Sickle Cell Anaemia

Sickle Cell Anaemia is a recessive genetic disorder, it's caused by a mutation in the haemoglobin gene. This causes an altered haemoglobin protein to be produced. This means the red blood cells become sickle shaped (concave) - not the typical shape you're probably aware of. The red blood cell's concave shape means they can't flow through capillaries easily like normal red blood cells can so the capillaries can become blocked - blood flow is then restricted. This can also bring up so many more issues like organ damage and periods of acute pain.

Some people can be carriers of the sickle cell gene, amazingly, carriers of the sickle cell gene are partially protected from malaria. Because of this advantageous effect, the frequency of the sickle cell gene have increased. Unfortunately this means the likelihood of inheriting two copies of the allele are increased - overall, this means sickle cell anaemia is more prevalent in these areas.
 

The odd life of the Red Lipped Batfish | #WeirdestAnimals

You probably never even knew this fish existed - come to that, neither did I! They do look like one of the most characterful fish I've ever seen, they have a long nose and what looks like very heavily made up red lips! Only thing is, it's only the males who have the made up lip! Scientists think that this is all down to the males trying to attract the females. Although, these fish can't swim - or at least not very well! Even though they're not great swimmers they can walk along the ocean floor using their fins as make shift legs. They're actually quite rare -you can only really find them around the Galapagos Islands, but don't worry they're harmless! The question is, what do you think of their lips?

Why Rudolph really does have a red nose...

Happy Christmas!! 

It's no wonder Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer is the most famous member of Santa's reindeers - on top of being a skilled flyer, as his name suggests, his nose glows bright red. This unusual variation on the normal reindeer is said to have all kinds of benefits, the most important of which being to guide Santa's sleigh. So, even if the weather is bad, Santa is cleared for flight, thanks to the brightness of Rudolph's nose.

Scientists at Lund University in Sweden have been using thermal imaging cameras to study the physiology (the workings) of animals, they have found that Rudolph's red nose may have actually been based on fact. They discovered that animals noses glow bright orange when viewed with an infrared light, which is sensitive to heat. Scientists say that this is because they have 25% more blood vessels compared to human noses. This helps to keep their noses warm and sensitive as they rummage through the snow for food beneath. Extra blood flow to their noses and lips can cause a red flush that is visible with our own eyes, hence "Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer"

This is a infrared image of a Reindeer.

 

Why do galaxies collide?

Well, they collide due to their 'mutual gravitational attraction' in other words they collide because gravity draws them together. However in general galaxies are moving away from each other at an ever increasing rate, basically because of the Universe expanding at an ever increasing rate. This can be modeled simply by drawing stars or dots (imagine these as galaxies) onto a deflated balloon then blowing up the balloon. An idea that has sprung from this is the Red Shift. This is where astronomers have found that the further away a star is the more it's light has been red shifted. So this tells us that distant galaxies are moving away from us and that the further away a galaxy is the faster away its moving away from us.

The Red Shift is an example of the Doppler effect, named after the Austrian physicist Christian Doppler who proposed this theory in 1842 in Prague. You may have noticed that as a police car comes towards you the siren becomes high pitched and low pitched as the car drives away. This effect is where there is a change in frequency and wavelength. So when a source moves towards an observer the observed wavelength decreases and frequency increases and vice versa. In terms of Astronomy the results of the Doppler effect are used to identify if a nearby star is what astronomers call a binary star. This is two stars orbiting around a 'common center of mass' which is where the relative position of the distributed mass adds to zero. The brighter star is called the 'primary star' and the other the 'secondary star'

In our own 'Local Group' of galaxies for example some of the galaxies are moving away from us and some are moving towards us. Take our nearest galaxy the Andromeda galaxy for example which is currently moving towards the Milky Way at 402, 336 km/h and is due to hit us in 4 billion years.

Why does a mint make ice cream even colder?

All mints contain the chemical menthol, which binds to the TRP-M8 receptors in your skin which sense cold, the temperature doesn't change it's the menthol that causes false cold signals to be sent to your brain. This feeling is intensified because the ice cream also sends cold signals to your brain and this increases the number of cold receptors that are firing at once. This is similar to the reaction caused by chilli which is caused by the chemical capsaicin which binds to the TRP-V1 receptors for heat. 

The People Who Want to go to Mars (And Never Return)

It’s safe to say that the majority of scientists worldwide believe that there is life way beyond Earth, but would you want to travel the 140 million miles to get to Mars and regularly endure the temperatures of -153^oC at the poles of Mars? Well, tens of thousands of people have applied and prepared to leave their families, jobs and lives behind for a one-way trip to Mars all to never return to Earth.

Home to the solar system’s biggest volcano, Olympus Mons, Mars has  around 687 earth days each year and at night, the surface temperature of Mars in the summer can get as low as -53^oC. Rovers on Mars have even discovered Martian spherules which have been nicknamed ‘blueberries’ which may even unlock the key to the elements that Mars once had, although scientists haven’t discovered these for certain yet although they do know that these spherules are iron rich. This is also shown because of Mars’ classic red colour which shows an extremely high percentage of iron

This “Mars One” mission (launched back in May 2012) aims to send humans on a one- way trip to the Red Planet. You might think that this amazing opportunity is a science-fiction story and wouldn’t happen for a good while yet but this programme aims to send a selected number of the public up to Mars by 2023, fully equipped with the right training needed to survive on Mars. Anyone worldwide over 18 was eligible to apply for the trip and 202,589 applications were received throughout the application process!

The selection process consists of three rounds including an interview with the ‘Mars One’ committee members and a series of challenges to prepare candidates for the potential mission that will be broadcast on TV and online.

The brave volunteers will be sent in groups of four, starting with two men and two women from four different continents. From 2023 when the first group is sent up, ‘Mars One’ (the company organising the trips) are planning to send an extra four up every two years!

However the trip isn’t without its risks, radiation exposure is particularly a concern as it can lead to an increased cancer risk, lower immune system and possible infertility. This could mean that before the applicants reach Mars, their health may be worse than when they took off from Earth! Being on Mars they wouldn’t have access to doctors and hospitals so would need to manage their own health using restricted medical supplies.

The Dutch group wants to launch a supply mission to land on Mars as soon as October 2016, and then another mission that they have called a ‘settlement rover’ to land in 2018. By 2033 the colony could reach 20 settlers on the Red Planet, although the mission could prove very costly! NASA spent £1.8 billion on Mars’ Curiosity Rover which is the biggest most advanced Rover to travel across Mars, but ‘Mars One’ has a budget of £4 billion for this project but it could prove the most worthwhile and open up so many more opportunities and avenues for exploration in science.