You know the scene from B movies.  The wild-eyed figure in the white coat is mixing all sorts of strange looking chemicals in glass jars – some labeled ‘poison’ – in his secret underground laboratory.  He has some sort of odd machine on the bench, cobbled together from any old bits that were to hand, and he seems bent on changing the world.

Is this the archetypal mad scientist?  Hell no, it’s Thomas Alva Edison at ten years old, at the beginning of a journey of discovery that would end with him having patented over 1,000 new inventions, some of which changed society for ever.  He was a workaholic who always looked a mess, but his mind was as sharp as a tack.

Many of the men whose vision brought astounding new discoveries to science could have been said to be a few cents short of being a full dollar.  Benjamin Franklin was a great believer in ‘air baths’ and would often walk around naked, as would Charles Richter, who gave his name to the earthquake tremor scale.

Sir Isaac Newton, discoverer of gravity, was obsessed with trying to turn base metals into gold.  Alexander Graham Bell, American inventor of the telephone, kept his windows blacked out because he feared ‘harmful’ radiation from the moon, and spent years trying to teach his dog to talk.

Experts believe that 99% of inventors can be described as eccentric in some way, and this begs the question about how fine the psychological line is between genius and insanity. The man who discovered Hydrogen – English physicist Henry Cavendish (1731-1810) – was so afraid of contact with other human beings that he had an elaborate system of stairways in his house, just to avoid the servants.

English geologist William Buckland (1784-1856), who worked how the earth’s crust had evolved, kept a hyena in his nursery and would eat anything.  When shown the embalmed heart of French King Louis XIV, he joyfully shouted I have never before feasted on the heart of a king! , grabbing it before anyone could stop him.

Weird or eccentric behaviour usually begins early in life for these gifted people, who possibly view things in a totally different way to the rest of us.  These kids, super intelligent, will shut themselves away for hours, poring over books, and this complete self absorption often leads to them being highly reclusive.

Wackology is the name given to the science of the strange, and there are few things odder than the ideas which lead wackologists to making important discoveries. One wacky group in Sweden found that handshakes are a dead giveaway to personality – the colder the hand, the dodgier the person it belongs to – while in 1993, Dr Ellen Kleist of Greenland and Dr Harald Moi of Norway published the shocking report that men could catch the clap from blow-up dolls!

Not all wacky ideas are so silly. In 1921, physicist Chandrasekhara Raman was en route to India by steamer was standing on deck staring into the ocean.  He was pondering why the sea looked blue, and decided it must be something to do with the way the water reflected the light. This led him to winning the 1930 Nobel prize for physics, having invented Raman Spectroscopy, widely used even today in chemical analysis.

Eccentricity and discovery seem to be inseperable bedfellows in some cases.  The chemist who won the 1965 Nobel Prize for chemistry – Burns Woodward – was so obsessed with the colour blue that he wouldn’t wear any other colour in clothes, or drive any other coloured car.

Silly hats are also a hallmark of eccentric genius.  Isombard Kingdom Brunel wouldn’t be seen in public without a huge top hat, and he kept all his plans stored inside it, while the man who invented synthetic dyes – Peter Greiss – insisted on wearing a wooden top hat at all times.

Dr David Weeks is a neurophysiologist at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital in Scotland, and has spent 10 years studying eccentric behaviour.  He says that there are more eccentrics in science than in any other walk of life.  He says of them – They see themselves as explorers of inner space, and whatever it is that makes them intellectually distinct also makes them socially distinct.

Don’t think though, for a moment, that they always get it right, because they most certainly do not.  In the 1970’s, scientists worldwide were saying that the earth was slipping into a new Ice Age, but it hasn’t happened, because the earth is actually getting warmer.

At the end of the 1980’s they were predicting that AIDS would be the next doomsday virus, but again, these predictions have proved untrue. While it is undoubtedly one of the major diseases in the world today, it is by no means as rife as it was expected to be.  The predicted ‘population explosion’ has also failed to happen around the world, and indeed the numbers are expected to start falling by the end of the 21st century.

Food production has still not reached a peak, despite the growing amount of land used for housing, because production methods are constantly finding new ways to get more out of the land available.  The prediction that sperm counts were falling so much that the fate of humanity was in the balance is also untrue.  US research showed recently that it was actually rising in some quarters.

Scientists and their theories can have us shaking our heads in bemused confusion, but perhaps some of their findings are more wacky than others, and certainly more amusing.  Did you know that some wackologists believe that positive thinking really can influence the environment?

For 250 years, graduates at Princeton University have graduated during late May or early June, and local folklore says the weather is always good. Sceptic Roger Nelson of Princeton decided to check this out, and researched 36 years worth of weather records. It turns out that the University has a 75% chance of staying dry, compared to only 67% in the surrounding area.

Since records show that, after celebrations end, the University is as subject to rain as everywhere else, does this suggest that positive thinking is making a difference?  No one knows, but it gives some food for thought. 

Weird science and wacky scientists can often make us laugh with their oddball comments and antics, but still they manage to widen our knowledge. Mankind has come on in leaps and bounds over the past two hundred years, much of it down to these comic characters and their outrageous ideas. May they entertain us for centuries to come

                Electroshock therapy, also known as electroconvulsive therapy or ECT, is seen by many as a “barbaric” form of treatment. This may owe itself to the fact that it was abused in psychiatric hospitals, where it was used to “subdue and control […] troublesome patients”, implying that the treatment has a frightening ability to overpower and suppress patients. Also contributing to the mystic atmosphere surrounding ECT may be its side effects, the most prevalent of which is memory impairment. Brain damage is also a known side effect, with some even proposing that brain damage and memory loss are the very mechanism by which ECT works.

                However controversial, the usefulness and effectiveness of ECT is supported by statistics. The American Psychiatric Association cites its success rate as 80%, clearly beating out the rate of 50-60% of most medications. And despite the controversy, ECT is still widely used today, although strict rules for obtaining informed consent of patients have been implemented, meaning that patients wishing to have ECT must be properly educated on both the benefits and risks of the treatment and must be of proper mental state to make an informed decision.

                Although controversial, ECT has shown much success in treating patients with mental disorders. While many decide that the side effects pose too great a risk to warrant the treatment, and others shy away from the alarming idea of deliberately inducing a seizure by means of electricity applied directly to the brain, several patients have had their mental conditions cured by this exotic treatment. Raymond Carver did not seem concerned at all by the treatment, as it was only given a brief mention in his essay. Carver’s father’s experiences with ECT may be seen as a success story, as he did get back on his feet and back in the workforce, exactly what a patient wants after mental care.

Animal Rights, para.Animal Rights: Right or Wrong?I do not personally agree that the rights of animals always outweigh their benefits to humans.

Ultimately, Owen is saying that the closure of animal research organization will only take away the benefits that people receive.Unfortunately, some of these acts are taken too far.Ed Owen, the author of The Dangers of Cuddly Extremism, believes that the interruptions and acts of animal rights activists regarding research will greatly hinder the benefits offered to humankind.On one side of the anti-animal rights argument is that animal rights activists are doing more harm than good.Some ideas that animal rights activists would support include prohibiting horse racing, circuses, animal research, petting zoos, marine parks, consuming animals, hunting, and use of animals for industry (Animal Welfare vs.Animal rights is the idea that all animals should be treated equally to humans and that all animals have the same rights as humans.Anti-animal rights activists consider that unnecessary actions are taken by animal rights activist.Some incidents carried out by animal rights activists include inappropriate writings, masked activists terrorizing a researcher’s home while he was hosting a children’s birthday party, the flooding of homes, and combustible devices placed under UCLA researcher’s cars (When Animal Rights Turns Ugly 1).An extreme minority has managed to force the closure of a number of establishments connected with animal research and will continue to target others” (2).While some are convinced that animal rights are only fair and that animals are now treated poorly, others maintain that animal rights are taken to the extreme and hinder benefits for humanity.

-          Getting no support from the Head of the English Department and also fellow teachers about her plans to get better books for her class
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-          Having to divorce her husband
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-          Getting her students to trust and believe in her
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-          Getting her students to become one, united and strip them of the racism that they’ve grown up to know and live by
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[Host] Good afternoon everybody and welcome to yet another segment of “____” Tonight we have a very special guest, you may recognise her as the heroine of the movie “Freedom Writers”. Please put your hands together for her, Erin Gruwell everybody!

*greets Erin* Thank you for being here.

[Erin Gruwell] *smiles* Thank you for having me.

[Host] Yes, well let’s get down to business now should we.

[Erin Gruwell] *smiles with a light laugh* Sure.

[Host] Well we all know of the great and positive impacts that you had on your students, but what we want to know is how and why you did some things that you did through your journey.

[Erin Gruwell] *nods* ok

[Host] For example, why did you find two part time jobs just so your students could get better equipment?

[Erin Gruwell] Well after being refused any new books (or equipment?) from Ms. Campbell (Head of English at Wilson High) and also the lack of support from fellow teachers, I didn’t have a choice really. My kids (I could tell) have potential to be just like everyone. So I want … I mean they’d be willing to learn, if the school actually gave them good enough books, not ripped up ones.

[Host] Yes I see your point. 

Image via Wikipedia

Glasses were widely in use by the 13th century, but people didn’t know how they worked. They simply went to the marketplace and looked through glasses until they found a pair that helped them see better. It wasn’t until the 17th century that the German Astronomer Johannes Kepler discovered that bending light rays with the shape and thickness of the glasses made them work.

Eye operations were preformed as early as the 2nd century B.C. in Egypt, but it wasn’t until the 17th century that Kepler helped eye surgeons understand why their practices worked. As a result later eye surgeries were more precise and produced better results. The next major advance occurred when German scientist Hermann von Helmholtz invented the ophthalmoscope in 1851, which is still used today. It was confirmation by an English scientist, Thomas Young that chemicals in the retina were sensitive to red, violet and green. This is know as the Young-Helmholtz-theory.

In 1877 German scientist Wilhelm Kuhne used a ophthalmoscope to perform an experiment. He covered the eyes of a rabbit with a dark cloth for 10 minutes and took away the cloth and let the rabbit look at a barred window. He then removed the rabbits retina and dipped it in alum to dry and preserve it. When examined with the ophthalmoscope, he saw the image of the barred window the rabbit had been staring at on the retina.

Today, scientists know the human eye is a globe shaped organ made up of three layers of tissue, the outer coat, the white of the eye, the middle coat called the choroid, and the inner layer, the retina, along with the eyelid gland which produces tears, and six bands of muscle attached to the eyeball to give the eye the ability to look up and down.

Publish your articles and earn income.

Ruby Hawk’s articles:

http://scienceray.com/astronomy/the-search-for-life-in-outer-space/

http://scienceray.com/biology/altered-genes-of-the-midwife-toads/

http://scienceray.com/mathematics/girls-and-math/

http://scienceray.com/biology/bumble-bees-are-becoming-extinct/

http://scienceray.com/biology/cicadas-sing-a-heck-of-a-song/

Gregor Johann Mendel was born July 22, 1822 at Heinzendorf, who died Jan. 6, 1884 at Brünn (now Brno, Czech Republic), the founder of the science of genetics, Austrian botanist and scholar priest. Mendel began gardening at an early age to do with college courses, then continued as pastor at Moravya life. In the meantime, some observations do not reach the plants have found little success.

A technical college, began teaching in 1854, he returned to Brünn’e. As already entered teaching exams, but had not been a success. 19. century. Darwin’s theory of natural selection in the middle to the spread of a species ranked watching his offspring to live problem emerged in a new intensity.

Biologists, especially botanists spent this problem, despite the efforts. Later, Mendelian genetics will be recognized as the father, began in 1858, and research experiments on the same theme, but after 8 years conclusion. The success of the method examines the problem stemmed from favorable. Plant varieties Mendel differences on one side, and is highly specific (giant or dwarf, flat or wrinkled peas), are transferred to separate the other hand, according to the study of the statistical ratio is not yet established a branch of science adopting a method reported in the statistics.

His experiments, the plant was tall or dwarf peas, flowers and colored leaves seat or colorless, yellow or green seeds, as opposed to smooth or rough features one of the generations that have managed to obtain pure strains. Then cross one another. The choice of these two features result substantially distinct lines with a pure hybrid offspring that emerged through the basic unit of heredity, and for each feature of the gene, suggesting that there is a double life.

Sex forum: I like to argue? It seems Researchers Have Found That your excuse: Brain Processes records aggression as a pleasure like sex , eating or substance abuse.

Protective Shield

Almost all OCCURS Aggression in vertebrates and is Necessary to get and keep important Resources Such as friends, food and territory. Yet, the brain receives as a reward aggressive year event, Researchers Say.

Involved in this process is dopamine, one of the main neurotransmitters of the nervous system, ie a substance That transmits information between cells, many relationships of the brain .

This is a plausible Explanation for the fact That all creatures Have a natural propensity to fight, and people have so fascinated with violent sports like boxing and football.

Experiments on mice

For this Study, Researchers used a pair of mice, one male and one female WHOM they separated in the cage, and five other “Intruders” Which in May THEN HE Raised between Them.

When the female WAS Temporarily Removed from the cage and replaced by year WAS intruder mouse, it caused year aggressive reaction from the male host. He attacked with the tail hitting rival HIS Him, Attacking the side, boxand and biting.

Researchers Have triggered Also, the host mice in the cage to chase the intruder, and HE responded again in a negative way. Host HAD mouse daily confrontations with one intruder, and the Analysis of These confrontations That Have they indicated the host mice as a Perceived reward.

THEN Were The Same host mice treated with the drug That suppressed the dopamine receptors. After this Treatment, WAS found a Decrease in the frequency with Which HE HAS instigated rival. Dopamine is Often Associated with pleasure, Motivation and reward.

Aggression Can be challenging

That year, individual tissue experiments show Will intentionally seek to fight aggressively for the following aceasteia heh Lives of the feeling of reward. It is apparently for the first time also in. That aggression, caused ITS own initiative That is challenging and well-known add-positive dopamine plays a critical role.

Visit a good Sex forum MedLife for more articles and reviews about a healthy life, common diseases, treatments, symptoms and much more. Medlife is one of the most appreciated health blogs and sex forum in the world written by the best students in medicine.

This is the 100th post for me on triond in the month of May, and I had to mark this special moment by sharing what, to me, in the totally unsurprising news that, while religious faith can broaden the horizons of the believer, allegedly, it also has the side-effect of making your brain shrink more quickly as you age! At long last, proper vindication of what we, the godless, have long suspected, that religion actually does do your head in!

American researchers at the Medical center of Duke University believe themselves to have unearthed a definite connection between religious fervor and changes in the brains of older grown-ups. Published in open-access journal Public Library of Congress ONE, this study requested of 268 individuals, between the ages of 58 and 84, details of spiritual practice, religious affiliation and any truly dramatic religious experiences they might have had.

Over the following two to eight years, participants regularly underwent MRI scans, to determine if the basic area of the Hippocampus, that part of the brain associated with memory and learning ability, varied in any noticeable way. Those not having identified themselves as born-again Christians were found to have suffered less shrinkage of the area than those who were devout, those having experienced dramatic religious experiences being the worst affected.

Amy Owen and David Hayward were the originators of this study, and while they concede that the brain does tend to shrink with age in every human, the percentages seen in the brains of those most righteous souls would not have been due to age, depressive attitudes, brain size to start with or indeed any of the usual suspects, so there was a distinct possibility that religious belief was a contributory factor in this brain deterioration.

I do hope that those among you who feel an affinity with this whole god thing will not be mortally offended by this outrageous suggestion that the creator actually made belief in him a ticket to an earlier grave than would be the case for non-believers, but that does appear to be the case, as science seems to have amply demonstrated. It feels, actually, as though a huge, intellectual weight has finally been lifted, and the enlightened can now move freely.

What a great way to celebrate my hundredth post this month, the thought of the discussions being conducted within the Vatican, seeking ways to counter this blasphemous research a truly delicious image.  Remember the words of that old Maori poem, written four thousand years ago – You are your own devil, you are your own god.  You fashioned the steps that your footsteps have trod , and no-one can save you from error or sin until you have hearkened to the spirit within.  What God?

In these days of health scare headlines, the fact that many of us have mobiles attached to our hips when not stuck on our ears is giving some cause for concern, especially as the potential exists, supposedly for brain damage, possibly cancerous, from prolonged contact with the cell phone.

Various studies have been conducted, suggesting at possible links between heavy cell phone use and illness, but a recently released book, The 4 hour body, authored by Tim Feriss, talks about the previously unsuspected risk  involved in keeping cell phones in pockets, close to our bodies, for long periods daily.  

You need to be a little afraid, because a recent post on Yahoo health, about the 2010 Interphone study, stated that those who have the mobile at their ear for half-an-hour daily, over ten years, are 40% more likely to contract a brain tumour of the type that killed Teddy Kennedy, the Glioma.

You could say that the smallness of most cell phones would prohibit them giving off big enough doses of radiation to seriously affect the user, but all effects talked about are long-term ones, especially important to those who spend thei8r waking hours with the devices apparently glued to the sides of their heads. There is, it would appear, a clear and future danger inherent in such over-use.

There has to be, according to the book by Tim Ferriss, a genuine danger, for young men, that keeping the cell phone in the front trouser pockets, as many do, could potentially be posing a threat in terms of irradiating the testicles gradually, causing testicular cancer, eventually, though this as yet just theoretical, but having other, more chilling effects in the meantime.

It is obviously not yet known what long-term effects will truly be, because the use of these technologies to the present day extent has been slowly building for the past decade, so it may be another ten to fifteen years before definitive results appear, but there is little doubt that the popularity of wifi and other such devices are causing exposure levels unknown to past generations

There are current measurements, from various studies, proving that health problems can be caused through over-use of mobile phones. One study on rats showed that testosterone levels plummeted, in males exposed to the same levels radiated by average cell phones for a four week period at thirty minutes daily. The same undoubtedly happens to male humans, and testosterone is vital to your sexuality.

Tim Ferriss took this a stage further, wanting to see if sperm counts and motility were subject to the influence of the slight radioactive signals, and discovered that seven tenths of European studies carried out came to the damning conclusion that there was indeed a detrimental effect on sperm from the mobile phone radiation emissions.

An avid user of his own device, Tim went and got his own sperm count test, finding his numbers at surprisingly low levels. On reflection, he realized that he was indeed guilty of keeping the phone in a front pocket for up to twelve hours daily, and  repeated sperm count tests, over the following years, showed ever-diminishing numbers.

Having seen all the research data on this topic, Tim elected to experiment over a three-month trial, in which he would carry his cell phone in his pocket no more, keeping it well away from his testicles. The device was kept either in the back ocket when out, or at arm’s length when indoors, though mostly kept turned off when about his person.

Since sperm production in human males is a process taking some nine weeks, the three month trial seemed appropriate, and the sperm count test results at the end of it were astonishing, in that the volume of ejaculate was almost 50% higher, while the incidence of motile sperm per milliliter was 100% higher, and the incidence of motile sperm per ejaculate almost twice as high.

Whilst this is hardly definitive, with some variables, there is little doubt that the effect of  keeping the mobile well away from your reproductive organ is very good, improving dramatically your chances of fathering healthy children, should that be your wish in the future. The dangers for women are less clear as yet, but defective sperm could have a knock-on effect on unborn children, so being safe is always the best bet

Electro-Magnetic Frequency dangers also occur with other wireless devices, such as Wifi, and  never using a laptop actually on your lap seems another wise precaution.  Try using a wired, or Ethernet internet connections, or mobile broadband instead.  Surrendering the cell phone is simply not an option for most people, but sensible use of it could be very good for your future heath and sexual prowess as a man.

This genuinely is not scare-mongering on my part, more a simple commentary on disturbing facts that have recently started coming to light. The more we advance technologically, the greater the risk that we inadvertently subject ourselves to unknown dangers, so being careful in the way we conduct ourselves makes sense. Nothing wrong with having a mobile man, just watch out where you stash it.

Nowadays having a pet is fairly common and many animals are kept as pets, the popular ones being cats and dogs. Thankfully as many people rely on them for company and as a companion they are treated respectfully. People may decide to get pets for different reasons e.g. Company, to bond their family and help for the blind. However this doesn’t affect the way people treat them and feed them and luckily people treat them like anyone else in their family.

Guide Dogs:

Guide Dogs are specially trained dogs in order to be able to help the blind or people with major sight problems to get around safely. As I said above for pets they are normally treated with great respect as a companion for many blind people are unfortunate enough to live on their own or in care.

Sport:

Animals which are used in sport aren’t just abuse towards the animal such as in Bull fighting. For example greyhound racing the animals chase after the hare with no force from a human. With the animals being looked after carefully in sport and being checked on abused animal owners will be punished by the government .

Transport:

Animals have been used in human transport for thousands of years for example horses. Nowadays we are less dependent on animals assistance but they are still used and transport in some areas of the world like Husky dogs in the Arctic. The transport of animals can help humans pass through the toughest environments with little effort with normally no stress or mistreatment to the animal.

Work:

Animals used in work are fairly scarce until it comes to the police and military sector. For example sniffer dogs at airports and other locations placed around the United States. Also some type of bird is used in Japan for fishing. These animals are well looked after, even after they have been ‘retired’

Experiments:

An animal being used in experimentation is a very controversial subject and probably at least 75% of the population would protest about it, until it becomes on testing for something for that animal could benefit from i.e. new medicines maybe for a cow infected with mad cow disease. Experimentation on animals even in perspective is still probably going to be protested about.

Farming:

Animals help in farming in many ways apart from cattle farming for food. For example sheep help in the farming business by eating grass which moves more fertile soil to the top of the ground so new crops can be grown there again and also when they are sheared it isn’t just benefiting us for wool it benefits the sheep so they don’t have so much wool and can take up less space for itself.