Money , women and power

The topic is way too familiar. Why did I choose to talk about it? Well I just feel like this generation keeps moving further away from ‘being human’ and putting so much value on money to the extent of forgetting that what truly matters is love and support. Again that’s a familiar phrase ‘all you need is love’ .but is that all you need?  Financial stability is something women look for in a man but personally I don`t think you should put too much weight on it. At the end of the day for a marriage to work it takes not just love but you have to like the person as well. Vicious fights about not earning enough is only going to hurt the relationship and we all know that no matter how many times you apologize, words can never be taken back. Where am I going with this? Let me just tell you why I started to write this. My mother is someone who cares about money a lot, and I mean I whole lot. Everything is about money with her. And yes, she did have a point when she said that my guy should have a decent job. But he doesn`t have to be a millionaire! We don`t need the latest iphone and several cars!  As long as we can have the freedom, love, support  each other in what we feel passionate about in life (meaning work) I know we will be happy. Happiness is not something that should be measured from the type of car you drive or the type of house you live in. Let me take my two cousins  for example (female and very good looking). They both broke up with their guys because of money issues. They were not beggars! They were stable men from decent  families  and they simply called it quits because of petty money issues. Is that love? I wonder how  they  would feel if those guys dumped them saying they are not rich enough. Parents play a major role in these too, yes from their point of view they want them to have a richer life, but if you come to think of it, they themselves started off with something lesser and worked for 30yrs or so to get where they are now. Expecting a son-in-law/daughter-in-law with several cars and houses is simply crazy! If they truly love each other let them start their lives, be happy for them and support them if necessary. Life is just too short to be arguing about these petty issues. You will die alone anyway, if you think about it the chances of you being alone is more than the chances of you finding someone that you actually like and love(and return that love). So when you do find that person, set aside petty money issues and experience love! And parents please understand that you can`t expect every guy in their late 20s to have the latest Hybrid! Don`t forget your past. Respect love. If parents teach their kids that success is measured by happiness and love and not the latest car that you have, most of us will be in much better places by now.

Why do pandas avoid meat?

Came across an interesting article on 'how it works-amazing animals' as to why pandas have adapted to eating a diet of 99% bamboo, eventhough they are technically carnivores. Pandas are genetically unable to convert cellulose from plants to energy, so they must eat upto 38kg of the fibrous plant(panda's gut has developed a thick layer of mucus to protect against bamboo splinters) to get enough calories to survive;the task requires 12-16hrs of foraging and eating. Why go through all this and avoid meat?
Recently sequenced genome of pandas have provided clues to this; a genetic mutation makes them unable to taste flesh.Fossil studies have shown that panda's ancestors swapped meat for bamboo somewhere between 2-7 million years ago-perhaps due to a major environmental event wiping out their prey. Being caused to change their diet may have caused the gene responsible for tasting savoury foods to become obsolete, and without it they might not have wanted to eat the tasteless meat even when it became plentiful.

Observation goes a long way

Many scientific discoveries were a result of  observations and subsequent investigations. Everyone has heard the famous discovery of the antibiotic penicillin which was an 'accident' in the lab; because of the keen observations of the scientists involved, today it is being used as a valuable medicine.

I came across this wonderful incident where childbed fever was managed well because of a brilliant observation made by one physician.

Childbed fever also known as Puerperal fever was a disease which caused many deaths of mothers soon after labour . In 1847, a physician Ignaz Semmelweis was so disturbed by the deaths of these mothers and decided to investigate. In the obstetrics ward of the Viennese hospital where he worked, he noticed a strange pattern. Women in labour were admitted to two clinics in that hospital and most deaths occurred in the first clinic. The two clinics seemed identical , the difference was in the staffing. Medical students worked in the first and midwives worked in the second. Semmelweis did further investigations and found that medical students spent their mornings in the morgue learning about anatomy, and goes to the first clinic. Semmelweis concluded that they must be carrying something 'deadly' with them and ordered the medical students to wash their hands with chlorine solution before entering the clinic. Eventhough Semmelweis was criticized by the medical community saying 'doctor's job is a gentlemen's job and cleaning is not necessary' , after medical students started practicing washing hands, the death rate reduced to very low numbers.

The reason Semmelweis chose chlorine was because it removed the characteristic  odur of  the morgue. We now know today that chlorine also killed the deadly streptococcal bacteria which caused the disease. Semmelweise was ridiculed by the medical community and died of a streptococcal infection in 1865, three decades later Pasture and Koch provided scientific explanations for Semmelweise's findings.

Ignaz Semmelweise never received the proper recognition, but his observation lead to proper management of childbed fever and introduced the practice of maintaining sterile conditions in medicine.

 

references: 

The Attempt to Understand Puerperal Fever in the Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries: The Influence of Inflammation Theory.Med Hist. 2005 January 1; 49(1): 1–28.

Unit 2- Chemical and Cellular basis of life

Introduction

Living things are made up of cells. Cells are made up of elements mainly; C, N, O,H,P and S. Therefore living things are made up of elements and among the 92 naturally occurring elements, Living matter consists of about 20 elements.There are two types of elements that occur in living things.

Trace elements – Needed in low amounts but are essential.

                                e.g.  Mn, Zn, Cu, Mo, B, Al, Si, V (in plants, Na, Fe, Cl)

Macro elements – Needed in large amounts

                               E.g.  H,C,N,O,P,S,K, Ca, Mg,(in plants)

                                       H,C,N,O,P,S,K, Ca, Mg ,Na, Fe, Cl ( In animals)

unit 1-Introduction to Biology

1.1   Biodiversity

There are many theories explaining the origin of life. It is now believed that the origin of life occurred over 3.5 billion years ago. Since then life forms have evolved and currently there are over 30 million species and animals in the world ,that continue to evolve, increasing the biological diversity.

1.2 Natural resources and Environment

Simplest definition of natural resources is; resources such as air, coal, water that is supplied by nature. Resources such as wood can be replaced but air and water is considered as non-renewable resources. Therefore the use of natural resources has to be managed properly, to enable the future use of the growing population.

Environmental pollution is another cause of the depletion of natural resources. (E.g.: pollution of underground water).therefore managing natural resources in a way that ensures future use and Prevention of environmental pollution is extremely important to maintain Life on earth. 

One of the basic needs of a population is food. With the population expanding each day, sustainable production of food becomes a necessity. This is where the use of Life sciences plays an important role. Increasing food production is needed to meet the hunger of the growing population. Therefore Production of high yielding varieties of plants, and animals (e.g. cows that produce more milk), Development of disease resistant varieties of plants, alternate methods of energy, Increasing shelf life of fruits and vegetables ;so that they remain fresh for longer periods of time, are some of the methods that have been used.

1.3 Living organisms

Living organisms can be distinguished by several characteristics. They are,

-Order and organization

-Metabolism

-Growth and development

-Irritability and coordination

-Adaptation

-Reproduction

-Heredity and Evolution

Living organisms are diverse, they are of different shapes and size, differ in their distribution(e.g. Terrestrial, aquatic), form (e.g.acellular, unicellular and multi cellular) and so on. The characteristics of living organisms will be explained in detail.