acids research, 39(Database issue). PMID: 20935046
- July 27, 2011
- 09:05 PM
- 966 views
The inside jokes of scientists
Science is not just some rigid, boring field full of stiffs. Quite the contrary, scientists are often really quirky and really passionate about nerdy stuff (we’re certainly not in this for the money, or we’d be doctors). We can definitely have a sense of humor when it comes to our work, and this post aims to prove that. Today, just for fun, I would like to share a list of some really ludicrous names/acronyms created and used by scientists to describe scientific things.
Because C3P........ Read more »
Liu Y, Ye X, Jiang F, Liang C, Chen D, Peng J, Kinch LN, Grishin NV, & Liu Q. (2009) C3PO, an endoribonuclease that promotes RNAi by facilitating RISC activation. Science (New York, N.Y.), 325(5941), 750-3. PMID: 19661431
Liu Q, Rand TA, Kalidas S, Du F, Kim HE, Smith DP, & Wang X. (2003) R2D2, a bridge between the initiation and effector steps of the Drosophila RNAi pathway. Science (New York, N.Y.), 301(5641), 1921-5. PMID: 14512631
Maclean K. (2006) Humour of gene names lost in translation to patients. Nature, 439(7074), 266. PMID: 16421543
Echelard Y, Epstein DJ, St-Jacques B, Shen L, Mohler J, McMahon JA, & McMahon AP. (1993) Sonic hedgehog, a member of a family of putative signaling molecules, is implicated in the regulation of CNS polarity. Cell, 75(7), 1417-30. PMID: 7916661
Stanton BZ, Peng LF, Maloof N, Nakai K, Wang X, Duffner JL, Taveras KM, Hyman JM, Lee SW, Koehler AN.... (2009) A small molecule that binds Hedgehog and blocks its signaling in human cells. Nature chemical biology, 5(3), 154-6. PMID: 19151731
- August 4, 2011
- 03:30 PM
- 927 views
Bizarre animals I never knew existed, but now respect
You know, when you’ve been alive for at least a couple decades and you work in biological science, it’s pretty rare that you learn about an animal that you’d absolutely never heard of before. However, this happened to me yesterday. It was actually somewhat shocking, especially since I put value in keeping abreast of what sorts of animals are cohabiting my planet with me. I was also taken aback because at a first glance I thought scientists had finally engineered an aquatic rode........ Read more »
Hutchison C, Pilote M, & Roy S. (2007) The axolotl limb: a model for bone development, regeneration and fracture healing. Bone, 40(1), 45-56. PMID: 16920050
Catania KC, & Remple FE. (2005) Asymptotic prey profitability drives star-nosed moles to the foraging speed limit. Nature, 433(7025), 519-22. PMID: 15690041
Catania KC. (2006) Olfaction: underwater 'sniffing' by semi-aquatic mammals. Nature, 444(7122), 1024-5. PMID: 17183311
Hölldobler B. (1976) Tournaments and slavery in a desert ant. Science (New York, N.Y.), 192(4242), 912-4. PMID: 17817765
Binetti VR, Schiffman JD, Leaffer OD, Spanier JE, & Schauer CL. (2009) The natural transparency and piezoelectric response of the Greta oto butterfly wing. Integrative biology : quantitative biosciences from nano to macro, 1(4), 324-9. PMID: 20023733
- July 17, 2011
- 05:40 PM
- 914 views
Laugh away cancer (and many other ailments)
I’ll aJulia Roberts laughingdmit, the concept of laughter therapy is not new. However, I’ve been realizing lately that too few people take the potential benefits of laughter seriously. Yes, ironically, you should take laughter seriously — it’s the one contagious thing that’s nice to catch, and it’s completely free of cost. Intuitively, laughter is a good thing. But what does the research say?... Read more »
Noji S, & Takayanagi K. (2010) A case of laughter therapy that helped improve advanced gastric cancer. Japan-hospitals : the journal of the Japan Hospital Association, 59-64. PMID: 21706962
Friedler S, Glasser S, Azani L, Freedman LS, Raziel A, Strassburger D, Ron-El R, & Lerner-Geva L. (2011) The effect of medical clowning on pregnancy rates after in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer. Fertility and sterility, 95(6), 2127-30. PMID: 21211796
Berk LS, Felten DL, Tan SA, Bittman BB, & Westengard J. (2001) Modulation of neuroimmune parameters during the eustress of humor-associated mirthful laughter. Alternative therapies in health and medicine, 7(2), 62. PMID: 11253418
- July 13, 2011
- 09:35 PM
- 910 views
Stupid stuff we used to do...
…Before we knew better, that is. Thanks to research, we as a society are generally smarter about things than we used to be. In this post, a quick look at how cigarettes, cocaine, heroin, tapeworms, and arsenic weren’t always all that bad.... Read more »
Gilchrist RM. (1909) THE TREATMENT OF CANCER WITH COCAINE. British medical journal, 1(2509), 274-5. PMID: 20764279
- October 16, 2011
- 09:04 PM
- 829 views
The “science” of Edward Cullen, a sparkly vampire
Many elements of science fiction have their roots in actual science, so why couldn’t the same be true of Edward Cullen? For those of you who have not heard of Stephenie Meyer’s Twilght series (all one or two of you), Edward Cullen is a dreamy vampire who is madly in love with a human girl (see: irony). He has classic vampire traits: he really wants to drink human blood (but he abstains!), and he’s icy cold to the touch. And he has not-so-classic vampire traits: he sparkles in t........ Read more »
Xu J, Peng C, Sankaran VG, Shao Z, Esrick EB, Chong BG, Ippolito GC, Fujiwara Y, Ebert BL, Tucker PW.... (2011) Correction of Sickle Cell Disease in Adult Mice by Interference with Fetal Hemoglobin Silencing. Science (New York, N.Y.). PMID: 21998251
Stölzel U, Stauch T, & Doss MO. (2010) [Porphyrias]. Der Internist, 51(12), 1525. PMID: 21104216
Krystal AD, Lankford A, Durrence HH, Ludington E, Jochelson P, Rogowski R, & Roth T. (2011) Efficacy and Safety of Doxepin 3 and 6 mg in a 35-day Sleep Laboratory Trial in Adults with Chronic Primary Insomnia. Sleep, 34(10), 1433-42. PMID: 21966075
- September 7, 2011
- 05:17 PM
- 815 views
Man-made meat: hard to stomach?
I love eating meat. It’s no secret that I would probably be strictly carnivorous if it were just as easy to whip up a half-rack of ribs as it is to pour a bowl of cereal. Alas, meat preparation can be relatively involved, so I don’t eat it with every meal. But I do get what I call “protein deprivation” headaches if I have to go more than, say, 24 hours without meat.
All of this is to say that I have a vested interest in knowing I have a reliable supply of meat of avail........ Read more »
Tuomisto HL, & de Mattos MJ. (2011) Environmental impacts of cultured meat production. Environmental science , 45(14), 6117-23. PMID: 21682287
- August 24, 2011
- 03:15 PM
- 791 views
Do you see what I hear? (A tale of childhood synesthesia.)
Growing up, I didn’t think anything of the fact that when I listened to music, I saw patterns of colors in my mind. I had no reason to question it, and nothing about it seemed too noteworthy. Sad Backstreet Boys songs meant swirling purples and blues and happy Backstreet Boys songs meant orange and yellow starbursts. It wasn’t until college that I became aware that the word for my experiences was synesthesia, and that I had pretty much stopped experiencing it.... Read more »
Bien N, Ten Oever S, Goebel R, & Sack AT. (2011) The sound of size Crossmodal binding in pitch-size synesthesia: A combined TMS, EEG and psychophysics study. NeuroImage. PMID: 21787871
van Leeuwen TM, Petersson KM, & Hagoort P. (2010) Synaesthetic colour in the brain: beyond colour areas. A functional magnetic resonance imaging study of synaesthetes and matched controls. PloS one, 5(8). PMID: 20711467
Maurer D, Pathman T, & Mondloch CJ. (2006) The shape of boubas: sound-shape correspondences in toddlers and adults. Developmental science, 9(3), 316-22. PMID: 16669803
- May 10, 2012
- 12:22 PM
- 751 views
The date rape drug you already own, and anti-date rape straws!
Understatement of the century: date rape is not cool. Neither committing it, nor being a victim of it, should ever ever happen. As such, I want to promote awareness of something that could potentially be used as a date rape drug, but that’s also found in practically everyone’s medicine cabinet.
I’ve been conflicted for a long time about blogging about this, because I don’t want to enable those who seek to do bad things, but in the end I’ve decided that knowledge ........ Read more »
Spiller HA, Rogers J, & Sawyer TS. (2007) Drug facilitated sexual assault using an over-the-counter ocular solution containing tetrahydrozoline (Visine). Legal medicine (Tokyo, Japan), 9(4), 192-5. PMID: 17320456
- November 17, 2011
- 09:45 PM
- 723 views
The harrowing horrors of high heels
At least a couple of times a month, I thank my lucky stars that I’m 5’11″ inches tall. For me, wearing high heels is overkill at best, and painful at worst. Sure, I’ll wear them on occasion (I’m not immune to fashion), but it’s always with a heavy heart, and after much deliberation. In my perfect world, high-heeled shoes would not exist.
Turns out, Jessica Simpson and I have differing opinions on this issue (and on many others, I presume; to be fair, the wo........ Read more »
Dufour AB, Broe KE, Nguyen US, Gagnon DR, Hillstrom HJ, Walker AH, Kivell E, & Hannan MT. (2009) Foot pain: is current or past shoewear a factor?. Arthritis and rheumatism, 61(10), 1352-8. PMID: 19790125
Mika A, Oleksy Ł, Mikołajczyk E, Marchewka A, & Mika P. (2011) Changes of bioelectrical activity in cervical paraspinal muscle during gait in low and high heel shoes. Acta of bioengineering and biomechanics / Wroclaw University of Technology, 13(1), 27-33. PMID: 21500761
Csapo R, Maganaris CN, Seynnes OR, & Narici MV. (2010) On muscle, tendon and high heels. The Journal of experimental biology, 213(Pt 15), 2582-8. PMID: 20639419
Simonsen EB, Svendsen MB, Norreslet A, Baldvinsson HK, Heilskov-Hansen T, Larsen PK, Alkjær T, & Henriksen M. (2011) Walking on High Heels Changes Muscle Activity and the Dynamics of Human Walking Significantly. Journal of applied biomechanics. PMID: 21908897
- September 19, 2011
- 06:45 PM
- 713 views
“Hey, did you hear about…?”
Let’s be honest: Sometimes, you just want to know enough to sound reasonably informed during your coffee break. Here at Try Nerdy we totally respect that, so we’re putting together a list of the nerdiest things that have had people talking in the last few days and weeks. And if you haven’t yet found yourself pulled into a conversation about one of these topics, then get people talking and get nerd credibility by asking “Hey, did you hear about…?”... Read more »
Bailes M, Bates SD, Bhalerao V, Bhat ND, Burgay M, Burke-Spolaor S, D'Amico N, Johnston S, Keith MJ, Kramer M.... (2011) Transformation of a Star into a Planet in a Millisecond Pulsar Binary. Science (New York, N.Y.). PMID: 21868629
Wongsrikeao P, Saenz D, Rinkoski T, Otoi T, & Poeschla E. (2011) Antiviral restriction factor transgenesis in the domestic cat. Nature methods. PMID: 21909101
Cooper S, Khatib F, Treuille A, Barbero J, Lee J, Beenen M, Leaver-Fay A, Baker D, Popović Z, & Players F. (2010) Predicting protein structures with a multiplayer online game. Nature, 466(7307), 756-60. PMID: 20686574
- August 14, 2011
- 02:35 PM
- 708 views
Save your skin, but bend your bones?
Now that I’m back from visiting amusement parks in Orlando, FL, I think it’s as good a time as any to reveal a little secret of mine: I don’t wear sunscreen. (“Not even in Florida?!”) Not even in Florida. In August.
I want to be really emphatic in saying that I am NOT advocating for people to go without sunscreen. You have to do what works for you. I was raised in sunny places and I almost never get sunburns, and now that I live in New England I’m much more........ Read more »
Lowdon J. (2011) Rickets: concerns over the worldwide increase. The journal of family health care, 21(2), 25-9. PMID: 21678784
- October 19, 2011
- 06:45 PM
- 679 views
Bumpy nipples explained: smell directs babies to milk
The aesthetics of the human female nipple can be a touchy subject; that’s all I’ll say on that. The fact remains, though, that the areola (the pigmented ring of skin surrounding the nipple) often has little raised bumps on it. These bumps are at times a source of self-consciousness for women, and the butt of jokes for comedians. However, new research on these areolar glands could potentially put all humility and humor aside. It turns out that these nipple nodules may serve a critical........ Read more »
Doucet S, Soussignan R, Sagot P, & Schaal B. (2011) An overlooked aspect of the human breast: Areolar glands in relation with breastfeeding pattern, neonatal weight gain, and the dynamics of lactation. Early human development. PMID: 21852053
Doucet S, Soussignan R, Sagot P, & Schaal B. (2009) The secretion of areolar (Montgomery's) glands from lactating women elicits selective, unconditional responses in neonates. PloS one, 4(10). PMID: 19851461
- April 3, 2012
- 05:35 PM
- 676 views
Purple drank — more dangerous than you might thank?
You know how, sometimes, you don’t quite know the precise lyrics of a song, but you sing along with your best approximation of the words? Of course you do. Take, for example, the Christmas classic, “We Wish You A Merry Christmas“: it’s a song often sung by people caroling, and the lyrics imply that the carolers have a really intense hankering for some “figgy pudding.” I don’t know anyone who’s ever prepared or eaten figgy pudding, and I’m ass........ Read more »
Karamatic R, Croese J, & Roche E. (2011) Serious morbidity associated with misuse of over-the-counter codeine-ibuprofen analgesics. The Medical journal of Australia, 195(9), 516. PMID: 22060082
Page CB, Duffull SB, Whyte IM, & Isbister GK. (2009) Promethazine overdose: clinical effects, predicting delirium and the effect of charcoal. QJM : monthly journal of the Association of Physicians, 102(2), 123-31. PMID: 19042969
Peters R Jr, Yacoubian GS Jr, Rhodes W, Forsythe KJ, Bowers KS, Eulian VM, Mangum CA, O'Neal JD, Martin Q, & Essien EJ. (2007) Beliefs and social norms about codeine and promethazine hydrochloride cough syrup (CPHCS) use and addiction among multi-ethnic college students. Journal of psychoactive drugs, 39(3), 277-82. PMID: 18159781
- November 21, 2011
- 07:45 PM
- 673 views
Why I’m nice and they’re not: oxytocin
You know what? Sometimes, after I meet a person for the first time and have some trivial conversation about hometowns and local weather, I walk away with a gut feeling that the person isn’t that nice. It’s always a mystery to me when this happens, because I’ll talk to this person for five minutes about mundane things, but for reasons I can’t put my finger on, I leave with a subtly negative opinion of the individual.
Sure, it could be that the person made poor eye conta........ Read more »
Lukas M, Toth I, Reber SO, Slattery DA, Veenema AH, & Neumann ID. (2011) The neuropeptide oxytocin facilitates pro-social behavior and prevents social avoidance in rats and mice. Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, 36(11), 2159-68. PMID: 21677650
Kogan A, Saslow LR, Impett EA, Oveis C, Keltner D, & Rodrigues Saturn S. (2011) Thin-slicing study of the oxytocin receptor (OXTR) gene and the evaluation and expression of the prosocial disposition. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. PMID: 22084107
Saphire-Bernstein S, Way BM, Kim HS, Sherman DK, & Taylor SE. (2011) Oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR) is related to psychological resources. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 108(37), 15118-22. PMID: 21896752
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