My Biggest Fear

I am a person that relies on knowing, some call me a control freak, but I'm not...I just love to know, and am deathly afraid of a day that I may forget everything. In my exploration from the world of online science I went from blogs last week to the news this week, and the story that caught my attention the most was one from CNN highlighting a story about Alzheimer's. In short researchers are turning Early On-set Alzheimer's into a possible method to cure this debilitating disorder. Apparently there is a large number of those with this disorder in Colombia, and using possible treatments over a two year period they are able to identify working treatment. I honestly think this is amazing. Science is literally turning something bad into something good which I give a resounding applause and a shout of an "Encore."

I also want to bring your attention to one of the last quotes in the article: "I don't want to be negative, and I continue to participate in research, but do I have a lot of hope? No, because I keep watching my loved ones go away." I don't know what to think of this quote comparing the idea of hope along with participation in research. Hope is surrounded by the idea of possibly getting an answer (in my opinion), which coincides with an idea behind research. I will have to continue thinking about this, but just wanted to get that out there before I forget.

In regards to the stylistic part of writing of this blog I attempted to use the hook and engaging the audience. I sincerely attempted to have a conversation with the reader, which I feel I did by sharing something many can relate with me as well as posing a statement that will hopefully require further thought. I also used the hyperlink and added an image for matters of style as well.

Scientists can be fun too!

If there is one thing most people know about me, it is that I am very rarely serious. However, when the time calls to be serious, I am capable of that too (even if on the inside I am giggling at something, most likely immature). So when searching for a blog that I would consider "gem worthy", I look for bloggers with personalities as bright as my own (not to toot my own horn of course). I gave many bloggers a fair chance, skimming them, looking for words that would grab my attention, even words that would grab the "scientific side" of me (most of the blogs I came across that grabbed my "scientific side" had too much depth and jargon, felt like I was reading another journal article). After a good while of searching for something I could relate too I finally came across some! (I stopped at 3). The first discovery I made was We, Beasties, shamefully enough it was their latest blog that snagged my attention "Is that a hypothalamus or are you just happy to see me?", my immaturity really shone through on that one... Once I dug a little deeper I found We,Beasties had a lot to offer, scientifically. Not to mention some posts that also please my sense of humor. The second discovery I made was On Becoming a Domestic and Laboratory Goddess, this caught my attention when I read her information, she noted how her blog was the balance between being a mother and an awesome scientists, and how SOMETIMES she likes to throw in a little about shoes (what girl doesn't love shoes). I continued my search because I wasn't really impressed with how sciency the last one got. The Loom, my final discovery before I threw in the towel for the night. The Looms most recent post..."The ultimate case of TMI: Behold my bellybutton's microbiome". Microbiology was one of my favorite courses through out my college years, which is why this caught my eyeball, not to mention it was hilar! See for yourself:

http://scienceblogs.com/webeasties/

http://scienceblogs.com/isisthescientist/

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/loom/2011/01/25/the-ultimate-case-of-tmi-behold-my-bellybuttons-microbiome/

S is for Scientist

Upon looking up science blogs on the information highway I stumbled upon two interesting blogs. The first blog I found interesting as called Wired Science. What caught my eye and interest in this blog is the fact that most of the blog posts consisted of pictures and/or movies to explain the information being provided. A lot of the blogs that I visited had pages and pages of information. I myself tend to stray away from these blogs due to the fact that most of the information is borrrrrinngggg. However, this particular blog kept my interest and was straight to the point on what the author is trying to explain. The second blog that I decided to follow was entitled 80beats. This blog talked about everything science, from the aerospace to marine ecology.

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/

Too Long...Too Nothing...Too Scientific

Upon my first journey through the various blogs available on-line I stumbled (another great invention to be used on the internet) upon the three things that made me turn away from blogs almost instantly. No surprise that these three things are in my title. Some were just too long with no pictures. Some just had nothing written in them (it was harder to stay awake reading some of the posts than making it through some lectures). The best of the worst had to be the too scientific making the posts seem oxymoronic. Blogs, in my opinion should be readable by any one, but some of the ones I came across would have been better written in a different (possibly original) language. However, I did come across a few great ones such as the The Digital Cuttlefish...which posts poetic verses normally with science themes...and Thoughtomics...which is written wonderfully with a good story (however it would be better if the posts were shorter). Check them out at the following links.
http://digitalcuttlefish.blogspot.com/
http://www.lucasbrouwers.nl/blog/
Post ya after awhile.

Knock, knock, who cares?...

So far, in my very short quest into the blogoverse, (I must recommend not to use that word in scrabble!) I have found a few real gems, that I found are not only quite well written and organized, but also... OK, well they are quite well written and organized. I tried so hard to find blogs that incorporated a good mix of business and pleasure, i.e. humor, but my search really ended up being fruitless. I did find a microbiology blog that had a "jokes" page, which I thought was a step in the right direction, but it was lacking in content overall. Is it too much to ask for an assembly of like-minded scientists who still value the ancient art of fun? Must everyone B. cereus?! Alas, I stumble upon Mike the Mad Biologist, and nature has once again been balanced. Cheers! 

-Small Things Considered  http://schaechter.asmblog.org/
-Mike the Mad Biologist   http://www.scienceblogs.com/mikethemadbiologist/

Feel free to disagree, but you will be wrong!