Great summer reads: Review of “Creativity, Inc.”

Great summer reads: Review of “Creativity, Inc.”
By Jesica Levingston Macleod

One of the masterminds behind Pixar Studios, Edwin Catmull, also happens to be an amazing writer. Last year he, with the help of Amy Wallace, published a book about finding true inspiration and creativity in business called "Creativity Inc". If the Buzz Lightyear character directing an orchestra on the cover of the book doesn’t get your attention then I hope this review will do it. Edwin Catmull started his career working in Special FX for George Lucas (yes, as in Star Wars), followed by the creation of the Pixar Studios. After finding enormous success with the movie "Toy Story" the company faced troubled times and it was acquired by Steve Jobs (co-founder of Apple Computers). This book is a guide for any entrepreneur, not only for the fantastical story and the outstanding characters, but also for all the knowledge and experiences that Ed wants to share with us. He goes from the starting points for managing a creative culture to great advice about how to manage a start-up. Here are two of my favorites:
1-Give a good idea to a mediocre team, and they will screw it up. Give a mediocre idea to a great team, and they will either fix it or come up with something better. If you get the team right, chances are that they will get the ideas right.
2-Failure isn't a necessary evil. In fact, it isn't evil at all. It is a necessary consequence of doing something new.

Requiem for the researchers.

Requiem for the researchers
More than 100 passengers aboard downed Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 were traveling to the 20th International AIDS Conference in Melbourne, Australia, according to reports.

On this behalf, the International AIDS Society confirmed in a statement that "a number of colleagues and friends" were aboard the plane, although it did not state an exact number. In addition, Barack Obama confirmed reports that nearly a third of the passengers were scientists, health workers, and activists headed for the AIDS conference. He said : "On board Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 there were apparently nearly 100* researchers and advocates traveling to an international conference in Australia dedicated to combating AIDS/HIV."... "These were men and women who had dedicated their own lives to saving the lives of others and they were taken from us in a senseless act of violence."
All 298 souls aboard were killed in the terrible crash.

One of the famous names that came out was the Dutch HIV researcher Dr Joep Lange. He was the president of the International AIDS Society and one of the precursors and advocate for the combination therapy using multiple antiretroviral drugs for management of HIV/AIDS. He was also an activist pro implementation of affordable HIV/AIDS medication for the poor, specially in the African continent. Dr. Lange was married and he was the father of 5 children. He was a professor of infectious diseases, at the Academic Medical Center (AMC) in Amsterdam since 1983.

His wikipedia profile is updated as a requiem for this great researcher:
In 2001, he founded the "PharmAccess Foundation", a non-profit organization based in Amsterdam which aims to improve access to HIV/AIDS therapy in developing countries, and he served as chairman until his death. Lange was a former president of the International AIDS Society (2002–04). Lange was also the Scientific Director of HIV[e]Ducation, an online learning system for medical doctors, nurses and counsellors working with HIV-positive people. He was also a founding editor of the medical journal, Antiviral Therapy.

In 2006 he became Professor of Medicine at the Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam and Senior Scientific Advisor to the International Antiviral Therapy Evaluation Centre, Amsterdam. He was also co-director of the HIV Netherlands Australia Research Collaboration, based in Thailand. Lange also served on Accordia Global Health Foundation’s Scientific Advisory Board.[4]

He was a member of several societies including the American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Society for Microbiology, and International AIDS Society.

He received the Eijkman Medal for tropical medicine and international health in 2007

magical moon tonight!

Rare Friday the Thirteenth Full Moon
By Geoff Gaherty, Starry Night Education
June 13, 2014; 9:30 AM

Over the next few nights, the full moon will be riding low in our summer sky.

The summer solstice will occur Saturday (June 21), so the noontime sun is nearly at the highest it can get in our Northern Hemisphere skies. This puts the full moon, occurring just after midnight Eastern Daylight Time on Friday the 13th, at close to the lowest it can possibly get this week.

The full moon is an instantaneous event: the exact instant when sun, Earth and moon fall closest to a straight line. A moment before this, the moon is in waxing gibbous phase; a moment after, it is in waning gibbous phase. Only at exactly 12:11 a.m. EDT (0411 GMT) is it exactly "full." [The Moon: 10 Surprising Facts]

As far as the naked eye is concerned, the moon looks full for a day or two on either side of the exact "full" phase. Only with a telescope can you see that the moon is being lit from a slight angle, causing the line of sunrise or sunset on the moon, called the terminator, to be very close to one edge or the other.

Would we be happy without a phone?

The cell alteration from the cellphones...
Dr. Nesrin Seyhan is the chair of the Gazi biophysics department in Ankara (beside being a member of the Advisory committee of the WHO, a Scientific member , İCEMS and a Panel member , NATO RTO HFM). She has been studying the effect of radiation on cells for the last 20 years, focusing lately in the kind of radiation that the cell phone emit.
Besides the fact that millions of people do not have a phone, we can asume that you can be happy without this addictive device. I made the experiment multiple times, mostly because I did not have any other option, and it was ok at the beginning but lately it was an awful experience. I had to change mobile plans and according with the Murphy's laws, if something can go wrong, it will... I was without a phone for a week.
A quick search in the pubmed, the scientific papers data base, with the word cell phone gives you 5424 articles. The best one was a Korean research back from 2014 by Kim and collaborators published in PLOS One (1). They studied Smartphone Addiction in 795 students in elementary, middle, and high schools across South Korea. They conclusion was that Smartphone addiction is gaining a greater spotlight as possibly a new form of addiction along with internet addiction.
Other interesting study done in El Cairo showed the effects of pulsed electromagnetic radiation from mobile phone in adult rats. The researchers exposed adult rats to a daily dose of Electromagnetic radiation (EMR, frequency 1800 MHz) and sacrificed after 1, 2 and 4 months. Then, monoamines were determined by high performance liquid chromatography coupled with fluorescence detection (HPLC-FD) using their native properties. they reported that the exposure to EMR resulted in significant changes in dopamine (DA), norepinephrine (NE) and serotonin (5-HT) in the hippocampus, hypothalamus, midbrain and medulla oblongata of adult rats.
Soooo, the exposure of adult rats to EMR may cause disturbances in monoamine neurotransmitters and this may underlie many of the adverse effects reported after EMR including memory, learning, and stress (2). This results, plus other research has showed that we might feel happy every time he heard our hone ringing... and also stressed.
The good news is that a study involving a nationwide cohort study of mobile phone use, did not found increased risks of tumors of the central nervous system, providing little evidence for a causal association (3).
Obviously the mobile phone technology changed our life in a daily bases, and our social etiquete has been affected for the "staring at the phone" behavior and the "just to check updates" constant social interaction interruptions. But getting deeper in the biological effects of the phones, Dr. Nesrin Seyhan, registered a concerning alteration in the programmed cell death (aka apoptosis) in rabbits exposed to radiation. Furthermore, exposure to 1,800 MHz may induce some pathomorphological alterations in different tissues of non-pregnant and pregnant rabbits and their infants. In other research from her group they showed that apoptosis resulted from radio frequency radiation exposure of pregnant rabbits and their infants (3). They measured the oxidative DNA damage and lipid peroxidation levels in the brain tissue of pregnant and non-pregnant New Zealand White rabbits and their newborns exposed to RFR. They were exposed to RFR (1800 MHz GSM; 14 V/m as reference level) for 15 min/day during 7 days. Malondialdehyde (MDA) and 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) levels were analyzed. MDA and 8-OHdG levels of non-pregnant and pregnant-RFR exposed animals significantly increased with respect to controls.
This results are alarming and a huge "danger" sign that we should not underestimate, in Dr. Seyhan words: "There exist very few experimental studies on the effects of RFR during pregnancy. It would be beneficial to increase the number of these studies in order to establish international standards for the protection of pregnant women from RFR."


Söderqvist F1, Carlberg M2, Hardell L2.

1-PLoS One. 2014 May 21;9(5):e97920. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0097920. eCollection 2014.
Development of korean smartphone addiction proneness scale for youth.
Kim D1, Lee Y1, Lee J1, Nam JK1, Chung Y2.
2-Eur Rev Med Pharmacol Sci. 2013 Jul;17(13):1782-8.
The effect of pulsed electromagnetic radiation from mobile phone on the levels of monoamine neurotransmitters in four different areas of rat brain.
Aboul Ezz HS1, Khadrawy YA, Ahmed NA, Radwan NM, El Bakry MM.
3-BMJ. 2011 Oct 19;343:d6387. doi: 10.1136/bmj.d6387.
Use of mobile phones and risk of brain tumours: update of Danish cohort study.
Frei P1, Poulsen AH, Johansen C, Olsen JH, Steding-Jessen M, Schüz J.

Pathways for Science Careers in the Cosmetics Industry

MetroNY AWIS invites you to our upcoming event:
Panel Discussion and Networking event on Science in the the Cosmetics Industry
May 8th, 6:30-8:30 pm

Register at http://www.meetup.com/MetroNY-AWIS-Meetup-Group/events/166156842/

Pathways for Science Careers in the Cosmetics Industry

Join us for a career panel and networking event featuring a diverse panel of scientific experts from cosmetic and personal care companies featuring remarks from David Smith, Executive Director of the Society of Cosmetic Chemists. Learn how scientific expertise is used in the cosmetic and personal care industry and explore career opportunities and factors that lead to success in these industries.

Christina Andrianov, M.A. (R&D Manager at Mast Global Technical Service,Limited Brands), Marianne Mota Paulino, M.S.(Senior Process Engineer at L’Oreal), Alisa Vasilenko, Ph.D. (Manager of Luxury Development at L’Oreal) and Dulce Almario, M.S., (Director of Product Innovations at Victoria Secret Beauty) will present in a panel discussion.

The Panel will be moderated by Amanda Weyerbacher, Ph.D., who has worked as a Senior Scientist in the Product Safety and Toxicology Department at L’Oreal USA Research and Innovation.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Please note: this is not a job fair featuring employers.

About the speakers:

Marianne Mota Paulino started her career with L’Oreal USA in 2009 as a formulation chemist of hair styling products. In 2012, she transferred to her current role in the pilot team where she is in charge of developing efficient processes for the hair category. As a Sr. Process Engineer, she also ensures technology scale-up and the successful manufacturing of new product launches. Prior to this position, she earned her M.S. in Chemical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, where she studied the release of PEGylated proteins from PLG microspheres. She also worked as an intern in 3M and Procter and Gamble (P&G), where she had the opportunity to work on the development of new industrial adhesives and consumer studies for sanitary napkins, respectively. She obtained her dual B.S. in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering from University of Florida in 2006.

Christina Andrianov has over 15 years of experience in the Cosmetic Personal Care Industry. She has worked for Mast Global Tech Services since January 2006. As an R&D Manager, she oversees all personal care product development for Victoria Secret Beauty. She manages a team of chemist to ensure a wide variety of formulas meet marketing expectations for aesthetics and meet the stringent timelines. Her team also has to ensure the
formulas are compliant with global regulations and are reproducible on larger scale. Prior to this position, Mrs. Andrianov worked at Ciba Specialty Chemicals (today known as BASF) in the Personal Care Division researching to see if various technologies from different departments could be transferred and applied to Personal Care products. She has also worked for other companies like Outsourcing Services Group, L’Oreal USA – the Maybelline division, Estee Lauder – Clinique Treatment Lab. She earned her M.A. in Cosmetic Science from Fairly Dickinson University, Teaneck NJ in 2003, B.S in Chemistry from SUNY at Stony Brook, NY in 1994.

The panel moderator, Amanda Weyerbacher, previously worked as in Senior Scientist in the Product safety department at L’Oreal. In this role, she managed the clinical safety testing program of multiple consumer products across a wide array of global brands for market launch, ensuring compliance with international regulatory requirements and claim substantiation. Prior to
this position, Dr. Weyerbacher earned her Ph.D. in Pharmacology at Cornell University’s - Weill Cornell Graduate School of Biological Sciences in New York City in May 2009. In her dissertation research, she identified critical pain signaling proteins, cytokines and immune/
central nervous system interactions as relevant drug targets for clinical pain control in an animal model of persistent pain. From 2001-2003, Dr. Weyerbacher was a Clinical Research Associate at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. In this role, she managed up to ten active Phase I and II clinical trials, defining and monitoring project scope, timelines and deliverables from project initiation to close-out. She earned her B.A. in Biology-Chemistry from Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, NY in May 2001.


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The MetroNY AWIS Team

Website: http://metronyawis.weebly.com/
Email: metronyawis@gmail.com
twitter: @MetroNYAWIS

AWIS is a national advocacy organization championing the interests of women in science across all disciplines and employment sectors.

Not a member? Join now!
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Students: Contact metronyawis@gmail.com with subject heading 'membership' and attach an image of your student photoID

RSVP for science talks and courses this week

RAISING THE BAR http://rtbevent.com/
Science talks!
50 Bars. 50 Talks. 1 Night.
April 29TH


Brooklyn Brainery
Free Event! The Mysteries of Ice Cream on April 29

Posted by 16ec9eca tiny Jen on apr 6, 2014 under Event

It might not be prime ice cream eating weather quite yet, but for this month's Masters of Social Gastronomy lecture, we're bringing summertime to Brooklyn no matter what the thermometer says.

Hear the tale of vanilla ice cream, a commonplace flavor with a rare and exotic past. We'll take a hard look at the science that makes ice cream tick and see if we can harness the DIY spirit to craft up astronaut ice cream in your very own kitchen.

The wide range of curious flavors will be on full display, with 19th-century artichoke-and-tomato ice cream and other adventuresome (and masochistic) creations.

Plus! We'll be giving away a signed copy of the new Ample Hills Creamery Cookbook and have some treats along the way.

Very Important Details:
Tuesday, April 29
Free, 21+
Doors at 7:30pm, talks start at 8pm
Littlefield, 622 Degraw Street in Gowanus

Totally optional RSVP



SciCafe May 7, 2014
Collective Behavior in Ant Colonies and Beyond
Time:
Doors open at 6:30 pm

Program begins at 7 pm

Collective behavior takes many forms, such as emergence, self-organization, superorganism, quorum sensing, artificial intelligence, and dynamical networks. Stanford University biologist Deborah Gordon will discuss her research on ant colonies to investigate systems that operate without central control.Location: Wallach Orientation Center

Entrance: 77th Street

8 Ways to Get the Best out of Networking Events

http://www.myscizzle.com/blog/get-the-most-out-of-networking-events/