By Science Mom
My five-year old son, Alexander, loves science. So each week, the two of us have pledged to do a science experiment. There are not too many rules – only that the experiment can be easily done in the kitchen of our apartment, and not leave too much of a mess. Last week, Alex tried to make rice bounce by putting it in a glass of carbonated liquid. It took us a few tries to get the experiment right, but eventually it worked.
EXPERIMENT 1
This week, we had …

By Science Mom
My five-year old son, Alexander, has already developed a strong interest in math and science. At his request, we recently enrolled him in an after-school astronomy class, where he draws stars and shoots the galaxy breeze with the other pupils. He has settled on Saturn as his favorite and most interesting planet; he loves the rings.
As part of a plan to nurture Alex’ interest in science, I decided that each week, he and I should try some form of scientific experiment. With that in mind, Talking Science …

Last Saturday afternoon in the cafeteria of a New York City public school, a ten-year-old boy gazed at a tiny, squirming worm in his palm. “I want to name it,” I heard him say to a volunteer from the Lower East Side Ecology Center, “but even if I give it a name, it still won’t be my pet.” A desire to connect, sprinkled with a little hesitation, perhaps.
Close by at the Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine’s table, girls with plastic blue gloves handled tan, squishy globs of I knew not …

As it turns out, Spring break is great for science experiments. There’s plenty of time and plenty of scope, especially if the weather is lousy and you have a curious five-year-old.
So, Alex decided that he wanted to do three experiments while he was on break. We found them – as we have found most of the things we have done – in Pop Bottle Science, which features 79 easy experiments that are not too time-consuming or messy. And in addition to a book full of experiments, the Pop bottle breaks …

I want to try and explain some of the math behind the double-slit experiment. The goal here is not to explain the weird nature of light mathematically, which is beyond the scope of a blog. I do want to show how the double-slit experiment proves light behaves as a wave quantitatively and give [...]]]>

By Hugh Lippincott
I want to try and explain some of the math behind the double-slit experiment. The goal here is not to explain the weird nature of light mathematically, which is beyond the scope of a blog. I do want to show how the double-slit experiment proves light behaves as a wave quantitatively and give an example of how math can be used to explain the results of an experiment.
After a brief discussion with my mom, I realize that I will have to start by explaining what the sine function …

By Hugh Lippincott
I will use the Bohr model (together with the nature of light discussed in the last few posts) to predict the existence of “spectral lines,” which will finally bring me back to dark matter by explaining exactly how we measure the speed of those rotating galaxies (see the Dark Matter Intro link if this is not familiar). Historically speaking, I’m presenting this material backwards, as the observation of spectral lines came first and the explanation came later, but I will proceed anyway.
Niels Bohr is in many ways the …

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3月15日にMSNBCがピーナッツアレルギーについて驚きの情報を発表した。デューク大学医療センターとアーカンソー小児病院の新しい治療のおかげで29人の子供がアレルギー反応を起きずにピーナッツを食べることができた。治療は「経口脱感作」（けいこうだっかんさ、oral desensitization）と呼ばれ、食物アレルゲンを少しずつ経口投与することによって免疫寛容を上げる方法である。
医療研究がまだ必要だが、その29人の内5人の子供はアレルギーが完全に治ったようだ。アメリカのピーナッツアレルギーの患者の180万人にとっては、人生が変わりうる情報である。毎年アメリカでは、200人はピーナッツアレルギーによって死亡し、後3万人は救急治療室に運ばれる。
メドラインプラス医療事典によると、食べ物不耐性の患者は多い(乳製品がうまく消化 できない「乳糖不耐症」は厳密にはアレルギーではない）。しかし、食物アレルギーはもっと珍しく、花粉症と同じように抗ヒスタミンと抗体を発する。重度のピーナッツアレルギーはアナフィラキシーショックを起こす恐れがあり、患者も多いため、ピーナッツは一番危ないアレルゲンの内に入る。
色々な統計の内、アメリカのFDAによるとアメリカ人の1.5％、つまり400万人は食物アレルギーにかかっており、国立国会図書館によると日本には1～2％、つまり150万人は患者である。
数年前から、普通のアレルギーの患者は抗ヒスタミン薬を飲んだり、アレルギー注射を受ることも出来たが、重度ピーナッツアレルギーの患者は治療法がなかった。この新しい治療でアレルギー注射のように少しだけのアレルゲンが体内に入ることによって、免疫寛容を上げながらピーナッツの量も増やす。これによって、いままでピーナッツが食べられなかった子供が無反応で食べることができるようになる。
しかし、この治療はアレルギー注射とはいくつかの違いがある。アレルギー注射は腕に注射することに対し、ピーナッツ経口脱感作治療を受ける人は、最初は、非常に少量の粉末ピーナッツを毎日食べる。しかも、アレルギー注射では免疫寛容を上げることしかあり得ないが、ピーナッツの経口脱感作治療はアレルギー自体を直す可能性がある。
しかし、注意点は、この治療は医師から直接受けなければならなくて、ピーナッツアレルギーの患者にとってはまだ危険性がある。もっと安全で全員が使用できる方法を研究すべきだが、それには時間がかかる。
だが、デューク大学医療のアレルギー部長は「私達は経口脱感作治療を受けた子供たちはピーナッツアレルギーが完全に直った自信がある」と述べた。つまり、今のところは、ピーナッツアレルギーの患者は、デュークの医者のように希望を持つべきだ。
参考：食物アレルギー持つ子供の給食は？

By Caitlin Militello
On March 15, MSNBC had some surprising news about peanut allergies. Thanks to a new treatment by Duke University Medical Center and the Arkansas Children’s Hospital, 29 children were able to eat peanuts without any allergic reactions. The treatment is called oral desensitization, a method of gradually introducing a food allergen orally in order to build up immune system tolerance.
Though further study is still necessary, 5 of those 29 children appear to have had their peanut allergies completely cured. This isn’t just good news for …

People tell their doctors personal information that no one else knows- these clipboard wielding strangers know so many details about us that maybe it’s time we get to know them a little better. One could look to prime time to learn more about the secret lives of doctors- ABC’s Scrubs is hilarious, ER is a classic, and there’s about a dozen more doctor shows. These shows might be so popular because they tell the story from the other side of the stethoscope… with a little more glam. Well, a lot …