Swimming Santa Claus promotes protecting the ocean

Hi,

"Here's something you don't see every day: a Chinese Santa Claus recently appeared underwater at an aquarium in Shanghai.

The Santa, decked out in red and white garments, was swimming alongside fish to promote saving the ocean. The unusual act has drawn significant attention."



Happy Boxing Day
Cheers

AirPod-a car that runs on thin air

Hi,

"There are cars that run on gas, electricity, vegetable oil, even human waste, and now there is a car that runs on air.

The AirPod has been created in the UK and runs on compressed air. This CNN video demonstrates how the three-wheeled, two door, steering wheel-free vehicle zips around. (It is also oddly reminiscent of a car from "The Jetsons," but that was probably not planned.)

Compared to a standard car, the AirPod emits a fraction of the pollution, can reach up to 50 mph, and will cost around $10,000. Motor Development International hopes that the AirPod will be the future of urban transportation."
(source:The Huffington Post, Joanna Zelman on 22nd Dec 2010)



Merry Christmas

Cheers

Lunar eclipse on Dec 21st 2010

Hi,

Lunar eclipse occurs when the moon is blocked by the earth's shadow as the earth passes between the moon and the sun. Dec. 21st is also called the winter solstice, the longest night of the year(in the northern hemisphere).

The first video shows the shadow falling on the moon from the left hand side of the moon and progress over the moon as the satellite revolves around the earth. Then the red coloured moon is due to the diffused light(penumbra) falling on the moon from the sun. Then the moon lights up from the left side again with direct light from the sun as it emerges from the shadow of the earth.



The second video is an incredible time lapse video of the total lunar eclipse from KxbTV on YouTube, produced by Kareem Brown.



Cheers

Thinking your way thin-Imagination Diet

Hi,

The better you are at imagining yourself eating what you crave for, the easier it is for you to lose weight.?!



Cheers

The 20 Most Popular YouTube Cooking Videos

Hi,

"More Americans are turning to YouTube to learn how to prepare all kinds of foods."

They are accessible at the following website:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/13/youtube-cooking-videos_n_795629.html#s205135

Three samples are given below:







Cheers

Richard Sears on Planning for the end of oil

Hi,

Would we stop using oil because we run out of oil? No says Richard Sears. We stopped using stones for making tools because of new ideas and innovations. In the same way....



Cheers

Dan Ariely on Are we in control of our decisions

Hi,

Shock of shocks, we are mistaken if we think that we are in control of our own decisions.

Listen to a witty and very entertaining behavioural economist, Dan Ariely, giving us many examples of our visual illusions, counter-intuition, and irrationality.




Cheers

Dan Pink on the surprising science of motivation

Hi,

Listen to this speaker and his jaw-dropping contention that carrots and sticks do not work any more with knowledge-based workers. It destroys creativity.

Career analyst Dan Pink examines the puzzle of motivation, starting with a fact that social scientists know but most managers don't: Traditional rewards aren't always as effective as we think.





Cheers

Chip Conley on Measuring what makes life worthwhile

Hi,

"Happiness is not about what you want but about wanting what you have."

Abraham Maslow " If the only tool you have is a hammer, everthing starts looking like a nail"
When the dotcom bubble burst, hotelier Chip Conley went in search of a business model based on happiness. In an old friendship with an employee and in the wisdom of a Buddhist king, he learned that success comes from what you count.



Cheers

"(Nothing But) Flowers" by David Byrne

Hi,
David Byrne sings the Talking Heads' 1988 hit, "(Nothing But) Flowers." He's accompanied by Thomas Dolby and Ethel.He sings about going back to pristine environment during the time of Adam and Eve.

Do not forget to turn on the lyrics in English.



Cheers

What's wrong with our food system?

Hi,
11-year-old Birke Baehr presents his take on a major source of our food -- far-away and less-than-picturesque industrial farms. Keeping farms out of sight promotes a rosy, unreal picture of big-box agriculture, he argues, as he outlines the case to green and localize food production.



Cheers

Meet Eco Joe

Hi,

Everyone counts when it comes to environment sustainability.



Cheers

Sweat the small stuff

Hi,

Another video on how you can be pro-active in saving the environment.



Cheers

Cancun Climate Summit, 2010

Hi,
World ministers met at Cancun from 29Nov to 10 Dec 2010 .....









Cheers

Human Genetics shows the migration pattern of human species

Hi,

Using DNA from thousands of people from all around the world, Dr Spencer explains how our ancestors migrated around the world starting 60 thousand years ago.



Cheers

Small indoor plants help to clean and refresh air in rooms

Hi,
I love growing small plants in my room.
Listen to Kamal Meattle explaining how 3 common types of small in door plants, the money plant, the mother-in-law's tongue and the areca palm help to clean and enrich the air in office buildings.


Cheers

Amazing time-lapse video of child from birth to 10 years old

Hi,

Watch this amazing time-lapse video of a child during its first 10 years of its life.



Cheers

A cool trick with hot water at -40 degrees centigrade

Hi,

At around -40 degrees centigrade, water freezes immediately.

Watch this amazing demonstration.



How is it that we do not freeze too when we step outside the heated homes?
Homoeostasis is the answer. Cold blooded animals will freeze up. Warm blooded animals like us and the other mammals and of course the birds have inbuilt mechanisms to keep our body temperature constant whatever the outside temperature.
We have to get the energy from our food through the process of respiration.

Cheers

Jessica Jackley speaks about microfinance and povery, money and love

Hi,

Jessica Jackley speaks how she was moved to give the poor dignity, respect, optimism, hope, solutions, resources, strength and capital.

She co-founded of Kiva.org- and how her work with micro-loans has brought new power to people who live on a few dollars a day.



Cheers

Creative houses from reclaimed stuff by Dan Phillips

Hi,

Listen to the very funny Dan Phillips create a very liveable home.



Cheers

Bring on the learning revolution by Sir Ken Robinson

Hi,

The witty speaker talks about creating the love of learning and personalised learning conditions. We should identify our kid's natural talents and grow it every child.

He sprouts poetry and analyses words. Very beautiful and thought provoking.



Cheers

Shimon Steinberg talks about Natural Pest Control

Hi,

Watch Shimon Steinberg using bugs instead of pesticides to protect plant crops.

Scientists in Israel learn about the natural enemies of our crops. Insects, spiders and mites are grown in large farms and sold to commercial farmers to grow organic vegetables.



Cheers

The brain in your gut by Heribert Watzke

Hi,

How cooking our food has transformed us and unleashed our human potential.



Cheers

My green school dream in Bali by John Hardy

Hi,

Building a green school (with bamboo stems) which has no walls, populated by smiling students learning in a painless breezy surroundings.

This school of the future is almost romantic if not functional. Beautiful in every way, architecturally, educationally, environmentally and futuristically.



Cheers

Single Use Plastics- refuse

Hi,

The next environmental crisis is brewing. Lets stop it with some education.

Please add the 4th R to reduce, recycle and reuse. It is refuse



Cheers

A breakdancer to watch out for when he grows up

Hi,

What a marvellous dance. It showcases his physical fitness and mental agility.



cheers

10 Ways to imporve student achievements and create learners

Hi,

I reproduce here a portion of the article from Huffington Post, Nov 28, 2010.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/pam-lowe/top-10-ways-to-improve-st_b_786205.html

Top 10 Ways to Improve Student Achievement and Create Learners
Disclaimer: This is by no means all that schools should be doing. Note that these are broad actions; there are many more detailed actions that need to be taken.

1. Share a Vision -- Review your school's Mission Statement. Your new vision should be tied to your district's Mission Statement, but build up on it. The vision should describe why it is important to achieve your mission statement while looking to the future. It should portray what will be achieved if the school is successful in achieving its goals. Everyone should be invested in the vision with a total buy-in from the entire school. You have to keep your eye on the prize and never veer from your vision.

2. Your School Should Be a Change Agent -- Change agents are passionate and driven about their vision. They make the tough decisions keeping what's best for the students in focus. When complaints about change and improvement come rolling in, and they will, pay close attention to your leadership and their decisions. If the leaders of a district do not want to upset the teachers or parents by moving forward, then your district's chances of improving are minimal at best. It's then that you find out what your leadership is made of in your school; from your school board on down to the principals.

3. Analyze Data -- Everyone involved must be data analysis; from the administration to the teachers. The secret to data analysis is to do something with the data. Many schools analyze the data and do not do anything with it. Celebrate your strengths, keep the focus on improvement and draw up plans on how you're going to improve on your weaknesses and implement it.

4. Introduce Students to Their Data -- As obvious as this may sound, many times teachers take on the burden of the responsibility and do not allow students to take ownership of their education. Involve students by sharing their data with them from standardized test data to classroom data.

5. Increase Rigor -- Schools are looking for miracles and the cure is right under their noses. Schools can do everything else in this list, including reducing class size, but if a school does not increase the rigor in instruction and learning, they are spitting in the wind. The key is recognizing the difference between hard questions and complex questions. Many teachers will tell you that they have rigorous assignments, when in reality, they do not. This one thing will make the biggest impact in not only learning, but in scores. If schools were to increase the rigor and complexity, the scores would take care of themselves.

6. Teach Students the Levels of Rigor -- Teach students the difference between recall, application, and strategic reasoning. When students learn the difference between how much thinking is required to answer questions at each level, it assists them in not only answering questions, but also in their learning. I've taught the levels to my former students and it was a defining moment in their careers as learners. This strategy paired with the above mentioned increasing rigor in instruction and assignments is a powerful combination.

7. Expectations -- Expectations go hand-in-hand with increasing rigor. Students will rise to expectations. Make sure the expectations are not set too low and demonstrate an expectation that all students can achieve the objectives of courses.

8. Teach Students How to Learn -- Students are taught what to learn. In order for them to be successful as learners, they also have to discover how to learn and to develop an appetite for learning. I'm convinced that one of the reasons some students do not succeed in college is that they sail through high school learning the prescribed curriculum, but never learn how to learn.


Students, at an early age have to be taught how to:
• self-regulate their learning
• set their own academic goals
• develop strategies to meet their goals
• reflect on their academic performance

9. Teachers as Learners Environment -- Teachers are all about instructing their students. Teachers should also invest in themselves. I'm referring to teachers actively pursuing knowledge because they want to know more. The best teachers continue to grow and don't rely solely on school designated professional development hours as their outlet to learn new concepts and ideas about education. This could include reading professional development books, blogs, or articles online. One powerful way to continue to grow as an educator is to join an online personal learning network and/or develop one on Twitter.

10. Teach Smarter and Not Harder -- Incorporate research-based teaching and learning strategies. In order to grow the district and its teachers need to be on top of the latest developments in research-based strategies.

Cheers

The Science of Happiness

Hi,

Most of us have heard of Charles Darwin's "The survival of the fittest". Not many of us have heard of him also saying "Sympathy is our kindest instinct".

Now scientists in UC Berkeley are reporting that compassion and happiness are linked. Compassion strengthens our immune system, makes us more intelligent, helps in our survival as an individual as well as a species.



Cheers

300 years of fossil-fueled addiction

Hi,

Condensed history of man's affect on the environment.



Cheers

The Story of Stuff

Hi,

It is school holidays again. Good time to relax and do things that really matters.



Arnold Schwarzenegger is going to lead in this field. I hope he will bring in renewed interest in everyone taking sustainable resources and environment seriously.

Cheers

Living with Asthma

Hi,

About managing asthma...



Cheers

The animators of life

Hi,
Visualisation of cellular biology at molecular level (Biovison), representation of activities inside a cell as a cinema is jaw-dropping. It looks almost like entertainment and not biology.

Enjoy.



Cheers

The Story of Cap and Trade

Hi,

Lets learn more about how stuff is produced and sold to you, the conusmer.



Cheers

The Story of Cosmetics

Hi,

More stories to raise your awareness level of what you do to the planet when you purchase your favourite cosmetic stuff.



Cheers

The Story of Bottled Water

Hi,

We need to realise what we are doing to our environment with our purchase of bottled water which is 1000 times more than the clean safe tap water!



Cheers
Happy Hari Raya Haji

Electronics Takeback

Hi,

We throw away our electronics after they breakdown or when newer models are available. What happens to this mountains of e-wastes?


take it back, make it green, recycle responsibly

Are you pro nuclear energy?

Hi,

Are you against nuclear energy?

We need electricity. Clean energy is what we want. Energy from burning coal produces carbon dioxide. Energy from nuclear sources produces nuclear wastes which emit lethal radiations for tens of hundreds of years. It has to stored safely, usually buried underground.

Listen to this debate and make up your own mind.




Cheers

Plastic bags pollute the environment

Hi,

Australia, South Africa, India, China, Italy, Bangladesh and Taiwan have banned, or instituted partial bans on plastic bags to combat the serious environmental threats they pose. Ireland imposes a tax on each bag, which is another way to slow down their use (after the tax, consumers’ usage dropped 90%). In March 2007, the City of San Francisco was the first major United States city to ban plastic bags, and Oakland soon followed suit



Read the full article at http://www.peachygreen.com/going-green/oregon-considers-plastic-bag-ban

Cheers

Molecular Genetics, cell divisions, ecology, selection

Hi Students,

Below are a few links I found very useful in understanding concepts in Molecular Biology and genetics. Difficult concepts in cell division are also dealt with.

Ecology, bioaccumulation and bio-magnification are also dealt with in the powerpoints slideshows listed below.

(1) http://www.slideshare.net/msthomas79/genetics-3177596?from=share_email

(2) http://www.slideshare.net/orodina/nucleic-acids?from=share_email

(3) http://www.slideshare.net/chalkie28/gcse-inheritance-and-selection?from=share_email

(4) http://www.slideshare.net/boo5000/unit-1-ecology-powerpoint-goal-5?from=share_email

(5) http://www.slideshare.net/MrJewett/biomagnification-bioaccumulation2?from=share_email

(6) http://www.slideshare.net/walajtys/biology-chapter-13-genetic-engineering?from=share_email

(7) http://www.slideshare.net/maxedmond/dna-strucutre-and-replication?from=share_email

(8) http://www.slideshare.net/msthomas79/genetic-engineering-3177598?from=share_email

I will go through these slideshows in class. You may want to browse through them for better understanding.

Cheers

I do not know if this can be recycled

Hi,

We are sometimes not sure which items to place in our recycling bags or bins.

Zerowastesg has compiled a list of 70 common waste items and checked with the National Environment Agency (NEA) on whether these items are acceptable for recycling through the NRP or recycling bins.

Click at this link http://www.zerowastesg.com/our-initiatives/can-recycle/and find out for yourself.

The recyclables and those that cannot be recycled through the NRP or recycling bins are given. Point and click your cursor on the image and you can see the description of the item with comments from the NEA.

Please do not forget to share this information with all your friends and family.

Cheers

Mental health and nature deficit disorder are related?

I read "Can playing in the dirt make you smarter?" and was even more convinced that a daily dose of nature is important in our mental and physical well-being. It is even more important in Singapore as we live in high-rise apartments and do not come into contact with soil and gardening is not in our list of things to do everyday or even on weekends.

Linda Buzzell, a psychotherapist, wrote about this in http://www.huffingtonpost.com/linda-buzzell/garden-guide-can-playing_b_591254.html

"The science supporting the mental health benefits of gardening and outdoor activities in general just gets stronger with each new study. We need to help our kids -- and ourselves -- recover from what author Richard Louv (Last Child in the Woods) calls "nature deficit disorder."

These studies encourage all of us to support our local communities by building a school garden at every educational institution in our area, increasing the availability of community gardens for everyone who wants a plot of soil to dig their fingers into and -- perhaps most important -- shrinking our lawns and growing some of our own food."

The original article is found at www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/05/100524143416.htm

I also wrote about this in this blog earlier, in May. It is found at http://asal-sakti.blogspot.com/2010/05/fun-filled-carefree-and-myopia-free.html

Cheers

Giant solar Flares predicted in May 2013

Hi,


In 1859, a geomagnetic storm sparked by a huge solar flare swept over the Earth. Telegraph wires shorted out and set houses on fire. A brilliant aurora was seen in Hawaii—so bright that "people could read newspapers by [its] red and green glow."

Scientists predict that in May 2013, the sun's solar cycle will peak at about the same level as in 1859.

Next week, scientists will meet at the Space Weather Enterprise Forum to talk about how to monitor and predict so-called "space weather"—solar flares, interplanetary magnetic fields, etc.

They predict a marked increase in solar storms over the next few years. According to NASA scientist Richard Fisher: "The sun is waking up from a deep slumber, and in the next few years we expect to see much higher levels of solar activity."

This is bad news for anyone who likes electronic things.

We're so dependent on technology hooked up to satellites, which can be disabled or destroyed by huge waves of charged particles spit out by the sun during a solar storm: GPS, cell phones—even credit card transactions use a satellite. A severe solar storm will knock out commercial satellites, blow down transformers, power lines, "leaving millions of people in northern latitudes without power."

Is your crazy behaviour due to toxoplasmosis?

Hi,





I was very shocked by an article I read in The Economist June 5th 2010.
Toxoplasma gondii is a common parasite carried by cats and rats and mice. It is like Plasmodium that causes malaria in human beings. However Toxoplasma affects cats and rodents in its normal life cycle. However, if it gets into humans, it forms cysts in the brain, liver and muscles.

Its effects on the rodents is a bizarre and fatal attraction to cats! Infected rats have been shown to be attracted to the smell of cats. These rodents wander around the cat to draw attention towards them so that they will be eaten!!

In this way the parasite makes the rodent complete its life cycle.

Of course humans are not preys of cats. However when the parasites infects the brains of humans, it produces a number of strange and crazy problems.

(1)Schizophrenia is a form of severe mental problem or madness. Scientists in Johns Hopkins University proved that people who suffer from schizophrenia are 3 times more likely to be infected with toxoplasma.

(2)Scientists at Charles University in Prague proved that people involved in road accidents are 3 times more likely to be infected with toxoplasma. This is due to reduced reaction times and short attention spans of the drivers.

(3)Dopamine is a chemical molecule produced by nerve cells. It has psychotic effects. Infection with toxoplasma produces a reduction in "novelty-seeking" effect. When blood tests were conducted in different countries, the British had a infection score of only 6.6% and we all know that the Brits are calm and not easily excited (-0.8). On the other hand the French has a infection score of 45% and they are known to be outgoing and excitable.

As every science student is taught from the beginning, correlation is not causation. It could be that the symptoms are found to be more common amongst the susceptible or due to some third as yet unidentified variable.


Read more about this very ubiquitous creature at

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxoplasma_gondii


Cheers

Power over others can be yours

Hi,

Body language is used every day by the police, managers, teachers, and other people in positions of authority. Those who can read body language know that:

* 55% of communication is non-verbal
* The human body can produce 700,000 different signs
* The fastest way to build a rapport with another person is to mirror their actions
* 7% of communication is verbal

'Mentalists' are people who have become experts at reading body language and use it to make appear that they are reading minds.

Fortune tellers, psychics, professional interviewers and police interrogators all use some form of mentalism.

* Cold reading: Takes cues from a person's body language, clothes, speech and ethnicity to make assumptions about a person and convince them that they know what they are thinking
* Hot reading: Requires some previous knowledge of the subject, either first-hand or through an assistant. The subject does not know that the mentalist has such previous knowledge.
* Forer effect: Psychologist Bertram R. Forer developed this technique in 1948. The mentalist makes vague statements that could apply to anyone and leads the subject to think they are tailored specifically to them.

If 55% of communication is non-verbal and 7% is verbal, what is the other 38% of communication?

Maybe that part involves bribery; doughnuts and cookies are a perfect form of communication!

It pays to know all these tricks to have power over others.

http://www.chacha.com/content/infographics/how-do-you-use-body-language-to-read-minds

Power over others can be yours, if you want that is.


Cheers

8 secrets of success

Hi,



(1) passion-we are driven by it
(2) work-nothing comes easily
(3) focusing yourself to one thing that you are doing
(4) persistence is the number one reason for success
(5) ideas-ask questions, make connections, solve problems
(6) good-get yourself good at what you are doing
(7) push yourself physically and mentally
(8) serve others something of value

Cheers

Teaching the arts and sciences

Hi,
Sciences and arts are experiences of the beauty of the environment around us.
They are interconnected, integrated and not separate as most of us teachers and students think.

Understanding + resources + will = outcome

Understanding = arts and science subjects
resources = the money, the labour and the work input
will = our vision, our aspiration, our successes
outcome = human quality of life

Mae Jamison is the first African American astronaut. Listen to her views on teaching the arts and sciences to school children.



This is what Albert Einstein said "The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true arts and sciences"

Cheers

Forests are definitely worth more when alive than when dead

Hi,

“Forests are worth more dead than alive. Today we commit to change that equation,” said Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg.





This week, the Indonesia President Yudhoyono pledged to stop giving permits for the destruction of virgin forests for a period of two years. 50 countries attended the conference in Oslo, Norway.

Environmentalists are very happy. Large areas of forests are cleared every year to provide wood for timer and paper industries and also to grow palm oil trees.

REDD Plus (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) is an organisation of a group of countries which agreed to provide funding to slow down deforestation in tree-rich countries like Indonesia. Forests are important in carbon dioxide removal from the air.

US $4 billion have been collected by the USA, Australia, France, Japan, Britain and Norway to save the rainforests. Google volunteered to provide satellite imaging to watch out if the two year agreements to stop cutting down rainforests is adhered to.



Cheers

Fun-filled, carefree and myopia-free childhood days

Hi,



I have always wondered why my own childhood days seemed more fun and carefree than that of my children's. Now I have found an answer. OK, maybe a partial answer.

I used to spend my early childhood outdoors, running around mostly barefooted and sun-baked. Now scientists at Sage Colleges in New York have discovered that exposure to certain soil bacteria, called Mycobacterium vaccae, can reduce anxiety and increase learning capabilities when ingested(eaten) or inhaled(breathed in). So dirt makes you happier and smarter.

Spending time in nature stimulates neuron (brain) growth ans causes serotonin levels to increase. This chemical is known to decrease anxiety and have antidepressant benefits.

"We found that mice that were fed live M. vaccae navigated the maze twice as fast and with less demonstrated anxiety behaviours as control mice," said Matthews.

The effect of the bacteria did not last for long. This means spending periods of time outdoors would need to be part of a regular routine for creating a learning environment in schools in the future.


Please read this article to find out more.

http://www.mnn.com/lifestyle/health-well-being/stories/breathing-soil-bacteria-makes-you-smarter

I also remembered another unrelated article which proved that spending at least one hour outdoors everyday will prevent myopia in children. We all know that the incidence of myopia or short-sightedness in Singapore is one of the highest in the world.

Here we have two reasons why people of my generation, those born in the 50s and earlier were happy, carefree and required fewer tuition classes than the the youngsters today. We played outdoors in the sun surrounded by nature.

Cheers

Synthia, the world's first man created organism

Hi,

20th May 2010 was a memorable day for mankind. It was the day when a scientist by the name of Dr Craig Venter and his team created the world's first man-made organism. The bacterium is affectionately named Synthia.

It cost the scientists US$40 million dollars and 15 years to make this synthetic cell. Dr Venter is a visionary who hopes to create many more such synthetic organisms to help mankind in:
(1) change environmental wastes into clean fuel
(2) Soak up pollution in soil and water
(3) vaccinate against diseases
(4) produce synthetic hormones, enzymes and other biological molecules

At the present, these processes and biological molecules are obtained from animals and plants. They are expensive to grow and harvest. The molecules are also not 100% human compatible. With engineered organisms human enzymes, human hormones and other organic processes and molecules can be obtained on the cheap!

22 May 2010 is the International Day for Biological diversity

Hi,

Biodiversity is has to be treasured as once it is lost, it will take ages for it to re-establish itself. I would like to share some biodiversity in my garden with you here.


Ramphotyphlops braminus is a harmless blind snake species found mostly in Africa and Asia




Slime mould (Stemonitis spp.)

Would you believe that the above photos are of a slime-mould? When the environment becomes unfavourable, the unicellular organism will gather together to form structures such as above. It was once thought to be a type of fungus because of this deceptive appearance. They are mobile and in the second photo above, it has climbed on the stems of a thaumatococcus plant to produce the spore bodies.




The Jewel Wasp, Ampulex compressa, aka Emerald Cockroach Wasp is a natural pest control in my garden. As you can see in the above two photos, the wasp is extremely beautiful, despite its unappetising (to us) diet. Actually, adult wasps feed only on nectar. The cockroach is their grub's grub.

This wasp is extremely "smart" in using its stings. It stings the cockroach twice, first in the thorax and then in the head. The first sting partially paralyses the front legs of the cockroach and the second makes the cockroach lose its instinct to escape. The cockroach becomes docile and can be led away by the antennae by the wasp.

The cockroach is brought to the burrow where the wasp lays a single egg on the cockroach's abdomen. The larva that hatches will feed on the roach in such a way that the roach remains alive for 4 to 5 days. Then the lava forms a pupa inside the roach. It will then emerge from the carcass of the roach as an adult.

The United Nations declared 2010 to be the International Year of Biodiversity. It is a celebration of life on earth and of the value of biodiversity for our lives. The world is invited to take action in 2010 to safeguard the variety of life on earth: biodiversity

UN Secretary General Welcome Message for the 2010 International Year of Biodiversity from CBD on Vimeo.

Here are some ideas for you to celebrate ID for Biological Diversity:
Spend the day with your loved ones and friends at the Hortpark, go on the Tree Top walk from Telok Blangah to Kent Ridge, take a walk in the secondary forests in the Botanic Gardens or the MacRitchie Reservoir or the Labrador Park.

You do not have to go to far away places like the Amazon or Kalimantan to see biodiversity. Even in urban Singapore there is much to be seen. We can even train ourselves to spot them in our own gardens.

Cheers

A Biologist's Mother's Day Song

Hi,

Here is something you should send to your mother in appreciation of all that she had given you.
It is a belated mother's day gift.



Much to my surprise, some people have requested the mp3--now you can get it here:
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/cadamole (it's the first song)

Lyrics:
To make one me you just add
Half of mom and half of dad
That is what I once believed
But I know now that I was wrong
I got so much more from you mom
Than just half a set of genes
I got nutrients and transcription factors
and nearly everything that matters
plus my prenatal environment (transplacental inheritance)
mRNA, mitochondria,
That back in the day once belonged to ya (they're cytoplasmic)
and I just want to thank for supplying them

Just like two strands of DNA are spirally entwined
Your nature and your nurture are inspiringly combined
Scientists remind me and I find that it is true
Slightly more than half of everything I am is thanks to you

Mitochondria power my cells
and they have DNA as well
Transcription factors modulate transcription
And since they're in the cytoplasm
The eggs the only one that has em
and sperm I guess they don't have much ambition

My sex determination gene means that I'm a guy
From you I got my X chromosome, from Dad I got my Y
X has over a thousand genes, Y has less than 92
That's why more than half of everything I am is thanks to you

I roomed in your womb for nine whole months and never paid the rent
Your glucocorticoids shaped my hypothalmic development
I took in your blood and sucked it dry of every nutrient (its gross but true)
Sometimes I wonder where the time went (where did it go)
Sometimes I wonder where it went

I know Ill never understand all you have done for me (I'm not that smart)
But since you paid for college Ill get my B. S. degree (bachelor of science)
And I have learned its not BS but absolutely true
Slightly more than half of everything I am is thanks to you.

Cheers

International Friendship Week

Hi,


Watch this very apt video to celebrate international friendship. The fund raising movement for the Haiti earthquake victims in early 2010 brought the world together.



The next song "We are one" is from Lion King, the movie.



You can skip the next song in Tamil on friendship if you do not understand the language. However, there are some parts where the college friends share cigarettes which we all know is very bad for our health. Cigarette smoking causes a whole host of health problems such as emphysema, bronchitis, asthma, high blood pressure and even cancer. This dated song is from the early 1980's when the health warnings against smoking was not well publicised in Tamil Nadu.






Cheers

Lets vote for earth

Hi fellow earthlings,

All of us have a responsibility to preserve the earth's climate. However, most of us are living our lives with scant regard for the issue of climate change. We have a responsibility to keep the earth's climate liveable for ourselves and for the future generations.

The future of the earth's climate depends on ourselves. Watch the videos produced by NUS students in 2009 and learn how empowered you are actually.





Cheers

Some videos-urgency of cliamte change issues

Here are a few more videos on the urgency in combating climate change.