The Pineneedle Collective: science

Showing posts with label science. Show all posts

Wednesday 24 September 2014

DIY Shirts and Dresses with Katie & Boris // Stem Cells

Shirt is thrifted & DIY | skirt is thrifted | socks are from Clear It | shoes c/o Chicwish (years ago)
See Katie's blog for her outfit details!

Me and Katie were taking photos of ourselves in a random alleyway (as you do) when a guy came out of his garage and asked us why we were taking photos (which always happens. Other people who take outfit photos will know this well - for some reason, as soon as you break out an SLR and start taking pictures of yourself, people become incredibly curious & nosey. In the age where everyone has a camera, I don't know why it's still so exciting to see people taking photos, but there you go). I think that we told him that we were taking photos for our fashion line (kinda true..?) but then he very kindly let us pose in front of his beautiful 50-year-old Holden car, so all was forgiven.

Apparently the car's name is Boris and the guy bought it back when he was a teenager. With both me and Katie being a big fan of vintage and antiques, it was pretty cool learning that the car had a lot of history. In fact, the car was named after an engineering friend of this guy - called Boris - who migrated to Australia in the 1960s.

Anyway, we were taking photos because earlier that afternoon I had helped Katie make her first ever dress. The fabric that we used is from a vintage bedsheet. You may also notice that I also took a bit of fabric for myself and stuck it onto my shirt! So, we are subtly matching:

You can see more photos of Katie's outfit here.

My science news today is really exciting for the people working in my field! A woman in Japan has become the first ever person to receive stem cell therapy using induced pluriopotent stem (iPS) cells. The aim? To stop her from losing her vision from macular degeneration.

For scientists working in genetics & molecular biology, stem cells have been a controversial topic for the past couple of decades. This is mainly because the first sources of stem cells were embryonic, and risky to use medically - they had the potential to form tumors. But the recent discovery that we can turn adult cells back into stem cells has led to focus and funding being directed back into stem cell research.

First, some definitions:
What are stem cells? Stem cells are cells that have the potential to turn into any other type of body cell (hair, skin, brain, bones - you name it). Once a stem cell has committed down a certain path, it can't usually go backwards and become a stem cell again. This feature of being able to turn into any type of cell is called "pluriopotency".
What are embryonic stem cells? When a sperm and egg fuse, migrate to the womb and start replicating, these cells are also called stem cells - because they continue dividing with the goal of creating an entire creature, containing all the different types of cells (bones and brains and limbs alike!) So an embryo is made up of stem cells.
What are induced pluriopotent stem cells? These are cells that have already committed down a certain path, that have been manipulated by scientists so it can become a stem cell again! Their use in medicine is promising - the cells are taken from the patient, rather than embryonic tissue. This gets around both the ethical issue of using embryonic stem cells, and it also means that people won't reject grafts or organs made of their own stem cells, because they are already recognised by their body!

This Japanese woman, who is the first person in the world to have this procedure done, has had her own skin cells turned back into stem cells, and then prompted to turn into retinal cells in a dish. These iPS cells were then surgically put back into her eye. The biology community is now watching with their fingers crossed - if it's successful, it could mean a renewed interest in iPS cells for use in this and other diseases such as Parkinson's and diabetes. I'll keep you all updated.

If you found that interesting, I also talk about stem cells here and here!

Much love!

Monday 15 September 2014

Self Love, The Lion King and Your Insides are on the Outside

Shirt, belt and cardigan are thrifted | Lion King brooches gift from Katie (thrifted) | skirt is Paper Hearts | tights are from Clear It | shoes are Naot

Someone once suggested that I write down a list of my achievements and carry it around with me. I thought that this was a pretty silly idea. Like what, I'm going to be standing in the middle of a busy shopping centre one day, reading through this list of how great I am? What if someone saw what I was reading/found the piece of paper? They'd think I was an absolute egomaniac.

But after having a couple of pretty low weeks, I thought I'd give this list-making thing a shot. Couldn't hurt. Well, I just finished said list and I have to say that I feel a lot better. Being a perfectionist, I'm always far too hard on myself when I don't feel like I'm pushing myself to the absolute limit. I was used to writing lists of "things that I should do", not "things I have done". But that's actually not a good way to live. Now when I am feeling like I haven't done enough or that I'm not good enough, I think that looking at this list of achievements will help a lot. I highly recommend it if you're in need of a little bit of self-love.

On a completely different topic, how ridiculously wonderful are these Lion King pins that Katie thrifted me from Estonia?!

So I was listening to a podcast today when I was reminded of one of my favourite facts from first-year biology. Ready to have your mind blown?

The contents of your stomach are technically on the outside of your body.

Wait what?

Your digestive tract is really just a long tube with two openings that lead directly to the outside. The wall of the gut is continuous with the skin, and so whatever is inside your stomach is technically on the outside of your body. And you don’t have to dissect through any of the body's tissues to get to your stomach or intestines.

Mmm... biology.

If you imagine yourself to be a kind of huge, biological donut, your digestive tract is analogous to the donut’s hole - it is inside the donut in a way, but it’s not really “inside” the donut - it's not a part of the dough.

So there you go.

I hope you're all having a beautiful day,

Saturday 6 September 2014

Anni Long Stockings and Memory Metals

One problem with having a thrifting buddy who has a very similar style as you is that you have to fight over clothes. I found this shirt while thrifting the other day with Katie, and I nearly made her cry because she wanted it so badly. Katie begged and pleaded and I eventually had to give it to her - mainly because she looks exactly like Pippi Longstockings - with the caveat that I got to borrow it whenever I liked. So, being the great friend that I am, I stole it back off her almost immediately ;)

You may have noticed that I titled this post "Anni Long Stockings". Anni is actually what my family and close friends call me, rather than Annika. This stems from me being a bratty 12-year-old who, deciding I loathed the name "Annika", violently attacked anyone who decided to address me so. Soooo, my family basically got this weird pavlovian reaction where they flinch upon accidentally calling me Annika (probably still thinking they're going to get punched by an angry 12 year-old), and the name Anni stuck, even though I actually prefer Annika now. I was a super bratty 12-year-old.

The more you know.

Update: My mum (my blog's biggest fan hehe) just messaged me to tell me that one of Pippi's best friends was called Annika, which I totally didn't know. My mum loved Pippi as a kid, and it could be one of the reasons that I am called Annika!

Top is thrifted | skirt is thrifted | necklace c/o Ginger Pickle | socks are from Clear It | shoes are Naot

Memory metals! They're a thing! I can't actually believe that this exists:

A nickel-titanium alloy, this metal is able to revert back to the shape that it was created in using "heat memory". To create the desired shape, it needs to be heated to a "transformation temperature" - usually around 65 - 80°C. When it cools down, it becomes flexible and can be molded into any shape. However, once it hits that "transformation temperature" again (like being put into a hot water bath), its atoms remember their previous arrangement, and it springs back into its previous shape.

Called Nitinol, the metal has proved useful in medical applications, helping arteries retain their shape and removing clots from deep inside the brain, and has even been used in eyeglass frames.

So cool.

I hope that you're all having a beautiful day,

Saturday 16 August 2014

Best Fr3ndz & X-Rays

Me and the gorgeous Katie had planned to spend all of Friday crafting together, when I remembered last minute that I had an appointment for an X-ray, smack-bang in the middle of the day. I was going to have to cancel our craft date - something we'd both been looking forward to all week - and spend the day being irradiated instead. Yay. But because Katie is amazing, she insisted on coming with me on the 2-hour long train trip to the radiologists, to sit with me in the boring waiting room and hold my hand. She even starved with me in solidarity (I had to fast before the X-ray). There is a reason best friends are called best friends - because they are the actual best.

Katie turned a potentially crappy day into a really lovely one, and we even did get to do a bit of crafting in the end - I'm helping Katie to make her very first dress (using my DIY dress pattern tutorial).

These pictures were taken a while ago now, but I think they're perfect for today's post!

Dress and jacket are thrifted | tights are from Japan | shoes are c/o Chicwish (ages old, no longer for sale) | Katie's dress is thrifted (a gift from me!)

Also, in honour of the amazing science and diagnostic tool that is x-rays, here is a wonderful series of gifs by Cameron Drake and Dr Noah Weiss that show the joints of the human body in motion:

The knee cap

Shoulder joint

Wrist and Hand

Human beings have a few different types of joints, including hinge joints (just like a hinge on a door, like in the knee), ball-and-socket (like in the shoulder, which allows wide rotation) and pivot joints (like the one at the top of your spine that allows you to rotate your head in a "no" motion). You don't really think about how they work until you start to have problems (or you are an anatomy student), but when you have a closer look, you can appreciate what an amazing machine the body is!

You can see a few more joints in motion on the IFLS website.

Tuesday 5 August 2014

Nautical Astronauts & The Tree of 40 Fruit

Shirt, skirt and cardigan are thrifted | necklace c/o Ginger Pickle (Eclectic Eccentricity) | shoes are Naot | socks from Clear It | Lace shorts are years old (Wholesale)

I am back at university and have been having a few health issues - nothing too scary, hopefully - but that might mean that my blogging/video-making will become more sporadic over the next little while (I hope it won't, but just a warning!) Because uni has started again - and I've started being recognised by strangers from my blog/instagram/youtube - I've been aiming to look stylish & cute on campus - but I've also wanted to stay cozy because I haven't been feeling 100%. The perfect solution? Stealing my boyfriend's super comfy cardigan!

No matter how many clothes you have, I think that it's always more satisfying to wear someone else's! Does anyone else agree?

(By the way - I think the shirt that I'm wearing is a little kids shirt, hahaha. Oh well, it fits! And looks cute!)

Now this is just the coolest combination of art and science - the tree below produces 40 different varieties of peaches, plums, apricots, nectarines, cherries and almonds (which are NOT nuts - what?!)

Image source: Sam Van Aken

The tree didn't start out like this - each different species has been carefully grafted onto the branches of the tree as it has grown, over a process of 5 years. It looks like a normal tree for most of the year, but during spring it blooms into a variety of different colours, and then grows 40 types of fruit in the summer. It's a project of art professor Sam Van Aken, who has made 16 of these trees so far, and is also used to conserve rare varieties of fruit that would otherwise be lost! To make the trees, the technique of chip budding is used - the bud of the desired tree is inserted into the working tree, left to heal over the winter, and if all goes to plan it will grow like a normal branch on the working tree!

Saturday 26 July 2014

Harlequin Legs and Squid Suckers

I love pattern mixing! I will forever ignore the silly "fashion rule" that you shouldn't wear more than one pattern at a time. Clashing patterns forever! Who's with me?

I am pretty happy with this thrift shop dress find, though. I've pretty much replaced my entire wardrobe through thrifting this year, which was a goal that I didn't think I'd be able to achieve! Of course, it helps when you know how to sew, and you're able to alter your finds to make them just a little bit better! Seriously, if you haven't gotten into sewing yet (WHY NOT?) you should give it a go! It will open up so many fashion possibilities for you (which I assume you're all interested in, being on this page and all). For me, it has meant that I can take anything from a thrift shop - mens shirts, plain skivvies, giant coats, you name it - and turn it into something awesome.

Electron scanning microscopes are wonderful. They not only allow us to see things with much more clarity than traditional light microscopes, but they can see smaller too. Electron microscopes can see things down to 1 nanometre in size. That's 1 billionth of a metre. You may have seen cool pictures of hair follicles via electron scanning microscopy.

So this is a cool demonstration of electron scanning microscopy. Above is a normal underwater photograph of a squid's suckers. Pretty cool; squids = cool.

But guess what these suckers look like when you get up close? Very close.

Image credit: Jessica Schiffman and Caroline Schauer, Drexel University

This is a "false coloured" image, so keep in mind that they're not actually green, but other than that this is exactly what those suckers look like close up! THEY LOOK LIKE LITTLE MONSTERS. I actually think they're kinda cute.

The suckers of the squid have these little "teeth" to aid their suction, helping the squid stick to things.

And this is also just one of the many reasons that I will absolutely never, ever eat squid.

That's it from me! I hope that you're all having a lovely day,