I Love My Thrift Shop / People Who Don't Perceive Pain

I know I keep going on about it, but I managed to find the best stuff at my local thrift shop the other day, this baby blue sweater and orange blazer included. I really like pairing light blue and orange together, it's one of my favourite colour combinations (after lilac + orange). sweater - Thrifted blazer - Thrifted skirt - c/o Sheinside shoes - Chicory tights - c/o Oasap necklace - c/o Merrin & Gussy In psychology the other day, I learnt about a really interesting (and somewhat terrifying) super rare condition called "congenital analgesia". People with the condition, like Ashlyn Blocker, don't ever feel physical pain. Congenital insensitivity to pain is usually caused by a mutation in DNA on what is known as the "SCN9A" gene. The normal function of the gene is to assist in sending signals from nerve cells to the brain. An essential part of one type of nerve cells is to detect and transmit pain signals (so you know to draw your hand back when you touch something hot, for example). The mutation in this gene inhibits the sensation of pain, and so people with this particular mutation don't ever feel physical pain. This is chromosome number 2 (out of 23), and this is the location of the gene on that chromosome. We all have this gene, but in people with congenital analgesia, it has become mutated (image source) At first, not feeling pain might sound like a gift or some kind of superpower, until you consider how important pain really is for our survival. For example, Ashlyn could happily plunge her hands into boiling water, and the first hint she might get that something is wrong  (apart from now having learnt from experience that putting body parts in boiling water is not a good thing to do) is when her hands are totally cooked and melted away. Or, you might know that you're sick and have to go to the doctor when you get really bad stomach pains - but if you have congenital analgesia, you wouldn't get this warning signal that something is wrong. This article tells of a woman with the condition who gave birth, and didn't realise her pelvis had been totally shattered in labour and was bleeding internally until she was physically unable to walk a few weeks later. Although life without pain is actually a lot tougher than you would think, Ashlyn Blocker and other people with congenital analgesia have helped science greatly by providing clues as to what can cause pain signals to go the other way - being over-sensitive and causing chronic pain for no reason, for example - and may be able to help with treatments of these conditions in the future. Bloglovin' | Facebook | Twitter |  Instagram | Chictopia | Lookbook | Tumblr

Winter Owl

Goodness! It is almost winter and finally cold enough to wear this wicked new blazer I thrifted (when I'm in the shade, at least). This blazer required a cute little dress to pair with it, and this owl-print one sent to me by Cichic worked perfectly. I've also been living in white tights lately. They are perfect for this kind of weather and  I really like how they look with little black Mary Jane or ballet strap style shoes (cute, is how). dress - c/o Cichic tights - c/o Oasap shoes - Chicory blazer - Thrifted bag - Thrifted belt - Thrifted hat - c/o Wholesale Who had cheese on toast this morning? I did! And one of my favourite science bloggers Katie from the Molecular Circus just wrote a really cool post on how cheese works (which may also have been why I chose to eat cheese this morning). She explains why cheese goes all gooey when you melt it, and why different types of cheese turn either stringey or become liquefied when you heat them up (hint: it's got to do with cheese proteins and chemical reactions). Have a little read with your morning tea! ;) p.s. check out this super amazing drawing Cass from Undercover Dress-Up Lover did of me! Bloglovin' | Facebook | Twitter |  Instagram | Chictopia | Lookbook | Tumblr

Have some food, Charlie Brown!

The title of this outfit post may seem a little bit confusing until you take a closer look at some of the details. First off, I'm wearing some food-themed clothes - matching this awesome hot dogs t-shirt I got in Japan with this apple core necklace (which looks like I've gotten the munchies and taken a bite out of). And this skirt I thrifted today reminds me heaps of Charlie Brown's t-shirt, so that explains the latter half of the title. I thrifted both this cardigan and skirt today for $10, and I'm feeling pretty happy about finding them. skirt - Thrifted cardigan - Thrifted t-shirt - Thank You Mart necklace - c/o Merrin & Gussy tights - c/o Oasap shoes - c/o YesWalker Just a short post today. All I can think about right now (thanks to two assignments I'm currently working my butt off doing) are the hippocampus of rats and yeast two-hybrid tests. Which are both interesting in their own fun ways... but not really right for a fashion/pop science blog. So, I'll leave you with a comparison of my skirt and my outfit doppleganger. "Who wore it better?" I hope you're all well. Goodnight from me! Bloglovin' | Facebook | Twitter |  Instagram | Chictopia | Lookbook | Tumblr

Simple, Classic / Cichic Giveaway Winners Announced!

Hello! Just popping in really quickly today, because I'm meant to be working on an assignment *shhhh*. I am so happy I found this shirt the other day, because I've been wearing it almost constantly since. It worked really well with this plain black skater-style skirt sent to me by Cichic, too! I really like this skirt - it's simple but a little bit different from your average plain-black skirt, because it has these panels which make it flare out from your waist in a really flattering way. skirt - c/o Cichic blouse -  Forever 21 tights - c/o Oasap shoes - c/o YesWalker bloomers - Wholesale bag - Thrifted belt - Thrifted And as promised, I am announcing the winners of the Cichic giveaway, who will get to pick one item of their choice from cichic.com! Winners are Emmy Anne, Alina and Man Yee. Please check your email, and email me back to get your prize! Also, don't forget to go and enter my 1 Million Pageviews giveaway, if you haven't already! And because I am supposed to be doing an assignment right now, here are some amazing facts to blow your mind (requiring no effort on my part ;) I can't write up a DIY on how to extract DNA every day). Which fact was your favourite? Mine is the card shuffling one. I just couldn't believe that one is real! Bloglovin' | Facebook | Twitter |  Instagram | Chictopia | Lookbook | Tumblr

Thrift Store Dress / DIY Science Experiments #2 (Extracting DNA at Home)

Do you all remember how I mentioned that there was a charity thrift shop just 50 metres down the road from my new house? Well, I finally caved and bought something. It's been one month since we moved and this is the first item of clothing I've bought in that whole time, so I think I'm doing pretty well. Even though it was quite ridiculously priced for a charity store ($10! Sydney op-shops, what are you doing??) I had to buy it because it's so dang cute. I can never walk past a good heart-print, after all, and the collar detail reminded me of Christine's Lady Ties, which I always love the look of. By the way, I just wanted to mention that reading all your comments the other morning on my last post made me so happy. Obsessively checking your emails every morning before you're even out of bed isn't always the best idea, but the other morning it put me in the best mood. Thank you to everyone who leaves me thoughtful comments - and thank you for reading, even if you don't! dress - Thrifted bag - Thrifted belt - Thrifted shoes - c/o Yes Walker socks - Cotton On hat - c/o Wholesale Yesterday in my lab session at university, we extracted our own DNA (for sequencing, to see how things like forensic analysis and paternity/maternity tests work). But while extracting DNA sounds super sciencey and complicated (and impressive - when I was telling my friends about how I was extracting and sequencing DNA this week their reaction was always to go "wow! Awesome!"), it is actually something that you can do yourself with a blender, salt, pineapple juice and alcohol. 1. Figure out what you want to use as a source of DNA. You can get your DNA from anything living - but you might want to use fruit,  vegetables or parts of a plant for this experiment, because you'll need to blend up the cells and so using animals would be just a little bit  unethical (okay, so I said above that I extracted my own DNA, and I did do this without chopping myself up, but this is a little bit harder - we took cheek swabs and then had to centrifuge everything for about a million hours, so if you don't have your own bench-top centrifuge, then use strawberries or something instead). 2. Blend it up so it becomes a paste (blend on high for 15 seconds). This breaks open (lyses) many of the cells. Also add a pinch of salt. 3. Add detergent. This will lyse the cells further and also break open the cell's nucleus, which is where the DNA lives. 4. This step is not necessary if you just want to extract and look at DNA, and not do any further measurements with it (like spectrophotometry). But if you have it available, add some pineapple juice to your mixture. Pineapple juice contains an enzyme called bromelain that eats proteins. You need to add this to remove proteins from your solution - because cells are also full of proteins, and when you break open your cell, a whole bunch of proteins will come flowing out. And if you remove the proteins, the stuff you extract will be more "pure" DNA. 5. Add vodka/rubbing alcohol/anything with a high ethanol content. Carefully add the alcohol to the top of your mix. DNA does not dissolve in alcohol, so if you add enough it will "precipitate" out of the solution. Stringy white shapes should appear in your solution. This is strands of DNA! (Yes, you can see it!) You can then put a straw or skewer into the solution, twirl it and pull it out. The DNA you have extracted will look a lot like mucous or snot ;) (Image source) And that's how you extract DNA at home! You don't even need any fancy lab equipment. Pretty easy, huh? Bloglovin' | Facebook | Twitter |  Instagram | Chictopia | Lookbook | Tumblr

Paisley'd Pinafore / Living in the Future

AX Paris sent me this amazing paisley-patterned pinny a little over a week ago, and since then I have been searching for the perfect blouse to pair it with. This morning, I discovered that I already owned that perfect blouse! This lace blouse is several years old now, and I am excited to have rediscovered it. I love finding old clothes at the back of my closet that I'd completely forgotten about - it's basically like buying new clothes, right? I'm also doing a Milanoo review in this blog post - that's where I got this suuuuper cute bear bag from! Milanoo first caught my eye with all their cheap lolita dresses, but then I read some bad reviews and wasn't so sure. So I asked Milanoo to send me something, so I could see for myself whether or not they were legitimate! Well, I have to say I'm really happy with my first experience with them (with their bags, at least. I can't say anything about their lolita dresses yet!) The bag is really well made, and basically the cutest thing that has ever existed. It's also the perfect size for a day-bag, and the straps can be made longer so you can wear it across your body like a satchel bag. Also, the shipping was surprisingly fast - it took 8 days to arrive in Australia, which for international shipping is super speedy. Although it is only a one-off buy, and I can't speak for everyone who has seemingly had a bad experience with them, I am really happy with the site. pinafore - c/o AX Paris blouse - Forever 21 tights - c/o Oasap bag - c/o Milanoo shoes - c/o Yes Walker You guys know how excited I am about 3D Printing (see me gushing about it here and here). And you may have also remembered me talking about the possibilities of printing out functioning organs sometime in the future. Well, the future is here! Princeton University scientists have 3D-printed an ear out of cells mixed with hydrogels (which is a basically just a polymer, either natural or synthetic), and added electronic bits to it including an antennae, so that when connected to someone's auditory nerve, it could potentially allow a deaf person to hear. This whole experiment was just a proof-of-concept that a 3D printer could handle biological material mixed with micro-electronics, but the potential applications of this are vast! The picture of the ear is a little inappropriate to put on a fashion blog, so I'll let you check it out here (it's not gruesome or anything, don't worry). Are you guys all having a good week? Bloglovin' | Facebook | Twitter |  Instagram | Chictopia | Lookbook | Tumblr