Modern technology

Hey all,

Now you can view foetuses in 3D. Check it out! It's very cool =). This baby is my friend's. Congrats, Cecilia!

Season for getting married

Today I attended another wedding dinner. Knew this friend since I was 13. The dessert was really good. Mini glutinous rice balls with black sesame paste filling in a lightly sweetened broth made from boiled Gui Hua (Osmanthus flowers). In some parts of Japan, the streets are lined with Osmanthus trees and when they bloom, the whole street smells really good.

Oh and I have 4 more wedding dinners to attend this month. One of which is in Medan, Indonesia.

Meanwhile, enjoy the hols!

Sg Buloh and its many implications

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[Picture (1) knee roots of Bruguiera species trees, (2) Forest ginger. Tastes good with rojak. (3) Prop roots of Rhizophora species. (4) Spider hanging over some mangrove trees. (5) More prop roots. (6) Prop roots during low tide. Notice Johor in the background? (7) Large mudskipper. Well adapted for both underwater and above-water vision (can you see underwater without goggles?!) + dual modes of gaseous exchange (skin and gills)]. Photos made possible with Melissa's camera and my SD card!

Hello all,
Sungei Buloh means Bamboo River in malay and is a wetland reserve protected by law. It's a migratory stopover for many seasonal birds that fly from as faraway as China and Siberia.

Sg Buloh isn't the most healthy mangrove forest. A healthy one should be really muddy and silty. But why? marine biologists have discovered that the pretty coral fishes (like Nemo, yes) breed their young fishes in the safety of the space between the roots of the mangrove trees (like the Rhizophora species).

Those prop roots does a few things:
(1) They keep the tree upright and stable in muddy soil.
(2) They are breathing roots, since muddy soil is lacking in gaseous oxygen.

How do they benefit the living world?
(1) Do you know your BBQ charcoal comes mainly from mangrove trees? In Malaysia and Indonesia, the charcoal is derived from the Rhizophora species since these trees are of high energy content for its weight.

(2) Mangrove trees prevent wave action from eroding land.

(3) Mangroves can absorb energy from high waves, potentially saving lives during a tropical storm or tsunami.

(4) Through studies of isotopic carbon movement, marine biologists found that energy and nutrients are exported and imported between coral reefs and mangroves and are interdependent. In other words, if you want a healthy (and pretty coral reef), you have to maintain healthy mangroves at the coast.

However, mangroves often give way to coastal development and is unavoidable in many developing/developed countries. How do we weigh the pros and cons of these habitats?

Visit to labrador park rocky shore habitat

Here are some pics for your enjoyment. More pics of the rocky shore living organisms will follow if I can manage to find them from my photo archive.

On Singapore's mainland, only one rocky shore habitat can be found. Tidal change at the rocky shore can mean a few things:

Huge variation in abiotic (non-living) conditions, e.g. temperature, salinity, water source, sun exposure, predation levels etc.

So, are there any life forms on the rocky shore?

What kind of living things live there?

How do they survive the habitat?

How are they important to humans?

Why do we need to conserve these natural habitats instead of urbanizing the area?

It's frightening how small Singapore is

Went to meet my financial advisor and he was colleagues with someone I just got to know few days back and when we all sat down to chat, we discovered we had even more friends that are mutual. How frighteningly small Singapore is! Going back to NIE for the next few weeks and will be taking pictures of some bio field trips. Will put them up soon!

Last day at NJC

Thanks people for making this 10 weeks so wonderful for me. I really enjoyed this time with all the classes I taught. Oh yeah. Singing was fun as was teaching and learning =). Moreover, it wasn't all books and notes. It's also abt learning abt people, life, and being a person.

 
 

I wish you all well for the coming term tests.

 
 

I'm happy to be able to take photos with as many of you as possible. I'm sorry I didn't have time to meet each class up to take group pictures. Had been quite random. I walked everywhere in sch with a camera in hand and took pix with whoever I bumped into on Thur and Fri (previous few days recuperating at home from my broken knee).

 
 

Was a little disappointed that didn't manage to take pictures with all of you.

 
 

Anyway, here are the pics. Enjoy. http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=114925&l=b9750&id=747140594

 
 

Answers for bio practice questions

Hello people,

08IP01
You need to collect from me my letter tray (I suggest you send a rep to collect for the class) pages 3-4 of the eye practice questions. Pls try them first before checking out the answers here.

08IP02
You would already have received these questions. So, try them, and check the answers.

Thanks Xuelu and Qianyun, for pointing it out to me that I havn't gone through them. =)

NOTE:
(1) I'm only showing the answers to the questions we havn't gone through in class and these are suggested answers only. Let me know if you think there's a way to improve it.

(2) As for the 4 sets of questions Mr Nah prepared for you, he will be providing the answers soon. So, try the questions first.

My $180 knee brace

Hello all,

Hey 01, how did you feel after the test?

Anyway, let's set our sights further (and higher) for the coming term test and do well for it.

Wanna show a pic of my knee brace which was fitted by an orthotist (a person who specializes in fittings / braces for orthopedic referral outpatients like me). This thing isn't anything much but it costs me more than $180. But it's good for sports too. Prevents the inward or outward twisting of the lower leg and hence, help support the ligament for recovery and prevent repeat injuries.

So, there's this new job I learned about today: Orthotist. Don't confuse with the Orthodontist though.

HUGE DISCOVERY! Online shops in the US sell this same thing for only USD82. Slightly over SGD100? Sigh. Cheated.

Announcement: 08IP01 and 08IP02 bio lessons

08IP01
For your bio double period tmr (8 May, Thur):

1. Go to IS lab as usual
2. Bring your endocrine worksheet
3. We will try to fill out the blanks in the worksheet
4. Finish up with feedback loops in the endocrine system
5. Revise for term test
6. If we can finish everything in 2 periods, good. If not, see you the period after (We'll find out if the IS lab is free. If it isn't, may try to use an empty room at TA block? Climbing isn't so gd for me now)

08IP02
I hope you enjoyed your free period on Tue =). For your double period on 9 May, Fri:

1. Since you have finished with filling out the worksheet (except the glands part), we'll do the glands part.
2. Revise for term test (I will be asking you questions, either verbal or on paper)

Anonymous tagboarders not welcome

I've discovered how to ban selected tagboarders. Let's see if it works.

Cartoon neuron

I kinda like this one drawn by CW taken from artreallyrocks.blogspot.com
Apologies for not asking for permission first!

Are neurotransmitters reused?

Question: Is the pre-synaptic and post synaptic thing a continuous cycle? means like the neurotransmitters are like reused. is it?

Answer: Yeah, neurons are made to fire across synapses more than once. Each time it fires, the neurons try to recycle as much neurotransmitters as possible to conserve precious energy to produce them, and also to stop a signal. Why do you need to stop a signal? Imagine the neurotransmitters are kept bound to receptors at the post-synaptic membrane, it spells trouble. The signal is "always on". Not a gd idea.

There's another way to stop a signal from propagating across the synapse though. By breaking down the neurotransmitter. Baygon insecticides (and many oth brands) contain an active ingredient which inhibits the enzyme that breaks down the neurotransmitter, acetylcholine. So what happens? The acetylcholine remains bound on the receptors and the postsynaptic neuron keeps on firing electric signals. Now you know why the cockroach twitches it muscles and goes into spasms before it dies from the insecticide. This is essentially how nerve gases work when the Nazis used it against the Jews during WW2.

Cataract and Retinal tear

Hi people,

Charmaine alerted me to missing slides for cataract and retinal tear from the consolidated file contributed by you all. Pls accept my apologies.
A fairly clear and informative reading for cataract can be found at http://www.nei.nih.gov/health/cataract/cataract_facts.asp and for retinal tear, at http://www.nei.nih.gov/health/retinaldetach/index.asp

Q and A for term test

Hello all,

Email your questions to lyeyumin(at)hotmail.com and I will put up replies on this blog for the benefit of all. Note that the (at) is @ to prevent automated spam robots from picking up my email and spamming me. I can't guarantee all questions can be answered.

Plan for Tue 6 May 08 (08IP02 and 08IP03)

Hello all,

Tmr I'll be going for an MRI scan. X-rays can't tell whether I've a torn ligament or not. Only MRI can do that. This is what will happen...

08IP02: I won't be going in for class. Right now you've finished with the endocrine. It will be revision time for you.

08IP03: There's supposed to be make up class for factorization of cubic expressions. Pls read up on it in your TB. We'll do that on Wed (I hope I can come back, see how?)

TTSH A n E rox

Hey all,

I fell when blading today. Chinese bone man says I dislocated my right knee, and before he said his sentence, he pulled and cracked my knee! Ouch! And he poked a few holes in my knee before I kn it and using some vacuum device to withdraw blood out. It's quite scary.

My knee hurt after that, so I went to Tan Tock Seng Hospital A n E. The experience was good. Fast and professional. Nowadays, X-rays are taken and uploaded to a system called RADWEB so doctors all over the hospital can look at your X-ray images anytime anywhere. I nearly wanted to ask for my X-ray pictures to bring home for use as my desktop image.

Radiologists, nurses, doctors are all important people in making the world a better place. Not an easy job. My salutes to them.

Anyway, I have a 5 day MC. I hope all of you are prepared to miss lessons. I hope I can be back for lessons though. We'll see how it goes.

NJC College Day pics!

Hey people, pay attention in class!

I've evidence that you people are not paying attention in class! haha! The slides on the projector screen looks darn familiar? Hmm...

The mystery of the colossal squid

Dear all,

Have you read the classic, 20,000 leagues under the sea? Ever saw the movie based on the original novel? In this story, written before there were submarines, tells a tale of men who went under the sea and met many unknown creatures. One of them, is a huge squid that nearly devoured the underwater vessel.

I'm sure you've heard of giant squids. There's another species, with a different scientific name, commonly known as the colossal squid simply because it's known to be larger.

No one has seen an intact specimen of it until recently. Previous specimens were taken from semi-digested food in the sperm whale's stomach (sperm whales are sometimes hunted).

Now, scientists have started dissecting the squid in New Zealand and making exciting discoveries:

(1) It has a eye 27cm in diameter. This is huge. Because the squid has been thawed in a saline solution, osmosis may have taken place and the sample shrunk. Scientists believe the original size to be 40 cm.
Why does it need eyes so large? Wouldn't it be blinded when it reaches the surface? Or does it surface only when it's dark?

BTW, squids are known to have the keenest eyesight of all animals. The largest eyes too.

(2) This squid is believed to be a resident of the abyss. But it sometimes feeds at the surface. Imagine how it copes with pressure.

(3) And they think they are actually looking at an immature specimen. It could be bigger.

(4) The squid has sharp hooks at it's tentacles. It must have been a horrifying predator!

View this article: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article3850642.ece