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::shengie::
gender
male
age
21
dob
7-11, it's a store and more :p
horoscope
scorpio, tough one eh?
hometown
teck whye, singapore
location
johns hopkins, baltimore, maryland
occupation
student
yes yes
good music, good food, sea breeze, happy times with family and friends, cool weather,
no no
backstabbers, dogs that bark for nothing, regulars, hypocrites, misbehaving children, humid weather
sports i play
badminton, swim, gym, cycling, kayaking
listens to
jay chou, david tao, chinese and english pop, chinese orchestral, rock, r&b, world, inspirational, classical artistes
msn
wujassng@hotmail.com
icq 44783954
aim
aidanwu84
::Quote::
"You know, you only have half a heart, so even if you do something whole-heartedly, it's still half-hearted."
Me to Alex one day on 151
::calendar::
29.05.06 IBN Attachment
06.08.06 Concert@SCH
11.08.06 HCJC Booth
19.08.06 JHU BBQ
04.09.06 Back to JHU
::frens::
01s79
Old Blog
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Dr. Condom
Mapleleafgirl
Qi Yue
Shuhui
Huien
Wattie-sen-sen
Lenard
Haofatt
Gavin
Janan
Huzz the man!
Thiam Shh...
Su *Chang!*
The Study Rasu
Gay Chou
Chay Beng
Alex
Jia Ming
Zhengyong
Lipting
Weiqiang
Kaixin
Run Bin
Zheng Ru
Tu Anh
::navigator::
My Photos
Spring Break 2006
get around Singapore!
currency converter
time zone converter
friendster
world lingo translator
internet SMS:
Singtel
M1
Starhub
::frontiers::
Physics Web
Nanotechnology Research News
National (US) Nanotechnology Initiative News
Nanoapex
Chemical and Engineering News Nanofocus
New Scientist
Nature
Scientific American
::credits::
design
catchastar.blogspot.com
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29.2.04
Aiyah, I hate leaving half done blog entries. So I don't think I will continue from Friday's lar. Anyway, went to the Clementi bookshop for the first time on Thursday to look-see since I was on one day off. Hmm, heard the books are cheaper, but if so it's probably minimal, and the selection is not that big either. Probably Kinokuniya's better. But there're lots of computer and IT books there, but not much of science.
There's this coffeeshop that serves quite good rojak. The laksa is supposedly good too, though I din try.
Went out with a fren yesterday. Ate at Marina Square Han's. Was hungry by the time I reached home. Saw rl too.
Tomorrow on course liao. Must wear No. 4 some more. Luckily I still remember how to fold. And now got rank so no need to fold so smart. :D
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AidanWu was here on 2:27 pm
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28.2.04
There's no therapy in gene therapy yet
TheStraitsTimes/28Feb2004
By Andy Ho
SCIENCE MONITOR
WHEN is therapy not really therapy? When it is gene therapy, or the use of genes to attempt to cure disease.
As the science is not quite there yet, there is no approved gene therapy product. It has been pointed out before that what is called gene therapy is merely research into how to transfer genes.
At a recent conference here on gene therapy in cancer, for example, Professor Malcolm Brenner from Texas told The Straits Times: 'There's still a lot of stupidity. People, including scientists, have no concept of just how long' it will take before gene therapy bears fruit.
Yet doctors brandish the term freely, using it as if it were neither technically problematic nor ethically remarkable, and often failing to make clear, when recruiting patients as trial subjects, that these are experiments not therapies.
Knowledge of which genes cause which diseases is still scanty. The Human Genome Project didn't quite produce a map showing every dip and bend in the road. More like a schematic sketch that can guide you with some luck, to where you want to go, it means that any disease under study still calls for a major investment of time and money just to pinpoint genetic defects.
In fact, whenever genes are involved in disease processes, usually many genes would be, simultaneously. Pinpointing the role of genes in disease is hard; designing gene therapies is even harder.
Moreover, there is no all-purpose way to shoehorn new genes into cells. Usually, modified viruses are used as they are masters at entering cells. Much of the virus' own genes are removed first so that it won't cause an illness but, in practice, enough are left so the virus can still insert its genes into host cells.
Doctors might also piggyback the gene on something readily taken up by the cell, like a liposome, an artificial fat molecule currently being used in a National Cancer Centre (NCC) trial here.
Other methods have been tried but none seems efficient or foolproof. Developing an efficient carrier is probably the hardest science hurdle to overcome.
Second, doctors seldom inform patients that gene therapy is not therapeutic.
A 1979 ethics study by the United States National Institutes of Health, the Belmont Report, defines therapy as something intended primarily to benefit the patient and which has a reasonable chance of succeeding. By contrast, research seeks to establish a treatment's safety and efficacy. The trial patient cannot expect any benefit. Yet in gene transfer research, that difference is not made clear to trial subjects.
Calling gene research therapy is almost like saying that participating in the experiment can benefit you.
Patients' readiness to believe doctors can probably be traced back to folklore: courageous doctors offering the desperately ill who have no options left some experimental therapy. Thus, perhaps, the general belief that research, rather than being potentially hazardous, is intended to benefit.
Don't discount the fact that there's something mesmerising about gene therapy itself. If conventional non-genetic therapies are mechanistic in the way patching a flat tyre is - even a kidney transplant is only a plumbing job - tinkering with genes sounds positively like intruding right into the very essence of man.
Talk about isolating, slicing, splicing and inserting genes into cells to replace flawed ones suggests (erroneously) a profound insight into how the body works. This almost miraculous quality could well tip patients into consenting to gene therapy. Under these conditions, candid discussion about the experimental nature of the intervention or the slim chance of success is likely to be short-circuited.
So doctors shouldn't be selling research as therapy, you say, but what's the harm? Far from splitting semantic hairs or this being merely a hypothetical scenario, real people may be hurt. At his NCC trial seeking to transfer genes into the tumours of terminally ill patients using artificial fat molecules called liposomes, Professor Hui Man Kam tells them that the trial is not aiming for a cure, but is an experiment which may help others in the future.
Not so the infamous 1999 case in the US in which 18-year-old Jesse Gelsinger died when all his organs failed four days after he was given a gene-carrying virus in an experiment both he and his parents were led to believe would cure his liver enzyme deficiency.
In 2002, two 'bubble boys' in the US developed leukaemia after receiving gene therapy treatment the parents thought would correct their inherited lack of immunity. With imprecise science and little evidence of therapeutic benefit to all-too-trusting patients, the linguistic turn in gene therapy must be rectified before more people get hurt.
The first step? Call it what it is: It's not gene therapy, just gene transfer research.
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AidanWu was here on 6:36 am
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27.2.04
It's been a busy week. At last I have some time to myself while on duty. Sigh, the regulars are damn garang today, ask me to scan so much stuff. And nowadays my boss has a habit of staying super late after office hours. Apparently, he opted to come in late in the morning and stay back the corresponding number of hours after everyone has left. Sigh.
But at least dinner was good. And I still have my mum's agar-agar. :P
The visit to the Asian Aerospace was pretty interesting, in more ways than one. We reported to office as usual, as we had to take a lift from my IC, to the Singapore Expo. And as usual, he was his lame self. Shan't elaborate. But then he just had to make it worse by realising that he did not bring his handphone, and actually entertained the thought of turning back to get it! Luckily the air show was about to start, so he did not want to risk being late for it.
At the expo, this 2LT whom I recognise as being from Mindef came to tell us that we could forget about making it past the entrance as they don't allow people in jeans or non-collared shirts inside, and advised us to change. *Stunned* We had no other dress, Mister. So we just went for it. On the way there, we had to pass this security tent, where bomb detectors and mirrors were used even on the public shuttle bus that we were on. It's one of the many examples of how we were treated seriously that day, like adults. After all, we were attending as 'trade visitors'.
So we were about to enter this side gate, when Jon was stopped. "Sorry sir, jeans are not allowed." *Fake stunned* Then Jon was about to go home, then I went in. "Sorry sir, cargo pants are not allowed" Then 5-6 policemen surrounded me to stop me from entering. Argh. So 3 out of 4 were down in the end, with the exception of my IC, who was impeccably dressed in business attire. But thanks to his quick thinking, we entered through the relatively more crowded and less well guarded main entrance.
The air show was quite okay, not thaat spectacular or anything. The Rafale is my favourite plane, though I would say the Strike Eagle F-15 is the more technologically superior one (based on their specs). But both did two successive barrel rolls, which goes to show how high their ceilings are. I've never seen so many air force officers before. The average rank was a captain I figured. Good thing we went in CVs. The precision display by the Indian air force was quite good. They ended rather cheekily with a cross through a heart drawn with the smoke emitted from their tails. "Cross my heart"
We spent hours walking through the 4 exhibition halls. Most of the souvenirs were gone already, and it was just the second day of the fair! Finally we set down to lunch. We ta paoed from the mobile canteen cos the food there was really expensive. 1 dollar per siew mai or fish nugget. 7 dollars for a cheese sandwich. 10 dollars for 85g of prawn crackers. Tacos cost 14 freaking bucks! And of cos they have the winner - 50 dollars for a buffet from Meritus Mandarin Hotel. Who the hell would bother with a buffet at a trade fair?
*pause*
It's 3am now.
There was this Typhoon gimmick. (Typhoon's a warplane) This simulator-like box was enticing people to have a second look, and thinking it was some 3D ride we decided to join the queue. But it was just a cheap marketing gimmick; it was nothing but an advertorial, and we had to stand some more. Sian. But anyway it reached a point when we were so tired of walking, but yet we wanted to drag it as long as possible so that we did not have to return to office..the familiar antagonistic feeling.
After that I went for dinner with my section guys. IC treated us to seafood at Lucky View at East Coast. Had black pepper crab, hongkong-style steamed fish, dou miao, fried rice, you tiao with some sotong stuffing and baked prawn. Not bad at all, for someone who isn't too into seafood. It's the first time I tried the fertilised roe of the crab too. Not much taste one.
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AidanWu was here on 7:07 pm
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24.2.04
My mum made pao on Sunday; the first time in a loong time. Yay..I love to eat home made paos. Last time when my second paternal grandaunt used to stay just a few streets from us, we got to eat homa made paos every week or so. Then my mum learnt it from her, but she only made it a few times the last few years..'cos it's really hard work. I witnessed it personally that day, a few hours of pounding the flour is really no joke. Next time must help her pound. Although some of the paos 'burst', they still tasted quite good, perhaps better than the old paos they sell downstairs for a few days.
Gave tuition yesterday. Supposed to be teaching him math, then ended up teaching chem and physics as well, 'cos he has a common test today. He forgot the money again, haha, so I reminded him that if he pays next week, he can pay two months' fees together. Then he asked me to remind him before the next lesson! Haha, I wonder whether it's the prerogative of the service provider to chase the user for the fees.
Hmm, tomorrow I am going for the Asian Aerospace exhibition. Yay! It's free, 'cos we're going on a 'trade invitation'. Adult tix cost 51 bucks!! Will be missing one whole day of work, plus in the evening my section IC is treating us to dinner at East Coast -- seafood at Long Beach. Woohoo!! This is a good week. Aiyah, too bad I'm not that into aeroplanes. I guess we only got to go because we're in an air base. If only we were in Nee Soon Camp, we would have gone for the Bodyworlds exhibition -- free -- and so much more relavant to me. Watson went for it free that time too. Heh.
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AidanWu was here on 3:42 pm
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22.2.04
The face-changing show on Channel U is getting a bit duh...after a pretty good start. I've never seen an Emperor kneel down in front of a concubine before.
Sally Yeh seems to be making a comeback. See her quite often nowadays promoting her new album. But I still only like one song of hers -- Xiao1 Sa3 Zou3 Yi4 Hui2. That's the reason my mother likes her too. And that's the reason why I am the only one in my generation who knows who she is.
Gave tuition today. The topic was sexual repro in humans. And she's a sec 2 girl. Wah seh. See her also quite paiseh.
On half day tomorrow. Sigh, what should I do? The swimming pool's closed on Mondays.
Utopia is losing its appeal.
People are getting so uptight about their uni schedules, I'm starting to feel worried for some of them. Is it really that bad in uni? Sigh.
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AidanWu was here on 9:59 pm
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Just added a couple of blogs; one of a senior who's just gone down under. It's interesting to see how one really starts living an independent life in a new environment, albeit generally in a very messy way. Haha. This guy is ecstatic that he 'finally has a floor!' after a few days of cluttered, pig-sty-style existence. Haha.
It's too bad I didn't get my cousin's email address before she left. We've never been really close, due to myriad factors, but I did sms her the day before she left, and she did reply. Hope she's coping real well there.
I really wish Richie will get into JHU and land the scholarship too. He deserves every bit of it I know, and nothing beats having someone familiar with you in a completely new land. When my senior told me he chose Berkeley, I had a slight tinge of regret at not having chosen it as well, least of all because I get to see William Hung life at college events, but because of the reason I've just explained. But I realise that I have to stand firm by the tenets that I followed when selecting a college; familiarity and convenience is not everything.
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AidanWu was here on 2:21 am
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21.2.04
Tea count: 3.60
The mobile canteen stopped coming after a week. Hmm. It's a micro-case study in demand and supply.
Duty is boring. Esp. on a Saturday.
Have been clearing my off days this week, and been really busy on the few days that I was working. Took off on Tuesday and half day on Thursday.
Went out for lunch on Tues with parents and an aunt. Was damn bored shopping at NTUC and Giant with them for groceries, but hell I thought it was still good to spend some time with them, especially since I won't get many chances to in the future. Sigh.
New guys are pretty nice. Realised that one of them even took part in Who Wants to be a Millionaire last year. Cool dude who can rap Jay Chou.
One of my seniors is going for an operation next week to fix his shoulder which frequently dislocates. We were debating whether strengthening the shoulder joints by doing weights would help lower the chances of recurrent dislocations, and if so how it can possibly be done, but we all got stuck halfway. He was having second thoughts about the operation just 4 days before the real thing so a few of us had to spend quite some time allaying his fears. Ironically, his fears are grounded in a certain distrust in his specialist, despite the fact that he's going to be a doctor himself one day. Which brings to mind how many doctors, who dish out professional advice freely, actually can accept the fact when the patient turns out to be themselves one day? *Touch wood* It reeks a bit of hypocrisy here on the part of the doctors, but it just goes to show how important the amount of emotional support that a patient receives, or doesn't, is to his condition. It may be psychological, but who cares if it actually helps? But strangely, a report says that being optimistic does not significantly improve the chances of a cancer patient actually surviving longer than those who were less optimistic or even pessimistic about their condition. Of course, it's only one such study, but a novel one at that.
Just burnt a Jeff Chang cd.
I have to clear my offs by the end of this month, so that my course will not be affected. The stupid course requires that I dig out my No. 4, sew the ranks and wear it for just 6 days before chucking it back to the storeroom again. Good thing there's a bus right to the front gate.
If there's a single person more bored than me now, I'll treat him or her to dinner tomorrow.
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AidanWu was here on 4:13 pm
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16.2.04
Had some relatives over for dinner on Sat, we were supposed to have ordered pizza from this Malay pizza restaurant at West Coast Entertainment center but apparently they don't do deliveries to 'far-flung' places like my place, although they deliver all the way to bb...so we had good old pizza hut. Chicken Supreme tastes better than curry chicken, which was pretty bland other than the curry powder.
The funny part was when we opened up this box of pineapple tarts, to find that it was wrapped in a plastic packet which says it contains almond cookies. Feeling rather cheated, we opened it up anyway and found to out delight it contained pineapple tarts ANYWAY. So I took the box cover and realised it was made in Malaysia. Johor. Okay, end of story, no unnecessary connotations.
Sunday went past in a breeze. Watched a bit of MTV asia awards. Michelle Branch is so not-slim! Haha, I wouldn't have been so unkind if she covered up a bit more. Even so she would still be 'pleasantly plump'. Ah, the power of euphemisms.
Anyway, I got rather pissed that I couldn't watch the whole of it. The community center downstairs was celebrating its tenth anniversary with a whole day of activites that ended with a grand dinner at night. And it was noisy. Of course, the turn out was poor in the day. Who in the right mind would spend the whole day in a cc where they normally would not even step into? As I was telling my mum, it was a perfect case study for someone studying how to spend extra money in the government's grassroots budget without donating it to needy charities.
Of course, I personally benefited from such cases of excess 'operations budget' in my unit. I only knew after someone told me that it's illegal to donate money meant for operations to charities. There're other 'funds' for charities, apparently. (Of course those are derived mainly from personnel donations, which means us anyway.) But back to the topic, OSC was trying to spend all its budget for fiscal year 2003 so that it won't be forfeited (and reduce budgets for 2004), and they did it in two ways:
1. the high tea which I mentioned that day, which was pretty good, but needless to say extravagant in my opinion
2. a stupid looking water fountain made of some cheapskate bricks designed to look high-class, but unfortunately passing off as a tomb near the entrance of the unit; the only thing it really does is to make pple feel the urge to pee, I doubt they even consulted a feng-shui master, 'cos it was placed right beside the power point cos the wire isn't long enough.
Today we had Western for lunch. But nowadays Western no longer has the aura it once held for my unit mates; sleep is more coveted now. We had so many new guys today, the place is going to be short of computers in the near future. But who cares, as long as I am there, I will use the comp that I've used since day one. NSmen or NSFs alike step back. Haha, possesive? Nah, it's the benefit of seniority.
And on that note, tomorrow's the first anniversary of my being at OSC, and I intend to celebrate it, like I told everyone else, by taking one day off. Lol.
Kinki Kids spins some pretty unusual tracks.
Tea count: 2.90
My tutee forgot his tuition fees again, but I was too polite to remind him about it. So I will wait again. Perhaps until he owes me two months in a row.
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AidanWu was here on 10:04 pm
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14.2.04
The 154 I took yesterday was almost involved in an accident. That was about as bad Friday the 13th got for me. Actually it was quite good, 'cos the mobile canteen came for the first time in months! Everyone was stunned when we heard the familiar honk of the van as it signalled its arrival, and the uncle sure did some brisk business.
And anyway, the Grand Dinner's on 31st because 31st is a Saturday and 21st is a Wednesday.
MSN messenger works on a selected few computers only, just like IRC last time. This was discovered by careful 'mapping' of the computers available for our use. Haha. And mine is one of them.
Happy Valentine's Day to all!
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AidanWu was here on 10:08 am
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12.2.04
Hmm, my cousin just flew off to down under for studies at Deakin University, she's doing biomedical science. Hope all goes well when she comes back in December. Her younger brother, in sec sch now, was so sad about it that he cried in his room yesterday, and today he skipped school to see her off, not before going out with her the whole day.
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AidanWu was here on 9:17 pm
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Just got Lucky 7's 'R&B' album and Kinki Kids' 'F' album yesterday. KK's music is a little alternative, so it sounded weird when I first heard it, but I am fast getting hooked on to it. Lucky 7 is a pretty average group I would say, though their youth and exuberance does shine through, with an average age of 19.
Hmm, just found out from my junior angel that the HC Dinner is on 31st July not 21st July as Mr. Chow, the Main Organiser, told us. Haha, must be some last minute change. I dunno why they would choose 31st over 21st, other than logistical reasons.
Went swimming yesterday. Wah, the pool was damn crowded. I wouldn't be surprised if a surveyor found a hundred people, mostly students from Regent Sec there for PE lessons, in the pool. Sian. But quite funny to see some of their reactions to wearing their pyjamas inside the pool for survival training for the first time.
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AidanWu was here on 9:35 am
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10.2.04
The sound system of the two new hi-fi sets in my office are pretty good - 1400W what to expect? Haha, blasting a Jeff Chang CD now. The CD belongs to a regular, but who cares lah. Just played the whole of my S.E.N.S CD. We were talking about how we used to support Jeff Chang when we were in primary school although he is deemed a sissy by many. I just said I didn't use to discriminate against sissies last time. Haha, suggestive hor.
Yesterday my brother stayed at home; all Hwa Chong students were studying from home. I think it's a pretty stupid system, 'cos he took so damn long to finish around ten questions for each subject, all because the school server was too slow to accommodate a thousand students logging on simultaneously. Which resulted in him being able to eat lunch after doing one question and waiting for the next one to load successfully. Haha. I think the whole school was camped online yesterday because of this. And the IT dept screwed up 'cos my brother managed to get zero marks for an answer which exactly fit the model answer given after the quiz. Bleah. Must be Mr. Loo and his expired computer software.
Was reading a paper from Nature Medicine yesterday: Genetic, cellular and immune approaches to disease therapy - Past and Future. Realised how much I don't know, so went to consult Campbell for the rest of the evening, of course while playing Utopia, Earth 2025, Simcity and Pinball. :D Sigh, must really keep on reading. Revised the organisation of DNA, read about gene families and immunoglobins among others. Pseudogenes (otherwise normal genes except without promoters to start off the transcription) are evidence for the transposition of tandemly repeated genes, like those that code for hameoglobin alpha and beta subunits which end up on two different chromosomes 11 and 16.
Hmm, heard from one of my ICs that I'll going for an admin supervisor course very soon. From 1-18 Mar I think. After that I'll become a 3rd sergeant quite soon. Heh heh. That's the first nice thing I've heard from her in a long while. I'm going to miss my brothers. Sigh, the course is at Khatib camp SMP, I don't like that place. Been there for a one day course once and I was almost bored to death. Can't imagine a 17-day course this time.
And my boss came back today after a 3-month-long hiatus! Haha, gave each of the NSFs a bookmark which someone said resembled human skin. Eew.
Valentine's day is coming. The angel - mortal game dictates the exchange of presents between the angel and the mortal, but my brother strangely seems unaware of this tradition. But anyhow, my mum was trying tp persuade me to follow her to IMM tomorrow in search of a suitable gift, as my bro is too busy to do it himself. Haha. Shall see the weather first.
Shucks, I can't log on to ICQ. Arrgh.
Hey I uploaded MSN messenger to yahoogroups, haha trying to see if I can get through this loophole in the security system to finally install MSN on my unit's computer!
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AidanWu was here on 8:56 pm
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8.2.04
The baby with two heads just passed away due to excessive blood loss. Sigh.
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AidanWu was here on 7:00 pm
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Reveal your Elvish name!
Haha, mine's 'Fingon of Nargothrond'. Doesn't sound very sei...'cos don't have those weird symbols on top. ^__^
My blog's 'Finrod Séregon' Haha not bad not bad..
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AidanWu was here on 11:58 am
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On duty now..............so sian. Listening to "Summer" from the Four Seasons Suite, the Chinese orchestra version.
Bought SimCity3000 on Thu at Popular. Haha nothing better to do so while away time by playing it lor. It's not that easy, just managed to create an almost self sufficient city yesterday.
Yesterday evening I watched this show on Channel U about a Da-mei and a Xiao-mei whose faces were changed by a magician using black magic and as a result, their destiny as well...seems quite a haunting start to the show, which is otherwise quite promising. The actress who acted as the Da-mei is actually the Third sister in the previous drama series at the same time slot at the weekends.
I've never liked faceless people, always had nightmares of them since young. In this show, a pretty face (Da-mei) was stolen by her 'good' ugly friend Xiao-mei when Da-mei was drunk. Which reminds me of the show Urban Legends, in which a lady was duped at a pub and woke up finding herself in a bathtub of ice, with a big wound (that was crudely stitched up) at her side. One of her kidney was stolen by organ smugglers. And the story wasn't over. The really gross part was when she tried to escape through the window when the perpetrators realised her attempt at escaping and promptly pulled her by the feet back into the room, but only halfway, leaving her head stuck outside. Then he slammed the broken window down on her neck, slicing her head totally off. *shivers*
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AidanWu was here on 11:31 am
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6.2.04
http://members.cox.net/donchin/WilliamHung.wmv
Haha..look at William Hung man! He bangs!
He even has a fan site.
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AidanWu was here on 2:20 pm
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3.2.04
Woah this is cool...just a few days ago someone discovered the 6th state of matter, and now this:
__________________________________________________
Scientists Create 2 New Elements
MoscowTimes/03Feb2004
By Oksana Yablokova
Staff Writer
Russian scientists said Monday that they have discovered two new "superheavy" elements that could one day be added to the far end of chemistry's periodic table of elements.
Just a few atoms of the newly created elements, 113 and 115, existed for split seconds after being created in a particle accelerator, said Mikhail Itkis, one of the lead scientists in the research. The two represent unusual forms of matter with properties that go well beyond those of the 92 elements that occur naturally on Earth.
"I know that several other laboratories across the world have been working on similar research. Well, we just happened to be more successful, " Itkis, who heads the Flerov laboratory of nuclear reactions at the Joint Institute of Nuclear Research, said by telephone Monday.
Scientists speculate that superheavies may be made in supernova explosions in stars, or that they were generated in the moments that the universe was born.
A practical application for the new elements in everyday life may never be found, but that does not discourage Itkis in the least.
"This is a question of fundamental physics, but the discovery might give a key to establish one theory that would explain the physical forces behind how the universe was created," Itkis said.
"Now that we are aware of some properties of superheavy elements, we can look for them, at how they occur," he said.
Together with scientist Yury Oganessyan, Itkis led a team of some 70 researchers on the project in the Moscow region town of Dubna, where the Flerov laboratory is located. They collaborated with the California-based Lawrence Livemore National Laboratory.
The team's findings are published in the current issue of Physical Review C, a publication of the American Physical Society that specializes in nuclear structure.
But it may take some time for the new superheavies to find a place on the periodic table.
"First, other scientists have to confirm the fact of the discovery by creating the elements in laboratories, if they can. If they cannot do so, we have to come up with an alternative way of synthesis," Itkis said.
Christopher Wesselborg, an associate editor at Physical Review C, said the work is solid because the researchers were able to create the elements and describe their physical properties, such as life spans.
"The chemical properties of these elements are totally unknown," Wesselborg said by telephone from Ridge, New York.
Yury Kolesnikov, a researcher with the Innovational and Thermonuclear Research Institute, called the creation of the two elements "a scientific breakthrough."
He said the fact that no practical application has been found for them does nothing to diminish their importance.
"Practical application is a question without an answer. But when uranium was discovered, no one could have guessed all they ways it would be applied," Kolesnikov said.
The first synthetic elements to be added to the periodic table -- neptunium and plutonium -- were discovered in 1940 and 1941, respectively.
__________________________________________________
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AidanWu was here on 2:22 pm
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2.2.04
Waiting for my tutee to arrive. Just had pancakes for dinner; now I can cook pancakes!
Watched the 12 girl band on TV just now, basically MediaCorp just ripped some tracks of their VCDs which are being sold all over Singapore now...
Yesterday's gathering was quite good after all, mainly because of the company. 5 senior guys turned up. I learnt how to play mahjong at the ripe old age of 19. Well, can't blame me 'cos no one in my family plays mahjong..realised it is quite simple, and what AW said: "that's why aunties can also play" made quite a bit of sense. But I don't think it's more fun than bridge or dai dee.
Shuhui's mother was very hospitable, even opened a bottle of red wine for us, which no one took, except Mark I think. Her nephews were very boisterous and made the whole house a jovial noise-box. Seems like most of the junior guys have caught on the 'must wear cap' syndrome.
Shucks, I am the parade commander tomorrow, what the heck. Which reminds me, Jason was organising a gathering at his place this Sunday, and I am on duty!! Now I have to miss a b'dae party and a mahjong gathering because of SAF.
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AidanWu was here on 7:23 pm
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1.2.04
Went swimming on Friday, the first time in months! I stopped swimming when I caught the flu in October, then since then the weather has been really bad, or I have been really busy. Anyway, saw a few familiar faces at the pool. The sun was finally up after a whole week of London weather, but was nothing spectacular too...as compared with yesterday's blazing sun..should have swum yesterday. Wasted. Anyway yesterday went running, damn hot! I was almost roasted when I reached home.
Went to Marina South for dinner with my parents. My brother was with HCCO having their reunion dinner nearby also. We took a screwed up bus with a screwed up driver. Never take 970! The route is super long and the driver happened to be that kind who eagerly awaits a red light, and hesitates to move off from a bus stop before a 3-second delay. It took a freaking one and a half hoursto travel from Bukit Panjang to Shenton Way! No wonder the bus wasn't very crowded despite it being a weekend, and evening time at that.
We took the bus from interchange to interchange, and it dropped us slightly away from the Monetary Authority of Singapore building. There was this quaint little mosque perched on top of a tiny hill. It's really beautiful. So it's called Mjd Haji Muhammed Sultan. There was only another Malay woman who got off at the interchange with us, and I presumed she was going to that mosque, but I was wrong. Well well.
Ate at the Dragon Village steamboat, where I ate last year too. There were so many totters trying to get us to eat at their side, I just told them we'll look around first. Actually I wonder if I offended any of them, 'cos after the first few I just daoed the rest.
Saw Watson there with his BMT friends.
There was this poor blind man selling tissue. Saw him on the bus later too, and the poor guy slammed his face into one of the bus pole while he was sitting down.
On the MRT home, suddenly this couple of Indian women started shouting and swearing at this Indian man who apparently was staring at her. They were really vicious, spitting saliva all over the place, even kena this PRC man who was quite pissed and shouted back at them. The women deserve to be mugged.
And now I am getting royally pissed by people who make a promise and then reneging on it the last minute. Today's the gathering at Shu Hui's house. I goodnaturedly reminded a few people about it and they gave me utterly lame excuses like "Oh I think I can't make it." "I slept at 4am last night." ---------------- There's no sincerity in attending in the first place, so don't make empty promises in the first place. So what's the host gonna do about the food that has been prepared? Da Bao and deliver to your house is it? Well, I ain't gonna cover up for them.
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AidanWu was here on 1:26 pm
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::Note::
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::taggy::
::current faves::
Jay Chou - Nocturne, Fa Ru Xue, Qi Li Xiang
Guang Liang - Shao Nian
Liang Jing Ru - Yong Qi
Gigi Leung - Dan Xiao Gui
Lin Jun Jie - Yi Qian Nian Yi Hou
Stephanie Sun - Ting Jian, Wo De Ai, Tong Lei
Li Sheng Jie - Yuan Zou Gao Fei
Liu Zhong Yi - Ji Ju Xie
Yanni - Almost a Whisper
::boredom killers::
latest craze:
Adventure Quest
previous crazes:
Fortress Game
Telescope Game
Meganic Wars
Text Twist
YetiSports Flamingo Drive - high score 3755
trustables:
Throw paper into the dustbin - high score 5025
Miniclip
Mofunzone
Addicting Games
Utopia
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