Quotes

"Patience is a conquering virtue."

by Geoffrey Chaucer

Patience, without doubt, needs to be one of the best qualities of a scientist/researcher.

Birth/Personality

What Your Date Of Birth Says About Your Personality

According to astrology, the relative position of the Earth, moon, sun, and stars at the time of birth greatly influences a person's personality. Scientists have refuted this for years, though a small study from Semmelweis University in Budapest has found that personality may be influenced by the season in which a person is born. The results were presented by lead researcher Xenia Gonda at the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology Congress in Berlin on October 19.

"We can't yet say anything about the mechanisms involved,” Gonda said in a press release. “What we are now looking at is to see if there are genetic markers which are related to season of birth and mood disorder.”

"Biochemical studies have shown that the season in which you are born has an influence on certain monoamine neurotransmitters, such as dopamine and serotonin, which is detectable even in adult life,” Gonda continued. “This led us to believe that birth season may have a longer-lasting effect. Our work looked at over 400 subjects and matched their birth season to personality types in later life. Basically, it seems that when you are born may increase or decrease your chance of developing certain mood disorders.”

- Those born in spring were found to be more likely to have a hyperthymic temperament. That is, they have a tendency to be incredibly positive.

- Babies born in summer were also found to be hyperthymic, but with strong cyclothymic temperament. Though summer babies are more likely to experience those high positive feelings, they were also significantly more likely to report experiencing frequent mood swings. This is particularly true when compared to babies born in winter.

- Those with autumn birthdays had drastically reduced tendency toward depressed moods compared to people born in winter.

- People with winter birthdays were found to be less likely to be irritable, compared to all other seasons. 

The study needs further work but seems interesting. What do you think? Does the description of the "seasons" match your personality?

[Header image adapted from “A pond for all seasons” by Keith Hall via flickr]

Science STYLE Cover

Funny video ;)

Parallel Worlds

Parallel Worlds: A Journey Through Creation, Higher Dimensions, and the Future of the Cosmos

 
by Michio Kaku

"In this thrilling journey into the mysteries of our cosmos, bestselling author Michio Kaku takes us on a dizzying ride to explore black holes and time machines, multidimensional space and, most tantalizing of all, the possibility that parallel universes may lay alongside our own. Kaku skillfully guides us through the latest innovations in string theory and its latest iteration, M-theory, which posits that our universe may be just one in an endless multiverse, a singular bubble floating in a sea of infinite bubble universes. If M-theory is proven correct, we may perhaps finally find answer to the question, “What happened before the big bang?” This is an exciting and unforgettable introduction into the new cutting-edge theories of physics and cosmology from one of the pre-eminent voices in the field."

According to some reviews i read: 

"From Newton's theory of gravity to Einstein's theory of relativity, to the mystery of the origin of the universe (the "big bang"), to quantum theory, multiverses/parallel universes, time travel, wormholes, black holes, string theory -- Kaku slices through the heart of these scientific discoveries with a paring knife so sharp that even the most science-averse of us can grasp the mystery and the wonder of the universe."

This may be an interesting book for me. :)
 

Science, Sense & Nonsense

Science, Sense and Nonsense 

by Joe Schwarcz

"When did "chemical" become a dirty word?

Forty or so years ago, chemistry -- which had been recognized as a miracle-making boon to humanity - somehow became associated with warfare, sinister food additives, "toxins" and pollution.

It's a situation that Dr. Joe Schwarcz aims to put into perspective.

Yes, there's a downside to chemistry, he says, but this is dwarfed by its enormous benefits.

Dr. Joe's new collection of commentaries will inspire an appreciation for the science of everyday life, and equip you to spot the muddled thinking, misunderstandings and deceptions in media stories and advertising claims. Does organic food really always equal better food? Are vaccines dangerous? Will the latest health fad make you ill? Do expensive wrinkle creams do the job? What are the best ways to avoid cancer? The answers to such questions often lie in an
understanding of the chemistry involved. Ask Dr. Joe.

Science, Sense and Nonsense celebrates chemistry's great achievements, lambastes its charlatans, and explores its essential connections to our wellbeing. And does so in authoritative, highly readable, good humoured style."

 As I am a chemist, I thought this book could be another interesting read for me after I read this short review: "This book contains a series of short essays on various chemistry-related topics. Many of these essays are geared towards clearing up common misconceptions and educating the public about a range of topics from nutrition to medicine to environmental chemicals.The essays are well written, readable, and entertaining. They're generally fairly short, making them easy to digest in a single sitting. Overall the topics are interesting and diverse. The one issue I had with this book is the lack of references though."

A Short History of Nearly Everything

A Short History of Nearly Everything 

by Bill Bryson

"In Bryson's biggest book, he confronts his greatest challenge: to understand -- and, if possible, answer -- the oldest, biggest questions we have posed about the universe and ourselves. Taking as territory everything from the Big Bang to the rise of civilization, Bryson seeks to understand how we got from there being nothing at all to there being us. To that end, he has attached himself to a host of the world’s most advanced (and often obsessed) archaeologists, anthropologists, and mathematicians, travelling to their offices, laboratories, and field camps. He has read (or tried to read) their books, pestered them with questions, apprenticed himself to their powerful minds. A Short History of Nearly Everything is the record of this quest, and it is a sometimes profound, sometimes funny, and always supremely clear and entertaining adventure in the realms of human knowledge, as only Bill Bryson can render it. Science has never been more involving or entertaining.

From primordial nothingness to this very moment, A Short History of Nearly Everything reports what happened and how humans figured it out. To accomplish this daunting literary task, Bill Bryson uses hundreds of sources, from popular science books to interviews with luminaries in various fields. His aim is to help people like him, who rejected stale school textbooks and dry explanations, to appreciate how we have used science to understand the smallest particles and the unimaginably vast expanses of space. With his distinctive prose style and wit, Bryson succeeds admirably.

Though A Short History clocks in at a daunting 500-plus pages and covers the same material as every science book before it, it reads something like a particularly detailed novel (albeit without a plot). Each longish chapter is devoted to a topic like the age of our planet or how cells work, and these chapters are grouped into larger sections such as "The Size of the Earth" and "Life Itself." Bryson chats with experts like Richard Fortey (author of Life and Trilobite) and these interviews are charming. But it's when Bryson dives into some of science's best and most embarrassing fights--Cope vs. Marsh, Conway Morris vs. Gould--that he finds literary gold."


At the beginning of this year I was looking for books more related with science and humanity history. I found this book and I thought "wow! I found what I want!". Unfortunately I did not have the chance to buy this book yet. But I think I'll not be disapointed when I read it.