I found an amazing webpage today. There are simple animations that illustrate how complex machinery work here.

Wrestlemania 27 Predictions

I've been tired of searching around for well-qualified Wrestlemania 27 predictions, so I thought I'd post my own thoughts on here.

Oh yes, I forgot to explain why this article is on a blog called "Science in Products." Basically, I've been following wrestling since 1996 when I was a middle schooler. Back then, wrestling was the cool thing to watch. This was the era of Stone Cold and The Rock, known as the "Attitude Era," a true golden age of wrestling. Even though I stopped actively watching by the end of high school, pretty much once John Cena became the face of the company, I always kept up with the online reports.

Anyway, here is my reasoning for who should win versus who will win at Wrestlemania.

1. JERRY "THE KING" LAWLER VERSUS MICHAEL COLE

Predicted Winner: Jerry Lawler

Who should win anyway: Jerry Lawler.

Having King win is obvious. According to the behind-the-scenes backstage information, Vince McMahon has always wanted to rectify the fact that Jerry Lawler never wrestled at Wrestlemania. Given Lawler's age, and position as a commentator, and the hotness of this angle, this will probably be the only chance Lawler gets at having a match at Wrestlemania. Vince isn't so cruel as to let him lose at the one match he's been waiting years and years for. Also, this feud has great heat. Lawler has been on fire as a wrestler lately, feuding with WWE Champion The Miz as the face, and Michael Cole has been a deeply hated character. And of course, Michael would gain nothing by winning the match, considering the fact that he will never be a wrestler. Having Jerry Lawler overcome the odds to absolutely destroy Michael Cole would make for a great and memorable Wrestlemania Moment, one that would add to the happy moments that Vince has always banked on to perpetuate the reputation of Wrestlemania as the biggest show of the year. 

2. TRIPLE H VERSUS THE UNDERTAKER

Predicted Winner: The Undertaker

Who should win anyway: The Undertaker

Triple H has been getting older and older, with no fresh challenges (storyline wise) for his career. He's a multiple time world champion, has been involved in many of the most memorable angles in wrestling history, and cemented himself as an immortal name within wrestling. There's really nothing left for him to accomplish (at least, within his means. He still hasn't reached that level of iconic status on par with Hulk Hogan, The Rock, or Steve Austin, but I think he knows that this is something a person could try as hard as he could and still never ever achieve). On the other hand, Triple H is becoming more and more involved backstage as a manager of sorts. He, with his wife Stephanie, might inherit the throne of Vince McMahon in the future.

The Undertaker's great legacy, on the other hand, is his undefeated streak at Wrestlemania. In fact, this streak is part of Wrestlemania's reputation and legacy. The Undertaker, in a sense, is the invincible specter of Wrestlemania, a seemingly supernatural force within the world of wrestling. 

Given this double legacy, there's a really strong chance that the Undertaker will never be beaten at Wrestlemania...ever. It can be one of those tales about Wrestlemania that give it even more prestige, and give it more of that "legendary moments are made" feeling of the event. If the streak is broken, however, Vince McMahon would probably do it to give the biggest rub in all of wrestling history to a favored, trusted, up and coming superstar (like John Cena before he won his first world championship) instead of an established superstar like Triple H.

Probably what will happen, as hinted by Triple H's February 28th RAW speech, is that he'll put his career on the line. This will allow him to retire on the grandest stage of them all, ending his epic career in a huge and beautiful blaze of glory. The Undertaker can continue his epic career and legendary Wrestlemania streak, an perpetual investment into the Wrestlemania brandname and one that can be reserved for the next great face of the WWE.

The Undertaker winning makes financial sense, backstage political sense, and storyline sense.

3. ALBERTO DEL RIO VERSUS EDGE (World Heavyweight Champion)

Predicted Winner: Edge

Who should win anyway: Alberto del Rio

First of all, let me make the case for why del Rio's win would benefit the WWE more than an Edge retaining win.

Edge is old news. He stopped being marketable when he stopped being that sleazy, "Rated-R Superstar" heel  character, which was very probably his best incarnation of his entire career. That character was unique, full of character, and contrasted well with most faces, especially John Cena and his squeaky-clean Superman-like character.

In fact, Edge was very timely for contemporary culture, a factor that is incredibly important for wrestling success in mainstream media. Part of the reason why Stone Cold's success was so huge was that it came during a time in our cultural history where lots of people had jobs, but resented their bosses who were greedy and time demanding, or coworkers who were jerks. Stone Cold's rebellious charisma transformed fantasies of punching one's boss into great storylines. Now with the great recession, most people are grateful to have whatever job they have, or unfortunately, have no boss at all. 

Part of the reason why Hulk Hogan reached great popularity was that during the 80s, America needed to believe that it was the great invincible superhero. The Cold War was continuing, and deep down inside every American felt the specter of the possibility of nuclear annihilation. People need to identify with an invincible and perfectly morally good hero, whether Superman or the Immortal Hulk Hogan, in order to feel secure at the end of the day. Hulk Hogan, with his perfect moral goodness (encouraging fans to eat their vitamins and say their prayers) and invincibility in the ring, was the perfect hero of his times.

"Rated-R Superstar" Edge captured the sleaziness of the decade from 1998 to 2008. Sex scandal after sex scandal was coming out, from American presidents (Bill Clinton) to celebrities (Paris Hilton), and more and more young women were getting taped having sex. A sleazy, promiscuous villain was perfect during these times. Had the WWE invested in its villains as much as its heroes, Edge would probably be a huge icon now.

But that's not how things turned out. Edge is a face again, and a lost one at that. He simply lacks a definable character. He goes out there, cracks jokes, and wins matches. So what? What defines Edge? Why is he a man we can identify with? Who cares?

Alberto del Rio, on the other hand, is an up and coming star. A big investment, in form of a world title win at Wrestlemania, would pay off much more than giving the stale, 11-time world champion Edge another few months holding the title. Not to mention that Alberto del Rio could be the next big superstar. Keeping in line with the idea that a successful character channels the cultural issues of the day, a rich snotty superstar could be a villain that fans could identify with the enemy. The big villain of today are rich, greedy, corporate types that screw everyone over, throws a tantrum for a big bailout from corrupt politicians, and give themselves raises as they lay off thousands of employees and nose-tail profits. If WWE was clever, they could have a third coming of the Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase (the second coming was JBL), where Alberto del Rio's wealth gives him incredible advantages. I'm not just talking about bribing officials, here. He can hire the best trainers, use the most technologically advanced (and expensive) training equipment, all the while taunting fans that "if you just work as hard as I, you too, can reach the top" or calling them failures because of their laziness. Blow up the hypocrisy of being successful from wealth inequalities instead of true hard work. 

Anyway, in the real world of the WWE, Alberto del Rio is still a fresh face. He needs to pay his dues, and Vince McMahon has had plenty of bad experiences with wrestling being hotshotted to the top, then taking advantage of Vince's generosity and leaving. Granted, the latest cases have been young ambitious athletes such as Brock Lesnar and Bobby Lashely, but these instances have probably given McMahon enough of a bad experience that he's loathe to take such risks again.

The other reason is that Wrestlemania is all about pleasing the fan, meaning that the face always has a huge advantage of winning at Wrestlemania. So my prediction is Edge.

4. JOHN CENA VERSUS THE MIZ (WWE World Champion)

Predicted Winner: The Miz

Who should win anyway: The Rock

Oh wait, The Rock isn't actually in the match. What I really mean is...

Predicted Winner: The Rock

Who should win anyway: The Miz

The Rock might not win the match, but he is certainly the winner of this whole feud. The Rock has pretty much destroyed John Cena on the mic. Fans miss his once-in-a-lifetime charisma, and The Rock isn't just phoning it in anymore; he seems genuinely pissed at John Cena's rude and selfish remarks about him, and is on fire. In fact, I don't remember seeing The Rock ever having been more intense in his entire career.

The Rock's made only two speeches, and already he's come up with memorable catch-phrases. Fat bowl of fruity pebbles? Yabba-dabba-BITCH? These names will haunt John Cena for the rest of his career, and not necessarily in a good way either. Cena just isn't charismatic enough to go mic-to-mic with The Great One, and in the only truly competitive aspect of wrestling, will get destroyed.

But there's still an official match, here. John Cena challenging The Miz for the WWE Championship. 

My real prediction here is going to be The Miz. Now, this decision I'm the least sure of, because there are so many different variables. The momentum behind The Rock versus John Cena feud is massive enough to collapse into a blackhole (kudos to those who understand that incredibly nerdy joke), and needs to blow off some steam at Wrestlemania. This could mean The Miz goading John Cena into accidentally butting heads with The Rock during their match, until The Rock gets mad and literally lays the smackdown on John Cena, effectively costing him the match. Or there could be some kind of passing-on-the-torch moment from The Rock to John Cena, which seems doubtful given the direction of their feud, and would come off as extremely awkward.

The Miz is a good investment to win. He's bringing in new media attention, and he's an effective villain. He also plays into the stereotype of the frat-jock, which is magnificently combined into the reality-TV attention whore, another cultural villain that people would pay to see destroyed. Mike Mizanin, the man behind The Miz, is both incredibly passionate about wrestling and young, and has incredible charisma compared to his relative inexperience. He's very likely to become the next great WWE superstar, and I think Vince McMahon knows this. Very few wrestling villains have won the main event at Wrestlemania - Triple H is the only one in my memory. A The Miz victory here over superstar John Cena would be a huge endorsement of The Miz's stardom and menace as a heel.

What's a harder question is how the feud between John Cena and The Rock will be resolved; on one hand, they need an actual wrestling match to blow off the rivalry. Seeing how intense (and therefore both epic and incredibly profitable) the feud is becoming, a wrestling match is guaranteed. The Rock has come back into a wrestling match before while his acting career was in full-bloom, when he teamed up with Mick Foley to temporarily reform The Rock-n-Sock Connection against Evolution.

On the other hand, however, the only PPV that can truly be worthy of hosting a match of this incredible magnitude is Wrestlemania...which is an entire year away. Vince McMahon is going to have to use his best talents and brilliance in order to solve this problem. But until then, we can hopefully expect some incredible magic until Wrestlemania 28's main event: JOHN CENA VS. THE ROCK.

Please enter comments down below.

Talk about a bad, awkward STD advertisement

A procedure, albeit expensive, has been discovered to cure HIV for certain patients.

"Hey honey! We need to talk!  :D  "

We are the Borg. Resistance is Futile

Edit: Public Announcement. Google has ripped me off, arbitrarily canceling my advertisement account, and taking back all the money I've earned. All thirty bucks of it, the cheap bastards (lol). They won't even give me a reason why. Do yourself a favor, if you're a publisher, avoid Google's Adsense. For more horror stories, including a lawsuit, see here.

Large cities remind me of Borg ships.

Bluetooth, borg, Borg cubes, Cities

AIDS Cured in Patient

A procedure, albeit expensive, has been discovered to cure HIV for certain patients.

Valentine's Day Science: Science's Perspective on Love

Here's a quick explanation of what we know from science about love, as well as some fun facts.
Love explained by science

Hormones: Certain hormones are involved in the human brain in generating attachment, bonding, and love. These hormones are oxytocin, vasopressin, and endorphines. Oxytocin is involved with trust, and vasopressin with faithfulness in monogamy. Endorphines are released when something *special* happens, such as when someone receives roses from someone they are attracted to, as endorphines are primarily responsible for excitement and elation. Hormones, of course, don't actually originate these feelings, however.

Monogamy in birds: A few animal species are monogamous, and even rarer are those that are monogamous for life. These are mostly birds (not mammals). Among the temporary monogamous, which are species that are monogamous only for the mating season, are the penguins. Most birds, in fact, engage in temporary monogamous relations. Some of the birds that mate with only one individual for the rest of their lives include eagles, swans, and albatrosses. Like humans, however, a few do cheat on their partners.

Certain neurotransmitters are also involved as well. Dopamine, norepinephrine and serotonin tend to surge in the ebbs and flows of romantic adventures, as they are also implicated with excitement and elation.

Deadbeat Dads in Fish: If a parent is judged by how much effort they put into raising their children, these dads have nothing on the worst deadbeat dad. When scientists first studied the deep-sea angler fish, they couldn't imagine how they could mate, because there would be thousands of miles between individuals. Worse, they couldn't find a single male fish.

Well, it turned out that there were males - but they weren't fish. They were swimming sacks of sperm, parasitically biting into females and releasing sperm into them. They had no eyes, gills, or digestive systems. Just bags of sperm.

A Match Made in Evolution: There are a few strange patterns found between human mates. For example, people with the gene for making broccoli taste awful tend to be married to people without that gene. When women are most fertile during their menstrual cycle, they are more attracted to masculine-looking males. When they are not, they tend to be more attracted to feminine or child-looking males. Of course, this is found via statistics, and therefore really are inapplicable for individual and specific cases. And they can't take into account individual personality and values.

Dat ***: Some evolutionary psychologists believe that the shape of a heart is really an upside down buttocks. Some of these psychologists hypothesize that many features of women's bodies have evolved to mimic the shape of the buttocks and genitalia; the lips appear like genitalia, while the breasts are shaped like the buttocks.

Makeup is Cheating!: Makeup generally mimics signs of fertility. Blush makes the cheeks appear rosier, making women look younger, healthier, and more fertile. Eyeliner makes eyes look larger, again mimicking youth (which again correlates with fertility). Lipstick may enhances the blush effect, again signalling youth and fertility. And as a small waist to hip ratio correlates well with successful child-bearing, men have evolved to be attracted to the hourglass figure (think Jessica Rabbit).

Does knowing all of these correlations take away from the mystery of love? Maybe these things can explain attraction to some degree, but really, nothing in biology can explain the intense care and cherishment involved in true love.

Choices, and not Discrimination, results in Gender Gap in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Fields

A study by Cornell sociologists seems to indicate that the lack of women in the sciences and engineering fields is due not so much as from discrimination, but rather from individual choices to be drawn to certain careers and not others, reports Science Daily in their article "Choices - Not Discrimination - Determine

How to make Clear Care go faster

WARNING: I DO NOT AT ALL RECOMMEND ATTEMPTING TO DO SPEED UP CLEAR CARE'S REACTION RATE. THE FOLLOWING IS FOR SCIENTIFIC SPECULATION ONLY, AND FOLLOWING THROUGH WILL MOST LIKELY END IN HARM. THEREFORE, DO NOT DO THIS.

Let's say you're in the situation that you've popped in your lenses into the Clear Care lens case and used their hydrogen peroxide lens solution. Then you realize that you need to go out again in a couple of hours. Or, for whatever other reason, you need your lenses again in less than the six hours states in the directions.

Okay, first of all, my advice is to just wait the six hours. Open a new package of lenses if you need to and

Linus Pauling and his magical Vitamin C

Multiple-time Nobel prize winner Linus Pauling had an incredible fascination with Vitamin C, one that many scientists and medical professionals could call a dangerous obsession. His controversial claim about Vitamin C was that it could cure all sorts of health problems. And we're not just talking about the common cold or flu, here.

How Science Reporting Works

These are two cartoons by the incredibly talented Zach Weiner at Sunday Morning Breakfast Cereal.

Dogs trained to detect cancer...through sniffing poop and pee

Scientists have successfully trained dogs to detect cancer through sniffing human feces and urine.

Too much college?

Study asks: Does everyone need a college education? (CSM)

By AMY ROLPH
SEATTLEPI.COM STAFF

Is a national push to prepare every young person for college harming some students?

That's the question a group of Harvard researchers posed at the start of a recent study, and they answered themselves with, "Probably."

The report, titled "Pathways to Prosperity," points out that an increased emphasis on college may push some students to drop out of high school.

Students who are bored at school are often deterred by the thought of spending four more years in school, the study's authors point out. They advocate a dual system of preparedness more like some European countries, where students either prepare to enter college or opt for more career-oriented training traditionally associated with trades and apprenticeships.

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan responded to the study Wednesday saying "college and career-ready skills are

A Conservative Politician's Take on an Environmentally-Friendly Economy

Book Review and Summary of The Constant Economy by Zac Goldsmith

conservative environmentalism

Zac Goldsmith, editor of the Ecologist magazine and current Conservative prospective parliamentary candidate in Britain, outlines a number of political policies designed to move industrialized countries (focusing on Britain in particular) towards a more sustainable economy. In addition, he compiles many critical facts that demonstrate the absolute necessity of change. His book, The Constant Economy, incorporates these facts and ideas into one practical vision for an economically-stable, environmentally-sustainable economy.

As a British politician, Goldsmith goes into detail into fixing Britain’s particular problems through Britain’s particular governmental structure. However, I’ve generalized his ideas for the purposes of this review.

One of the themes of Goldsmith’s recommended policies is the idea that governments should set

Amateurs use balloon to film Earth from space (Wired)

By Amy Rolph
SeattlePi

Who needs a satellite to take pictures from space?

Two Ph.D. candidates from Sheffield University in England launched a weather balloon into near space to capture footage usually only seen in photos from NASA or research groups.

The result of the three-hour experiment was a breathtaking view of the world from above. A panoramic shot of the footage is posted on Flickr with the title "Thin Blue Line."

Chris Rose and Alex Baker, both studying mechanical engineering, told Wired.com they wanted to inspire an "I can do that, too" reaction in others.

They posted a video on YouTube showing how they launched and retrieved the camera -- and what it saw during that time. Click "Read More" to see the video.

Careful with your products!

Whenever I look up information about Clear Care, I find a lot of people who have made mistakes and burned their eyes by putting the hydrogen peroxide solution into their eyes, despite the directions repeatedly and explicitly warning them NOT to do this. These people then blame the product, rather than taking personal responsibility.

Instead of taking personal responsibility, the complaints about Clear Care are always something along the lines of "poor labeling and packaging! They should have made a bigger deal out of this" or "the bottle looks too much like normal lens solution." Everything Under Review has an entire list of consumer complaints, from "Clear Care will burn your eyes" to "I will never buy Clear Care again!"

Where have we gotten to as a society? Are we so irresponsible that we can't do anything but blame some

Dangers of EATING LICORICE

Yes, you read that correctly.

A new study suggests that eating licorice while pregnant can harm your child. Apparently, women who eat too much licorice have children who, on average, have lower IQs and more behavioral issues. 

Expectant mothers who eat excessive quantities of liquorice during pregnancy could adversely affect their child's intelligence and behaviour, a study has shown.

A study of eight year old children whose mothers ate large amounts of liquorice when pregnant found they did not perform as well as other youngsters in cognitive tests.

They were also more likely to have poor attention spans and show disruptive behaviour such as ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder).

It is thought that a component in liquorice called glycyrrhizin may impair the placenta, allowing stress hormones to cross from the mother to the baby.

High levels of such hormones, known as glucocorticoids, are thought to affect fetal brain development and have been linked to behavioural disorders in children.

The article continues here

I guess sometimes weird tasting foods are weird-tasting for a reason.

Evolutionary-based medicine would suggest that our palates have evolved in a way to help us survive. Basically, we avoid bitter foods because they tend to be poisonous, and enjoy sweet foods because of the sugar content, and devour fatty foods because they were so rare to come by in our hunter-gatherer

Make it snow!

Someone throws boiling water into the air outside where it's negative 22 degrees celsius!

See what happens when you toss boiling water in the air at -22 degrees!

Apparently, incredibly hot water also freezes much faster than cold water.

What does Pluronic 17R4 do in Clear Care?

The same online acquaintance who wrote about MiraFlow filled me in on a little bit of history of Clear Care, and talked about what the ingredient Pluronic 17R4 does exactly.

He writes:

Pluronic 17R4, it turns out, is one of a family of chemicals made by BASF. Opti-Free RepleniSH uses a different chemical made by BASF, Tetronic 1304. Both are surfactants - substances that act on the surface of chemicals (typically water). Though they have many roles, they're often used to help dissolve oils or proteins, and you can probably find surfactants among the ingredients of household cleaners and detergents.

While I assume the Pluronic in Clear Care is essentially there as a cleaning agent, the one in Opti-Free RepleniSH apparently also bonds water to the surface of silicone contacts, making them more comfortable. That's probably why Alcon describes the combination of the Tetronic and another, generic surfactant as a

MiraFlow Review

An online acquaintance of mine wrote a description of his experiences with MiraFlow, a contact lens cleaning solution that he prefers over Clear Care. At Lens101 Forum he writes:

Back in the good old days - the late 80s, when I first started wearing soft contacts - the standard routine for soft contacts was a three step process. Clean the lens, rinse it off with saline, and then disinfect. There was even a time when heat disinfection was the preferred approach, with cases that fit into small electronic heaters, although in a pinch, you could toss the case into a pot of boiling water. Saline took up significant

How Mad Cow Disease Works

Once in a while, there will be reports of mad cow disease, scientifically known as Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease in humans. But unlike most deadly diseases, this isn't caused by a virus, a bacteria, or chemicals leading to cancer. It's caused by prions.

How do prions work?

Well the first question we need to explore what proteins are, and how they work. Proteins are microscopic structures in your body's cells that do all kinds of things simply by their shape alone. Sometimes proteins can be structural proteins, which would be like the bricks holding up your house or the legs holding up your chair. Without it, your cells would collapse. Sometimes proteins can be enzymes, which automatically change different proteins without wearing itself out. It's like a hammer that no one needs to control, or one of those automatic vacuum cleaners. Other proteins are transport proteins, which are the doors to your cells. Unlike your house's doors, however, they don't let everything in. Most proteins only let certain molecules inside, and thank goodness they do, because otherwise your cell would be a mess. Finally, there are receptor proteins and signaling proteins, where the signaling protein touches the receptor protein and makes things happen in the cell, just like when your finger hits the button on the remote control, and the TV turns on. 

So let's review here:

Exploding Chromosomes and Cancer

A recent New York Times article reports that some researchers find that many cancers begin from a chromosome that "explodes."

New rapid methods of decoding DNA have brought to light a catastrophe that can strike human cells: a whole chromosome may suddenly shatter into pieces.

If the cell survives this disaster, something worse may ensue: the cell becomes cancerous.

Apparently "Dr. Campbell’s group reports that about 2 percent to 3 percent of all cancers, and 25 percent of bone cancers, originate in this kind of chromosome-shattering crisis," writes author Nicholas Wade.


Cancers, despite their superficial diversity (for example, lung cancer, brain cancer, stomach cancer, etc etc.) and their seemingly wide causes (environmental chemical pollutants, UV radiation from the sun, smoking, HIV), are fundamentally they same. They all involve cells that, instead of multiplying in a regular, orderly fashion, just can't stop multiplying. As one doctor once said to me, "it's like it turns into The Hulk."


Within every human cell is the ability to divide, and multiply. From one cell you get two. A somewhat complicated

Book Review of The Constant Economy by Zac Goldsmith, Part III

Start at the beginning, Part I

Goldsmith examines how industrial methods, from fishing to farming, greatly damage our environment and health to the detriment of long-term profit itself. The use of pesticides and antibiotics in non-organic farming results in millions of tax dollars being spent on water pollution clean-up. Industrial fisheries employ sixty-mile-long lines, or ‘draggers’ that destroy coral reefs simply by rolling over them. By destroying coral reefs, which act as fishing nurseries, and eliminating much of the adult fish, reproduction has been choked. In some areas, the destruction is so severe that the government had to ban fishing for decades so that fish can repopulate, such as in Newfoundland.

Goldsmith also examines our usage of distribution of energy, including how the status quo is incredibly inefficient and certain technologies are more efficient than others. Having large power plants, instead of a decentralized power system, results in energy being sent over long distances. When electricity is sent over long distances, communities lose up to 1/3 of the original energy. In contrast, a grid tapping into a diversity of power sources from the private sector optimizes localization and technological innovation. Importantly, Goldsmith notes that fossil fuels are subsidized anyway, and therefore not actually cheaper; if we were simply to shift that subsidization towards green technology, countries would save tax money in the long-term. Finally, Goldsmith criticizes nuclear power for the following reasons:

Book Review of The Constant Economy by Zac Goldsmith, Part II

Start at the beginning: Part I

Akin to economist EF Schumacher, Goldsmith emphasizes the importance of local trade and decision-making, and opposes our increasing globalization and large-scale economics. Goldsmith argues that countries and communities with political power that is diffused through the local levels have greater happiness and societal health. He argues for more direct democracy, as opposed to a government of representatives. [Here I must disagree, because such direct democracy leads to effective mob rule, nor can a mass of citizens decide knowledgeably on a complex issue. Goldsmith’s argument for direct democracy is his weakest and most ambiguous in this book.]

Economies should be localized in as many ways as possible. On the global level, relying on foreign crops, as the UK does, is unreliable and therefore ultimately unsustainable, as the nation becomes dependent upon the health of foreign societies. On the national level, any government-purchased food (for school cafeterias, prisons, hospitals) should be purchased from the farms local to the government buildings. In fact, one of Goldsmith’s suggestions is that food-growing become part of the public school curriculum, in

Is Glucosamine Worthless?

Does glucosamine work? How does glucosamine work?
Glucosamine has been used recently to treat arthritis. The idea is that since glucosamine makes up a large part of your cartilage, you can restore the natural health of your cartilage, which protects your bones from grinding against each other. But if you knew basic biochemistry and digestion, you'd think twice.

Glucosamine is comprised of two things - a glucose, and an amino acid (hence glucos-amine). 

Really, it's not that hard for your body to make. The NH2 is the amine part. The rest is glucose.

Glucose is everywhere in your blood. It's what your body gets from food to give you energy. There's no shortage of that there, unless you're starving or a diabetic.

Amine is everywhere throughout your entire body. It is what makes up all your amino acids, which entirely comprise your cell proteins. Enzymes, neurotransmitters, receptors, pretty much anything that your cell makes that directly does something is made up of amino acids. 

So there's no shortage of glucose, and no shortage of amines. Your body can get these easily through food, and can break them down from larger molecules. In fact, that's the only way your body survives. If your body can't do that well, you're dying.

In addition, when you digest food or drugs, your body is pretty good at breaking down a lot of it into its

Crest Whitestrips Premium

Does Crest Whitestrips work?

Apparently hydrogen peroxide is a popular ingredient for new products these days, because that's the main active ingredient of Crest Whitestrips.

An active ingredient, by the way, is the actual ingredient that makes the product work. Everything else there is what supports its function. Maybe it makes it more effective, like water in a 70% isopropyl alcohol (rubbing or cleaning alcohol for your first aid kits). Maybe it makes it longer lasting, like a preservative in...well, what doesn't have preservatives these days? Even your lens solutions have preservatives.

Anyway, hydrogen peroxide not only sterilizes, but it whitens as well. In fact, you should keep your bottles of hydrogen peroxide away from clothes, because they're strong enough to bleach the skin on your hands!

Effectiveness: It definitely works. But it's not a big miracle. The improvement is slow, and you'll need more than a single package to really be satisfied.

I got the seven day kit, containing 14 pairs of strips (one for your upper teeth and another for your lower teeth), which the package facetiously says "28 total strips." Speaking of facetious, the packaging also says "WHITENS 2X BETTER PER STRIP vs leading dissolving strip." Notice how they didn't say "vs

Book Review of The Constant Economy, by Zac Goldsmith - Part I

Book Review and Summary of The Constant Economy by Zac Goldsmith

conservative environmentalism

Zac Goldsmith, editor of the Ecologist magazine and current Conservative prospective parliamentary candidate in Britain, outlines a number of political policies designed to move industrialized countries (focusing on Britain in particular) towards a more sustainable economy. In addition, he compiles many critical facts that demonstrate the absolute necessity of change. His book, The Constant Economy, incorporates these facts and ideas into one practical vision for an economically-stable, environmentally-sustainable economy.

As a British politician, Goldsmith goes into detail into fixing Britain’s particular problems through Britain’s particular governmental structure. However, I’ve generalized his ideas for the purposes of this review.

One of the themes of Goldsmith’s recommended policies is the idea that governments should set

Is Glucosamine Worthless?

Glucosamine has been used recently to treat arthritis. The idea is that since glucosamine makes up a large part of your cartilage, you can restore the natural health of your cartilage, which protects your bones from grinding against each other. But if you knew basic biochemistry and digestion, you'd think twice.

Glucosamine doesn't work

Glucosamine is comprised of two things - a glucose, and an amine (hence glucos-amine). 

Really, it's not that hard for your body to make. The NH2 is the amine.

Glucose is everywhere in your blood. It's what your body gets from food to give you energy. There's no shortage of that there, unless you're starving or a diabetic.

Amine is everywhere throughout your entire body. It is what makes up all your amino acids, which entirely

Is Emergen-C just plain Stupidit-E?

Honestly, I don't get the hype over this product.
Emergen-C doesn't work
Yes, Vitamin C is great for the body. Yes, Vitamin C boosts the immune system. Yes, Vitamin C can even cure allergies.
Emergen-C sucks Emergen-C sucks Emergen-C doesn't work
But drinking one gram of Vitamin C is little more than taking a spoonful of sugar. First of all, one gram of Vitamin C is hardly enough to do anything. Most of us are malnourished when it comes to Vitamin C anyway, because we're chronically Vitamin-C deprived, such that we really need at least 2-3 grams per day...even when we're healthy. (See here as to why we need far beyond the National Academy of Science's recommended dosage of 60 mg)

Second, I'm sure it tastes great and all when you're sick - but there's hardly any health benefit! It's much more cost-effective AND health-effective to get a bottle of chewable Vitamin C 500 mg tablets and munch on those all day.

In fact, even the company has no faith in their product. Their website says:

Fevers are Good for You!

Or, Learn to Trust Your Body

Evolutionary Medicine

Fevers are misunderstood. They're the misunderstood good guys of our bodies. In fact, without fevers, none of us would be here today. All of our ancestors would have been wiped out, including our non-human ones. No animal, in fact, could survive. That's how important fevers are.

The fever is a way for your body to fight off infections. Its strategy is nothing less than brilliant, because it surprisingly involves a lot of trickery and guile. 

Infections are when something invades your body, sets up camp, and multiplies itself like crazy. Bacteria can enter your throat, find all sorts of food in their for its own growth, leaving children behind, and so forth. They begin to populate your body.

But like all populations, they need more and more food to sustain themselves with. Normally, that would be your own body. Whatever makes you sick is actually eating you alive.

What a fever does, however, is simultaneously encourage the growth of the bacteria, while taking away its food. Bacteria like to grow in warm places (which is why putting food in a refrigerator keeps bacteria and fungi from growing on your food), so when your body temperature rises, it's going to grow more. Bacteria cells don't make a conscious decision about this - they're more machines than man - so if you heat them up, they're going to multiply faster.

Bacteria also need iron to grow. As your body takes away the iron in your blood serum (so any iron that's not already inside your blood cells), bacteria is starved of one nutrient it desperately needs. In combination with your body heat encouraging growth, this imposes a situation of overpopulation on the bacteria in your body. It keeps producing more and more malnourished bacteria, which is easy for the body to take care of. Eventually, the whole population starves and dies.

Raising your body temperature also helps your white blood cells, the police and detectives of your immune

Small is Still Beautiful Review, Part IV

Part IV, and final part, of the book review and summary of Small is Still Beautiful by Joseph Pearce. See Part III here, See Part II here, and Part I here. 

Finally, the book reiterates EF Schumacher’s call for a fundamental shift in the way we frame economics to include a strong consideration of human values and lifestyles. This is a variation of the idea that if the mind is pure, the land is pure – a concept Schumacher should be familiar with from his research in his development of “Buddhist economics.” If we correct our realization of what is important in life, our economy, our society, and our environment will improve. Economics also ought to understand the interdependence of each ecological phenomenon, whether it is a cow, a fruit tree, grain fields, insects, birds, and so forth. Finally, economics should focus on the quality of life of people, rather on the quantity of material production.

Schumacher differentiates the difference between need and greed. The idea that “need is limited, but greed is unlimited” is best connected to the realization that Earth is not actually overpopulated, but rather its people have become too greedy, through Gandhi’s statement that “Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need, but not every man’s greed.” Quite simply, if people were to reduce their materialism, then more natural resources would be available for more people. Thus, our ‘overpopulation’ is actually a result of greedy, materialistic lifestyles that drain our natural resources beyond sustainability.

the Danger of Bottled Water

Bottled water comes with an implied guarantee - this water is clean. But is it really?

Yes, the water is probably going to be free of the usual environmental pollutants. Surprisingly, tap water has more pollutants than you might think. For example, a recent study showed that hexavalent chromium, the cancer-causing pollutant in the movie about Erin Brockovich, is actually in pretty high levels across the United States. Stories like these lend a hand to bottled water.

On the other hand, plastic has a polluting effect on its own in water. Plastic actually sheds at the biochemical level, releasing molecules that are similar in shape to estrogen into the water. These molecules are called Bisphenol-A, or BPA. Your body has hormone receptors, which basically touch hormones, and make some activations into the cell. If a hormone is a key to car, then the hormone receptor is the keyhole that can start up your car's engine.

Nightmares

Heh heh. I know it's lame, but I just can't get enough of this.

For a full listing of the cartoons on this blog, click here.

Small is Still Beautiful Review, Part III

Part III of my Small is Still Beautiful book review and summary. See Part II here, and Part I here.

Schumacher outlines several ways governments can convert towards a small scale economy in the following ways:

1.      Favor small businesses and discourage larger businesses through a graduated tax.

2.      Reduce regulation: regulation decreases the ability for small business to be competitive, because it results in less flexibility for small businesses to serve the local population, increased costs from hiring lawyers, and more bureaucracy from dealing with red tape. Furthermore, small businesses cannot afford lobbyists to tip competition in their favor. In particular, overregulation limits innovation on green, sustainable farming.

3.      Stop subsidizing intensive farming. When New Zealand stopped subsidizing farming, its pasture lands began to recover, and agriculture recovered economically.

4.      Subsidize organic farming.

5.      Redistribute private property so that more individuals hold land, as opposed to a few

Small is Still Beautiful Review, Part II

This is Part II of my Small is Still Beautiful book review and summary. See Part I here

Heavy industrialization is a critical aspect of large scale economies, which is environmentally and socially damaging, especially of third-world countries. Industrialization requires heavy capital investment and high energy/electricity input (think of how much resources it takes to build a factory), resulting in debt, resulting in a need for greater production to overcome the sum of debt, interest, and resulting inflation. The inevitable result is that debt and environmental destruction only increases, leaving the workers with little advances in material wealth, let alone happiness. In addition, heavy industrialization inevitably leads to high unemployment rates, since factories are designed to eliminate the need for manual labor.

It is important to note that industrialization not only occurs in the cities, but in agriculture as well. Governments subsidize the use of environmentally destructive pesticides, antibiotics, intensive farming and livestock techniques, all of which leave the land unusable (similar to what happened in the Dust Bowl that led to the Great Depression). This industrialization of agriculture also leads to higher unemployment rates (because industrialization always moves towards requiring fewer workers), which forces millions into the cities, accelerating urban growth.

Urban growth is inherently environmentally destructive in the following ways:

Bill Nye the Science Guy

It's come to my attention that Bill Nye, aka the Science Guy, has been going around the nation talking about climate change. Has anybody bought tickets to see his exhibit called ClimateLab, or his talks?

What's interesting about Bill Nye is that he was originally a mechanical engineering major and received a BS at Cornell, under the politically radical Carl Sagan. He later worked in the aeronautics industry as a consultant.

If you check out Bill Nye's website, you'll find that he's under fire for some of his comments on climate change. Which got me thinking about his qualifications.

Small is Still Beautiful Review, Part I

For obvious reasons, questions of the environment are a hot topic. What a lot of people have trouble with are the economic implications of "saving the environment." But these concerns aren't nothing new, and start as late as the 1970s. One such person to approach this question is EF Schumacher.   conservative environmentalism

It's Raining Gold?

A new study suggests that the gold on our planet came from space

The study sug­gests gold, plat­i­num, pal­la­di­um and re­lat­ed el­e­ments found in the crusts and man­tles of Earth, the Moon and Mars ar­rived as part of im­pact­ors the size of small plan­ets.

Atoms are created from the fusion in stars, and when the really big ones inevitably explode via supernova, they scatter their atoms across the universe. Anything from hydrogen to the really heavy stuff like iron is thrown across the galaxy, and make up the contents of everything on our planets - including life itself.

But iron, for reasons spelled out in the article, ends up comprising the core of our planet Earth. Gold is about as heavy as iron, as opposed to carbon. So the scientists believe that the gold in on, or close to, the surface of our planet had to come pretty recently.

Check out the explanation here.

Polarized Sunglasses for Driving

DrTavel.com, a good source of information regarding vision and eye health, recently had a posted review on polarized sunglasses. Polarized material basically filters out certain orientations of light (this is complicated enough to do a series of posts on), allowing you to only see certain sources of light. Many 3D glasses work this way.

Anyway, here's an excerpt from their blog:

A few days ago I went to pick up my vehicle (which looked good as new) at an auto repair shop on the eastside of Indianapolis. Since I live and work out west, I never take the highway going west in the afternoon. The moment I jumped on 70 west, I was almost blinded by the glare of the sun. Luckily I had a pair of Ted Baker sunglasses with Purifier® polarized lenses from Dr. Tavel. I immediately put them on and continued my journey west.

It's worth checking out here 

Public Service Announcement - Free Kaplan Books!

If you go to any online bookstore, such as Amazon or Barnes and Nobles' website, you'll find that Kaplan is giving free Kaplan ebooks until January 17th, and some free How this helps their business I have no clue, but it's obviously a great deal!

http://www.freekaplanebooks.com/free-kaplan-ebooks/

Public Service Announcement - Entrecard is a Scam

I found a website that claimed to help provide more traffic to a person's website. For free.

Unfortunately, like most free services, it was simply a scam. Instead of sending websurfers to your website, it gets free ad space by requiring you to put your "electronic business card" on your website. It uses that space instead to advertise their own service. They all work like a ponzi scheme - the more you drop your "electronic business card" into the comments of other people's websites and blogs, the more points you earn, which allow you to access more traffic.

For more detailed blogposts on this, check these blogs:

http://businessphereconsulting.com/is-entrecard-making-a-joke-on-us-by-injecting-cpc-ads-into-our-inbox/
http://natespost.com/index.php/entrecard-scam-mongo-credits/

If you have a website or a blog, I would encourage you to spread the word on this little scam. Thank you!

Exercise can't overcome the health effects of laziness?

Roni Caryn Rabin of the New York Times writes about "The Hazard of the Couch"

Many of us sit in front of a computer for eight hours a day, and then go home and head for the couch to surf the Web or watch television, exchanging one seat and screen for another. Even if we try to squeeze in an hour at the gym, is it enough to counteract all that motionless sitting?

A mounting body of evidence suggests not.

The latest findings, published this week in The Journal of the American College of Cardiology, indicate that the amount of leisure time spent sitting in front of a screen can have such an overwhelming, seemingly irreparable impact on one’s health that physical activity doesn’t produce much benefit.

Rabin cites two types of studies, one type showing that people who spend more time on the couch watching TV have a higher risk of health problems like heart disease and have a higher chance of dying, and another type that shows that in animal studies some biochemical changes can explain why:

Clear Care Instructions

If you prefer a more visual explanation of how to use the Clear Care hydrogen peroxide lens cleaner than what is provided on the box insert, Ms Giling's Spot has a good explanation here.

Here's a sample of her post:

DIRECTIONS FOR USE:
To ensure proper disinfection of your lenses, you must follow the instructions completely. DO NOT skip any of the steps. Always wash and rinse your hands before handling your lenses. See package insert for special RGP instructions (I don't have this anymore, sorry -_-).

1. Remove and place each lense into the appropriately marked L/R domed lense holder. Rinse with Clear Care for 5 seconds.

Click here for the rest of her post

Hormones and Behavior

I stumbled upon this article earlier today.

(PhysOrg.com) -- Oxytocin is a hormone produced by the hypothalamus in the brain, and has been shown to make people trust each other more and promote feelings of love. But this hormone has now been found to have limits, since it promotes love and trust only towards people of the same "in-group" and not towards people who are seen as different. Psychologists have therefore concluded it is involved in ethnocentrism.

There's been a misunderstanding in the scientific community for quite some time. Lots of psuedo-scientists, and unfortunately, some scientists as well, believe that certain chemicals involved in the brain are responsible for certain behaviors or mental states. For example, testosterone is the "aggression hormone," and oxytocin is the "love hormone."

The problem here is that there's not a really good understanding of what is the cause, and what is the

A Fun Post

I might turn this into a series!

Microwaving Techniques

Note: By using the information presented in this blog, you agree to the terms described in the post entitled "Mission Statement and Disclaimer." Basically, you can't sue.
If you need a new microwave, the above picture links to K-Mart, which sells lots of cheap microwaves. For ones that are a bit more quality at a higher cost, click here, which goes to E-Cost.com

Have you ever microwaved something to disappointment? Maybe it was steaming hot on the top, but freezing cold at the bottom. Maybe that cup of water is still lukewarm after 5 minutes of microwaving. Maybe the food comes out really, really dry. Maybe on a plate of leftover thanksgiving food, the turkey is cold and the vegetables are steaming.

Well, lots of people don't quite understand how the microwave works, and how to best heat up food.

How Microwaves Work
There's all kinds of stuff I could get into when talking about microwaves, such as how you're shielding from being microwaved yourself, but I'm just going to stick with the parts that are relevant for heating up food.

Microwaves spin water molecules around, rotating them like they were wheels on a car. This causes friction, which results in heat, and its this very heat that warms up your food.

Think of the micro-waves as light, only invisible to your eyes (your eyes can't detect the frequency/wavelength of micro-waves, just like we can't see infrared waves, or UV waves). This light is shined upon the food, or whatever's in the microwave, and heats it up from the outside.

So what does this mean for heating up food?

Another comic

I might turn this into a series!

How to Cure Your Allergies with Vitamin C

Note: By using the information presented in this blog, you agree to the terms described in the post entitled "Mission Statement and Disclaimer." Basically, you are solely responsible for whatever personal usage of this information.

Or, how to cure your allergies

This product claims that it's "delicious" and "chewable," and has rose hips. Rose hips are primarily there for flavor; although it contains Vitamin C, it's not going to account for the entire 500 mg in a tablet. Vitamins C is fairly easy to absorb, so you don't have to worry about choosing a product with the right supplements (unlike Vitamin D or E). So pay big attention to price. Speaking of which, you can order this particular product online if you click the picture above.

My Personal Success

My college had an outdoor arboretum, with exotic trees from all over the world. Combined with the fact that my school was entirely composed of nerds (who already have a naturally tendency to have allergies), this meant that every single person on campus had allergies during the springtime, whether or not they had allergies before they went to college.

Sadly, having had severe allergies BEFORE I had ever stepped onto the campus, I was dying every spring.

Until one life-changing semester when one of my biology professors

Clear Care - Hydrogen Peroxide Lens Cleaner Part I

How does Clear Care work? Does Clear Care work?
Note: By using the information presented in this blog, you agree to the terms described in the post entitled "Mission Statement and Disclaimer." Basically, you can't sue.

Clear Care

The packaging, complete with basic directions.
How does Clear Care work?

Overview: Clear Care, by CIBA Vision, is a new lens cleaner solution. However, unlike most lens cleaner solutions, this uses hydrogen peroxide. The hydrogen peroxide presumably disinfects and removes protein from the lenses better than an enzymatic cleaner. Plus, the bubbling is really cool to watch.

Mechanics: There are really two main things that a lens cleaner does. First: disinfect it. Second: remove proteins.

Disinfecting the lens basically keeps your eye from becoming infected by bacteria or fungus. This is pretty important, and not always guaranteed, considering that Bausch & Lomb’s ReNu with MoistureLoc actually caused fungal infections, leading to a lawsuit from some 600 users.

Removing proteins from the lenses will keep your lenses “fresher” longer. These proteins naturally come from your eyes, and when they build up on your

Clear Care - Hydrogen Peroxide Lens Cleaner Part II

Most Clear Care packages contain two bottles of solution. I'd buy this over the single one simply to save money, and save the environment extra lens cases. Click on the picture to purchase online.

How does Clear Care work? Does Clear Care work?

Comparison to other products:

Most lens cleaners use enzymes. Enzymes are proteins that act, in strict scientific terms, act as catalysts (which make reactions go much faster than they otherwise would). Basically, they help a chemical reaction go even faster. In our case, these enzymes help destroy the skin of germs and remove proteins.

Enzymes can drill holes into the skin of germs, just like hydrogen peroxide. They’re just not as strong. As we saw, certain enzyme-based cleaners can allow, or even help, infections to occur. Hydrogen peroxide, however, reacts with virtually anything that’s part of a living organism. That’s why you can never put hydrogen peroxide in your eye – it’ll burn like crazy, because the hydrogen peroxide molecules are reacting with (read: destroying) the cells that make up your eye! Lens cleaner enzymes, on the other hand, have no problem being in your eye (unless you decide to go crazy with it).

So in terms of disinfection, Clear Care has the advantage. What about protein removal?

Protein removal is a bit more complicated. On one hand, certain enzymes are experts at ripping apart proteins in general. On the other, because enzymes are proteins, they can get stuck into the lens surfaces as well. Hydrogen peroxide has the potential to react with proteins, but this is a far cry from ripping them in half. Again, the hydrogen peroxide cleaner mostly works by bubbles.

Click to see the details in hi-res.

So in terms of protein removal, I’d call a tie here.

Risks:

Personal Health

As long as you follow the directions, you’re fine. Don’t use any other hydrogen

More cartoons

I've gotta stop doing this and get back to work.

And more cartoons

Take your time with each panel. It'll be funnier that way, I promise.

This is such off-beat humor, it was the first cartoon I've drawn that actually made me laugh.

Makes me want to do a post on genetic engineering.

http://www.lens101.com

For contact lens wearers, there's a nice forum I stumbled upon. People there are knowledgeable and actually very friendly! You'll get answers to your questions quite quickly as well.

http://www.lens101.com

Allergies Cartoon

My attempt at hand drawing the cartoon. This, of course, references my post on allergies.

Actually, there's a fairly big controversy regarding Vitamin C, for very much the reason satirized in my cartoon. Some people even go further and claim that allergy medicine companies are simply be facetious,

Another comic

I might turn this into a series!

Curing Allergies with Vitamin C

Note: By using the information presented in this blog, you agree to the terms described in the post entitled "Mission Statement and Disclaimer." Basically, you can't sue.

Or, how to cure your allergies

This product claims that it's "delicious" and "chewable," and has rose hips. Rose hips are primarily there for flavor; although it contains Vitamin C, it's not going to account for 500 mg in a small tablet. Vitamins C is fairly easy to absorb, so you don't have to worry about choosing a product with the right supplements (unlike Vitamin D or E). So pay big attention to price. Speaking of which, you can order this particular product online if you click the picture above.

My own Personal Experience

My college had an outdoor arboretum, with exotic trees from all over the world. Combined with the fact that my school was entirely composed of nerds (who already have a naturally tendency to have allergies), this meant that every single person on campus had allergies during the springtime, whether or not they had allergies before they went to college.

Sadly, having had severe allergies BEFORE I had ever stepped onto the campus, I was dying every spring.

Until one life-changing semester when one of my biology professors introduced me to the awesome power of Vitamin C. You see, she had actually attended the school when she was an undergrad, and had allergies worse than mine. Her throat could actually close up from all the pollen. But, she told me, when she had taken massive doses of vitamin C, she had actually cured herself of allergies!

Curing Allergies with Vitamin C, Part II

Note: By using the information presented in this blog, you agree to the terms described in the post entitled "Mission Statement and Disclaimer." Basically, you can't sue.

Or How to Cure Your Allergies, Part II

So this is the routine you should follow.

1. Every day, take at least 5 grams (5,000 milligrams or mg) of Vitamin C
2. Spread them out throughout the day. Don't take them all at once, otherwise your body won't be able to digest all of that Vitamin C at once (remember diffusion in high school chemistry and biology? Your intestines absorb vitamins and nutrients into the blood stream via diffusion. If you have too much Vitamin C running through your intestines, your blood

Clear Care - Hydrogen Peroxide Lens Cleaner

Does Clear Care work? How does Clear Care work?
Note: By using the information presented in this blog, you agree to the terms described in the post entitled "Mission Statement and Disclaimer." Basically, you can't sue.

Clear Care

The packaging, complete with basic directions.

Overview: Clear Care, by CIBA Vision, is a new lens cleaner solution. However, unlike most lens cleaner solutions, this uses hydrogen peroxide. The hydrogen peroxide presumably disinfects and removes protein from the lenses better than an enzymatic cleaner. Plus, the bubbling is really cool to watch.

Mechanics: There are really two main things that a lens cleaner does. First: disinfect it. Second: remove proteins.

Disinfecting the lens basically keeps your eye from becoming infected by bacteria or fungus. This is pretty important, and not always guaranteed, considering that Bausch & Lomb’s ReNu with MoistureLoc actually caused fungal infections, leading to a lawsuit from some 600 users.

Removing proteins from the lenses will keep your lenses “fresher” longer. These proteins naturally come from your eyes, and when they build up on your lenses, will make them feel “thicker,” less flexible, dryer, and can even prevent oxygen from reaching your eye. Protein buildup on a lens is like caking your skin with mud. Your skin will be thicker, less flexible, dryer (because the mud will absorb any natural moisture from your skin), and your skin can’t breathe because its pores are being blocked up.

The way that Clear Care both disinfects and removes proteins is by using hydrogen peroxide. Hydrogen peroxide naturally breaks down into H2O and a single oxygen atom, called a free radical. Free radicals are really reactive, reacting with whatever organic molecule that’s nearby. Of course, by reacting,