First let me say that this is not a big Science breakthrough, rather an article to ponder over. In fact, it has more to do with the adaptations of the bedbugs and psychology of the older generation, which all of us should understand with general knowledge. As you know, bed bugs are pests that cause skin irritation when you are asleep, hence the name. With my experience, I can say most of the older generation of Singapore love to accumulate stuff in their apartment. What happens in the end? Things get old and dusty, you could say there is a drastic increase of dust mites. First, this may sound pretty senseless, but I thought bed bugs only thrive in continents America and Australia. Alright, now I know that they are extremely adaptable to the environment, I can see how they have been introduced here, or perhaps they have been here all along. Next, insects reproduce at an extreme rate. A cockroach egg case when hatched, may release up to 200 nymphs (that is scary)! So, these affected old people may kill one bed bug, but remember, all the surviving bedbugs can produce more than 100 times the original amount! What's worse, I have researched on bed bugs and realised that their natural predators include cockroaches, ants, spiders and even more pests. That is to say that these pests my be attracted into the apartments just because of these bed bugs. To sum it up, the only way to solve this problem is for these old people to clean up their houses (of course, with the help of volunteers) and learn to keep only what is necessary. Natural predators can only aggravate the severity of the issue, so I say, sorry old folks, but this time you're on your own. Hopefully, such a mentality can change and these pests can be eradicated from the HDB flats. Where Does All Earth's Gold Come From? Precious Metals the Result of Meteorite Bombardment, Rock Analysis Finds
Science Daily (September 9, 2011)
Since childhood, I had thought that metals were formed by much smaller minerals in the Earth's crust just like rock formations in caves were. I never thought that some of the precious metals that we use so often today were really from meteorites, which originated from somewhere unknown in the entire universe! I could say that we were really lucky that the mineral, gold, was not lost to the yet inaccessible core of the Earth, which is presumed to be the hottest part of the Earth. After all, gold plays an extremely important role in trading as well as fashion and most importantly, is very pleasing to the human eye. In my opinion, gold's beauty can not be replaced by that of other minerals such as iron or diamond, as the former is not striking enough to gain attention while the latter is way too rare a mineral to be used for common trading, more specifically in the form of money. It is clear that the scientists involved had perseverance as such a breakthrough would not have been made if they had given up on extract Tungsten from the ancient and modern rocks, which was only present in 1/10ppm of precious metals such as gold. This is an example of putting Science skills to good use, never giving up even the obstacle is huge. However, this news article still does not answer my question: Who created the Earth? Should I believe religion or Science? Or is it something yet unknown or a mix between the two? I guess it is still too early to answer these questions, but I hope that the research done is precise and accurate and will help further in the studies of our origin. Birth Control Pills Affects Memory, Researchers Find
Science Daily (September 9, 2011)
Recently, our science lessons have been about Sexual Reproduction. There was one particular group discussion about contraceptives to help reduce the chances of pregnancy. From what we have learnt during that session, it seemed that birth control pills may have been cheaper, it did have adverse negative effects on women's health if taken in the long run. This article, however, manage to discover the opposite: such pills could modify the memory's function slightly without having harmful effects on it. As mentioned in the article, women who took such pills were more likely to remember the significant events that happened, while women who did not were more likely to remember details of the event. Of course, one may see this as positive as one can fully savour the goodness of her memories, but with regards to the article, I beg to differ. I see it in a somewhat negative light as this will cause stress to impact a woman more as she remembers the not so favourable past events. Furthermore, women are usually more vulnerable to emotional trauma than man, in which such pills only serve to worsen the condition of such problems. However, I do hope that scientist Nielsen continues embarking on research such that not only can the link between memory and hormones be further explored, but also that there can be easier ways to solve the large problem of stress in most people. To Videos
The Bed Bug Blight
By Cheryl Ong
Straits Times (April 11, 2011)
http://160.96.186.100/lib/pdf/2011/Apr/ST1113.pdf
First let me say that this is not a big Science breakthrough, rather an article to ponder over. In fact, it has more to do with the adaptations of the bedbugs and psychology of the older generation, which all of us should understand with general knowledge. As you know, bed bugs are pests that cause skin irritation when you are asleep, hence the name. With my experience, I can say most of the older generation of Singapore love to accumulate stuff in their apartment. What happens in the end? Things get old and dusty, you could say there is a drastic increase of dust mites. First, this may sound pretty senseless, but I thought bed bugs only thrive in continents America and Australia. Alright, now I know that they are extremely adaptable to the environment, I can see how they have been introduced here, or perhaps they have been here all along. Next, insects reproduce at an extreme rate. A cockroach egg case when hatched, may release up to 200 nymphs (that is scary)! So, these affected old people may kill one bed bug, but remember, all the surviving bedbugs can produce more than 100 times the original amount! What's worse, I have researched on bed bugs and realised that their natural predators include cockroaches, ants, spiders and even more pests. That is to say that these pests my be attracted into the apartments just because of these bed bugs. To sum it up, the only way to solve this problem is for these old people to clean up their houses (of course, with the help of volunteers) and learn to keep only what is necessary. Natural predators can only aggravate the severity of the issue, so I say, sorry old folks, but this time you're on your own. Hopefully, such a mentality can change and these pests can be eradicated from the HDB flats.
Where Does All Earth's Gold Come From? Precious Metals the Result of Meteorite Bombardment, Rock Analysis Finds
Science Daily (September 9, 2011)
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/09/110907132044.htm
Since childhood, I had thought that metals were formed by much smaller minerals in the Earth's crust just like rock formations in caves were. I never thought that some of the precious metals that we use so often today were really from meteorites, which originated from somewhere unknown in the entire universe! I could say that we were really lucky that the mineral, gold, was not lost to the yet inaccessible core of the Earth, which is presumed to be the hottest part of the Earth. After all, gold plays an extremely important role in trading as well as fashion and most importantly, is very pleasing to the human eye. In my opinion, gold's beauty can not be replaced by that of other minerals such as iron or diamond, as the former is not striking enough to gain attention while the latter is way too rare a mineral to be used for common trading, more specifically in the form of money. It is clear that the scientists involved had perseverance as such a breakthrough would not have been made if they had given up on extract Tungsten from the ancient and modern rocks, which was only present in 1/10ppm of precious metals such as gold. This is an example of putting Science skills to good use, never giving up even the obstacle is huge. However, this news article still does not answer my question: Who created the Earth? Should I believe religion or Science? Or is it something yet unknown or a mix between the two? I guess it is still too early to answer these questions, but I hope that the research done is precise and accurate and will help further in the studies of our origin.
Birth Control Pills Affects Memory, Researchers Find
Science Daily (September 9, 2011)
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/09/110909141637.htm
Recently, our science lessons have been about Sexual Reproduction. There was one particular group discussion about contraceptives to help reduce the chances of pregnancy. From what we have learnt during that session, it seemed that birth control pills may have been cheaper, it did have adverse negative effects on women's health if taken in the long run. This article, however, manage to discover the opposite: such pills could modify the memory's function slightly without having harmful effects on it. As mentioned in the article, women who took such pills were more likely to remember the significant events that happened, while women who did not were more likely to remember details of the event. Of course, one may see this as positive as one can fully savour the goodness of her memories, but with regards to the article, I beg to differ. I see it in a somewhat negative light as this will cause stress to impact a woman more as she remembers the not so favourable past events. Furthermore, women are usually more vulnerable to emotional trauma than man, in which such pills only serve to worsen the condition of such problems. However, I do hope that scientist Nielsen continues embarking on research such that not only can the link between memory and hormones be further explored, but also that there can be easier ways to solve the large problem of stress in most people.
To Videos