Betsy Smeed

Quiet Sunday

Betsy — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 19:27:38 +0000

So I’ve been trolling through my rss feeds, social network stuff and I couldn’t find anything that was interesting enough for me to blog about. But then I’m am not a blog everyday sort of person. I have gotten a new computer so I hope to blog more frequently. Mostly during the weekend when I’ll have more time. Although I found this image.

Beloved Kerby

Betsy — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 13:41:05 +0000

Monday night at about 10:30 p.m. Kerby died. I became his person when I was still with the Geek Group. He was dumped at the lab when one of girls living at Geek House couldn’t keep him. Cliff and I were dating, so he agreed to take him over Thanksgiving. I moved in with Cliff shortly after that.

Kerby was a curmudgeon. I don’t thin he was ever happy except when he was eating. There were times when he wanted to snuggle and he would start purring. He had a very loud purr. Often Cliff or I would ask”what’s that noise?” We’d look around and there was Kerby sleeping, snoring. Once Cliff woke me up to complain that Kerby and I were snoring too loudly.

He was sick for a while. He lost a lot of weight( he weighted about 20lbs.) Near the end he couldn’t move around, so I would pick him up and carry him where he wanted to go. And that was mostly to sleep in my lap.

I buried him in the backyard where he’ll decompose and return to dust where we all come from.

Cacao genome ‘may help produce tastier chocolate’

Betsy — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 17:04:45 +0000

From BBC, the genome of the cacao has been released as a draft. With the help of IBM’s blue gene computer, the draft was completed earlier than expected.

Some trees ‘farm’ bacteria

Betsy — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 03:46:42 +0000

From science centric, oak and beech seem to encourage root microbes to facilitate mineral weathering. Root microbes break down minerals to create usable nutrients, like iron, to the trees.

Chili pepper ingredient helps fight obesity

Betsy — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 22:48:15 +0000

From the Times of India, Capsaicin changes beneficial proteins to help fight fat. It’s action is still to be elucidated, though.

Wallabies and bats harbor ‘fossil’ genes from the most deadly family of human viruses

Betsy — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 18:59:07 +0000

From Physorg.com, marsupials, bats, rodents and tenrecs harbor the genes for Filoviruses, such as Ebola and Marburg virus. This shows the power of examining genomes to discover not only shared ancestry but common infection and incorporation of virus into genomes.

Abstract

Can bacteria make you smarter?

Betsy — Sat, 29 May 2010 13:01:57 +0000

From Physorg.com, Mycobacterium vaccae(a soil bacteria) was fed to mice and the mice were tested in maze runs to see if it increased learning ability. The increase in learning was only temporary, however.

They had a throw-away line about kids going outside to help with mood and learning. The implication being that outdoor activity is good for kids. But let’s get back to reality. Ingesting the bacteria lead to noticeable improvements. I think a second study should be undertaken to study farmer/gardeners/landscapers to see if there is any improvement. Especially to see a relationship between just being outdoors and actual contact with the soil.

Also something implicit with this study. That when humans started farming, we must have felt the benefits from M. vaccae. This is when we see a “great leap forward” with regard to engineering monuments, writing and the like.

Sushi may ‘transfer genes’ to gut

Betsy — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 14:07:03 +0000

From BBC News: The marine bacteria found on sushi transferred its genetic material to the microfauna of humans who consume sushi.

Prussian Blue Salt Linked to Origin of Life

Betsy — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 14:34:07 +0000

From Science Daily, iron (III) hexacyanoferrate (II) or Prussian blue salt when added to ammonia makes hydrogen cyanide. Which is an important building block when it comes to creating life. Leading to stuff like urea, lactic acid and dimethylhydantoin. Interesting bit about it concentrating carbon and creating hematite.

Post 100!

Social Networking

Betsy — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 17:30:09 +0000

So I just joined Facebook. And I also belong to Twitter, Digg, Linkedin and MicrobeWorld. Would you call Netvibes one? Anyway, I’ve been reluctant about joining facebook because I have this impression that I have to be more proactive about being social. I have to acknowledge what “my friends” are posting and doing on there. For anyone following me on this blog, I’ve been at this for four years and haven’t broken a hundred posts yet (but soon). My just not chatty. So we’ll have to see how this goes.