Parents

They are the most important people to me. I want to take care of them because they provided me with such a wonderful life. I am so thankful for them. Rising children is a diffcult task, so we must all thank our parents everyday not necessarily with words, but with action. Everyday is father's and mother's day.

*sigh*

This time in Hong Kong I am really noticing how long I have been away in the States. Relatives like my aunts and uncles have aged greatly from what I have remembered from when I was a child. My parents and I found out today that my aunt is in the hospital (oldest from my mom's side). She was suffering from Parkinsons and now she fell and broke her wrist and fractured her hip. It made me really sad to see her because she looks exhausted, and I just cannot even begin to imagine what type of pain she is in. She fell at her nursing home and the nurses didn't even know she broke her wrist, and then it wasn't even until weeks later that they found out she broke her hip. She wasn't able to express the pain she was in because of her Parkinsons. Poor thing. She has surgery tomorrow on her hip to replace her socket joint, it's such a big surgery and at her age your metabolism is so much slower, I am worried, very worried. Honestly, the part that I am the most upset about (besides the horrible nurses at the nursing home and the environment of the nursing home) is that she is going through so much pain. It is just not fair for someone to have to go through so much physical pain.

I know that aging is a part of life and all but it is still a hard reality for me to accept, especially remembering someone from being in great shape to the way my aunt is right now.

Aging is a tradeoff for youth, but it would be nice if we could age in a pain-free manner. As much as I know and understand deterious alleles, tradeoffs to advantageous genes and all, but this process of experiencing seeing relatives age is difficult. Plus today's rainy weather did not help my mood.

Life is fragile and we must be more than greetful for the health that we have.

I will be thinking about my aunt all day tomorrow.

Australopithecus sediba

Human evolution. How much more evidence do some people need? Australopithecus sediba and of course Lucy. The more important question is how did all these ancestrial species of human become extincted? I hope to be alive on the day we have enough technology to figure out that question.

My head is clear, at least during the day it is

I don't miss you.
I don't want to be with you.
I am not jealous of the fact that someone else will end up with you, in fact I feel sorry for whoever that will be.
I know you are not what I want, not even close to it.
Why do I keep having nightmares about you?
I hate you.
Life has been so much better without you, not guilt for anything I want to do.
No guilt for seeing my family, spending time on my school work, and focusing on my career.
You poisoned my life.
You are out of my life, now get out of my dreams.
How much longer is this going to take? I am getting very impatient.

Selfish Children, Not as Bad as it Seems

As my nephew transitions from a baby to a toddler, I start to wonder...are mean children that flight with others an example of evolution at its best?

In order to find ways to cope with my nephew's outrageous behavior I studied a few episodes of SuperNanny. Many of the cases dealt with children fighting, bullying and takng advantage of their siblings and/or parents and this made me of individual selection in biology. Dr. Carter, CSULB had mentioned that kids throw tantrums to get their way, usually making their parents sacrifice for them (whether it be picking them up or buying them a toy) this is a form of individual selection (lacking altruism in the childrens' action). These kids that are flighting with and screaming at their siblings are just more evolutionarily more fit than others. In nature survival of the fittest explains everything and if there is not enough food between siblings, the one who fights for it and wins are the ones that survive. Today's society's idea that kids should share with and care for others (especially their siblings) conflicts with evolutionary history.

Aiya...

Seven months and still counting. Every now and then my mind still thinks about him. I still know it was the right decision but more time is still needed to heal this wound. When I dream I am constantly being reminded of why I left, "why would you make me feel this way if you know I love you", I will say in these dreams over and over again. How much time does your heart need to heal?
Memories are all that we are left with from the past, if we forget them does that mean it never existed/happened?

Types of Desal

Growing up in Hong Kong and Minnesota, where rain water is plentiful blinded me from the reality of fresh water scarcity. It was not until I lived in Southern California where I learned not to take fresh water availability for granted.

Only 2.5% of Earth's water being fresh water and 2/3 of that being frozen and the remaining is liquid surface water (Nat Geo April, 2010), the remaining 97.5% obviously is the ocean. As human population continues to increase exponentially, the supply of freshwater is increasing and we are depleting our groundwater supply at a much higher rate than they are being recharged. Soon enough we will experience that there is just not enough freshwater to sustain the Earth's population.

Desalination will be the answer to solve this problem, and there are three kinds:

1. Forward Osmosis. Water molecules (from salt water) will diffuse through a membrane into a even more concentrated "draw solution". The "draw solution" will contain special salts that will evaporate by a low-grade heat after the water molecules have diffused through the membrane. This method requires no energy input.

2. Carbon Nanotubes. Electrically charged nanotubes will be attached to the membrane and salt ions will be repelled by the charge and the uncharged water molecules will slide through the membrane.

3. Biomimetic. The membrane will be covered wth proteins that conduct water in and out of living cells. The positive charge in the channels will repel salt ions thus only allowing water molecule to pass through. This method is similiar to the way potassium channels function in our cells.

(Nat Geo April, 2010)

What do you think is the best method?

I'd like to say that forward osmosis would be the best because it does not require energy input, however I will need more information on the "draw solution" (what is it made of, are there any side effects) in order to make an informed decision. Plus, whatever happened to reverse osmosis? It was not mentioned in the issue.

Desal is such an expensive technology, currently only wealthy countries can afford this process...cost also poses as a problem to the availability of the technology in the future.