Lettuce + ISS = Space Food

For the first time (technically speaking this is the second time) astronauts have managed to harvest and are getting ready to consume a deep purple colored lettuce variety going by the name of "Outredgeous Lettuce", where the entire process took place in the ISS (International Space Station).

This opens up the way for future space expeditions having the ability to last a lot longer than what was originally packed into the space shuttle while at Earth. All you need is some blue and red wavelength light from LED's (with some green thrown in to enhance visual acuity) and some seeds placed into the "Veggie" unit for a delicious green meal grown in just over a month. The NASA article goes into a lot more depth about what this means for the present and the future of space travel, along with a nifty video so give it a look.

Do not go gentle into that good night - Dylan Thomas, 1952

Sometimes a little poetry can help to relax the mind greatly. One such work I would like to share is from Welsh poet Dylan Thomas. The poem called Do not go gentle into that good night comes from his book called In Country Sleep, And Other Poems which he wrote in 1952 while visiting Italy with his family. The poem is as follows:

Do not go gentle into that good night,

Old age should burn and rave at close of day;

Rage, rage against the dying of the light. 

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,

Because their words had forked no lightning they

Do not go gentle into that good night. 

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright

Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,

Rage, rage against the dying of the light. 

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,

And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,

Do not go gentle into that good night. 

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight

Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,

Rage, rage against the dying of the light. 

And you, my father, there on the sad height,

Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.

Do not go gentle into that good night.

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

The poem can also be viewed at poets.org with the copyright holder's permission.

1st Malaria Vaccine Approved by EMA

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has recently approved the world's first malaria vaccine. The vaccine is called RTS,S and is being sold under the trade name Mosquirix. Many were saddened to hear the shot only has an effectiveness range of 25-50%, with effectiveness increasing as the age of the child the vaccine is being administered to is increased. However it is being rolled out to be used in babies at risk of getting malaria in African countries, as Mosquirix has the most promising results so far.

Educational YouTube Channels

The world of science and education in general can be a wonderful place, if you know where to look of course. Thankfully due to the ever-growing field of technology we can quickly access information previous generations would have had to search meticulously for hours. What follows contains 3 YouTube channels which can benefit everyone by further advancing the scope of our knowledge. Let's begin with the channel that got me interested in watching educational videos in the first place...

Meningeal Lymphatic Vessel Discovery and Brain Abnormalities in Patients with Schizophrenia

A fairly recent study published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine researchers were able to find a lymphatics system in the brain, or more specifically in the meninges of the brain. This new pathway is believed to be associated with the glymphatic system. This finding is significant as we may be able to tell the etiology of several diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and multiple sclerosis. More information can be found the article itself at Nature, and for those of you who require more information can as always refer to Wikipedia. On another note

First Entry

Hello World!

Welcome to my currently barren blog which shall hopefully grow exponentially in the coming months/years. The initial purpose for starting this blog was for my bioinformatics summer internship taking place in Genkök which stands for Genome and Stem Cell Center at Erciyes University in Kayseri, Turkey. I also plan on using this blog to post medically related entries due to my medical background, and my own interesting medical adventures in due time. I was going to introduce myself and what I do but Google already has that covered.