Cute Christmas Present !

My colleague gave me this as a Christmas present, so cute right? Thanks Ben !

Food engineers

Was at the super mart yesterday with my mum, she wanted to buy tomatoes. Told her research show that people prefer red tomatoes, so food engineers started changing the genetic make-up of tomatoes to make them redder, except it left them almost tasteless now.

She kinda look at me "Food has engineers? Planes & machines have engineers & food has farmers & cooks." So funny mum ....

 By right, you should have an engine to have an engineer, not these days. But isn't this better, more job opportunities. And I've not even tell her about genes yet. Yes food has genes too !!!

Do animals recognize themselves in the mirror?

Do you ever wonder do animals recognize themselves in the mirror? I always wonder about that. I often carry my little dog & let her gaze at her own reflection on the mirror. But I notice, very fast she'll turn away. So does she or doesn't she?  See what I found,

The Study: The Elephant Self-Recognition Study

Conducted By: New York’s Wildlife Conservation Society

Three Asian elephants named Happy, Maxine, and Patty were observed by researchers after a large mirror was placed in the elephant’s yard. Happy was marked with a white X painted above her eye and a similar mark was made on the opposite side of her head in invisible paint of an identical smell and texture. When Happy saw her image in the mirror she repeatedly brought her trunk to her own head to touch the white mark. This is the ultimate test of self-recognition. The Elephants also made repetitive movements in front of the mirror and apparently used it to inspect their body parts. Maxine even put her trunk tip into her mouth and looked as though she was trying to study her mouth’s interior.

Interesting Fact: Elephants have now joined apes and dolphins in being part of a small group of animals that are able to recognize themselves in the mirror. Cute isn't it? Maybe time for me to device my own study on my pup!

Souvenirs from Myanmar

The last day of my visit to Myanmar, we went to a large market, like a flea market of sorts. I was determined to take a real piece of Myanmar back with me. For a long time , if people asked if they could bring me anything from their travels, I used to request a rock or a pebble. you shouldn't spend your time obligation shopping when you're on vacation. Plus picking up a pebble from the street was more legitimate than bringing back a key chain not even manufactured in the corresponding country. I stopped making this request when a friend came back from Africa & handed me a plastic bag with a rock- & a stowaway in the form of a dead insect serious enough to have an inch-thick exoskeleton !

I ended up buying some of these trays & containers shown below, very pretty :))

The frustration of working abroad

I was sent for a sort of exchange program to Myanmar. Now I understand the frustration of working
abroad, and dealing with people who just nod and say yes to appease you, without any intention of following through with your original request to begin with. Not that this isn't likely to happen domestically, but I definitely think there is an element of: "just say 'yes' to the foreigner - I don't understand what she's saying and it seems to make her happy."

I am not a patient enough person to cope with all that.

Am I depressed?

How was your Chinese New Year? Something weird happen for mine. Yesterday my colleagues came to my place for lunch. It's quite fun & festive to have a large group of people around, eating chatting & playing some cards.

They brought some new year festive goodies for me. Some pineapple tarts & love letters- everyone's favorite, bak kwa (my favorite) & one of them brought me a box of Camomile tea !

 Ok, for those of you who are not familiar with chamomile, some explanation is needed. Camomile has amazing health benefits. But lately we found an article that reported that it can also help people manage depression. We were just talking about that a couple of weeks back. Hmmm..... so what does that mean? They thought I'm depressed, or I'm reading too much into it? I just couldn't help thinking about that the whole time, that I couldn't concentrate on the gin rummy. I ended up losing about  $20!!! 

Scientific Approach for keeping New year Resolution.

You always hear people complaining about not being able to keep new year's resolution right?
 
Well, According to science  'play' is the strongest motivator for sustained behavioral changes. It makes sense that we stick with enjoyable activities.
In other words, turning your resolution into a fun and enjoyable task may help you to keep it up!
Now the task is to find how to do it!

Animal Male Pregnancies???

Ok this may not be your everyday lunch topic but this happens to be ours today....lol..... Hmmm..... we all know the male sea horse  does that right? Or do we not... well we do... it's in the books somewhere I'm sure, might not be in your school text.... hmmm.... I cant remember...lol.... Anyway the thing was to name male animals that reproduce!

Dragon face Pipe Fish

Male pregnancy is a rare but real phenomenon in the animal kingdom. In some instances, male pregnancy is the result of man-made chemicals having strange effects on male frogs and bass, prompting weird intersex developments. In other situations, male pregnancy is a natural part of how seahorses, pipe-fish and leafy sea dragons reproduce. Whatever the case, males taking the reproductive roles of females provide bizarre and surprisingly fascinating studies.

Did you know that one of the most common weed killers can cause drastic changes in male frogs, transforming them into females that lay eggs? In a recent study, 40 male African clawed frogs  were raised from infancy to adulthood in a solution containing the chemical Atrazine, which is found in many weed killers. According to the study’s findings, 10 percent of the 40 frogs apparently developed into females. Upon dissection, 2 of the 4 transformed frogs maintained their male DNA despite also displaying ovaries. As for the other two transformed frogs, they mated with male frogs and laid eggs that produced male offspring. Previously, Atrazine had been shown to decrease sperm and testosterone and cause some male frogs to mate with other males rather than female frogs. Now it appears that the chemical can apparently cause some males to become near female frogs, a strange development to say the least.

After running 1,000km, runners lose little weight !

I read this last month, which certainly interest me. These 2 ultramarathoner age 61 & 43 both run this distance over a period of 20days, & in the end the 61 yr old Lim Nghee Huat lost only 2 kg & 43 yr old Yong Yuen Cheng has not lose any weight at all. We were all surprised !

So from this we can see that diet contribute much more to weight loss than exercises. It paints a clearer picture & that's great.

Pets & older folks

There has been much talk & studies about how pets can improve senior citizen's life. Usually these claims are coupled with very sweet & success stories of how some pets makes the best company for the old fragile during their last days.

In the past I would have agree without a second thought, but not now..... hmmm.. See I've just taken a new pet. A young puppy of 4 months & toilet training Snowy is driving me pretty nuts. She pees & poos everywhere , so I've no choice but to lock her up in the cage. She looks so cute & sad in the cage:( Poor thing. So far she has pee on the sofa, the floor, the balcony, well practically everywhere! I hope this phase will end soon.

What we are today, is a result of his vision: GoodBye LKY

Singapore's first Prime Minister Mr Lee Kuan Yew, passed away at 3.18am this morning.

I wonder how the nation will react, he's all we ever know ,he formed the backbone of the growth of our nation. What we are today, is a result of his vision.

Though this is inevitable, he's still mortal, it's somehow difficult to accept. Everyone in the office suddenly became sober. It's strange, a sadness just crept over to us. Sms went non-stop from every handphone. We relate how each of us think of our LKY. Every version is different yet somehow similar. We all admire & respected the MAN. We appreciate what he has done....& somehow that's enough for the time being.

Do you record your disputes with your love ones?

I just found out one of my colleagues has a definitive record of all her disputes with her husband , dated & filed in chronological order. At some point she must be planning to cross-reference them by subject index as well...lol.... This strange behaviour must be a result from our job!!!

She confess to us over lunch -Sometimes a fight might looks like it was building & she activate the voice 'record' in her hp only to feel a slight sense of disappointment when the hubby said something conciliatory & the she had to delete the file.

Research tells us yoga is as good as cycling or brisk walking.

Happy New Year, time for making up this New Year’s resolution again. Well you don't have to think too much, New research suggests that adopting a yoga practice can do wonders for your health.

Compared to people who don’t exercise, those who did yoga showed significant improvement in their BMI, blood pressure, heart rate and cholesterol, the review found. In fact, yoga performed just as well as exercise, like cycling or brisk walking, at weight loss and blood pressure measures.

 So what are you waiting for, it's easy to do, you can do it at your own home, all you need is a yoga mat & some instructions & you are good to go :))

Research finds that going to Church at Christmas is good for you !

Even if you have no religion and worry about being hypocritical, services improve relationships

Did you know that in the US, people aren’t supposed to say Merry Christmas any more: it’s Season’s Greetings. How about going to church ? Isn’t it superficial to go just for the atmosphere, the carols and greeting neighbours you haven’t seen in a while? Isn’t it a bit conformist to go to church if you’re not “religious”? Around the world, millions of people describe themselves as “Christian” without belonging to a church or attending services.

Merry Christmas Everyone !

A lot of us feel that our spirituality, faith or belief system – whatever you want to call it – is no longer part of an organised religion. We don’t feel we have a spiritual home in a specific building called “church”.

This phenomenon is known as post-denominationalism. This lack of a church where we might feel welcome, is a kind of spiritual homelessness. It’s not easy to have this post-denominational faith, where we believe in “something” without having a trustworthy religion to hang it on. Millions worldwide describe themselves as “Christian” even though they’re not “religious”.

The secularisation of Christian values has taken hold. Humanists, for example, believe that God is other people – which was Jesus’s point, actually. Yet at the same time to admit to being Christian in certain circles is like saying you’re a spiritual Neanderthal who takes comfort in fairy tales.

But if we don’t believe in a particular church, where do we find one? Will the church down the road do? Religious or not, there are many reasons why going to church is good for us. Teenagers who attend religious services with parents are more likely to feel greater well-being, while romantic partners who pray for their “significant others” experience greater relationship commitment, according to research. Studies looked at how spiritual beliefs seem to strengthen generally happy marriages. In families, it’s enough for just one member to be spiritual. “Relational spirituality” is research that focuses on the ways diverse couples and families can rely on specific spiritual beliefs and behaviours to motivate them to create, maintain and transform intimate relationships.

Research shows how this spiritual “connectness” creates well-being. You don’t have to “believe” to benefit from being with believers. Whether you are atheist or agnostic, or whatever you choose, going to church at Christmas is good for you and your family. We’re all part of this awkward celebration of pagan Solstice and commercial/Christian Christmas. It really is okay, this Christmas, to go to church, wherever it is and whatever it means to you. It will be good for you

Research of idiotic behaviour by man

The theory that men are idiots and often do stupid things is backed up by new evidence...lol..

Little is known about sex differences in idiotic risk-taking behaviour. So researchers in north east England decided to test "male idiot theory" (MIT) that many of the differences in risk seeking behaviour may be explained by the observation that men are idiots and idiots do stupid things.

They reviewed data on idiotic behaviours demonstrated by winners of the Darwin Award over a 20 year period (1995 to 2014), noting the sex of the winner. To qualify, nominees must improve the gene pool by eliminating themselves from the human race using astonishingly stupid methods.

Worthy candidates include a man stealing a ride home by hitching a shopping trolley to the back of a train, only to be dragged two miles to his death before the train was able to stop; and the terrorist who posted a letter bomb with insufficient postage stamps and who, on its return, unthinkingly opened his own letter.

Of the 413 Darwin Award nominations, 332 were independently verified and confirmed by the Darwin Awards Committee. Of these, 14 were shared by male and female nominees -- usually overly adventurous couples in compromising positions -- leaving 318 valid cases for statistical testing.Of these 318 cases, 282 Darwin Awards were awarded to males, and just 36 awards given to females. Males thus made up 88.7% of Darwin Award winners, and this sex difference is highly statistically significant.

This finding is entirely consistent with male idiot theory (MIT) and supports the hypothesis that men are idiots and idiots do stupid things. However, this study has limitations, still it is puzzling that males are willing to take such unnecessary risks -- simply as a rite of passage, in pursuit of male social esteem, or solely in exchange for "bragging rights," . 

They believe male idiot theory deserves further investigation, and, "with the festive season upon us, we intend to follow up with observational field studies and an experimental study -- males and females, with and without alcohol -- in a semi-naturalistic Christmas party setting," they conclude.

Forgetfulness, it turns out, is all in the head.

Scientists have shown that fading memory and clouding judgment, the type that comes with advancing age, show up as lost and altered connections between neurons in the brain. But new experiments suggest an existing drug, known as riluzole and already on the market as a treatment for ALS, may help prevent these changes.

Researchers at The Rockefeller University and The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai found they could stop normal, age-related memory loss in rats by treating them with riluzole. This treatment, they found, prompted changes known to improve connections, and as a result, communication, between certain neurons within the brain’s hippocampus.

They have found that in many cases, aging involves synaptic changes that decrease synaptic strength, the plasticity of synapses, or both. The fact that riluzole increased the clustering of only the thin, most plastic spines, suggests that its enhancement of memory results from both an increase in synaptic strength and synaptic plasticity, which might explain its therapeutic effectiveness.

In this case, the clusters involved thin spines, a rapidly adaptable type of spine. The riluzole-treated animals had more clustering than the young animals and their untreated peers, who had the least. This discovery led the researchers to speculate that, in general, the aged brain may compensate by increasing clustering. Riluzole appears to enhance this mechanism.

Would you mind if you can switch on/off your brain at will?

I just read this article which is of great importance to me. I'm the kind that can't stop thinking, it's exhausting & causes me insomnia often. Lucky me, scientists have accidentally come across an area in the brain which can be said to be the on/off switch of the working of the organ.

The discovery might take us a step forward in solving the mystery of exactly how our consciousness works and how its awareness arises. Mohamad Koubeissi and his colleagues at George Washington University, may have found a switch in the brain that can literally make you fall asleep. The scientists described how they managed to switch the consciousness on and off of a woman with epilepsy by electrically stimulating her claustrum. One of the interesting features of the claustrum is the uniformity in the types of cells, indicating a uniform type of processing by all claustral neurons.

In an attempt to point out the area of a patient’s brain that was causing her seizures, the scientists

were performing an experiment to monitor brain signals using deep brain electrodes. They made a surprise discovery when the woman lost consciousness and started to stare blankly into space when one of the electrodes positioned near the claustrum was electrically stimulated.

It was observed that as soon as they stopped the stimulation, she regained her consciousness with no memory of the event happened. To confirm that they were affecting the woman’s consciousness rather than her ability to speak and move, the experiment was continued for more than two days. Though tested on one person only, the discovery might be helpful to understand completely the working of the human brain. Well in time it could help me to turn off my brain, so that I can rest better. ..haha...

A Revolutionary New Fabric Technology- Nano- fibre Cloth

That Cleans With Only Water, Replaces Expensive Paper Towels and Toxic Cleaners, and Can Help You Save Hundreds Of Dollars Per Year While Making Your Home Safer, Healthier & "Greener". I read it in the papers 2 weeks ago & have been very excited even since. It sounds GREAT doesn't it????

 What Is Nanolon® Fiber? Nanolon® fiber is a unique and revolutionary fabric technology that is hundreds of times finer than one human hair, containing almost 100,000 Nanolon® fibers per square inch. It captures liquid, dust, dirt and grime like a magnet, and without toxic chemicals. You can use it to clean and dry virtually any surface without paper towels and without toxic chemicals. When it becomes dirty, you just wash it and use it again.  

No Chemicals At All. The NanoTowels are specially designed to give optimum cleaning with nothing but water, and are so easy to use

Did You Know That Household chemicals are the #1 leading external and preventable cause for sickness. Just having them in your home in any quantity may increase the risk that you or someone you love could get seriously ill. 

 BIG Savings. The cost of cleaning chemicals and paper towels really add up over time. A one time purchase of the NanoTowels can eliminate these long term costs from your budget, and allow you to save a significant amount of money over the long term.

Check out their site & order. Please do give some reviews if you can:)

http://www.nanotowel.com/

Would you dare try sausages made from baby's poop?

Pooperoni? Baby poop sausages ????

This is a slow morning, my colleges & I were kidding around, boss is away in a conference of sorts. The topic that were passionately discussed today is what’s in the news lately- something close to our hearts or maybe butts- haha- baby’s poop! Would you dare try sausages made from babe's poop?

Apparently bacteria from baby poop can help make delicious sausages, which could transform savory meats into health foods much like probiotic yogurts, according to new research. Ok before you even go yucks…. Just read onJ

For millennia, cultures across the globe have relied on microbes to help create a dazzling variety of foods and drinks. The most familiar examples are the yeasts used to make wine, beer and other alcohol. Bacteria and yeast ferment sugars in foods, generating acids, gases and alcohols. Bread gets its spongy texture from bubbles of carbon dioxide released by fermenting yeast; cheese, pickles and kimchi traditionally often got their sharp taste via fermentation as well.

In recent years, scientists have discovered that foods such as yogurt that contain live probiotic bacteria can have a wide variety of health benefits. For instance, these microbes could help burn away belly fat, treat depression, lower inflammation, prevent urinary-tract infections and fight infant gastrointestinal disorders such as constipation.

Scientists in Spain reasoned that probiotic bacteria could be used in fermented sausages as well. Probiotic fermented sausages will give an opportunity to consumers who don't take dairy products the possibility to include probiotic foods to their diet. For probiotic bacteria to work, they must survive the acids in the digestive tract. As such, the researchers focused on microbes found alive in human feces.

Baby bacteria

The scientists concentrated on 43 fecal samples of healthy infants up to 6 months old. The two kinds of bacteria used most often in probiotics, Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium, are far more abundant in infant poop than in adult excrement. In addition, infant feces are natural samples, easy to obtain- from diapersJ

The scientists tried fermenting six batches of sausages using three strains of bacteria found in baby poop and three other, commercial probiotic strains of bacteria. Studies they had done in the past established the strains they used from infant excrement were safe for people.

Specifically, the investigators made "fuet," a kind of Mediterranean fermented pork sausage commonly found in Catalonia in northeastern Spain. It resembles the Spanish fermented sausage known as "chorizo," although fuet does not contain paprika like chorizo does and is also usually shorter, thinner, less acidic and less fatty. (The sausages the researchers made had no feces in them, only bacteria cultured from the poop.)

The scientists tried their creations as well. According to them,  they tasted very good !!!! Future research needs to confirm if this strain of bacteria actually has probiotic effects. Meanwhile, they can be used for the production of tasty fermented sausages. However no companies are currently interested in commercializing these sausages…..hmmmmm wonder why????? …lol…..

Research on the advantages of drinking Tea

Our coffee maker died on  us yesterday & Boss has “ordered” it to be replace asap!!!  WE all think he’s addicted but he refuse to admit.  He even give me the morning off just to get a new coffee maker….  Why cant he just drink tea for a couple of days right? Tea is healthier probably the most consumed beverage in the world, just behind water , especially green tea.

He should know better, he’s the one that told us all four kinds of non herbal tea — green, black, white and oolong (red) — come from the same plant, a warm-weather evergreen known as Camellia sinensis. The leaves of this plant contain chemicals known as polyphenols.

Polyphenols are powerful antioxidants, many of which have anticancer activity. Polyphenols, like other antioxidants, help protect cells from the normal, but damaging, physiological process known as “oxidative stress”, which happens when rogue molecules known as free radicals damage your cells. Many studies have demonstrated the anticancer properties of polyphenols. They can stop the damage that free radicals do to cells, neutralize enzymes essential for tumor growth, and deactivate cancer promoters. Another study demonstrated a connection between drinking black tea regularly and reducing the risk of stroke.

Now, a brand new study  showed that there is an positive relationship between tea drinking and cognitive performance. Total tea consumption was independently associated with better performance on global cognition, memory, executive function and information processing speed. Didn’t matter whether the subjects in the study drank green, black or oolong tea. “The protective effect of tea consumption on cognitive function was not limited to particular type of tea”, wrote the researchers.

Even teas not made from the Camellia sinensis plant are beneficial. The newly popular Yerba Matte tea (made from an entirely different plant) has been shown to have significant antioxidant activity. A recent study  showed that rooibos tea (a red tea from Africa) exhibited cardiovascular benefits by acting as an ACE-inhibitor. And another study showed that even herbal teas (in addition to the standard teas) were helpful in reducing the risk of ovarian cancer, with subjects who drank four or more cups a day having significantly less risk compared to subjects who drank no tea at all.

None of this is to disparage the deservedly wonderful reputation of green tea, which contains catechins which reduce the risk of cancer, lower the risk of cardiovascular disease, speed the metabolism slightly, and may help with weight loss.

I was bringing in all these studies to show him , maybe he should “try” living without coffee for a while. He look at me calmly & said “ Just get that coffee maker will you????”….lol……