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Showing posts with label water. Show all posts
Showing posts with label water. Show all posts
Saturday, October 26, 2013
Friday, September 20, 2013
A furious infection but a fake fear of water
Rabies is a virus that can very quickly infect the brain. When it does, it causes typical symptoms of encephalitis (brain inflammation) – headache, sore neck, fever, delirium and breathing problems – and it is almost always fatal.
It also has some curious behavioural effects. It can make people hyper-reactive and can lead to uncontrolled muscle spasms due to its effect on the action coordination systems in the brain. With the pain and distress, some people can become aggressive.
This is known as the ‘furious’ stage and when we describe some as ‘rabid with anger’ it is a metaphor drawn from exactly this.
Rabies can also cause what is misleadingly called ‘hydrophobia’ or fear of water. You can see this in various videos that have been uploaded to YouTube that show rabies-infected patients trying to swallow and reacting quite badly.
But rabies doesn’t actually instil a fear of water in the infected person but instead causes dysphagia – difficulty with swallowing – due to the same disruption to the brain’s action control systems.
We tend to take swallowing for granted but it is actually one of our most complex actions and requires about 50 muscles to complete successfully.
Problems swallowing are not uncommon after brain injury (particularly after stroke) and speech and language therapists can spend a lot of their time on neurorehabilitation wards training people to reuse and re-coordinate their swallow to stop them choking on food.
As we know from waterboarding, choking can induce panic, and it’s not so much that rabies creates a fear of water, but a difficulty swallowing and hence experiences of choking. This makes the person want to avoid trying to swallow liquids.
Bathing, for example, wouldn’t trigger this aversion and that’s why rabies doesn’t really cause a ‘fear of water’ but more a ‘fear of choking on liquids due to impaired swallowing’.
The RadioLab episode discusses the case that launched the controversial Milwaukee protocol – a technique for treating rabies that involves putting you into a drug-induced coma to protect your brain until your body has produced the anti-rabies antibodies.
It’s a fascinating and compelling episode so well worth checking out.
UPDATE: This old medical film on YouTube goes through the stages of rabies infection. Warning: it’s a bit gruesome and has a melodramatic soundtrack but it is quite informative.
Link to RadioLab episode ‘Rodney Versus Death’.
Saturday, August 31, 2013
How to Fix A Phone That Fell In Water
Dropping your phone in the toilet is admittedly embarrassing, but you’re not alone. In fact, 1 out of 10 people have made the blunder at some point. When you have to fix a phone that fell in water, it’s important to do it right or you could do more damage. Of course, if it fell in the toilet after you used the toilet, you might want to risk a quick soap or spray it with Lysol before you worry about fixing it.
This fantastic infographic is a great guide on how to fix a phone that fell in water. The biggest key is to dry it in rice, which will pull all the moisture from it. Don’t turn it back on or charge it until it is dry and don’t use a heat source like a blow drier to fix a phone that fell in water because you might damage the electronic components.
It was Dr. Anthony P. Witham who once said “children spell love…T-I-M-E.” He was definitely onto something. Unfortunately, if you are like most parents, time is a precious commodity that often eludes us 5 Ways to Spend Time with Your Kids When You Have No Time
Jill Harness is a freelance writer, amateur chef, and a sucker for animals. She writes for a number of websites, including Rue The Day, InventorSpot, Oddee and Mental Floss. While not typing on her computer, Jill spends her time playing video games, cuddling with her dog and visiting Disneyland and the San Diego Zoo.
Monday, July 15, 2013
Since the TED Talk: Michael Pritchard on how he’s helping end water poverty in Malaysia
Global Issues TEDTalks
Michael Pritchard is very likely the only person to have stood on the TED stage and uttered the immortal phrase, “Let’s get a bit of that poo in there.” At TEDGlobal 2009 in Oxford, he demonstrated his then-new product, the Lifesaver bottle, which can be used to turn filthy, rabbit-dropping-infested water into sparklingly clean liquid that’s safe to drink. Pritchard even got TED curator Chris Anderson to have a taste.
We spoke with Pritchard recently to find out what’s happened since his talk. There’s a lot to catch up on. For one thing, the Lifesaver bottle is now standard issue for the British military; every soldier in Afghanistan is armed with one. And Lifesaver has expanded, developing and introducing new sizes and products that go beyond the bottle. The Jerrycan, for instance, can process 20,000 liters of water — enough for a family of four for up to five years. The Cube is a disposable product designed for use in disaster zones; it’s currently in its second round of trials with Oxfam. The M1 system, meanwhile, is designed to provide drinking water to entire communities; it is currently being installed in remote regions throughout Malaysia. (See a video filmed on location at the bottom of the post.)
Michael Pritchard: How to make filthy water drinkablePritchard explained why the Malaysian government was interested in giving this system a try.
“Traditional methods of trying to solve water poverty dictate that you put infrastructure in, you put pipework in, you put pumping stations in,” he says. But the inaccessibility of so many regions of Malaysia make this prohibitively expensive, consigning residents to a life of trekking hours to collect clean water or forcing them to spend much-needed money on bottled water. “You couldn’t have that and a military budget or a social security budget.”
The M1 tackles the problem by bypassing it altogether. Instead, the system connects to a house’s guttering system to convert rain into drinking water.
“There’s no pipework, no pump stations, and instant access to sterile drinking water on a permanent basis,” Pritchard said proudly. (Filters do need to be replaced, every two or three years, he estimates.) The first phase will be complete by October this year, impacting the lives of a million residents.
It’s fascinating to hear how the business itself has evolved, too. What began as a project in Pritchard’s garage — a result of his feelings of rage and helplessness on seeing those affected by the tsunami that washed through Asia in 2004 — has evolved from crisis management to an all-out attempt to end water poverty globally. “By 2015, we will have ended water poverty in Malaysia,” he said on the phone.
It’s enough to give you goosebumps, and certainly enough to raise the profile of both Pritchard and his 35-person company, based in Colchester, England.
In June, Pritchard was named an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honors, a pretty big deal in the United Kingdom. But for all the plaudits and progress, it’s clear that Pritchard is still just getting going. He recalls a trip back to a village in Haiti some two years after the earthquake disrupted so much life there in 2010.
“About 30 families in this beautiful fishing village had each been given a Jerrycan,” he said. “I spoke to this wonderful guy about how he was getting on with the product, how it was fitting into his life. And he told me all about how the kids are healthy, how water was great. I realized he’d forgotten the problems he once had, and it struck me how quickly a transition can be made. Put the means in someone’s hands and suddenly the whole world changes. They’re not walking four hours a day to get water any more, they’re not spending money on water. It’s changed everything.”
The end of global water poverty? A heady dream, but one that Pritchard is determined to ensure comes true.
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
How to Make Flavored Water at Home
We already talked about making flavored water with the easy-to-use Aqua Zinger, but for those who don’t want to spend the money on another household gadget, or who don’t want to waste the kitchen space, you can always skip the gizmos.
The Ririan Project gives 10 reasons why drinking water is good for you: 10 Reasons To Drink More Water
The Yummy Life has a great guide to making your own flavored water with nothing but fruit and herbs, ice, water, a spoon and a container. In fact, while considering how to approach the project, she even considered using all kinds of methods, including special products, blenders, boiling and more, but opted to keep the process as simple as possible so she wouldn’t lose motivation to keep making these tasty treats -something everyone can appreciate.
The basic process is simple too, just muddle your herbs and fruits with a spoon, add ice and water, then chill in the fridge. Of course, there are all kinds of flavor options you can experiment with and the link has some fun suggestions if you need ideas.
Original Source – The Yummy Life
Friday, July 27, 2012
From the plastic bag dilemma to water ballet: Highlights from TED@Sydney
This spring, TED headed on the road, visiting 14 cities across six continents on the hunt for untapped talent. The idea behind the sweeping search: to let you, the TED community, weigh in and vote on which speakers you’d like to see ascend the stage at TED2013. After holding one-night salons in Amsterdam, Bangalore, Doha, Johannesburg, London, Nairobi, New York, São Paulo, Seoul, Shanghai, Sydney, Tokyo, Tunis and Vancouver, we couldn’t help but notice that every city’s event had its own unique flavor. And so we’ve asked one audience member from each stop along on the tour to share their memories.
Today, we asked audience member Melanie Giuffre of Sydney, Australia, to tell us about her experience at TED@Sydney, which took place on May 27.
Melanie, what three adjectives would you use to describe the event?
Joyful, fascinating and surprising.
Who were the must-see speakers of the night, who you hope TED fans will watch on the TED Talent Search website?
Leyla Acarolglu. I think Leyla made a good point about the choices we have to make on a daily basis when trying to be environmentally responsible. She used the example of the paper/plastic bag to illustrate the dilemma. I related to this one as I am often wondering which of the choices presented makes the most sense from an environmental point of view.
Richard Gill. I’m a bit biased here. It was fun to watch Richard on the day but I’m really thinking of his TEDxSydney talk from last year on the value of music education. He is very charming, funny and compelling. There’s a little bit of Benjamin Zander meets Ken Robinson about him.
Deanna Hood. Deanna spoke about using simple cheap and already-in-existence technology — the mobile phone — to support health care workers in the developing world. It was quite beautiful to see that lives are being saved by rethinking medical engineering, from big and expensive to small, cheap and accessible.
Charmaine Tham. As with Deanna’s talk, it was great to hear about the rethinking of an old problem. Communities in developing countries that have had problems with rabies are vaccinating dogs instead of killing them. It was great to hear about the work of Vets Beyond Borders.
Adam Spencer. Adam can make math very entertaining. Plus, it’s always a pleasure listening to someone who has passion for their subject.
What was the best moment of the night?
My hands down best moment of the day was Pip Hall throwing off her robe to reveal a gorgeous 40-year-old body in a swimsuit. Which is how she spent her five minutes on stage. Her whole talk was imbued with joy, which is very infectious. So much so that a friend and I have started a Bondi based water ballet group!
Which speaker from the night do you want to be your new best friend?
Pip Hall. She has a warmth joie de vie that I find appealing.
Stayed tuned for more audience impressions of TED Talent Search events, coming at you over the next month.
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