Science Friday Podcast Recap: What’s ‘I,’ and Why?

How does one define a person? What are the grounds for defining a person – religious, genetic, intellectual, scientific, personal, etc.? Do scientific approaches such as having a genome sequenced serve to be most accurate? What about personality quizzes? Scientific writer Jennifer Ouellette recently attempted to answer that question with her recent publication “Me, Myself, and Why” in which she answers this question from a scientific standpoint. Normally a writer who discusses topics of physics, Ouellette was inspired to write her new book for multiple reasons. One is that she had recently found her perception of herself clashing with what her prior grades told her. She was also inspired by the concept of nature versus nurture that she often finds herself questioning as she is and adopted child. One thing she found difficult about writing this book of hers was defining the terms essential to the book’s overall meaning. For example, defining “self” was most difficult for her. She discovered through research and careful analysis that self is not defined solely by genetics, intellectual standards, or one thing in particular. Rather, she reached the conclusion that self is rather the integration of all of these things into one where “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”

Science Friday Podcast Recap: The Lineup of Cancer Threats Is Changing

Though lung cancer is currently and shall most likely continue to be the leading cause of death by cancer in the United States, a recent report projected that by 2030, pancreatic cancer will be only a few paces behind lung cancer in that category. This may have something to do with the frequent late diagnoses that are characteristic of this type of cancer. According to a member of the American Cancer Society, pancreatic cancer currently is the fourth leading cause of death in men and also the fourth leading cause of death in women. Despite this, he says that the reason that pancreatic cancer is not discussed nearly as much as breast cancer and prostate cancer is because this cancer generates very few survivors. Also, the late diagnoses of this disease he affirmed to be part of the reason why it is so deadly, while its fatality also results from the fact that it is a type of cancer more prone to spreading and thus eliminating surgery as an option for treatment. This deadly cancer is, most unfortunately, likely to gain steam over the course of the next few decades.

Science Friday Podcast Recap: The Debate Over Net Neutrality

The Federal Communications Commission or the FCC recently released to the public its net neutrality proposal. The rules set forth in the proposal are intended to promote and protect an open Internet. On the other hand, how to go forward from there and put the plan into motion has yet to be determined. Also, what does this plan mean for Web-users? For those who provide on the Web? Is this proposal bringing about the end of the open Internet? Net neutrality, though there are still conflicting definitions thereof, is that Internet traffic should be treated equally no matter what content of service is being accessed. This limits if not completely removes the power of companies to Internet providers to limit their customers to certain realms of the Internet. The FCC did this for two main reasons. One is that it is an initiative for which President Obama provides hefty support and endorsement. Second, there are currently no established laws of net neutrality in the United States.

Science Friday Podcast Recap: A Decade After the Genome, Scientists Map the 'Proteome'

Only a decade has passed since scientists finished determining the human genome that dwell in the trillions of cells that all people possess. Now, however, scientists are now looking to be able to better distinguish between different types of cells in the human body – and the answer lies in the proteins of a cell. Akhilesh Pandey of Johns Hopkins University discussed recent scientific studies that have been underway in order to create a “proteome” or map of the differing proteins throughout the cells of the human body. According to Pandey, proteins are considered the workhorses of the human body, as they are the source of almost all functions. The millions of proteins that reside within a cell are determined by the genome. Also, these proteins are only able to function once they are folded from their primary to their quaternary structure. Lastly, awareness of this proteome map may help us in curing certain diseases in order to understand what is abnormal, one must first discover the standard of normality set. This protein-mapping, according to Pandey, is the first piece of the puzzle for understanding what is normal.

Science Friday Podcast Recap: How Touch Helps Us Emotionally Experience the World

Touch is perhaps one of the most underrated of the five senses and is only regarded when one encounters a radical sensation thereof, touching something extremely hot or cold. Researchers have recently found a connection between the set of nerves that respond to touching something soft and social cues. Liverpool-based researcher commented on the discrepancies amongst the ways that one responds to touching something. There are many different receptors, for example, that respond to different surfaces with which one’s skin comes into contact. They allow someone to not see the world but rather feel the world. It has been known for a long time that there are different microphones of sorts in the skin that detect mechanical stimulation. The portion of the skin that most quickly responds to touching is of course the hands that send messages of the brain processing the touch in record time allowing a person to feel what their hand touches instantaneously. This, quite literally but also figuratively, prevents things from slipping through our fingers - these things not only being feeling itself but also the emotions that are corresponsive to touch.

Science Friday Podcast Recap: Laser Blast Can Regrow Teeth, in Rats

Stem cells, though they may often be perceived as something that only exists in a laboratory setting, as it turns out, lurk all throughout a person’s body, anywhere from a person’s brain to their heart to their bones. What, then, triggers these cells? Researchers recently discovered a way to manually turn these cells in order to regenerate the tissues in which they live These Harvard-based researchers accomplished this through the use of a laser light on rat teeth. Though the use of lasers is not quite new in the medical field as they have frequently been used to destroy tissue, the key information behind why these methods work has been unclear to scientists. These researchers, however, tried to discover not only the result but also the method itself and the reason why the method works in a recent experiment. They specifically put a filling in the damaged teeth of rats, directed a laser at the damaged teeth, and measured resulting dentin levels of the teeth. They found that dentin regenerated significantly more in the laser-treated teeth than in the untreated teeth, and they activated stem cells to become dentin and regenerate the tooth structure.

Science Friday Podcast Recap: How Can Airline Tracking Improve?

The Malaysian Airline crash that leaves many still wondering what exactly happened to that flight that was missing for longer than one would anticipate in this technological day and age has sparked innovation in regard to airline tracking, in order to prevent this from happening again. Robert Mann of R.W. Mann and Company discussed the basics of airline tracking. According to Mann, while the airplane itself knows very well where it is located, the real question is how well the airplane can communicate that back to air traffic control and what that entails. This, in Mann’s opinion, is not due to a lack of technology. He says that the technology has been well known for a while now, and that they problem is merely that people are not executing. He also said that this would not be an expensive implementation. Thus, the only thing in the way of the advancement of this sort of technology is the people who control it.

Science Friday Podcast Recap: Why Do Some Songs Stick in Our Heads?

What is the science behind what may be referred to as "earworms", or songs that seem to stick in peoples' heads? What makes some songs stick in our heads while others do not? What does the repetitive quality of certain songs have to do with it? Elizabeth Margulis, author of "On Repeat: How Music Plays the Mind" and music professor at the University of Arkansas, has some possible answers to these questions. Earworms, according to Margulis, come to people involuntarily - thus, people do not have a choice as to what song repeats in their head. They also tend to be snippets of songs as opposed to the entire song, these snippets often being portions of the chorus or the most repeated part of the song that is approximately ten seconds long. Margulis also added that earworms have more of an impact upon everyday life than one would think, as many advertisers use songs likely to insinuate these earworms as bait to lure customers to their products with their catchy tunes. On a more neurological level, earworms function in an extraordinary way. When sounds are repeated, people are prone to anticipate the coming sound, and it leads people to sing along. There are even extreme cases of earworms, where certain people cannot seem to rid themselves of the earworm. For more of this podcast episode, see here: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/science-friday-audio-podcast/episode/34210752?autoplay=true

Science Friday Podcast Recap: Is It Possible to Make Matter From Light?

In 1934, physicists first came up with the theory that light could be turned into matter, and it remained merely a theory for decades. However, recently researchers have created something called a photon-photon collider that may serve as experimental evidence in support of this theory. London-based researcher and physicist Dr. Edward Hill discussed the photon-photon collider that he and his partners recently developed, capable of this monumental task first suggested by Albert Einstein. He discussed why many have not had success in the past with this creation of matter from light, pointing out why the laser-pointed-at-laser tactic has not worked before. He also detailed his experiment that overcomes the obstacles presented in the method commonly used by scientists before. In their study, they first create a bath of x-rays which emanate from a very high-power laser and point it at a minuscule golden can which focuses an immense amount of energy into an extremely small space. This allows each photons therein to possess more energy. After the creation of this can containing a sort of cloud of photons, a shorter laser is used and manipulated with the end result being a beam of gamma rays that is then pointed at the can. The gamma rays are then pointed at the can of x-ray photons, and once they collide, electrons are produced and detected.

President Obama on the Role of the Military, Technology, National Security, and Civil Liberties

President Obama recently visited West Point and gave a speech to the graduating Class of 2014. In his speech, he subtly addressed the issues of national security and civil liberties that have recently had their time in the limelight of American controversy. For example, about midway through his speech, President Obama discussed the issue of national security and the alleged encroachment of civil liberties in terms of transparency, saying, "... we must be more transparent about both the basis of our counterterrorism actions and the manner in which they are carried out. We have to be able to explain them publicly, whether it is drone strikes or training partners. I will increasingly turn to our military to take the lead and provide information to the public about our efforts." In this statement, he puts the responsibility for communicating methods of counterterrorism to the American public partially in the hands of the military. He then seems to condemn the U.S. government's communication gap with its people in recent times - and perhaps even make somewhat of a threat to the graduating class and military at large to ensure that secrets like those of the NSA should not be withheld from the people again as he says, " But when we cannot explain our efforts clearly and publicly, we face terrorist propaganda and international suspicion, we erode legitimacy with our partners and our people, and we reduce accountability in our own government." President Obama then proceeded to add in a justification of the NSA's recent actions, in a statement that illustrated that while the NSA may have violated citizens' right of privacy, they were doing it in the name of counterrorism. The President said, " For the foreseeable future, the most direct threat to America at home and abroad remains terrorism." Here, President Obama is not only suggesting that terrorism is the most immense threat to national and perhaps even global security. He also is subtly proposing that since the U.S.'s greatest threat is the constant terrorist threat, the NSA was justified in its actions, for the NSA was only fighting off the greatest threat to the U.S. and they were only trying to protect American citizens. In the tail end of his speech, President Obama called to mind what he considers true encroachments upon civil liberties that take place in the tyrannical countries around the world - and, according to the President, especially in Arabic countries. He also makes note of how much these tyrannical settings are disappearing from the world. President Obama said, "But remember that...because of American diplomacy and foreign assistance as well as the sacrifices of our military, more people live under elected governments today than at any time in human history...And even the upheaval of the Arab World reflects the rejection of an authoritarian order that was anything but stable, and now offers the long-term prospect of more responsive and effective governance." He goes on to defend the prospect of advancing technology for the common good as he said, "Technology is empowering civil society in ways that no iron fist can control. New breakthroughs are lifting hundreds of millions of people out of poverty." (For more of President Obama's speech, see here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/05/28/remarks-president-united-states-military-academy-commencement-ceremony)

ENEMY OF THE STATE PART FIVE: REMEMBER WHO THE REAL ENEMY IS (PART TWO)

The eternal question must be asked once again: who is the real enemy? Edward Snowden, Glenn Greenwald, and co. would not hesitate to pin that title to the NSA. Others would point the finger at Snowden and Greenwald, while Snowden is instead an enemy of the people and perhaps even an enemy of God – and not quite the enemy of the United States. Who then, is the real enemy? Or rather, what is the real enemy? The answer is quite simple. Captain Grzegorz Piotrowski, Leszek Pękala, Waldemar Chmielewski and Colonel Adam Pietruszka. Who are these four men, and what on earth makes them the true enemy of the United States? In truth, these men are not the literal enemies of the United States, but rather the epitomic representation thereof. These men are the murderers of Father Jerzy Popieluszko. Take a step back for a moment, and go back in time to the days of communist Poland, to the days in which the government sent militia men armed with lead-filled batons and water cannons and mobilized in tanks, to the days when Father Jerzy Popieluszko was still alive. Fr. Popieluszko was, at the time, one of the few brave enough to step up and try and put an end to the tyrannical rule of the Polish communist regime. In a statement that applies not only to what Fr. Popieluszko saw as his mission but also that speaks for all that he did in the name of the bringing the truth to his fellow sufferers in Poland, Fr. Popieluszko said, “The role of a priest is to proclaim the truth and suffer for the truth, and if necessary, even die for the truth.” And Fr. Popieluszko did just that. After giving sermons attracting thousands of fellow tormented Polish men and women oppressed by the communist regime while also giving hope to a nation of oppressed people, the four aforementioned men – Captain Grzegorz Piotrowski, Leszek Pękala, Waldemar Chmielewski and Colonel Adam Pietruszka – were sent out by the Polish government to murder the humble and truth-telling priest. They did so, brutally murdering him on the 19th of October of 1984. Millions came to his funeral to remember the man who gave his life for the sake of bringing the truth – the condemning, harsh, and essential truth of the oppressive world in which they were living – to his Polish people. The world, approximately thirty years after his passing, has yet to forget the name of this messenger of the truth. The anniversary of the horrific death of this saintly man is coming up this October. There is even a documentary recently released accounting for his life and death entitled “Messenger of the Truth” (For more on the documentary, see here: http://www.messengerofthetruth.com/). And in spite of all that, there are still people trying to bring shame to not only this man but all others like him, who have died for the sake of freedom for a real security state. These men are none other than Edward Snowden and Glenn Greenwald. Snowden and Greenwald constantly cling to the excuse that they did all that they did in order to protect Americans from the government who was violating their rights, from a surveillance state. What they fail to see, or what they perhaps choose not to see, is what a real surveillance and security state is. What they are ignoring is the haunting tale of Fr. Popieluszko, of a man who gave his life in trying to put an end to the oppression of the real surveillance state. What they are blocking from their view is the image of the oppressed Polish men and women being beaten with lead-filled batons, being sprayed with water cannons, being beaten just because they sought the truth alongside Fr. Popieluszko. What they do nto want to understand is the sharp contrast between a real surveillance state and what they call a surveillance state in order to save their own skins, all the while the NSA is trying to protect its own citizens from the terrorist threat. What they do not see is the truth. May God bless Father Jerzy, may He allow him to rest in eternal peace, and may God shield his eyes from the shame that these men try to bring to him – the quintessence of God’s truth on Earth.

Christian Love in Michael Haneke's Amour

“Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, it is not pompous…” goes the ever-famous passage from 1 Corinthians (1 Cor 13:4). However, what this passage is commonly mistaken for is a description of romantic love – and is therefore used at myriad weddings – while in truth, this passage instead describes the sacrificial love Jesus modeled for all his Christian followers to emulate by virtue of his death on the cross. Both of these forms of love – though predominantly romantic love – have taken root in the world in many of its different aspects, including the entertainment industry. One film that stands out as a paragon of Christian, sacrificial love, and that film is Michael Haneke’s Amour. From beginning to end, through thick and thin, the faithful husband Georges shows steadfast love for his partially paralyzed and slowly dying wife Anne. One instance in which he shows this sacrificial love for Anne is constant throughout the whole film in the way that he is willing to sacrifice his own happiness for the sake of taking care of a deteriorating Anne. He had lived a great many years with Anne in without the plague of her illness, and so it was very difficult for him to continue taking care of her with the memory of the old Anne and the way things used to be in the back of his mind. He also faced difficulty when Anne would be reluctant to drink water or eat. Despite all the challenges he faced in his caretaking of Anne that were all mentally, emotionally, and physically taxing, he sacrificed his own mental, emotional, and physical state in order to care for his wife unto her death. A second instance of Georges love for Anne is when he promises and stays true to the promise he made to Anne to never send her back to the hospital or to a nursing home or hospice after she experienced her first surgery. While he could have made things easier for himself by transferring the burden of a dying Anne into someone else’s hands at a hospice or nursing home, he instead sacrificed his own happiness in order to keep his promise to Anne. Even the ending of the film, in which Georges smothers his Anne to death, can be reconciled with the Christian understanding of love in that he was doing this not out of hatred or selfishness but love. Some may view this as a selfish murder, saying that he smothered Anne to death because he selfishly wished to no longer endure the burden of a sickly wife. However, Georges did this out of profound love for Anne, for he wished no longer to see her suffer. He could have selfishly decided to try and keep her with him as long as possible, disregarding Anne’s suffering and caring only about his own wellbeing. Instead, however, Georges sacrificed prolonged time with the love of his life and therefore his own happiness in order to end Anne’s suffering. As is said in 1 Corinthians, love “does not seek its own interests” (1 Cor 13:5). Georges, all throughout Amour, even in smothering his own life, sacrificed his own interests for the sake of his wife’s. And that is what real Christian love is.