eu-jin’s posterous

Stuff I'm interested in 



August 18, 2008

How DEET works

For the longest time, no one really knew how DEET, a mosquito repellent, worked in repelling mosquitoes. The mainstream consensus was that DEET somehow masked certain chemicals in humans that attracted mosquitoes. New research that directly measure mosquito antenna neuron activity shows that DEET actually works because it is very smelly to mosquitoes. They also find that there is a whole class of chemicals that is even "smellier" to mosquitoes than DEET, which will lead to better formulations of mosquito repellent.

One interesting point is that the recommendations that I've read for DEET say that you have to apply it to the skin because of the scent masking reason, but this new research seems to suggest that you can apply DEET to your clothing and it will work as well.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/mosquitoes_deet_dc;_ylt=Aqwh.yxZxBGTdT.RmE2VKysDW7oF

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August 17, 2008

Taping over brands of Olympic non-sponsors

China apparently has armies of workers in the Olympic venues using little pieces of tape to cover all logos of products of non-sponsors --- even the brands of toilet fixtures are taped over!

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121885240984946511.html

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August 11, 2008

Bolivia

I really enjoyed the time I've spent in Bolivia and this nytimes article is a well done travel piece on Bolivia. The author visits the most unusual place that I've been to so far --- the Salar de Uyuni.


Article


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August 9, 2008

Ice Connoisseurs

First came water connoisseurs, now comes ice connoisseurs, next will be air connoisseurs (although I think there was already an oxygen bar fad a few years back).

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/10/fashion/10ice.html?ex=1375934400&en=f8546b21471454c1&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

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August 7, 2008

Bandages as Fashion

It seems as though people are wearing fancy bandages as fashion accessories these days. What will people think of next ...

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/07/fashion/07SkinTwo.html?ex=1375848000&en=7a3822ce61457628&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

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August 6, 2008

Gene Doping

A great survey of the various forms of potential gene doping that athletes could use. The top transgene on the list is the one that creates EPO, but since it will be "naturally" created by the body, it is a lot harder to detect than the synthetic versions. In fact, it appears that an experimental gene therapy for EPO might already be on the black market ---

"Repoxygen, an experimental gene-therapy product containing the gene for EPO, was already making the rounds on the black market. Repoxygen causes a controlled release of EPO, but only when the body senses a lack of oxygen. Or at least it does so in mice".

http://www.economist.com/science/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11839246

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August 5, 2008

Excuses

This article on California's budget details one of the best excuses I've ever heard for not getting something done.

"with no budget agreement in sight, the governor [Arnold Schwarzenegger] issued an executive order terminating thousands of part-time and temporary state employees and slashing the wages of about 170,000 of the state's full-time workers to the federal minimum wage".

Unfortunately for him, the state's controller says that "the state's payroll system — which uses a programming throwback known as Cobol, or Common Business-Oriented Language — is so antiquated it would take months to make the changes to workers' checks".

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/06/us/06computer.html?ex=1375761600&en=efa251fa051119c8&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

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August 5, 2008

Fraternities in Nigerian Universities

A look at how university fraternities in Nigeria turned into gangs. Part of their activities included having "intimidated professors, burned their cars, and helped kidnap—briefly—their children to force them to give good marks to certain students"

Also, recruitment seems particularly easy for fraternities since "some students, fearing that they are going to be failed in exams, believe the only way to protect themselves is to belong to a cult where they can "harass professors"".

Furthermore, joining fraternities makes economic sense even though the fraternities "charge membership fees of between 10,000 ($85) and 30,000 naira a year", because "the boys can expect to make a profit on the streets."

http://www.economist.com/world/mideast-africa/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11849078

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August 4, 2008

Surviving Disasters

The nytimes surveys a new book on surviving disasters by Amanda Ripley. Take home lessons include:

"A surprisingly common disaster behavior is the tendency to stick around and gather things. Whether it's a building fire or a plane emergency, people often move surprisingly slowly and find reasons to delay evacuation ... Even on burning planes, where passengers have only minutes to act before smoke becomes toxic, passengers routinely open overhead bins to retrieve their bags."

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/05/health/05well.html?ex=1375588800&en=6aeed95d27c05924&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

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August 4, 2008

Predicting long term asset returns

GMO, a well known fund management group, proved remarkably prescient in predicting the long term returns of various asset classes 10 years ago. This result either means they are exceptionally lucky or that predicting long term trends may be easier than predicting short term trends.

http://www.economist.com/daily/columns/marketview/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11870287

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