Shared: (A Biologist’s) St. Patrick’s Day Song

(A Biologist’s) St. Patrick’s Day Song by cadamole:

I’m resurrecting this nerdy drinking song from last year… As many of you perceptive viewers noticed there were a couple alcohol-induced scientific errors in my last version of this song (gold star, perceptive viewers!) — so I thought this St. Patrick’s day would be a perfect time to correct them.

Lyrics:
In the year of our lord eighteen hundred and eleven
On March the seventeenth day
I will raise up a beer and I’ll raise up a cheer
For Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Here’s to brewers yeast, that humblest of all beasts
Producing carbon gas reducing acetaldehyde
But my friends that isn’t all — it makes ethyl alcohol
That is what the yeast excretes and that’s what we imbibe

Anaerobic isolation
Alcoholic fermentation
NADH oxidation
Give me a beer

[CHORUS]

My intestinal wall absorbs that ethanol
And soon it passes through my blood-brain barrier
There’s a girl in the next seat who I didn’t think that sweet
But after a few drinks I want to marry her
I guess it’s not surprising, my dopamine is rising
And my glutamate receptors are all shot
I’d surely be bemoaning all the extra serotonin
But my judgment is impaired and my confidence is not

Allosteric modulation
No Long Term Potentiation
Hastens my inebriation
Give me a beer

[CHORUS]

When ethanol is in me, some shows up in my kidneys
And inhibits vasopressin by degrees
A decrease in aquaporins hinders water re-absorption
And pretty soon I really have to pee
Well my liver breaks it down so my body can rebound
By my store of glycogen is soon depleted
And tomorrow when I’m sober I will also be hungover
Cause I flushed electrolytes that my nerves and muscles needed

Diuretic activation
Urination urination
Urination dehydration
Give me a beer

[CHORUS]

CHORDS

Intro:
D DAG / bm A
D D A G / bm A G D
G D A G / G D G A
G D A bm / G D A D

Pre – chorus:
G D A bm / G D A

Chorus (Li-Diddly-I):
G D A bm A
G D A D

Verse:
D DAG / Bm A
D D A G / Bm A G D
G D A G / bm A
G D A bm / G D A D

Shared: BeetleCam is Back Teaser

BeetleCam is Back Teaser by Will & Matt Burrard-Lucas:

BeetleCam is a remote control buggy with a DSLR camera mounted on top. I created the first BeetleCam in 2009 in order to take close-up, wide-angle photographs of dangerous African animals. You can find out more about the initial project in “The Adventures of BeetleCam”: http://blog.burrard-lucas.com/2010/04/adventures-of-beetlecam/

I will soon be releasing the next project instalment in which BeetleCam takes on the lions of the Masai Mara! As you can see, it was an eventful trip! We managed to get some incredible photographs and video footage which I will soon be publishing on www.Burrard-Lucas.com. If you would like to be notified when this happens, please subscribe to my free email newsletter: http://blog.burrard-lucas.com/newsletter/

Update: The BeetleCam website is now live:
http://www.burrard-lucas.com/beetlecam