flu moratoruim, extreme mountain biking/unicycling, uterine transplants, the Sweetest Day

So there's a lot happening in the virosphere these days, given Ebola and EV-68. For instance, a moratorium (no, another one) has been imposed on all influenza research that has 'gain-of-function' mutations. This is unfortunate, as it precludes a lot of important research that needs to be done, for instance, in designing flu vaccinations. i think a quote (via here) sums up the sentiments of many virologists: " "After the voluntary moratorium on H5N1 transmission studies, new regulations and policies were issued," flu researcher Yoshihiro Kawaoka of the University of Wisconsin-Madison noted in an email. "I do not know what else is needed. We will never be able to satisfy critics who call for 'zero risk.' " ".

On a lighter note, here is a (humorous) article called "Some Fear Ebola Outbreak Could Make Nation Turn To Science" from the New Yorker.

i was looking around the other day and found this great account from a Nobel Prize winning astrophysicist who was trying to get through airport security in North Dakota after taking his Nobel medal to show his grandmother. Apparently, TSA had no idea what to make of the situation. Happily, i doubt this will ever be something i have to deal with - security just usually catches my fishing hooks and coffee grinder.

While hanging out at the family T's place last weekend, James the Formidable was streaming clips of extreme mountain biking (like this one of Danny MacAskill in the Isle of Skye); seriously impressive/scary stuff. And then i came across this video of a few folks unicycling in caves (in Bulgaria?! Where is this even close to being legal?). Worth watching; these guys are pretty talented if a bit foolish (which they address around 4:30 in the clip.)

A week or two ago, Kate and i were talking about the recent reports that Apple and Facebook were paying for female employees' egg storage/freezing campaigns, which has caused some controversy. (Human femal fertility drops off around age 37 pretty sharply; Kate, a review for fertility including that European study can be found here.) We'd discussed that even if the eggs are viable, the wombs are older, and that might also effect the child. However, it turns out that groups in the UK and Sweden have recently performed uterine transplants; a Swedish woman just gave birth to a baby following transplantation (and sorry, the paper shows surgical images of the womb) with a womb from a 61-year old woman. The (still living) donor had already undergone menopause (after having had 2 kids), but that was stimulated with exogenous hormones in the recipient, and the recipient then underwent in vitro fertilization. This is pretty cool; imagine the implications for transgendered folk? We live in the future.

At the market this morning, KellyAT asked why hot peppers crack (demonstrated here) upon maturity, but sweet/bell peppers don't. i didn't know the answer to that, but it's a super interesting question. After a little research, it turns out that that process is called 'corking'; it's basically when the peppers start growing too fast for the skin to keep up, so it forms stretch marks -tears in the skin that then heal over. This is a sign of a mature hot pepper, and usually directly correlates to how hot that pepper will be. i guess bell peppers don't tend to grow that quickly? A hot pepper forum did point out that sometimes tomatoes also do this, which i'd noticed but didn't link to peppers. Moreover, jalapenos will also turn black then red as a sign of maturity (not sun scald, that's as lesion), but i couldn't track down an exact/scientific reason why; though there is speculation that's is just part of the pepper color spectrum. So. Take home message - stretch marks correlate to hotness.

In honor of my halloween costume and the upcoming holiday, here is a video of a baby rescue bat being fed.

Today my friend Lauren introduced the term 'spargelziet'; or a German word for asparagus season. Combined with the Spargel Frau statue, i'm just going to interpret this as the German culture is incredibly serious about their asparagus.

 me:  did you know this is a thing? it showed up in my calendar : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweetest_Day

 Bryan:  i did not know it was a thing

 me:  what a strange thing

 Bryan:  isn't valentines day enough?

 me:  right? not according to candymakers

and Hallmark

i'd've thought, were i to have started this, that they'd space it a little further from other candy-centric holidays

'cause people are already buying a ton of cards and candy this time of year, anyway - i feel like the market is pre-saturated.

 Bryan:  maybe so they only have to work part of the year?

who wants to work all summer?

 me:  or maybe it's starting to become pleasant to work in a hot candy kitchen this time of year?

And it does look to be a purely regional marketing construct. Huh.