Sunday, January 3, 2016
Solution to Plastic Waste Problem
"Plastic, meet your match. New research shows that mealworms can eat Styrofoam, and the waste is biodegradable." The biodegradable waste can be used as fertilizers.
Mealworms may help fight our plastic waste problem - CNN.com
Viruses ARE Living
Viruses ARE living things.
"After analysing the folds in 5,080 organisms and 3,460 viruses, the researchers found that viruses and modern cells share 442 protein folds, and only 66 are virus-specific. But those 66 are unlike anything seen in cells, which contradicts the hypothesis that viruses simply took all their genetic materials from cells.
This information allowed them to build a rough tree of life, which showed that viruses share a common ancestor with modern cells, but are more ancient.
"Viruses originated from multiple ancient cells ... and co-existed with the ancestors of modern cells," the researchers write in Science Advances."
Viruses ARE alive, and they're older than modern cells, new study suggests
"After analysing the folds in 5,080 organisms and 3,460 viruses, the researchers found that viruses and modern cells share 442 protein folds, and only 66 are virus-specific. But those 66 are unlike anything seen in cells, which contradicts the hypothesis that viruses simply took all their genetic materials from cells.
This information allowed them to build a rough tree of life, which showed that viruses share a common ancestor with modern cells, but are more ancient.
"Viruses originated from multiple ancient cells ... and co-existed with the ancestors of modern cells," the researchers write in Science Advances."
Phosphenes
When you look at something really bright and then close your eyes, you
would see blobs of light scattering and dissipating. Have you ever
wondered what they are? They are phosphenes (not a compound)!
Why do we see colors with our eyes closed?
TEDxUPM - 10/2015
Michael Green. April Cuenca. Dr. Raquel Fortun. Jerrold Tarog. Ebe Dancel.
I attended a TEDxUPM talk. With the more diversified topics and disciplines yet presenting a unified theme, this outside-the-classroom experience is irreplaceable. The speakers (including the TED videos presented) were as follows:
1. Video: What the Social Progress Index can reveal about your country by Michael Green: It IS POSSIBLE (contrary to what pessimists say) for the world to be a better place when, according to Michael Green, all countries strive for economic growth and at the same time eliminate poverty. This can increase our Social Progress Index from a mediocre score so somewhere around 61+. However, in order to reach UN's Global Goal of 75, we have to do things differently - not through the conventional business transaction.
2. CEO and Founder of FlipTrip.PH - April Cuenca: Go from your point A (your status quo) to point B (your destination). We should be willing to find places in the Philippines to travel. Tourism is something very important to the livelihood as well as social development of the local communities.
3. First Woman Forensic Pathologist in the Philippines - Dr. Raquel Fortun: The state of Philippine Trial courts ranges from the well-decorated Makati Trial Court (with genuine wooden material) to the lackluster (with broken chairs) ones. As a forensic pathologist, she is qualified by the trial judge as an expert witness (contrast to the ordinary and professional witness), who is reliable in terms of hypothetical crime scenarios. She has taken the relatively recent Laude's case.
4. Director of Heneral Luna - Jerrold Tarog: Heneral Luna, apparently, is his ninth film. He was originally a music major who without much difficulty shifted to film making. Why is this so? "Music is film and film is music to me." (Tarog, 2015) There is color (timbre), story structure (such as three-act and sonata structures), fugue, motifs (and visual motifs) and beauty in editing. Movies have a beautiful way of amplifying emotions along with music using the beat rhythm (composed of upbeats and downbeats), such as adding new instruments into the "music scene" in every downbeat (1 in 1, 2, 3, 4).
5. Gerson Abesamis, co-founder of Habi Education Lab: The current state of the country, especially in education is having a deficit-based mindset, and this is very dangerous because it does not encourage good learning. We need to shift from deficit-based mindset to asset-based mindset - which is using whatever we can do - all of them to creatively teach students (such as gamification). Another universal lesson I learned is that "Good intentions alone can be dangerous and can cloud your judgment. You have to think critically."
6. Video: Wapnick, founder of the website Puttylike: Our society is so wrong in making us believe that we have one, ultimate destiny - something we should fulfill in our life by the question "What do you want to be when you grow up?" This is a question that's casually asked to a five-year old and currently an all-night worrying thought for those who are in their career. She asserts that we people who are interested in many, many, different fields SHOULD NOT restrict, narrow ourselves into one! We are MULTIPOTENTIALITES. We have three superpowers: Idea Synthesis, Rapid Learning and Adaptability. There are many well-known, world-changing people who are such (a doctor and violinist, a doctor and programmer, etc.)
7. Lead Guitarist and Vocalist of OPM Band Sugarfree - Ebe Dancel: Music. Music. Music. Music. Music. Music. I cannot describe how much I am touched by his singing.
Fanciful as it may sound, I got a TEDxUPM shirt, lanyard and even the autograph signatures (and photos) with Dr. Fortun and Director Tarog. I am thankful to the organizers for organizing such as awesome event. I look forward to attend more TED talks.
I attended a TEDxUPM talk. With the more diversified topics and disciplines yet presenting a unified theme, this outside-the-classroom experience is irreplaceable. The speakers (including the TED videos presented) were as follows:
1. Video: What the Social Progress Index can reveal about your country by Michael Green: It IS POSSIBLE (contrary to what pessimists say) for the world to be a better place when, according to Michael Green, all countries strive for economic growth and at the same time eliminate poverty. This can increase our Social Progress Index from a mediocre score so somewhere around 61+. However, in order to reach UN's Global Goal of 75, we have to do things differently - not through the conventional business transaction.
2. CEO and Founder of FlipTrip.PH - April Cuenca: Go from your point A (your status quo) to point B (your destination). We should be willing to find places in the Philippines to travel. Tourism is something very important to the livelihood as well as social development of the local communities.
3. First Woman Forensic Pathologist in the Philippines - Dr. Raquel Fortun: The state of Philippine Trial courts ranges from the well-decorated Makati Trial Court (with genuine wooden material) to the lackluster (with broken chairs) ones. As a forensic pathologist, she is qualified by the trial judge as an expert witness (contrast to the ordinary and professional witness), who is reliable in terms of hypothetical crime scenarios. She has taken the relatively recent Laude's case.
4. Director of Heneral Luna - Jerrold Tarog: Heneral Luna, apparently, is his ninth film. He was originally a music major who without much difficulty shifted to film making. Why is this so? "Music is film and film is music to me." (Tarog, 2015) There is color (timbre), story structure (such as three-act and sonata structures), fugue, motifs (and visual motifs) and beauty in editing. Movies have a beautiful way of amplifying emotions along with music using the beat rhythm (composed of upbeats and downbeats), such as adding new instruments into the "music scene" in every downbeat (1 in 1, 2, 3, 4).
5. Gerson Abesamis, co-founder of Habi Education Lab: The current state of the country, especially in education is having a deficit-based mindset, and this is very dangerous because it does not encourage good learning. We need to shift from deficit-based mindset to asset-based mindset - which is using whatever we can do - all of them to creatively teach students (such as gamification). Another universal lesson I learned is that "Good intentions alone can be dangerous and can cloud your judgment. You have to think critically."
6. Video: Wapnick, founder of the website Puttylike: Our society is so wrong in making us believe that we have one, ultimate destiny - something we should fulfill in our life by the question "What do you want to be when you grow up?" This is a question that's casually asked to a five-year old and currently an all-night worrying thought for those who are in their career. She asserts that we people who are interested in many, many, different fields SHOULD NOT restrict, narrow ourselves into one! We are MULTIPOTENTIALITES. We have three superpowers: Idea Synthesis, Rapid Learning and Adaptability. There are many well-known, world-changing people who are such (a doctor and violinist, a doctor and programmer, etc.)
7. Lead Guitarist and Vocalist of OPM Band Sugarfree - Ebe Dancel: Music. Music. Music. Music. Music. Music. I cannot describe how much I am touched by his singing.
Fanciful as it may sound, I got a TEDxUPM shirt, lanyard and even the autograph signatures (and photos) with Dr. Fortun and Director Tarog. I am thankful to the organizers for organizing such as awesome event. I look forward to attend more TED talks.
A Immunological Cure for Cancer?
"Researchers in the US have found an antibody that turns cancerous
leukaemia cells into natural killer cells - a type of white blood cell
that's able to seek out and destroy tumour cells in the body. If it
works in humans, it would not only reduce the number of cancer cells in a
patient, but could get rid of them altogether.
So far trials in the lab have shown that the converted human leukaemia cells were able to wipe out nearly 15 percent of the cancerous leukaemia cells in just 24 hours.
So far trials in the lab have shown that the converted human leukaemia cells were able to wipe out nearly 15 percent of the cancerous leukaemia cells in just 24 hours.
But instead they stumbled across a rare human antibody that has even
more potential: it can actually turn leukaemia cells into cancer
killers.
The antibody in question binds to a receptor called TPO - or thrombopoietin - which is found on most acute myeloid leukaemia cells. When the researchers first exposed the leukaemia cells to the antibody, they watched as it turned many of them into harmless immune cells known as dendritic cells."
Scientists have found a way to make leukaemia cells kill each other
The antibody in question binds to a receptor called TPO - or thrombopoietin - which is found on most acute myeloid leukaemia cells. When the researchers first exposed the leukaemia cells to the antibody, they watched as it turned many of them into harmless immune cells known as dendritic cells."
Fusion of Chinese Words for New Meaning
I attempted to fuse Chinese words into one word for a fuller meaning.
The words above are the original words, while the words below are the
"synthesized" words. The intended meanings are as follows, from leftmost
to rightmost:
1. 笨 means "stupid". I added two 本 (which means books). This word means that you can be extremely stupid even though you know a lot of content from the books.
2. 傻 also means "stupid". I added a 牛 (which means cow). I wrote this word thinking of "baka baka" in Japanese.
3. 痛 means "pain". I added 愛 (which means love). Enough said.
4. 愛 means "love". I added 痛 (which means pain). Enough said.
1. 笨 means "stupid". I added two 本 (which means books). This word means that you can be extremely stupid even though you know a lot of content from the books.
2. 傻 also means "stupid". I added a 牛 (which means cow). I wrote this word thinking of "baka baka" in Japanese.
3. 痛 means "pain". I added 愛 (which means love). Enough said.
4. 愛 means "love". I added 痛 (which means pain). Enough said.
Erythropoiesis - in a new perspective?
Does this mean that textbooks need to be corrected?
"In a classical view of hematopoiesis, the various blood cell lineages arise via a hierarchical scheme starting with multipotent stem cells that become increasingly restricted in their differentiation potential through oligopotent and then unipotent progenitors. We developed a cell-sorting scheme to resolve myeloid (My), erythroid (Er), and megakaryocytic (Mk) fates from single CD34+ cells and then mapped the progenitor hierarchy across human development. Fetal liver contained large numbers of distinct oligopotent progenitors with intermingled My, Er, and Mk fates. However, few oligopotent progenitor intermediates were present in the adult bone marrow. Instead only two progenitor classes predominate, multipotent and unipotent, with Er-Mk lineages emerging from multipotent cells. The developmental shift to an adult “two-tier” hierarchy challenges current dogma and provides a revised framework to understand normal and disease states of human hematopoiesis." Distinct routes of lineage development reshape the human blood hierarchy across ontogeny
"In a classical view of hematopoiesis, the various blood cell lineages arise via a hierarchical scheme starting with multipotent stem cells that become increasingly restricted in their differentiation potential through oligopotent and then unipotent progenitors. We developed a cell-sorting scheme to resolve myeloid (My), erythroid (Er), and megakaryocytic (Mk) fates from single CD34+ cells and then mapped the progenitor hierarchy across human development. Fetal liver contained large numbers of distinct oligopotent progenitors with intermingled My, Er, and Mk fates. However, few oligopotent progenitor intermediates were present in the adult bone marrow. Instead only two progenitor classes predominate, multipotent and unipotent, with Er-Mk lineages emerging from multipotent cells. The developmental shift to an adult “two-tier” hierarchy challenges current dogma and provides a revised framework to understand normal and disease states of human hematopoiesis." Distinct routes of lineage development reshape the human blood hierarchy across ontogeny
The Library of Babel
According to the video, there's this website called The Library of Babel. (https://libraryofbabel.info/),
wherein if you enter any up to 3200-character combination of text
(which is composed of the alphabet in lowercase, comma, space and
period), the exact permutation will definitely be found.
Technically, this "blurs the line between invention and discovery" because everything is already predetermined. In fact, this very post (excluding other excluded characters) can be found there. How is this possible?
This is not something like "the computer detects what you enter in the search box and then generates something from it". No. The computer uses seed numbers from base-10 and converts them into base-29 and generates every possible combination based on it. Messages For The Future
Technically, this "blurs the line between invention and discovery" because everything is already predetermined. In fact, this very post (excluding other excluded characters) can be found there. How is this possible?
This is not something like "the computer detects what you enter in the search box and then generates something from it". No. The computer uses seed numbers from base-10 and converts them into base-29 and generates every possible combination based on it. Messages For The Future
Artikulo Uno: Heneral Luna
"Early in June, Luna received a message from Aguinaldo asking him to
go to Cabanatuan. Luna left his command in Bayambang, Pangasinan and
proceeded to Aguinaldo's headquarters, arriving there on June 5. He was
angry to see that one of the sentries was a member of the Kawit Company
which he had asked Aguinaldo to disband for military insubordination,
and on going up to Aguinaldo's office, angrier still to find that
Aguinaldo had gone out of town to inspect troops.
While he was arguing heatedly with Buencamino, he heard a shot and rushing down to investigate the disturbance was met by members of the Kawit Company who then stabbed him with bolos and fired at him until he died. He received about forty wounds. The next day, he was buried with full military honors on Aguinaldo's orders, but the Kawit company assassins were neither questioned nor punished." - from The Philippines, a Past Revisited by Renato Constantino, p. 223
HENERAL LUNA
While he was arguing heatedly with Buencamino, he heard a shot and rushing down to investigate the disturbance was met by members of the Kawit Company who then stabbed him with bolos and fired at him until he died. He received about forty wounds. The next day, he was buried with full military honors on Aguinaldo's orders, but the Kawit company assassins were neither questioned nor punished." - from The Philippines, a Past Revisited by Renato Constantino, p. 223
HENERAL LUNA
Thoughts of UP Manila Chorale's Talindaw
1. I learned that "Sieg" in German means "Victory" in English. Indeed "Sieg Jesus" means Christ is our Victory.
2. I was able to completely visualize the suffering of Christ through the vocal glissandos in the song "Eli! Eli!" The image was something like "Christ inundated with exhaustion and suffering". The immense depth of every repetition of "Eli! Eli!" still reverberates through my mind.
3. Until now, I'm still trying to completely contemplate and get a grasp of "De Profundis!". Profundity means "depth", and the lyrics are lifted from Psalm 130. In their song there were continuous, constant, low-note repetitions of "De Profundis!" while the other lyrics were done in a chaotic-domino-effect fashion, along with several other arrangements which I most likely didn't notice. Indeed it is something which I could call "several lamellated layers of depth-filled music".
4. Since two songs were dedicated to Torrevieja, I had to search it up. Torrevieja means "Old Tower" and currently it is a municipality in Spain.
5. Their rendition of the "Bituin Walang Ningning" is otherworldly.
6. I can only remain in utter reverie in their rendition of "Rolling in the Deep". Despite the choreography, stomping, rhythm variations and dramatic sforzandos, they were able to maintain such an immaculate synchronicity.
7. Contrary to the programme sheet, they performed additional songs, "Overture" and "Circle of Life" (from Lion King). Overture was really awesome, with its perfect metronome.
8. Circle of Life, on the other hand, transcends the very definition of "vividness" and "reveries". They were not only able to maintain a perfect rhythm, but they were also able to integrate animal sounds, meticulous as they are - bird, monkey, etc. Hats off to the amazing soloists who powered up the chorus.
P.S. Maybe it would be even better without the "mic of death".
2. I was able to completely visualize the suffering of Christ through the vocal glissandos in the song "Eli! Eli!" The image was something like "Christ inundated with exhaustion and suffering". The immense depth of every repetition of "Eli! Eli!" still reverberates through my mind.
3. Until now, I'm still trying to completely contemplate and get a grasp of "De Profundis!". Profundity means "depth", and the lyrics are lifted from Psalm 130. In their song there were continuous, constant, low-note repetitions of "De Profundis!" while the other lyrics were done in a chaotic-domino-effect fashion, along with several other arrangements which I most likely didn't notice. Indeed it is something which I could call "several lamellated layers of depth-filled music".
4. Since two songs were dedicated to Torrevieja, I had to search it up. Torrevieja means "Old Tower" and currently it is a municipality in Spain.
5. Their rendition of the "Bituin Walang Ningning" is otherworldly.
6. I can only remain in utter reverie in their rendition of "Rolling in the Deep". Despite the choreography, stomping, rhythm variations and dramatic sforzandos, they were able to maintain such an immaculate synchronicity.
7. Contrary to the programme sheet, they performed additional songs, "Overture" and "Circle of Life" (from Lion King). Overture was really awesome, with its perfect metronome.
8. Circle of Life, on the other hand, transcends the very definition of "vividness" and "reveries". They were not only able to maintain a perfect rhythm, but they were also able to integrate animal sounds, meticulous as they are - bird, monkey, etc. Hats off to the amazing soloists who powered up the chorus.
P.S. Maybe it would be even better without the "mic of death".
Zipf Mystery
Try reading a body of text (of natural language) and count the frequency of each word. After that, try ranking them in decreasing frequency.
You will notice that that frequency of the second in rank is about half as much as the first, while the third being one-third as much as the first, and so on. (This may become more accurate with a larger sample size, i.e. more word count.) Why is this so?
This phenomenon involves something we call "Zipf's Law".
In any language, any corpus of literature and any set of natural language utterances, the frequency of occurrence of a word is inversely proportional to its rank. For example, "the" is the most commonly used word in the English language. "Be", which ranks second, occurs about half as much as "the". "To", which ranks third, occurs about one-third as much as "the".
According to this video and Wikipedia as well, this kind of distribution or pattern is found in city populations, solar flare intensities, protein sequences, immune receptors, amount of traffic internet websites get, earthquake magnitudes, number of times academic papers are cited, last names, firing patterns of neural networks, ingredients used in cookbooks, number of phone calls people receive, diameter of Moon craters, number of people die in wars, popularity of opening chess moves, even the rate at which we forget, the planets, the elements in the periodic table.
This distribution followed what the video mentions as "Pareto Principle", where 80% of the effects come from the 20% of the causes. This principle is in fact found in our society, wherein 20% of the population owns about 80% of the wealth! Another example from the video is that Microsoft noted that by fixing the top 20% of the most-reported bugs, 80% of the related errors and crashes in a given system would be eliminated. In the business world, 20% of the customers are responsible for 80% of the profits, and 80% of complaints come from 20% of customers.
According to the video, try having a pool of paper clips. Get any two paper clips and link them together. After that, return it back to the pool. Repeat the process. After some time you may notice a disproportionate paper clip chain ranking first relative to the others. This is simply because the first has more chances of being chosen or being applied an effect.
Is not this similar with "The rich get richer, and the poor get poorer." and "The popular ones become more popular." - something like a positive feedback mechanism? The video mentions "Principle of Least Action" and "Preferential Attachment" as possible "mechanisms".
If all natural processes follow Zipf's Law, then is there any hope of getting out of this natural phenomenon, most especially when such phenomenon is bad?
The Zipf Mystery
You will notice that that frequency of the second in rank is about half as much as the first, while the third being one-third as much as the first, and so on. (This may become more accurate with a larger sample size, i.e. more word count.) Why is this so?
This phenomenon involves something we call "Zipf's Law".
In any language, any corpus of literature and any set of natural language utterances, the frequency of occurrence of a word is inversely proportional to its rank. For example, "the" is the most commonly used word in the English language. "Be", which ranks second, occurs about half as much as "the". "To", which ranks third, occurs about one-third as much as "the".
According to this video and Wikipedia as well, this kind of distribution or pattern is found in city populations, solar flare intensities, protein sequences, immune receptors, amount of traffic internet websites get, earthquake magnitudes, number of times academic papers are cited, last names, firing patterns of neural networks, ingredients used in cookbooks, number of phone calls people receive, diameter of Moon craters, number of people die in wars, popularity of opening chess moves, even the rate at which we forget, the planets, the elements in the periodic table.
This distribution followed what the video mentions as "Pareto Principle", where 80% of the effects come from the 20% of the causes. This principle is in fact found in our society, wherein 20% of the population owns about 80% of the wealth! Another example from the video is that Microsoft noted that by fixing the top 20% of the most-reported bugs, 80% of the related errors and crashes in a given system would be eliminated. In the business world, 20% of the customers are responsible for 80% of the profits, and 80% of complaints come from 20% of customers.
According to the video, try having a pool of paper clips. Get any two paper clips and link them together. After that, return it back to the pool. Repeat the process. After some time you may notice a disproportionate paper clip chain ranking first relative to the others. This is simply because the first has more chances of being chosen or being applied an effect.
Is not this similar with "The rich get richer, and the poor get poorer." and "The popular ones become more popular." - something like a positive feedback mechanism? The video mentions "Principle of Least Action" and "Preferential Attachment" as possible "mechanisms".
If all natural processes follow Zipf's Law, then is there any hope of getting out of this natural phenomenon, most especially when such phenomenon is bad?
The Zipf Mystery
Homo naledi
"Currently the researchers believe that H. naledi may sit between Homo habilis and Homo erectus on the family tree."
Here's everything you need to know about the newly discovered hominid species
NEWS: EmpoweRED: An HIV/AIDS Awareness Campaign
by Marian Ysaac, Class 2017, and Louie Dy, Class 2021
"The Phi Lambda Delta Sorority leaves us with this message for their HIV/AIDS advocacy: Be aware. Be informed. Be empowered!"
EmpoweRED: An HIV/AIDS Awareness Campaign
Saturday, January 2, 2016
Friday, January 1, 2016
More Thoughts...
"What's more important to cure? A living death or a dying life? Isn't it better to cure death than life?" - Matthew Chua
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