More coffee and the Brain

Saw this today on IFLS and thought I’d share.

Source: PhD Comics

I love coffee.  I seem to post about it a lot.

And so you don’t have to clicky, click in case your clicking finger is jittery from too much coffee, here’s the video…

My superpower: I can hover 10^-8 meters off the ground.

Source: IFLS

Parenting: It’s all a matter of scale

A fellow scimom (i.e. scientist+mother) posted this on Facebook and generated a few funny retorts.

Source: PhdComics.com

My response- “Looks about right.”  My daughter is particularly adept at taking me from elated to enraged and back again in no time flat.

Another response- “I wish it had a time scale.”  That comment cracked me up.  I wonder when it will level off/even out, if ever.

It also reminded me of this post on Geek in Heels, Average Happiness vs Transcendent Moments, where she summarizes a TED talk:  “Let’s talk parenting taboos” by Rufus Griscom and Alisa Volkman (of Nerve and Babble) about the highs and lows of parental happiness.

I wish I was less of a scientist… when thinking about hand sanitizer

I wish I was less of a scientist when I have to use hand sanitizer.

Today in the kitchen at work, I noticed two bottles of hand sanitizer next to the sink and thought to myself, “Why in God’s name would you use hand sanitizer when you had access to soap and water?”

Really, why would you? I wouldn’t, for the reason below.

Source (xkcd) and Explaination here.

Another thing to consider- hand sanitizer just kills the bacteria/viruses, it doesn’t remove their dead corpses from your hands.  If you had poop on your hand, but I assured you all the bacteria in it were dead, would be fine with leaving the poop on your hands?

There’s a difference between disinfected (no infectious agents to get you sick) and clean (free from germs, dirt, and filth).  I much prefer clean.

My mother (a school nurse and RN) always jokes, “Back in my day, we didn’t declare a jihad on germs, we just washed them away with soap and water.”  She has a point.

I do use hand sanitizer, but only when there is no soap and water available, and even then I like to use it and then use a baby wipe to wipe them off once they are dry.

Even the CDC recommends soap and water over a hand sanitizer (see here for the recommendation and step by step instructions on how to wash your hands)!

(Shouldn’t be) Wordless Wednesday: Opening up about mental illness

This hits the nail on the head.

Source: Beatrice the Biologist

Why do we do this?  Let’s stop.  OK?

Thanks to these people for encouraging us to be open about mental illness:

Double X Science’s I am Mental Illness project.

Post-Secret.

Bring Change 2 Mind.