Good Books to Read

1. The Pathological Protein by Philip Yam (2003)

This is an excellent read if you're interested in diseases and whatnot. The author gives a general overview of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) and their causative agent, the prion. I wouldn't recommend citing this work if you're writing a scientific paper, but it's definitely worth reading. There's a huge amount of background information in the introduction chapters. You can probably skip this if you've taken a few college-level biology classes. I also didn't bother reading the chapters about TSEs affecting deer and elk. I really couldn't care less about some decrepit, senile deer running around aimlessly in a forest preserve. Anyways, this book is great because it explains how Mad Cow Disease started and how it was transmitted to humans. And it mentions how brain-eating cannibals from Papua New Guinea contracted kuru. Who wouldn't be interested in that? These kuru victims are the closest thing to zombies that have ever and will ever exist. Enjoy learning about prions! (They're by far my favorite pathogens!)

2. Packrat: A Tale of Compulsive Hoarding by Tom Hixson (2010)

This book is not for the faint of heart. The author spares no detail when describing the living conditions of an individual suffering from an extreme case of obsessive compulsive hoarding syndrome. The hoarder, Robert, literally kept everything--even things that are meant to be flushed down the toilet. Additionally, the book explains the possible causes and cures of this mental illness. By far, the best chapters are the ones that explain the disorder from a neuroscientific perspective. The brain scans are the best part!

This book is really obscure, and it's haphazardly thrown together. Also, it looks like it was probably printed in some middle-aged guy's mom's basement. Nevertheless, it's a great read. Get a copy if you ever have a chance.  

List of Foods that Still Have trans-Fats

Everyone already knows that trans-fats are evil, but there are still a few things out there that have them. Here's some that I can think of:

1. Cake Frosting and Glazes  

Most of these products have 1.5g of trans-fats per serving. 

2. Milk
I should point out that milk contains a negligible amount of trans-fats. That's why you won't see it listed on the nutritional label.


I can't think of any other foods that have trans-fats, so I guess I'll just write about their chemistry. In the simplest sense, a trans-fat is the trans isomer of a fatty acid. If you don't know about cis-trans isomerism, I'll briefly explain. First of all, this only applies to double bonds. A molecule exhibits cis isomerism when its hydrogens are both on the same side of the double bond. Trans isomerism is the opposite; the hydrogens are across from each other. Here's an example:

Both of these structures represent the chemical called 1,2-dichloroethene. However, they differ slightly. The structure on the left has both hydrogens on the same side of the double bond, and the one of the right has hydrogens across from each other. Therefore, the one on the left is the cis isomer, and the one on the right is the trans isomer. 

The same concept applies to trans-fats. Here are two more chemical structures: 

    

Both of these chemicals have a formula of C₁₈H₃₄O_2. They only differ in stereochemistry (the spatial arrangement of the atoms within a molecule). The top structure is the trans isomer because the hydrogens are on opposite sides of the double bond, and bottom structure is the cis isomer. You may recognize the top and bottom structures as elaidic acid and oleic acid, respectively. These are the fatty acids that you typically encounter in food items. Elaidic acid is most likely the trans-fat found in the cake frosting above. Its cis isomer, oleic acid, is usually found in plant products like olive oil, for instance. 

No one knows why the trans isomers of fatty acids are so bad for people. According to Wikipedia, humans don't have an enzyme capable of metabolizing the trans isomer, so it builds up in arteries and kills people. I have no idea if that's true or not. There weren't and citations in the article that supported this claim. 

By the way, I gave up italicizing the words cis and trans. I have better things to do with my life than to go back and fix it.     

Things I Thought Were Extinct 

Did you ever see a commercial for something and think, "I can't believe they still make those." Well here's a list of things I thought you couldn't buy anymore/companies that went out of business/organisms that were extinct: 

1. Mitsubishi Galant 

This car has looked exactly the same since the 2004 model year. It's shocking that you can buy a brand new car in 2013 that looks just like something from 2004.

One of these cars is a 2004, the other can be purchased brand new right now. Can you tell the difference? The grill is the only significant change. The headlights and everything else pretty much look the same. In case you're still wondering, the red one is almost ten years old, and the silver one is the current model.

2. Blockbuster Stores

I saw one not too long ago, so that dispels any myth that they're completely gone.

3. Kmart (aka Lame Mart or K-Fart)

I just saw a commercial for their new layaway program. 

4. Mavis Beacon Typing Program

I'm sure most people remember being forced to use this software at some point in their life. The rule was you have to play Mavis Beacon for 20 minutes before playing Oregon Trail. Anyways, you can still buy the software on Amazon.com.

I'm just curious as to why there are three different actresses portraying Mavis. What happens to them? 

5. The Coelacanth

I can't begin to tell you how relieved I was to hear that some scientists found one of these things swimming around Indonesia in the late 1990s. I thought they were gone forever.

According to Wikipedia, the Coelacanth cannot be eaten because its flesh exudes an oil that makes it taste foul. How would anyone ever know that if only one or two have been seen in the last hundred years? 

6. Pepsi Blue

This stuff actually is extinct. You'll never, ever have another taste of it in your life. 

On My Bookshelf

I'll introduce myself by listing whatever's on the bookshelf closest to me. This should give some insight into my mind and ultimately what this blog will be about.

Starting from right to left:

-Twelve Diseases That Changed Our World, Sherman

-The Pathological Protein, Yam 

-The Short Guide to Writing about Biology, Pechenik

-Othello, Shakespeare 

-Five Great Short Stories, Chekhov

-The Kreutzer Sonata, Tolstoy

-Notes from the Underground, Dostoyevsky

-Chekhov: The Essential Plays

-The Stranger, Camus

-A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Joyce

-The Bluest Eye, Morrison

-Macbeth, Shakespeare 

-Hiroshima, Hersey

-Siddhartha, Hesse

-The Catcher in the Rye, Salinger 

-Frankenstein, Shelley

-The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald

-1984, Orwell

-The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck

-On the Road, Kerouac

-Bantam New College Italian and English Dictionary 

-Essential Italian Grammar, Ragusa

-TI-84 Instruction Booklet

-Typee, Melville

-The Invisible Man, Wells

-Something Wicked This Way Comes, Bradbury

-Dracula, Stoker

-Fahrenheit 451, Bradbury

-One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Kesey

-Heart of Darkness, Conrad

-The World According to Clarkson, Clarkson

-Motorworld, Clarkson

-Packrat: A Tale of Compulsive Hoarding, Hixson

-Phantoms in the Brain, Ramachandran and Blakeslee

-Complete Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe

-Bhagavadgita

I was forced to read most of these books for school, or I added them to my cart on Amazon.com just to reach $25 and get free shipping. I am by no means a literature freak. By the way, I never actually read the Bhagavadgita; I don't know why I have that on my shelf. 

I know, the titles should be italicized, but I don't have time for that.