Carl Zimmer tells his story

I listened to this RadioLab episode last night on highway 5 here in Oregon. Carl Zimmer wraps enlightenment around the hard truths of his life in this week's RadioLab short "Sleepless in South Sudan" Worth a listen.

Eugenie Scott tells her story

Eugenie Scott remains on my short list of heroes. In the video below I hope you can see why.

Save the Children!

Full Circle

This is a phenomenal story and worth the 17.5 minutes required to watch it. Jana Levin - Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Barnard College - tells an unlikely story of romance while researching. I was in the room for this and she certainly has an electric personality. The story was told at the Player's Club on Manhattan as part of the 2010 World Science Festival in association with The Moth - probably one of the most ingenious non-profit organizations of our time. The Moth is a story-telling series where all stories are true and told live, without notes. I have listened to hours and hours of the most real entertainment I've ever been exposed to. Usually I listen to The Moth on my iPhone through the Stitcher Radio app. From Nobel Laureates to high-ranking politicians to prison inmates, the Moth has featured story-tellers from all walks of life. If you have never heard of the Moth, Tom Paine's Ghost highly recommends their content.

Daniel Radcliffe performs Tom Lehrer's "The Elements"

I missed this last year. I'm amazed if he really memorized this in one night!

Happy Halloween!

Porphyria! The Mystery of the Vampire Myth Explained 

TPG CLASSIC - REPOST from 31st October 2008.

Teeth lengthened by receding gums glow in the shaded valleys of the Carpathian basin. The genetic milieu of the Visigoths, Huns, Carpians, and Slavic peoples have swirled over centuries as granite crags pushed populations into shallow gene pools. A ghoulish thing of legend emerged from Transylvania and has since soaked literature and pop-culture with a reddish froth. Science and medicine have given us reason not to fear for our necks in a story that is truly stranger than fiction...

The glowing teeth mentioned earlier occur because of an accumulation of light sensitive molecules called porphyrins in victims of a rare genetic disease. Porphyria affects one of the steps in heme production. A heme is the chemical group that holds iron atoms in their proper position in hemoglobin (the protein of blood). The name "porphyria" came from the Greek words for purple and pigment. Victims of this disease have an uncanny similarity to historical descriptions of vampires and phenotypes of this disease have been suggested as possible explanation for the origin of vampire legends.

Mal-formed porphyrin molecules accumulate in affected people's skin and teeth. When activated by light these molecules activate oxygen molecules into destructive radicals that can wreak havoc on surrounding tissue. When exposed to light individuals appear to be burned with caustic lesions left on their skin. Enter: Nosferatu's pale countenance shrieking in terror as the sun rises.

Though no blood-lust is reported by sufferers some historians speculate that drinking the blood of animals may have been attempted as a folk remedy in treating the disease. It has since been proven that the heme molecule is in fact robust enough to survive digestion indicating that replenishing mal-formed blood molecules by drinking blood may indeed help those that happen to exhibit anemia in conjunction with porphyria. When watching vampire movies the whole garlic premise never made any sense to me. Why couldn't you use mushrooms, or cinnamon, or toothbrushes to scare away vampires? What was it about garlic. With the Porphyria hypothesis in mind it makes sense however. Garlic has vasso-dilator chemicals and is reported to exacerbate the affects of porphyria. Sufferers may have learned to avoid it indeed!

In the genetically secluded valleys of Transylvania it is not hard to imagine disorders like these occurring more than expected in a diverse population. Before the renaissance and the spread of the scientific revolution a vampire myth may have grown from accounts of these individuals with their glowing long teeth, aversion to sun and garlic, and maybe even sucking blood in the night!

Your Inner Fish

This interview is from 2008 and I just now discovered it after searching for some inspiration over at the Scientific American Blog Network. Thanks to Guilty Planet blog for showing me this fantastic interview with Neil Shubin, author of Your Inner Fish.

The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive

Obama Opens the Gates on American Education

I am in Munich, Germany at the moment. I've met people from all over Germany and the rest of Europe here at the Oktoberfest celebrations. I am constantly impressed with the number of languages all Europeans seem to speak with ease. Though I question the status and rigor of education in the United States I do not think we are at the point of no return. Watching President Obama make his address this week fills me with pride at the continued promise of America. There are many among my close friends who say "the American Dream is over." To them I say Nay, it is alive, changing, adapting. And education is portal to see the metamorphosis. Bully for you Obama!

Pleaching a Plant Palace... and a Meat House?

I like the idea of a "Pleached" plant matrix for the outer shell of the home. However, I'm not sure the meat house is scalable in the real world.

Post from Wakkerzeel, Belgium!

Where am I and What am I doing?  I am staying with good friends, Kristiaan and Mieke at their home in Wakerzeel, Belgium.

Kristiaan is a special person in my life as his name inspired my Mother to spell my name as she did – Kristopher. My mother met Kristiaan as he was one of the 17 children in the host family that took her in as she did a semester abroad in Antwerp, Belgium while at SUNY Fredonia in the 1960s. Fredonia happens to be my alma mater as well J.

What have we learned in one day here? On the way from the airport in Brussels to Wakkerzeel (the village of his lovely home) he explained how the roads were commissioned in 1750 by the Empress of Belgium, Maria Terezia to be very straight and aligned from church steeple to church steeple.  This was also the year that the first map of Belgium was completed – was a state secret as any army that obtained a copy could use it to invade – yet somehow Kristiaan has managed to obtain a copy of this map J Along the route home we stopped at “Bols” a wholesaler of mussels to buy 6 kilos of the delectibe shelfish . The young man scooping the mussels was quick to point out that the mussels we were about to enjoy originated in Holland.  When he announced this Kristiaan seemed surprised yet we enjoyed the mussels in all their flavorful glory nonetheless..  We also crossed a canal which Kristian said was also commissioned in 1750 we followed the road along the canal to Wakkerzeel through Haacht and a town named Wespellar - “where the wasps go.”  Here there is a huge walled grounds with a large arboretum that is opened once a year. This land is owned and operated by the family that originally owned Stella Artois.  Kristiaan seemed to think the family was not involved with the brewing any longer.  Speaking of brewing, while we passed through the town of Haacht we also observed a large and intricate set of new brick buildings – the Haacht Brewery.

When we arrived at the stand-alone row house of Kristiaan and Mieke we were greeted by Mieke who was busy with her daughter Saskia making preparations for the wedding of Kristiaan and Mieke on August  20th. Keep in mind that Kristiaan and Mieke are in their 60s and are getting married after 7 years living together as it will make things easier if anything were to happen to either one of them.  A wedding is a wonderful excuse to send out a quorum call to a family of 17 siblings anyhow. I am surely getting excited to experience this wedding as it will be an all day event at the local “feast hall” here in Wakkerzeel. 

Stay tuned for more stories from Flanders as they happen :) If you have any questions for this traveling disscussion please comment and I will query the Flemish perspectives.