March 6, 2012

Slice of Life: "Nerd-Out"

If you were to ask my friends they would tell you it does not take much to entertain me. From watching my roommate do daily tasks to pretending that the apartment has landmines so I don't cause the floor to creak, it's never a dull moment for me.

Lately I have been into things that cause me to "nerd-out" though. Like today for instance, I saw that there was an article about how there is research being done on Vitamin D and it's effects on uterine fibroids in rats which may lead to a non-surgical way of treatment. I mean, come on, how is that not cool?

Every time I go off on one of my tangents my friends tend to give me weird looks, which means that my eyes have gotten to twice as large and my words are flying out faster than the speed of light. I just get so excited and think that they will get equally excited, but in most cases not so much. But hey, at least they continue to let me talk about all the things that I nerd-out about.

Here are just a few of the subjects that get's my heart racing:

  • The microbes found in the rumen of a cow can essentially turn poor quality feed into something great that will get digested and absorbed by the cow leading to excellent milk quality/production. 
  • There is a type of nocturnal squid that has a type of glowing bacteria growing inside of it. The squid also has sensors on it's skin that can detect the amount of moonlight shining and takes that information to determine how much light it puts out from the bacteria to match the moonlight. This essentially causes the squid to have no shadow! Crazy, right?
  • With all the drug-resistant pathogens out there, there has been more and more research done on how they communicate. Scientists have found that cells communicate by sending out a signal to let each other know they are near and once enough are present they "turn on." Now that they found how they act, researchers are making similar shaped molecules that will fit in the communication receptors that will disrupt that process so they will be "off." This is effective on all pathogens whether they have drug-resistance or not. I hope this technique gets approved soon that's all I got to say. 
  • Anything that has to do with anatomy and physiology (human or animal). Learning how the body works just makes me slack jawed and wonder how more things don't go wrong. I also took an entire class on embryo transfer in animals last semester and was amazed at how that all worked. 
I could go on and on, but I just don't think my heart can take much more haha. I can't be the only one that "nerds-out" to things though, so tell me what gets your blood pumping. Don't leave me hanging out here alone. 

14 comments:

  1. How can I leave this post hanging after my "I'm strange" rant yesterday?

    I "nerd out" over science fiction, fantasy, and comics. I also get all in a tizzy over any news related to space exploration. (There just might be a relationship there).

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  2. Ha ha ha, this is so funny! I love the part where you talk about your eyes getting twice as large and the words start flying. That happens to me at school sometimes when I talk to me colleagues about school wide projects. My latest thing that I am nerding out about is using Google Docs to connect curriculum documents together.

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  3. I love your enthusiasm...that is how I see it instead of nerding out. My rantings are about "brain research" Every time I read an article, my husband has to endure me retelling what I read. He is the soundboard for my rehearsal. Sounds like your friends are your soundboards.

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  4. Nerding out .... still ... science fiction, even though my wife doesn't connect with it and my sons have only scattered interest in it. But, although very steretypical nerdy topic, sci-fi still rattles my bones in a neat way. (if done right)
    Kevin

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  5. I would love to be a witness to one of your episodes - I would learn so much, just as I did with your post. I love the way you see so much potential in these facts. Keep it up! (What makes me nerd out? Anything I can't find a reasonable explanation for - and what I keep looking for answers to. Often it involves human behavior and motivation. That gets me going for a good long while!)

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  6. I so identify with this moment - "I just get so excited and I think they will get equally excited..." and then I notice that my friend's eye's are glazing over :-) I really enjoyed reading about your four recent enthusiasms and had to go and google squids for the last few minutes. At the moment I go on and on about: Irish history, gravity and time, ice age mega fauna, human dispersion and haplogroups, extremeophiles, Europa, Titan and hunger/clean water issues.

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  7. Love your slice! ;) I "nerd out" about anything literacy-related (I'm a Literacy Coach, so it's allowed), books I'm reading, and most recently, infographics...I can't seem to get enough of them. I send curriculum-related ones to my teachers, rehash information I learned from reading an infographic to anyone who'll listen, and try to convince teachers to create them with their students. It's like I'm pushing drugs at school, that is, if infographics were drugs. :)

    ~Jennifer K.
    http://www.web.me.com/aggiekesler/myjourneyabroad

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  8. You always were nerd like...glad to see your passion for learning hasn't lessened! The part where you described your eyes bugging out just made me laugh. I seem to remember that look!

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  9. Thanks for sharing this glimpse into your brain! I love the passion with which you write about all those things I don't really understand... I tend to "nerd out" about tech tools to use with my students. And exploring other cultures. I enjoyed the up-beat, quick tone of your post -- it made it seem like I was reading inside your brain!

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  10. I have found that as my eyes get twice as big and bright and shiny as I fast forward on my topic of delight, my listeners' eyes also get big, bright and shiny as they glaze over. So I'm watching for their nerd-o-meter to kick in as a signal for me to stop talking about technology.
    Stay passionate! Let others glaze if they must!

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  11. I completely relate to this feeling you have! I too can do this with topics that others could probably care less about, but they listen (my poor husband usually falls victim). I get talking really fast and usually one exciting thought leads to another and it goes from there. How fun a face to face conversation would be with someone who loves research as much as I do! "Did you know...?"

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  12. I really enjoyed reading all the things you 'nerd-out' over! The world is such a fascinating place! Thanks for sharing a few fascinations.

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  13. This is totally not nerding out. It is what I call recognizing all that is amazing in this world. I laughed and laughed tonight. Thank you for the post!

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  14. lol.. I am loving this post! I stay up late watching PBS documentaries on about anything I find interesting. I too get overly dramatic when I find out some exciting new information on a topic. Glad to know I'm not the only one.
    ~Hope

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