Okay, so sorry about there being no “Cloud of the Month” in May. Things got a bit hectic, i.e., finals and the sort. So here is my “Cloud of the Month” for June: Altocumulus clouds!!!! I chose this cloud because when I left work, I looked up in the sky (no surprise there) and the sky was full of them. I couldn’t believe my eyes because the shear beauty of the clouds and how vivid they were was just overwhelming. They didn’t even seem real! I wish I had had my camera with me but alas, luck was not on my side. Actually, I seem to have lost it as well as my iPod. But that’s neither here nor there.

When these clouds fill the sky, it is sometimes called “Mackerel Sky.” Here’s why: When the clouds appear in the sky, they occur in patches which gives off the impression of fish scales. They kind of look like a puzzle where the pieces are spread out.

Altocumulus clouds. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

It’s all about looks… and location

Altocumulus clouds. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

These clouds have a globular shape about them; they look like spots that an artist painted on. They are found in clusters, whether that be in patches or layers. They are found anywhere 1,200 to 6,100 m (6,500 to 20,000 ft.). As a result, they are a part of Family B which means they are a medium-level cloud. These clouds have a white or gray color about them but despite this, they are darker than cirrocumulus clouds. Additionally, they are larger than the stratocumulus clouds.

Reading these babies

Altocumulus clouds in the morning can sometimes indicate that thunderstorms will develop later in the day. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

As is the case for cumulus clouds, altocumulus clouds are a result of convection. In terms of meteorology, convection is the pocket of instability, i.e., a temperature gradient. These clouds usually occur in the leading edge of a cold front. Additionally, they are indicators that a thunderstorm will occur, especially when they form in the morning on a warm and humid summer. In that instance, altocumulus clouds are indicating that there could be thunderstorm activity later in the afternoon. Although it is not that common, these clouds can produce a trace amount of rainfall if they are high enough in the atmosphere.

Until next time

I think I will end my article here because we are getting a new roof (we had hail damage) and the contractors are hammering away. They woke me up this morning just hammering as loud as they could and they broke some stuff of mine. I can’t begin to express how livid I am about the situation. Now they are back from lunch and they have started hammering again. Some of my stuff has fallen already and it has only been 5 minutes! So, until next time, keep an eye on the sky.

Altocumulus clouds and a sun pillar. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Anyways, this is the other portion of weather journals for the severe weather outbreak that occurred on 04/30/2010 and 05/01/2010, this entry of course, is for the latter of the two dates. I am assuming that you all read my previous weather journal entry, yes? Since that is the case, and I am assuming it is, then I do not need to set-up the scenes leading up to the events of 05/01/2010. I’ve posted photos below! I’m going to post video link(s) later.

Like I do every day, I looked at the convective outlooks that the Storm Prediction Center (SPC) and I found that they had issued a high risk for severe weather for the state of Arkansas. This was the second day in a row that the SPC had issued a high risk for severe weather for Arkansas (seen below). At the time that I had checked the convective outlooks, about 10:30 am, there were no watches for the Arkansas area. I decided I would go outside and rollerblade, which I do when I do my running cross-training. As soon as I rolled outside, I felt like I had been swimming! The humidity outside was extreme! I decided to keep my rollerblading short and I returned to my dorm room as soon as possible. Upon my return, I turned on The Weather Channel (TWC) right as Dr. Greg Forbes was giving his TOR:CON Forecast; Arkansas received a 9/10, which was the highest rating that he has ever given since he developed the TOR:CON Forecast! Prior to seeing the TOR:CON Forecast, I knew that today was going to be a busy day in terms of severe weather, but the forecast just reinforced my beliefs.

Convective outlook for 05/01/2010. Courtesy of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Storm Prediction Center (SPC).

Fast-forward to the early afternoon. The SPC issued a Tornado Watch for Arkansas but this was a different watch. It is called a Particularly Dangerous Situation (PDS). This is not commonly issued by the SPC but in the event that one is issued, you can expect a lot of tornadic activity. By the mid to late afternoon, supercells began to explode across western portions of Arkansas! The atmosphere was perfect for supercell and tornadogenesis! Well, it was in the late afternoon and the early evening when the storms began to strengthen and affect Conway, which is where I was at the time. I was watching the radar and looking out the window, when I noticed that there was a supercell that was headed right for Conway! To make matters worse, (worse for everyone else. I was loving it!) the supercell had a tornado warning on it! As it moved into Faulkner county,  one of my roommates was about to leave to do something with his fraternity, when I stopped him and told him that he should probably take cover. As soon as I mentioned that, the tornado sirens started to sound! I ran downstairs and outside to see what I could see. I do not advise you doing this! It is very dangerous and I do so because I am a trained storm spotter and I relay the information in to the National Weather Service (NWS).

With the first supercell, there was loads of rain that came with the storm and this is where the storm became problematic. There was a reported funnel cloud between Mayflower and Conway and it was headed toward downtown Conway, which was where I was at! I told my friends who were around me to take cover and I texted my other friends the same message. I continued to stay outside, trying to see if I could catch anything on my camera and tell the NWS. (Un)Fortunately, there was no tornado and we were safe.

After the supercell passed, I went to look at the radar and saw that there was another supercell that was headed toward Conway. I estimated that it would be here in roughly 30 to 40 minutes (I was right by the way). My friend Ryan Parker called me and told me that he was going to head over to my dorm before the next storm hit. By the time he had arrived, you could see three different supercells! The first was the one that had already passed over Conway. The second was a beautiful one that looked like it was headed to Conway but wasn’t. The third one was the second storm that hit Conway and I watched it compose itself right before my eyes! As I watched the storm form, I began to see what is called a mesocyclone develop within the storm! As the storm became more organized, I told Ryan as well as some other friends, that the NWS is going to put a warning on this one in the next few minutes. Lo and behold, the tornado sirens started to go off as soon as the NWS issued the warning! I told my friends to go inside because the weather was getting very ominous. They decided to stay because their logic was that they will know it is time for them to take cover whenever I decide to run and take cover. This was not the best logic since it takes a lot of me to run when it comes to the weather. Some people decided to go inside when two cloud to ground lightning strikes struck close to us. As the mesocyclone passed over us, we all watched in awe while standing close to the doors in the event that something were to happen where we needed to go indoors and take cover. Once the mesocyclone passed, Ryan and I went up to one of my friends rooms on the fourth floor and were able to look out the window and watch the mesocyclone go off into the distance. Basically, it was amazing!

That was the last tornadic cell that passed over Conway. There was another severe thunderstorm that passed over Conway, which produced pea-sized hail! It only lasted for two minutes but it was awesome! And that was pretty much my weather journal for the 05/01/2010 severe weather event. I have some photos that I took down below! I’m going to post video link(s) later. Enjoy!

This was the first supercell that affected Conway. It was tornadic!

This was the second supercell that affected Conway. It was tornadic as well!

This was the second supercell. It looked like it was headed to Conway but it wasn't. It was still in the process of developing.

This might have been a thunderstorm that was backbuilding but I'm not entirely sure. If so, it really did not amount to much.

This was the start of the mesocyclone formation. If you look closely, you might be able to see the wall cloud down toward the tree tops.

The mesocyclone is becoming more organized!

The mesocyclone continues to become more organized!

The mesocyclone has really organized itself. If there was a wall cloud at this time, it would be located below the tree tops.

This is the base of the supercell.

Apparently only the “in crowd” among the bird people know this… but birds have this uncanny ability to see a larger range of colors than humans do. This wider range includes some wavelengths of ultraviolet – that sunlight stuff that you try so hard to avoid. But here’s the real kicker: birds of prey like hawks can use this ability to see trails of urine glowing in sunlight. This leads them straight to those poor little buggers scurrying through the fields. I’ll bet you didn’t know THAT!

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2. That gold you wear is actually bacteria poop.

Well, technically it is. Just like OUR poop, gold is something that the bacteria Pedomicrobium cannot digest, so it is passed right out of their systems… in 24 carat purity. It was a scientist named John R. Watterson who first discovered that many huge lumps of the shiny stuff were plagued with bacteria… they were dead, of course, having been entombed in pure gold for around 200 million years. What a sad way to go… entombed in your own… gold.

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3. Shrub Bombs. Fear Them.

Before I go on, I have to come clean and admit that the picture you see above is not of the amazing burning bush. It’s simply a picture of Adesmia pinifolia… a simple boring shrub. HOWEVER, in some rocky areas of the middle east, there exists a shrub of the genus Cystus that is known for it’s release of flammable gasses. Pretty much all creatures release gases other than just oxygen and carbon dioxide, but this bush is VERY special. On hot, non-windy days, when the plant’s metabolism it at its peak, it becomes enshrouded in a cloud of flammable gas and oxygen – a deadly combination. Even the small sparks made by rocks rolling downhill can be enough to set them ablaze. Crazy, right?

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4. Not all creatures run AWAY from the forest fire.

from palestrina55 (flikr)

Did you really think that the world worked that smoothly? HAH! Puny human.  These beetles are the most hardcore of any that I’ve ever read about… they even beat out the dung beetle. Fire Beetles, as they’re known, can actually smell the charring wood and it causes them to become aroused. They can smell the flames from hundreds of miles away, and they converge on the area to mate. If you’re scratching your head and wondering what could possibly be the advantage to that, think about it this way: if your apartment was just fumigated, and everybody either ran away or died, who would be around to hunt you and your babies? Or to stop you from eating all the food they left behind? Nobody. Likewise, the Fire Beetles take advantage of the area full of rotting wood to deposit their young.

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5. Your perfume angers your house plants.

I really wish I was a good enough writer to make this stuff up. This really isn’t that crazy, but I’m almost positive you’re never thought about it like this. I’m sure you remember at some point in your science education, somebody has told you that organisms need all the energy they can get… so they spend their entire lives doing whatever is necessary to get nutrients. More important, however, is the fact that the “body” of a plant or animal doesn’t WASTE energy once it acquires some. So, do you really think that those “floral scents” that you like so much are JUST TO SMELL PRETTY? No. As it turns out, many of the molecules that COINCIDENTALLY smell good to us are meant to signal other plants about insects in the area. These molecules are sensed by other plants that then start to create anti-bug toxins. Your perfume, air freshener, laundry detergent… in plant language, “them’s fightin’ words.”

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If any of this has sparked your interest and you would like to learn more, check out a BBC documentary series called “Supernatural – The Unseen Powers of Animals.” You can view them all online by clicking here.

Apparently, 15% of you readers are regulars to the site. That may not seem like a big number to some of you, but in terms of internet traffic, that’s a big deal! MPSN has come a long way since the project started last fall!

So I have two questions for you guys:

#1: Why don’t you write comments?

and

#2: Why aren’t you on the EMAIL LIST?

We really want this to keep growing. We still have the desire to write for MPSN, but we need to know that you guys are still on board! So, leave a comment on this post letting us know what you think so far. You could even consider throwing in how you found the site and where’s you’re from.

SO MANY OTHER WEBSITES HAVE A COMMUNITY! WHY CAN’T WE?!?

Last week, my choir went on tour in New Orleans. I had a blast, and while I was spending 8 hours on a bus between NOLA and Memphis, I overheard somebody talking about time at the same time that the bus passed a billboard with a random picture of an alien…

You guys know me. My mind wandered, and I came up with the idea for the first ever MPSN contest!!! Since this is the first one, and I need to know how well this will catch on, I’m setting the prize as a $5 online gift card to Amazon.com. It’s not a huge amount, but you can find $5 stuff there AND if you think of it as a discount, it’s one hell of a discount… especially for 5 minutes of effort!!

Without further adieu, here are the rules:

1. Leave a comment on this post explaining the idea of “time” to Rob the Alien (in fewer than 200 words). On his planet, there’s no such thing as “time.” You can be as creative as you wish… in fact, we recommend it. We won’t actually count all the words and disqualify you after 200, but if it’s too long we may not read it.
2. NO profanity. If you cuss, you’ll be automatically dropped from competition. No exceptions.
3. Use a legit email address. You can use a fake one if you’d like, but we can’t send you the code for the gift card if the email you use is fake.

That’s it for rules — pretty straightforward. The winner will be chosen one week from tonight (Valentine’s Day). Perfect timing to catch some holiday deals!

And remember, this is all just for fun. It’s an easy way to make a few bucks. Give it a go.

Good luck to you!

- Props to my good friend Travis Hamm

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If this isn’t a major kick in the behind to anybody who holds prejudice against anything, then nothing will ever be. Who would have EVER thought that a creature as hideous as the naked mole rat would ever prove to be beneficial to science– much less the possibility of curing cancer.

I mean, honestly, the name isn’t even fun to say.

But sure enough, the naked mole rat has recently earned itself some respect within the scientific community, thanks to the research of Dr. Vera Gorbunova and her associate researchers at the University of Rochester in New York. Dr. Gorbunova’s work has taken cancer research down a completely new path, introducing a completely unstudied organism to the playing field.

Much like all great scientific findings, this one began with the simple observation that “Hey! I’ve never heard of a documented case of cancerous growth in mole rats,” which later graduated to “Hey! I’ve never heard of a case of cancer in squirrels either!” Using this as a diving board, the research group from Rochester eventually discovered that each of these organisms had a two-step cancer safeguard as compared to humanity’s one-step system.

That’s all. One extra gene is what keeps naked mole rats from developing cancer. Does that seem frightfully simple to anybody other than me? Welcome to science.

You see, in human cells, there is a gene called p27 that acts as a nanny, keeping our cells in check when they try to grow more than they’re supposed to. But what happens when the cells figure out a way to sneak past the nanny when she thinks they’re in bed asleep? That’s one way that we develop cancer.

So how do you fix this problem? Hire another nanny!

In the cells of not only naked mole rats, but all small and long-living rodents, there are two nannies at work: p27 and p16. Although one would think that eventually, the cells would be able to work around the second nanny as well, the data simply says no. In the entire history of ANYBODY studying naked mole rats, NOBODY has EVER written down any cancer-like traits under any circumstances. Apparently, there is something going on that is yet to be discovered.

So far, we know that both genes code for proteins that play a role in telling the cell that it’s growing too much, but when put together, the result is significantly more strict. When scientists attempted to grow mole rat cells in a laboratory for study, they found it difficult not only to mutate the cells into tumors (in a petri dish, not on the animal), but just to grow them in the first place!

What they found was that the p16 gene actually forces cells to stop growing upon physical contact with another cell, making tumors a thing of the past. Our p27 gene is supposed to do the same thing, and for the most part it does, but doubling up obviously creates a much worse environment for cancerous cells to develop.

That’s all we know for now, and it may be all we ever know in our lifetime. Science is kinda mean like that. But who knows? Maybe the cure for malaria lies within jet fuel and the a treatment for Huntington’s is at the bottom of the sea. If we can learn how to fight cancer from an unexpected source like the naked mole rat, then anything is possible.

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References:

People really don’t kid when they say that our generation has to figure out the difficult problems of the world because the easy ones have already been taken. Thankfully, from the looks of it, we’re stepping up to the challenge.

Before May of 2007, you could have asked all doctors of ANY science “How long does it take for a plastic object to completely decompose?” and you would have been replied by a majority of them with the same answer of “anywhere from 20 to 1000 years.” According to Earth911.com, a website created for the sole purpose of promoting recycling in America, the complete degradation of a single plastic water bottle can take over 700 years!! And in the sixty or so years that plastics have been in common use, Americans have ALREADY created a landfill problem.

There are two main problems with landfills: water and gas. Over those hundreds of years that will be required to completely degrade those plastics (and even more for metals and glass), they release toxic gases both into ground water supplies and into the atmosphere. A common gas among many that are released is aerosol, which has already been shown to cause significant damage to the earth’s protective ozone layer. Although once believed to be harmless, we have come to find otherwise and that immediate action is definitely necessary in order to conserve our environment.

Que Daniel Burd, winner of the 2007 Canadian Science Fair in Waterloo, Ontario. His simplistic, yet scientifically impressive work with yeast has identified two genus, Pseudomonas and Sphingomonas, that have been shown to possess strains with the capability to decompose plastic. Not only that, but he has discovered what he believes to be optimum conditions for the microorganisms to work… resulting in the complete metabolism of a plastic bag in only three months, 19 years and 9 months before it’s projected degradation date. And did I mention that he was only sixteen at the time?

Kids, if you think that you’re too small to do ANYTHING, take a lesson from this guy. His experiments have found a way to take plastics, which would normally result in toxins released to both our air and water, and put them through a process that produces only water and carbon dioxide… the same stuff we produce during cellular respiration. Some have argued that this excess of CO2 would result in assistance to global climate change. But others believe that capturing this gas and releasing it into water-dwelling photosynthetic organisms, like algae, could be the ecological boost that our planet really needs to kick back into a healthy state.

Regardless, this guy is inspiring. In an interview with Cogito, a branch of Johns Hopkins University that focuses on the scientific education of high school level youths, Burd admits that his work was almost entirely his own. He was given equipment from an outside benefactor, but his ideas came from his own experience and research. “I did not have a mentor [...] I used the recourses available at my local library.”

If you take anything away from Daniel’s story, let it be this: you need not have a $5 million grant to do something amazing. All great things start small – McDonald’s, Google, America. Don’t be discouraged by youth or even by ignorance. If you pursue it, your day will come. Burd started out by completing household chores and has become a legend of our time. Who knows what you’re capable of? Not even you.

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References:

Mammalian Neural Cells

Since its introduction to the public, stem cell research has been a very touchy subject. Many people are turned away by the thought of sacrificing an unborn child for the sake of the advancement of science, and some are still antsy about the banking of cord blood. This public disapproval has lead many researchers to study the use of adult stem cells, and one group has finally found a viable alternative.

When most people think of stem cell research, they automatically think of genetics. Notably, inserting genes into cells and causing mice to grow ears on their backs and tobacco plants to glow like fireflies. I know I used to imagine ominous-looking men in white labcoats and goggles poking and prodding and writing and scratching their chins… and X-men.

Tobacco Plant with Luciferase Gene

But the reality is that X-men aren’t anywhere near the near future of genetics. Although we do know a lot more than we once knew, we still don’t understand a how to decipher an overwhelming majority of the genetic code. The genetic world is a strange and misunderstood world; since scientists don’t know how to control every aspect of it, small adjustments can result in major phenotype changes. Notable example: Sickle Cell Anemia.

It was for this exact reason that Dr. Sheng Ding, leader of the Scripps Reaserch group that led the study, decided to take a different approach. Ding noted that genes and their protein products are not the only factors in controlling how a cell works. There are numerous other molecules that act as signals and activators, among other things. It was this thought that led him to find three molecules that he could use to de-differentiate adult cells past their pluripotent state, in which cells have a large set of adult cells that they can become, and into their totipotent state, in which cells can become any adult cell for the species.

The group focused on skin cells, thus implementing their knowledge of the “mesenchymal to epithelial cell transition,” in which pleuripotent cells lose their ability to become anything but skin cells. The team focused on throwing a wrench in the process of differentiation. If they could stop the production of the proteins that make cell X a type X cell, then maybe they could figure out a way to turn it into another cell type.

Two proteins, called Transforming Growth Factor Beta and Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase, were the focal points of the team’s efforts because they play a role in the process that they were attempting to stop. After experimenting with a number of chemical agents, they discovered two of interest: ALK5 inhibitor SB43142 and MEK inhibitor PD0325901. Because these chemicals prevented the function of the two proteins of interest, certain steps in the process of differentiation of epithelial (skin) cells couldn’t progress, leading to the de-differentiation of the cell.

Better yet, the old way required almost a month to reach completion; Ding produced results within two weeks… and did I mention there were 200X the number of cells as compared to traditional methods?

In a later interview with Ding, he explained that his method is better for the sake of research because it decreases the number of variables with which to compete. “[...] conventional conditions can be very variable. [...] The advantage of using chemically defined conditions is you know every single component in your culture. When you observe a phenotype, you know the exact condition that controls the environment.”

This research could lead to new medicines sooner than most would expect. One of the highlights of the study was that each of the tested chemicals were those already known to have passed human testing. Who knows, maybe we’ll life to see soldiers regrow lost limbs or defects corrected. Regardless, this is a serious forward step for the field of regenerative medicine and a hallmark for the study of biology.

Image courtesy of:

Nakamura et al., BMC Cell Biology 2007, 8:52 doi 10.1186/1471-2121-8-52

Keith Wood (of DeLuca lab)

References