Moving Time and Space

This past week I had the pleasure of experiencing Washington DC with my extended family and my children. I lived in the greater DC area for several years as a child, and have fond memories of the National Museum of Natural History and the gigantic whale suspended from the ceiling. Though I have had many opportunities to return to DC for work, I have been waiting until I thought my own children would be old enough to remember the trip to take them. This week, with MPUSD in recess, was it.

We did the requisite trips to see the memorials and monuments. The Washington Monument reflecting on the water is still incredible, and the Lincoln Memorial still takes my breath away. The sight of the White House, lit at night, is a truly patriotic thing no matter what political party you belong to. I’ve stood there with Democrats and Republicans in power, and the effect is still the same, pure awe and respect. The National Museum of Natural History is still amazing. Fully assembled dinosaur bones, full-sized African elephants, whales suspended from the ceiling, and all. That particular museum, and my childhood memories, combined with my more recent trips as a researcher relegated to the collections stored in the catacombs in the basement of this fine institution, was my main motivation for the trip.

But, this time, with my kids, the site I found most moving was standing beneath the space shuttle Endeavor in the Air and Space Museum. The Endeavor never actually went into space, it was set up as a training shuttle. But, the sheer intensity of this actual ship literally inches from my face was almost heart-stopping. The strides we have made in this particular area of science are truly awesome. The mistakes…devastating. I remember sitting in my classroom in elementary school as the first civilian went into space, a teacher no less. This was to be a momentous day! There was a television brought into every classroom. We were glued to the broadcast. And, then, the worst possible thing happened. The spacecraft exploded, as we all watched. I knew it was awful, but I was too young to comprehend that the unimaginable had just happened. My teachers openly wept. I thought of this as I looked at the Endeavor.

And, what brought tears to my eyes, holding my son’s hand in the same museum, was standing under the Enola Gay and explaining to him the significance of that particular airplane, which, I am proud to say, I remembered without reading the elegantly framed placard in front of me. The payload of the Enola Gay represented the single most significant scientific accomplishment of the day. An accomplishment that was simultaneously the most devastating known to man, and subsequently brought an end to a World War.

The Air and Space Museum was always my father’s favorite museum. He is an engineer. I thought it made sense given his career. Now, however, I understand it from the perspective of a parent. The Air and Space Museum, like no other, represents the amazing strides we have made as a human race, and all that we hope will come to be in our children’s lifetimes, and their children’s lifetimes. We hope the science will be used for good; to find a cure for cancer, to end world hunger, to create world peace. Science can be also devastating. I lived in fear of a nuclear holocaust as a child. Global warming now haunts my children. And global warming is, in fact, the product of science run amok.

For better or for worse, science holds the key to the future. When I was a child I think we trusted that science would always make life better. Or at least I saw the world that way, through the eyes of a child. Now, I can only hope that science holds the promise of a great life for our children and grandchildren. We have seen the devastation that can be wrought. Yet, we hope that humanity will prevail and rational minds will guide science so that life for our children is better than we have now. That is all we ever want as parents.

Viral Fear

With the school year upon us, it is probably time for another installment of Swine Flu 101. My kids have already had the flu, or some sort of viral bug, this year, and I cough and sputter as I write this. Feels like I have had this bug for a month or more already.

This year’s flu season is looking to be pretty rough. On a day when I called my son in sick from school, 7 other kids were absent from his class, and 5 from from my daughter’s including the teacher. Does this mean I should panic? No. But, should I use some common sense? Yes. Sick kids need to stay home. Because sick kids get other kids sick, and then they all miss school, and that is no good for anyone’s education.

Is this a challenge in that I have to miss work when I am home with a sick kid? You bet. Two working parents on furlough and with no local family who can help makes sick kid days tough. Are my kids ever sick on furlough days? Of course not. Are they sick on a day when I have meetings scheduled back to back and incredibly important, career-limiting deadlines, of course. But, a sick kid is a sick kid and they have to stay home.

If you don’t already have a plan for how you are going to handle your child’s illness this year, it is a good idea to make one. Chances are you are going to have a sick kid. Chances are that when your kid is sick, you are carrying the germs and just not showing the symptoms, making you a prime vector for whatever the disease of the moment is. Viruses are typically most transmissible (ie contagious), before you show symptoms. That is the evolution at work. A successful virus is really good at spreading itself before you know it is there, and can fight it. That is how it ensures its survival. Having you home too, with your kid, is just not a bad idea.

In the meantime, should we panic? Definitely not. H1N1 is out there, in our population, right now. It has pretty much made it into the mainstream at this point. Doctors appear to be just assuming their patients have it now, and not sending every patient out to be tested. You should view this as a good thing. If doctors are not so panicked that they feel they need to test every suspect case, then the cases are mild, and the flu is doing what it is supposed to do in an evolutionary biology sense. It is becoming less virulent. Another hallmark of a successful virus is that it does not kill its host, as a live host means it can be spread to more and more people.

Dr. Marc Lipsitch of Harvard University estimates that we are now down to a Stage 1 pandemic. Stage 1 is the lowest level. Yes, people are going to contract this. Category 1 is equivalent to a moderate (not mild, but not severe) seasonal flu. Like seasonal flu, he predicts this is going to tend to affect the elderly and the immune compromised the worst. Because this effect is being added to the usual seasonal flu effect, it is going to be noticed. But, it is predictable.

What to do in the meantime? Cover your mouth when you cough or sneeze, stay home when you are ill, and do the same for your kids. What to do about all the others around you coughing and sneezing and not following this advice? A little hand-washing goes a long way. Do help yourself to the Purell and other sources provided to you to clean those items you touch that are out there being touched by everyone. But also remember, viruses are not biotic. Antibiotic wipes and gels won’t work against viruses, and there is lots of evidence that these contribute to the breeding of antibiotic-resistant bacterial strains. Antibiotic soaps and the like are not allowed in my home. Alcohol-based products like the hand-sanitizers are antiseptic, meaning they kill just about everything and kill it good. These, so far, are not linked to generating antibiotic resistance, are recommended by my personal doctor, and are allowed in my home.

The Science of Volunteering

Many of us volunteer, and we do it for many different reasons. Lots of us got started because we say a need, perhaps for our own children or family members, and decided to fill that need – and it grew from there. Nearly all of us would be resistant to admit that we also gain something from this seemingly selfless donation of our time and efforts. However, we most certainly do gain.

It is the very volunteering of the act that makes it so rewarding - by volunteering we learn how to help others, and in doing so help ourselves as well. Volunteering may also allow you to explore (new) career and personal interests, enrich your education, build your resume, gain marketable skills, and earn valuable recommendations. You will develop leadership skills and gain leadership opportunities. You will almost surely make a difference for an individual or in your larger community, which in an incredible ‘feel good’ opportunity. You just might even have fun and make new friends!

But, believe it or not, the act of giving your time or effort to others is actually shown, scientifically, to improve your overall health. Volunteering is often recommended by mental health professionals as an activity to increase your own personal self-esteem and to overcome shyness or loneliness. A recent report compiled by the Corporation for National and Community Service (sponsors of the AmeriCorps program) and the USA Freedom Corps shows that there are solid studies by social and medical scientists to support this, and more, claims (http://www.nationalservice.gov/about/volunteering/benefits.asp). The 30 scientifically-controlled studies included in the report collectively found that volunteering leads to improved mental and physical health. The volunteers that were tracked in these studies experienced higher functional ability, greater longevity, and lower rates of depression.

Volunteering is also thought to increase people’s perceptions of their quality of life, increase people’s satisfaction with their own life, increase people’s activity levels and physical and mental fitness, and helps people to feel that they ‘belong’. According to PBS (Public Broadcasting Service), that’s the secret of volunteering. People who become volunteers usually lead richer, happier, and more satisfying lives than those who don’t volunteer.

PBS has a wonderful website aimed at kids, called It’s My Life (http://pbskids.org/itsmylife/). We could learn a lot from those kids. My favorite quote is this one:

Michele, 12, says: “It teaches humbleness, something I could use. Also, it teaches you how many people need help around the world. You want to help more and more people. It gets kind of addicting.”

Smart kid! These children are tomorrow’s leaders, and we can help them out today with our skills, talent, and time. Every act, no matter how small, can help. So, help yourself, and help your community at the same time. Go Volunteer!

The life and death of a planet

Scientists have discovered a new planet, and it is spiraling to its doom, or so the predictions go. WASP-18b, so named because it was discovered by the United Kingdom’s ‘Wide Angle Search for Planets’ program, is destined to crash into its parent star, aptly named WASP-18. Fortunately for us, this planet is not in our solar system and its parent star is not our sun. But still…wow.

WASP-18b, described in the August 27 issue of the international journal Nature, is not an insignificant planet. It is ten times the mass of our Jupiter.

The trouble for poor WASP-18b is that it orbits way too close to WASP-18, a mere 1.4 million miles away. Ok, 1.4 million miles seems pretty far. But, WASP-18b is so close to WASP-18 that it can complete its orbit in just over 22 hours. It takes the Earth 8760 hours, or 365 of our so-called days (a.k.a. 1 year), to orbit our sun. The concept of a ‘day’ depends on how fast we are spinning on our Earth axis; our day is 24 hours. It takes 24 hours for us to see the sun, spin all the way around, and see the sun in the same position again. A day on WASP-18b is going to be remarkably different, because it spins on its axis slower than it traverses its orbit. So, a ‘day’ lasts longer than a ‘year’. Too bad, since ‘daytime’ temperatures on WASP-18b reach a broiling 3,800°F.

WASP-18b will be pulled to its doom, and relatively soon by planetary terms, by the gravitational forces that exist between the two bodies. These are the same sorts of gravitational forces that exist between the Earth and our Moon, and subsequently cause the tides. However, our moon orbits the Earth much more slowly than the Earth itself is rotating, thusly our moon is actually moving ever so slowly away from us. At the blinding speed of 0.2 seconds a century (so don’t lose sleep over this).

However, WASP-18b is spiraling inward, and its spin is speeding up. Because of the distance between WASP-18b and WASP-18, WASP-18b experiences gravitational forces so strong that there is huge a bulge at its equator literally dragging behind the planet. Thus, the real mystery is why it has not been sucked into the center of WASP-18 already.

Scientists admit that there is another alternative for the outcome of WASP-18b – it could be shredded to bits by gravitational pull, creating rings of gas and debris not unlike the rings of Saturn.

The really cool thing about the discovery of WASP-18b is that scientists will know if their predictions will be borne out in the next 5 to 10 years. No, the crash is not that eminent. But, the change in trajectory of WASP-18b will be.

So, how often are new planets discovered? Well, 30 more were discovered just in 2009. WASP-18b is number 374 on the list maintained by the Paris Observatory. WASP-17b was discovered on August 11 of this year. It is twice the size of Jupiter, but has only half the mass, earning it the truly adorable designation of ‘puffy planet’.

2009 - The Year of Science

Explore, Empower, Engage… That is the by-line for the international Year of Science. It is already July, meaning the year is half over. But, there is still half a year left. So, the optimist in me says there is a lot left to be gained.

What does the International Year of Science mean for you? Well, it means that a whole lot of scientific groups and societies are working right now to make their science more accessible. If science has always seemed like some mysterious endeavor that takes place in dark museum basements and smoke-filled laboratories, this is your year. As their press release states, the goal of the Year of Science 2009 (a.k.a. YOS 2009 – of course, we need an acronym for it to be any sort of official endeavor!) is to engage the public in science by showcasing how science works, who scientists are, and why science matters in our communities and everyday lives. Entire states, including California, are embracing YOS 2009 through proclamations and special collaborative activities. And, universities, scientific societies, K-12 schools, science centers and museums, federal agencies, corporations and other non-profits have created a grassroots network dedicated to celebrating YOS 2009.

A special web site (www.yearofscience2009.org) has been created help the general public learn more about this year –long national event. Every month throughout the year, the site will feature a new scientific theme, in which organizational leaders in that discipline share the excitement of their science. The web site also provides engaging resources and highlights FREE events connected to the monthly theme such as science cafes, festivals, open houses, blogs, podcasts, and school visits by scientists to share their work.

Two of my personal favorites within this new and pretty awesome collection of resources are the Why Science Is Important site (http://whyscience.co.uk/), which features statements, videos, movies and personal reflections from scientists and non-scientists alike, and the Understanding Science site (http://understandingscience.com), which explains how science really works, what it is, and what it hopes to achieve. The latter is a really great resource for teachers and families.

I want to share something else I learned from this website that really touched me. A lot of people out there say; “I am just not good at science.” What this can mean, especially when it comes from our kids, is “I just have not found the part of science that interests me.” Classroom science may be challenging. But, as in all walks of life, what one learns in the classroom is only part of being a scientist. Scientific research involves a lot of creative thinking, problem-solving, logic, and communication skills – and those aren’t always tapped in the classroom. I am going to freely admit that the class I disliked the very most my freshman year of college was my Biology class. And the class I did the worst in (and took a couple of times over) was Physics. Lucky for me, science is also an incredibly diverse suite of fields ranging from astronomy to zoology, and every letter of the alphabet in between. I found a career that blended my interests, played to my personal strengths, and ironically includes biology and physics. But, you don’t have to choose a career in science to enjoy it. Science really is for everyone, at some level.

Science is Never Out of Style

Check out the new Science Nation feature

http://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/science_nation/about.jsp

The tiny world around us

In the wake of the Influena A-H1N1 chaos, you must have known I’d get around to writing about germs eventually. Hopefully most of us have calmed down now, and been able to put the H1N1 threat into the proper context and realized that, like seasonal flu, it tends not to affect healthy individuals all that severely, and it is best prevented with the same old remedies Mom taught you of good hand-washing and covering your mouth when you cough or sneeze. And, if you are sick, with any ailment, stay home and don’t spread it. But, it gets me around to the concept of germs, or more specifically, viruses, bacteria, and other tiny micro-organisms (oh my!).

Viruses, like H1N1, are just tiny packages of genetic material wrapped in a cozy protein coat. They reproduce inside host cells (i.e., you) using the hosts’ genetic machinery (i.e., yours). They make thousands of copies of themselves and then spread, implementing their little genetic programmes. Viruses do not always cause disease, but they usually cause an immune response, and once your body has produced that response you often have lifetime immunity to the virus (notable exceptions would be the herpes virus, hepatitis B, etc which elicit an incomplete immune response and remain with the host for life). Vaccines typically contain killed virus in order to cause the body to produce the desired immune response, when then protects the host from future invasions by this particular viral agent. Viruses are not killed by antibiotics, specifically because they are not “biotic.” Viruses lack the components of living cells that make them susceptible to antibiotics. Viruses, however, are the most abundant “life” form on the planet.

Bacteria are living cells. They live everywhere on earth, and we are able to culture only a tiny fraction of them. The vast majority are completely harmless, many are quite helpful, and a special few can be devastating. Most are easily dispatched by our immune system, and those that aren’t can sometimes be killed by antibiotics (but, not every harmful bacteria has a known antibiotic, and many are evolving resistance to known antibiotics). There are perhaps ten times more bacterial cells in your body than human cells. You are your own walking bacterial ecosystem.

A recent study [Science, 23 May 2008, p. 1001] looked to quantify the numbers of different types of bacteria living on the human body, and where. They swabbed all the places you might normally think of as well as some you probably don’t want to think of (mostly external), and the big winner? Not what you might think…it was our forearms; 500 to 1000 species of bacteria live on our skin.

Other tiny biological structures include prions, which are proteins that re-fold themselves to adopt a shape that causes them to interfere with normal protein function. And, fungi, which come in many forms, ranging from microscopic to the size just right for veggie pizza and portobello burgers. Mold is in this group, which is good for cheese, bad for heating and ventilation ducts, and pretty useful as a class of antibiotics.

When it comes to these tiny organisms, we humans are greatly outnumbered. Just a little humbling, isn’t it?