Part 48: Science Safety Rules, CC Cards, and Other Random Bits of Awesome. Oct 10, 2012

Science Safety Rules

Twice a year, every student in science classes has to be read the “Science Safety Rules.”  Then they must sign a document saying they’ve been read the rules.   This year, I was chosen to take care of the 11^th grade.  This was my first encounter with the “Science Safety Rules.”  Some, such as “When diluting an acid, pour the acid into water. Never pour water into the acid,” are really important.  Others are ridiculous.  Today, I want to highlight my favorite section: the safety shower.  The emphasized sections are not mine.  This is from the actual document:

When and how to use the safety shower

• Shower should be used for fire EMERGENCY only!
• If you (or a lab mate) is ON FIRE, position yourself (or your lab mate) under the safety shower.
• Pull the handle and a deluge of water will result.
• Flames will be rapidly extinguished.
• The safety shower should also be used if you suffer a massive spill of a dangerous chemical on yourself, and need to get it off rapidly.
•  However, in a high school laboratory, this will seldom be necessary.

First of all, I love that fire EMERGENCY is red and in capitals.  ON FIRE and the parenthetical (or a lab mate)’s in the next line are great for comedic effect when reading to the class.  The contradiction between the first line and second to last line is a nice touch.  Finally, I don’t remember the last time I saw the word deluge used in a sentence not written by a poet.  (Plus, who knew that a deluge of water would put out a fire?)

CC Cards

In other news, I got a thank you card from my cousin, CC, this week.  In true CC fashion, she filled up both inside panels and the back.  She has done this with every card she has ever sent me.  

Other Random Bits of Awesome

I am playing intramural volleyball against the students this Friday.  Uchiteli United had a practice yesterday and my red, bruised arms reminded me of why I prefer sports played with your feet.  Like…

Soccerfootball!  Uchiteli United (which is the name of the teacher team in all of the intramural tournaments) hasn’t had a game yet, but I’ve unofficially joined the girls’ football club to prepare for our matches.  However, I have to tone down my playing a bit to play with them and they all flinch whenever I come near them.  Apparently, I’m scary.  It’s probably the only situation in which I am scary. 

The Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded to Sir John B. Gurdon and Shinya Yamanaka for "for the discovery that mature cells can be reprogrammed to become pluripotent."  Basically, they found a way to take a differentiated cell (like a skin cell) and turn it back into a cell that is capable of differentiating into any type of tissue cell, or a stem cell.  Embryonic stem cells, which most people have probably heard of, are debated upside down and sideways in ethics.  Previously, it was thought that embryos were the only place to find these cells.  This new discovery could pave the way for stem cell research that can take place without the ethical debate surrounding embryonic cells, which is great since stem cell research is showing promising developments in treating diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s and in organ/tissue regeneration.  Science for the win.  http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/2012/press.html

More Bits:  Slime molds have "externalized spatial memory"  which is kind of awesome.  They can navigate a maze by detecting areas they have slimed before.  Therefore they do not retrace their "steps." 

And One Final Random:  An outbreak of my favorite opportunistic parasite, Naegleria fowleri, has occurred in Pakistan.  This amoeba normally lives in warm freshwater and feeds on bacteria.  It does not need to become a parasite to survive.  However, if you dunk your head under that water and it gets into your nose or ear, it eats its way into and through your brain.  That’s right.  It’s a brain-eating amoeba.  Science fiction could not have done any better than nature in this case.  Unfortunately for those infected in Pakistan, the case fatality rate is 98% and in the 123 known cases in the US in the last 50 years, only one person has survived.  This is a decidedly less-awesome fact; however the organism itself is pretty cool.