The Lighter Side of Science

Happy Birthday to You: Are Your Hands Clean?

Posted on by Kelly Grooms

My daughter has been actively planning her birthday for about three weeks now (and she still has almost two months to wait). At the top of her wish list this year? Hand sanitizer. As my kids headed back to school this week, I noticed that one of the most popular pieces of backpack “bling” among her little friends was little bottles of: you guessed it, hand sanitizer. In bright colored silicone covers, with yummy sounding scents, little bottles of hand sanitizer bounced along on the backpacks of a lot of the youngsters walking into the school.

The first thought that might come into your head is “Wow. Those kids are going to be so healthy. All those nasty germs might as well look elsewhere for victims.” And you would be at least partially right. Proper hand hygiene can decrease the transmission of cold viruses as well as other germs, and hand sanitizer can play a part in good hand hygiene when it is used properly and in the right quantity.

What hand sanitizer can not do is take the place of washing hands. It does not, for instance, remove dirt or other contaminants. (Although it can help smear the dirt around so that it forms a more evenly dispersed layer, prompting your child to claim their hands have been cleaned). Hand sanitizers also will not effectively eliminate nonenveloped viruses such as the norovirus. These are the nasty little things that are responsible for the majority of acute gastrointestinal illnesses. (1,2,3). In fact, using hand sanitizers may actually increase the spread of these viruses if it results in a decrease of hand washing with soap and water.

Hand sanitizers that are most effective contain ethyl alcohol (62% to 95% concentration), benzalkonium chloride, salicylic acid, pyroglutamic acid, and triclosan. These ingredients, while making the sanitizers effective against some germs, also dry out the skin and destroy some to the naturally existing fauna on the skin, which gives other germs a chance to take hold. An example is Clostridium difficile. This gram-positive, spore-forming bacteria can cause severe intestinal upset and diarrhea when competing bacteria in the digestive track have been wiped out by antibiotics. A 2010 study found that some people who were over reliant on sanitizers had C. difficile spores colonizing on their hands (4).

C. difficile infections are probably not a big risk for the average school-age child, but the example highlights the fact that hand sanitizers are not the silver bullet of hand hygiene that they are sometimes portrayed to be. The center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the U.S. lists the following guidelines for hand washing:

  • Wet your hands with clean running water (warm or cold) and apply soap.
  • Rub your hands together to make a lather and scrub them well; be sure to scrub the backs of your hands, between your fingers, and under your nails.
  • Continue rubbing your hands for at least 20 seconds. Need a timer? Hum the “Happy Birthday” song from beginning to end twice.
  • Rinse your hands well under running water.
  • Dry your hands using a clean towel or air dry.

Washing hands with soap and water is the best way to reduce the number of germs on them. If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol. Alcohol-based hand sanitizers can quickly reduce the number of germs on hands in some situations, but sanitizers do not eliminate all types of germs. (5).

My daughter’s birthday is still two months away, but I am going to suggest to her that she start practicing for it now. I am going to suggest she sing “Happy Birthday” to herself twice while washing her hands, and leave the hand sanitizer on her backpack for those times when soap and water are not available.

References

  1. Liu P, Yuen Y, Hsiao HM, Jaykus LA, Moe C. (2010) Appl Environ Microbiol. 76, :394–9.
  2. Hand sanitizers may actually cause outbreaks of norovirus. Medical New Today website. ww.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/232708.php. Accessed August 29, 2012.
  3. Hall AJ, Vinjé J, Lopman B, et al. Updated norovirus outbreak management and disease prevention guidelines. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website. www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/rr6003a1.htm. Accessed August 29, 2012.
  4. Jabbar, U., Leischner, J., Kasper, D., et al. (2010) Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. 31, 56–70.
  5. CDC website http://www.cdc.gov/features/handwashing/ Accessed August 29, 2012.

Nanotechnology Goes Green

Posted on by admin

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a renewable, inexpensive replacement for metals, non-organic plastics, and electrical components?  Less mining, less petrochemicals, less environmental stress— it’s not a far fetched, pie-in-the-sky idea anymore.  And the source for a super-substitute material is right in your back yard.

Nanocrystalline cellulose (NCC), a product of wood pulp, have been touted as a “wonder material” whose tensile strength—214 megapascals—is eight times that of stainless steel, almost twice as strong as cast iron, and nearly equal the strength of structural steel.  NCC is produced by gently removing hemicellulose and lignin from the wood which, incidentally, can be scrap wood such as twigs and sawdust.  The purified wood is milled and hydrolyzed to remove impurities.  What’s left is cellulose fibers suspended in water.  When the water is removed, the resulting paste of fibers that can be molded or spread into sheets and freeze dried.  As they dry, the approximately 200 nanometer long fibers join together by hydrogen bonds and create a super strong material that has also is very conductive.  These properties make NCC very attractive to the electronics and computing industries as well as defense.  The United States army is using NCC to make lightweight body armor and has tested it in applications such as ballistics.

Given the abundance of starting material and the incredibly physical properties of NCC, the interest in further developing the manufacturing base is huge.  On July 26th, the U.S. Forest Service Forest Products Laboratory opened a $1.7 million dollar nanocrystalline cellulose production facility right here in Madison, Wisconsin.  The intent of the facility is ramp up production quickly and, hopefully in a few years, be able to sell NCC for a few dollars a kilogram.

Music and the Brain: A Fun Friday Find

Posted on by Michele Arduengo

Notes and Neurons: In Search of the Common Chorus is a great discussion from World Science Fair 2009. Have you ever been driving along listening to the radio and suddenly a song plays and transports you to a different time or place? Have you ever wondered at the way music stirs your memories and emotion? Or have you ever stopped to think about how music, in its admittedly different forms, has been an integral part human of culture for as far back as we can study? Does music speak a particular primordial language that we all understand?

In this presentation Bobby McFerrin and three neuroscientists discuss the way the brain gets involved in music–the listening, physicality, participation and emotion. Essentially, music is a “whole nervous system activity”, involving many parts of the central nervous system that function nearly simultaneously. At one point in the talk pitch, tambre and rhythm defined and demonstrated. The researchers point out that certain intervals in music such as the minor third are prevalent in speech associated with negative emotions, but that no positive emotions are associated universally with a particular pitch.

The link to the full length presentation is here:Notes and Neurons.

But for fun today, get your whole brain involved and join Bobby McFerrin in this demonstration of the universality of the pentatonic scale.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ne6tB2KiZuk&w=560&h=315]

Up, Up, and Away…..

Posted on by admin

Who doesn’t love a good party? One thing that surely signals a party is that telltale cluster of balloons, tugging cheerfully from the mailbox at the end of the driveway, almost chanting “Party over here!”. Think twice, however, before making that next helium balloon purchase.

Helium, that lighter than air element which is responsible for giving helium balloons their gravity-defying loft, is the second most common element in the universe, is non-reactive, and turns into a liquid at very cold temperatures without freezing solid. All of these properties have made helium a useful tool in medicine, space exploration, electronics, and manufacturing. The supplies of helium are dwindling and experts estimate that reserves of this  natural resource could be gone within the next 25-50 years or so. There are ways to reclaim helium from the atmosphere, but they are very expensive and will certainly drive up the cost of products and services that require helium, such as MRIs and LCD televisions.

It may seem like a small contribution, but choosing air filled balloons for your next festivity can help.  Try air inflated balloons hung or draped from the ceiling or arranged as centerpieces. Or skip those balloons all together and spend your money on something your guests will really appreciate…like a bigger cake!

Walking the Dog, Prefrontal Cortex Engaged

Posted on by Kari Kenefick
A favorite walk: the dog park.

A friend and I were recently at a local dog park, walking his Sheltie and Australian shepherd, and my two standard poodles. Our dogs are not daily visitors to the dog park, and while his dogs are well-behaved and subtle in their approach to other dogs, my poodles’ enthusiasm is not always in their best interest.

In addition, one of my dogs seems to take issue with certain of the protection dog breeds,  like German Shepherds, as well as some of the sled dog breeds. Generally, if a dog has pointed ears, I am on the alert for bad behavior.

For that matter, the protection dogs don’t seem to much care for fluffy, bouncy poodles. Annoying, you know? A dog’s trying to keep order and make the world safe, and here comes that poodle, bouncing along without a care in the world. There’s a lot of danger out there and the poodles are simply not paying attention. They jog along meeting people and dogs like they are running for mayor; darn poodles.

Occasionally it has seemed that the attitude problem is not exclusive to my dog.

People often say, “Oh, standard poodles are such smart dogs”. But you’d think a smart dog would not choose a big, guard dog breed with which to make trouble. Continue reading “Walking the Dog, Prefrontal Cortex Engaged”

Awwww, Ain’t That Sweet?

Posted on by admin

There are many things that I love about summer…being out on the water,  puttering around in my garden, and local festivals top the list.  But the best, the absolute best, is the produce.  I could (and have!) spent hours at the farmer’s market, admiring the myriad of colors and varietals laid out under crisp white tents, fresh lemonade in hand and son in tow.  I love to cook, and this time of bounty makes me a bit crazy.  I want it all; the crisp asparagus of late spring, the early sweet peas, the summer squash.  The ultimate goal, however, for my husband and I, is to eat roughly our weight in fresh summer tomatoes.  I love every kind I can get my hands on, and I relish the flavor of each and everyone.

For 90% of the year in Wisconsin, we are left to deal with greenhouse, grocery store variety tomatoes whose slices are roughly equivalent to placing a piece of wet bread atop your sandwich.  They are mushy, mealy, and lack any semblance of flavor.  Every great while, you get one that is almost reminiscent of a real tomato, and it makes me long for the dog days of summer.

I know I’m not alone.  As a foodie, I try to eat in season with my brethren.  It’s November?  We eat winter squash!  Of course, that’s what in season, but every once in a while in the doldrums of winter, I’d like a proper BLT.  So what makes those summer tomatoes taste so much better?  Their environment?  Their origin?  Sure.  Grown locally outdoors , picked ripe, and eaten within a day or two of being plucked from the vine ensures the best flavor.  But, what’s inside those sweet tomatoes that makes them so good? Continue reading “Awwww, Ain’t That Sweet?”

How Does Your Garden Grow? Why, Naturally, Of Course!

Posted on by Karen Reece

How does your garden grow? Well, normally, I would tell you that it doesn’t, not until late May anyway. But this year, the grass is green, the trees are flowering and the garden is already tilled in early April! Unseasonably warm temperatures come with questions: Is this global warming? The 2012 apocalypse? When can I start planting???

I fell in love with vegetable gardening about three years ago when a coworker brought in some extra seedlings. There is nothing like watching food grow up from a mere seed and then harvesting and eating! At Promega, we have some community garden space, which is great since my black walnut tree at home kills all my tomatoes. We are attempting to keep this garden space organic. As a new gardener, I am still learning what this means, so I thought I would share some of my new-found information.

Continue reading “How Does Your Garden Grow? Why, Naturally, Of Course!”

Spring Fever Friday Fun: Bubbles

Posted on by Promega

On March 2, 2012 we were dealing with 8 inches of snow around here. Today the Chorus Frogs are calling, the red-winged black birds are staking out their territory, and the finches and robins are fighting over last year’s nests. People are biking to work; kids have shed their snow pants and boots. The high today for Southern Wisconsin? A balmy 77°F. Perfect for playing with bubbles. Spring has sprung. Actually, it feels a little like summer, and all of us here at Promega Connections are suffering from spring fever. So to celebrate here’s a video about bubblology, with a bubble recipe and instructions for making an awesome bubble rod. Have fun!

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9ASVgO9U6k&w=560&h=315]