Grocery Store Hospital

So I found this cool article about scientists who looked at cross sections of vegetables and fruits under an MRI. Yes, Veggies Tales has finally become a hospital soap opera. Who would've known MRIs actually have a lot to do with chemistry on the quantum level. After writing about waves of light for a chemistry project,  I decided I'd never write about waves again. As you can see, this didn't last long. 

To celebrate the new Shoprite, why not blog about fruits and vegetables!

Here's the boring part. Don't worry, the rest is a lot better. So an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) is when a person (or food) lies in a strong magnetic field which lines up all of the protons in the atoms that make up your body. Next radio waves are sent to specific areas of the body to knock these protons out of place. After messing everything up, the radio waves are turned off and the protons come back in line and send out their own radio waves use to make images. These stupid waves never stop. If you want more of this stuff (I don't know why you would) read here. 

So now here comes the cool part! Can you guess the fruit or vegetable from the MRI? 

It's broccoli! Looks like a fourth of July fireworks show. Or the diagrams they show you when you go to the psychologist. 

The banana flower. Yeah, I didn't know they existed either. 

This is a kiwano. Looks like an alien blob. 

Corn! If you didn't know this one, but you guessed the kiwano, reevaluate your life. 

The Devil. Aka Tomatoes. Nasty. So this is what evil looks like. 

Celery, which requires more energy to digest than it gives. So it pretty much defeats the purpose of eating... 

Strawberries! A kaleidoscope is really just a cylinder with a bunch of strawberries inside of it. 

Check out the original article here. 

Well these MRIs have revealed fruits and vegetables don't have tumors! Aren't you relieved? Imagine going into an MRI room looking for a family member, but instead finding a fruit or vegetable. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!" That'll help Obama care. 

My Shiny Teeth and Me

Woo Chip Skylark reference!

So Sarah and Dhara talked about teeth whiteners on both of their blogs, and I guess I'll join the conversation. Most teeth whiteners use bleaching agents such as hydrogen peroxide and carbamide peroxide. These agents treat two layers of the teeth.

Then Sarah added to this post by describing how drinks such as tea and coffee actually get stuck in these pits of your enamel. And if you don't brush your teeth, they won't go away! Wow even less motivation to drink coffee and tea. Coffee tastes nasty and only makes mornings more miserable. Tea requires a decent amount of effort for nothing more than flavored water. So I have no idea how nations have made millions of dollars in the tea trade in the past. I'm on the side of the Sons of Liberty from the Boston Tea Party. Throw that stuff in the water and leave it there. Then row out and beat it with oars the next morning. And after reading this, I am even less motivated to drink these two!

Many people wonder how they can whiten their teeth, and a common remedy is baking soda! Substances such as baking soda contain molecules called surfactants which attach to plaque molecules on one end and water molecules on the other! So when the water molecules take away the surfactants, they also take away the plaque molecules. "If I''m going down, I'm taking you with me!" Baking soda also gets rid of bacteria that forms plaque, but since it is a salt it does loose its effectiveness when water is added. Read more here.

Well that's teeth whitening. Now go focus on relevant topics in the world.

"My printer is out of skin cells"

3-D printer: My first encounter with 3-D printers was from the hilarious TV show, The Big Bang Theory 

And the first place I got the idea for blogging about this was from Sarah's blog! As Howard decided to make an action figure of himself (who can really blame him though), and kids at my school can only make things like phone cases, it's hard to believe scientists are really finding incredible ways to use this machine. Scientists mainly see a use for this in the medical field of tissue engineering. Much better than a bunch of nerds making plastic guns. Those people might as well make plastic brains for themselves while they're at it. 

3-D printing mainly relies on the layering of hydrogel to make structures, and this positioning really becomes important in determining the purpose of this object. This precision is especially important when making implants or other medical tools. 

Scientists believe this ability to maneuver and place individual cells holds much promise for the future of tissue engineering. 

Sarah brings up the point wondering how this technology will continue to advance, but I mainly wonder how will scientists commercialize it. Like there are flying cars in the world, but odds are most people will never see them because of this thing called money. It's very strange how green paper can stand between you and happiness. Anyway, the point is unless scientists will make this technology more common, it will likely be grossly expensive and never impact society on a large scale. And if that's not their goal, then these scientists might as well just make action figures instead like Howard. 

"Why is your time slower?" "I was thinking about chemistry..."

After a track meet this morning, I thought I had the perfect topic to blog about. Just wanted to say I revile the weather man for excluding vicious winds and many clouds from his 60 degrees forecast. Miserable Saturday morning. Getting elbowed by other competitors was pretty aggravating also. As I ran my relay, I noticed a burning feeling in my muscles. For once there's chemistry people might actually care about! Who knew there's actually a way to slow the chemical reaction that's causing this aching feeling.

Well most people know the body breaks down glucose using oxygen to make ATP, ready energy. If you don't then go back to freshman biology. Anyway, many of the high-level activities the body performs require more oxygen than the body can provide. Therefore glucose can't be broken down with oxygen and a big mess happens that produces only a little bit of energy and lactate. This lactate is acidic causing your muscle aches! So all of this soreness for barely any energy. Check out the article here.

Most people don't know this, but this burning sensation is actually a sign from you body saying "stop stupid!" So your body is telling you not to do physical activities. I'll stick to Olympic eating. I think this is weird since people always tell you to fight through this burning sensation even though it's really trying to stop you from damaging your muscles severely. Based on my soar muscles, my body must be a lactate factory. Off to gorge myself in food!