cavities, beer cocktails, lucky iron fish, honey bee development, mountain lodge candles, job automation

i've had some dental work done lately, and recalled briefly having read something about whether dental cavities have a genetic component (my mother, despite excellent dental hygiene, also has had a lot of fillings). Back-tracking that study to a 2001 review, " Dental caries incidence is affected by host factors that may be related to the structure of dental enamel, immunologic response to cariogenic bacteria, or the composition of saliva. Genetic variation of the host factors may contribute to increased risks for dental caries. ", though " the evidence supporting an inherited susceptibility to dental caries is limited. Genetic linkage approaches on well-characterized populations with clearly defined dental caries incidence will be required to further analyze the relationship between inheritance and dental caries". A more recent though less peer-reviewed article is here. In brief, there may be a genetic component, but it's difficult to confirm and might be due to a variety of factors. i also came across the excellent word armamentarium, which is the complement of tools used by a (medical) professional.

The boys and i were talking about bloody marys (the beverage) the other day, and i mentioned that a Michelada is a bloody mary made with beer (and weirdly, a bloody ceasar is a bloody mary with the inclusion of clam juice specific to Canada). Looking further into things, cervesa preparadas are a broad category of cocktails prepared with beer, usually with tomato juice. These share a common base with the Shandy (usually beer and lemonade, at least in the States, though apparently other softdrinks count). The other day, some friends and i tried a tasty grapefruit Radler, which is apparently 50:50 sparkling lemonade and beer (and interestingly, 'radler' means 'cyclist' in German). Also, a diesel is beer and cola, at least in western Europe. They lost me with that last one.

My dad used to raise birds in large format to sell to local pet stores, and to supplement the iron in their diets, would leave iron nails in their water dishes. This apparently worked, and i had forgotten about it until coming across an article the other day for "Lucky Iron Fish", or iron ingots shaped as such being given as a dietary aid in Cambodia against anemia. These are boiled in water, with lemon juice to increase absorbance.

i really enjoyed this article about the source of mysterious radio wave bursts.

Honey is flower nectar that has been partially-digested-then-regurgitated by bees, then evaporated to consistency. Yes? (Technically, "Honey is nectar that has been enzymatically converted via the addition of enzymes from the hypopharyngeal gland, mainly diastase, sucrase and glucose oxidase.") Also, here is a cool 6 minute youtube clip about a guy who partnered with some Cali scientists to get really neat photographs of bee development, specifically regarding the impact of a parasitic mite (appropriately named Varroa destructor), including a one minute clip where you can actually watch them develop.

Some folks wrote a flattering collaborative fanfic for a Yankee Candle company scent called "Mountain Lodge", including the line "The Yankee Candle Company has effectively replaced the need for contact with the male half of our species with a compact and clean-burning candle in a jar", and that company posted it as a bit of advertising to their tumblr. i think it gets better every time i read it, and nearly makes me want to track down the scent just to determine the veracity.

Today, Ryan linked this article about making one's computer screen into a playable nintendo level.

And this happened:

 me:  https://graphics.cs.wisc.edu/Papers/2014/CG14/Preprint.pdf

strictly for the first part of that title

 Bryan:  indeed

 Bryan:  http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2015/05/21/408234543/will-your-job-be-done-by-a-machine

1.2% chance of microbiologists being automated, here's hoping

 me:  it's weird to consider being a microbiologist

i mean, technically we are

 Bryan:  well, at the very least we almost are

 me:  ha

 Bryan:  as long as you don't walk around saying, "as a microbiologist" i think we're OK

 me:  "Do you need to come up with clever solutions"  the second part of that is 'but only seem to generate more questions'

 me:  are we human, or are we dancer?

 Bryan:  the world may never know