Science Buzz Malaysia to conduct research with Mulu National Park Sarawak

In this world, one can chose to be a pessimist or an optimist.

A pessimist who looks on the negative sides of situations, expecting the worst to happen, often predicts gloomy scenarios that would lead to the end of our world.

The two most commonly cited dark predictions include thinning of ozone layer resulting in global warming and energy shortage due to the depletion of fuels such as oil, uranium or coal. More recently, food shortage due to shortage of phosphorus has also made the list. Peak phosphorus is said to be our next global crisis!

Peak phosphorus is the point and time when the world has reached its maximum production of phosphorus. This is estimated to be in 2030. If we continue to mine phosphorus at this rate, we would have extracted the entire Earth`s phosphorus reserves in 50 to 100 years. There are no alternatives to phosphorus because we cannot produce phosphorus by synthetic ways. Without new sources for high quality phosphorus to mine, agriculture will face major problems.

Phosphorus is a major component in fertilizer.

More than 90 percent of the phosphorus we use goes to make fertilizer, where it is usually mixed with nitrogen and potassium. Our modern agriculture is heavily dependent on fertilizer. In the last century, major improvements in the crop yields and food productions throughout the world were due to fertilizers.

Estimates say that for every pound of fertilizer, we produce 10 pounds of cereal grains. Rice yields, for instance, can decline as much as 20 percent if no phosphorus is added to the fields. A fertilizer is useless without phosphorus. Without oil, uranium, or coal we’ll be short of energy, which is bad enough. But without phosphorus we’ll have nothing to eat because we cannot meet our demands for food through agriculture. Two thirds of the world`s population will starve without phosphorus.

We also need phosphorus to produce things we use in our daily lives. It is found in everything from matches to Coca-Cola drinks. In the plant kingdom, this natural element plays an important role in leaf growth, crop yield, disease resistance, and overall maturity and health of the plant. Key functions in our cell metabolisms use phosphorus extensively. In our body, phosphorus is a key component of DNA and cell membranes. It also plays an essential role in bone formation.

Morocco, China, South Africa, Jordan, and the United States. The supplies are declining rapidly. Worldwide, phosphorus reserves stand at 16 billion. With about 160 million tons of annual production, the reserves are enough for 100 years. . But the effects of phosphorus shortage will be felt long before the last phosphorus atom is extracted from the last mine. In less than 30 years, agricultural demand globally would start to suffer when demands simply cannot meet supply. Our dwindling supply of phosphorus would disrupt food security across the planet, threatening the gravest natural resource shortage in the history of humankind.

There are things we can do to avoid the dark scenario of peak phosphorus crisis. Firstly, dramatic reduction in our demand for phosphate rock can be done by eliminating our wasteful agricultural practices. Efforts to prevent soil erosion must be made to reduce run-off of phosphorus into lakes and oceans. Fortunately, even phosphorus that has accumulated in the sediments of lakes and oceans can be used over and over, unlike fossil fuels. So mining of phosphorus trapped in sediments can prove feasible in future.

To further reduce fertilizer run-off, we can start practicing no-till farming. This is a way of growing crops from year to year without disturbing the soil through tillage. Terracing and till-farming can reduce soil erosion significantly. So, the amount of fertilizer that washes away is much reduced, requiring less fertilizer in the fields. We can also use other animal by-products and manure as fertilizers. Even human wastes or sewage sludge can be good candidates for fertilizers. Urine is another excellent source of phosphorus.

An optimist tends to see the glass as `half full` instead of `half empty`.

Optimists believe there’s still plenty of phosphate rocks available, as much as ten times the amount we can profitably extract using today’s technology.

The price of phosphorus keeps rising and this will make it worthwhile for scientist to invent new methods to extract phosphorus from the ground. Once that happens, we should be set for centuries more.

There are many bleak scenarios that have been painted to occur in the future. Some are certain to happen and will almost certainly end humanity. But most of these predictions will only happen on a very long timescale. Others are likely to happen on a shorter timescale, but will probably not completely destroy civilization. Still others are extremely unlikely, and may even be impossible.

SPS is not a new phenomenon. Cases of men claiming that their genitals had disappeared have been documented in European manual of Witchcraft investigations since the 15th century.

At the time , the belief was that the private parts were being “hidden by the devil `¦ so that they can be neither seen nor felt.” They were said to have reappeared after the men had appeased the witches responsible. At least three publications of the 1880s, from U.S., Russia and England, reported genital retraction pathology. In China, SPS were first noticed in a French report in 1908. But SPS was included in clinical books of western medicine in 1936 and in diagnostic psychiatry in the 1950s.

This condition is primarily reported in China and many parts of Southeast Asia. SPS is also found among oversea Chinese in Southeast Asia, especially in Malaysia and Indonesia. Less frequently, the episodes also occur among the Malays and Indonesian people. It has also been reported in India and Thailand. Sporadic cases have been reported across the globe, including Nepal, Sudan, Jordan, Tanzania, Nigerian and the western nations France, United Kingdom, USA and Canada.

When it struck, SPS usually affected many people. It occurred in epidemic proportion. There were a series of epidemic outbursts in China since 1948. The 1984–1985 epidemics lasted for over a year and affected over 3,000 persons in 16 cities and counties. Closer to home, in 1967, an SPS epidemic struck Singapore for about ten days.

It was initially reported that some people developed SPS after eating pork of pigs inoculated with anti-swine flu vaccine. This was rumoured after reports saying pigs inoculated with swine flu vaccine had died from penile retraction.

A total of 97 people was admitted in a single hospital unit within one day, after only five days of the original news report. In November 1976, an epidemic broke out in Northern Thailand involving 350 cases of SPS.

It was started by a media report claiming a hideous enemy assault on Thai people caused by poisoning from Vietnamese food and tobacco. In 1982, large-scale epidemics occurred in Thailand and Northern India.

Since late 1996, small-scale epidemics of SPS were reported in West African nations including Nigeria, Cameroon, Ghana, Cote d Ivoire and Senegal. In these countries, victims experienced “genital theft” as they accused someone with “stealing” their private parts to make them impotence. In Cotonou, Benin, mobs attacked individuals accused of penis theft causing deaths of five people.

By March 1996, the SPS had spread to the neighboring Ivory Coast. Over a period of four days, seven men accused of being sorcerers were beaten to death in separate incidents in Abidjan, the capital.

The Ivory Coast’s interior minister appeared on television and made an appeal for calm, insisting that the problem existed only in the minds of the “victims.” The police in the Ivory Coast and Ghana dismissed the events as a ploy by thieves seeking to rob people in the frightened mobs.

The only thing more bizarre than reality is what the mind perceives as real.

That certainly seems to be the case in the penis-shrinking scare that hit West Africa recently. Last January 2010, a dozen people in Ghana were beaten to death by mobs who accused them of making their penises shrink or vanish through witchcraft. The victims claimed their penises had shrunk or vanished after being touched by, or shaking hands with, a sorcerer. The sorcerers had demanded money in return for a cure. But according to news reports, the police later examined all of the alleged victims and found their genitals intact.

In western medical term, this fear of disappearing penis is known to psychologists as Koro. It occurs when a person has an overpowering belief that one`s private part or genitalia is shrinking and ultimately disappearing into the body. During such epidemics, groups of people showed overwhelming anxiety that their penises were shrinking and receding into their bodies.

In females, the vulva and nipples were believed to be contracting and shrinking. Medically speaking, Koro is a psychiatric disorder. It is a form of anxiety neurosis that may have been drug-induced or related to central nervous system(CNS). Psychosexual conflicts, personality factors, and cultural beliefs are considered as contributors to Koro. Several predisposing sexual factors have been suggested that can make a person more likely to suffer from Koro. They include gruesome sexual fantasy, sexual inadequacy, sexual promiscuity, guilt over masturbation and impotence.

Each SPS episode normally lasts for as briefly as several hours to several days. In China and Asian countries, it is believed that sufferers will either die or experience a sex change to female.

They are thought to have been possessed by spirits or bewitched.

Driven by desperation, victims and family members may resort to physical means of preventing the contraction or shrinking of the penis from happening.

Manual or mechanical penile traction is sometimes performed by Anchoring a loop of string or some clamping device to the penis. Frantic, a woman would clench her own breast, hopelessly pulling her nipple, or even inserting iron pins into her nipple. These reckless attempts often lead to injuries, even death.

No actual instances of penis shrinkage or retraction have ever been reported. Injury or damage to the penis or other genitalia occurs as a result of desperate and reckless attempts at preventing retraction. Treatment in the western world involves psychotherapeutic treatment. But in China, treatment is based on the cultural beliefs. Praying to gods and performing exorcism by priests is common.

Tattoo comes from a Tahitian word `tattau` which means `to mark` and was first mentioned in the voyage records of James Cook from his 1769 expedition to the South Pacific. But tattoos were also found on Egyptian and Nubian mummies that date back to about 2000 B.C. The practice may be ancient but how tattoos are made have seen new techniques and sophistication in recent years.

Artists create tattoos by injecting ink into a person’s skin using an electrically powered tattoo machine.

Resembling that of a dental drill, the machine moves a solid needle up and down to puncture the skin between 50 and 3,000 times per minute. The needle penetrates the skin by about a millimeter deep and deposits a drop of insoluble ink into the skin with each puncture.

Through the epidermis, the topmost layer of the skin, the ink gets deposited in the dermis, which is the second layer of the skin. The artists make certain that the ink does not end up in the epidermis because this layer of our skin is constantly shed off and replaced about every 27 days. Epidermis is actually made up of 4 to 5 layers of cells. As new skin cells are synthesized in the deepest layer, they become crowded and forced upward to the next layer.

Moving up through each higher layer, these cells are being constantly pushed and pressed that they end up flattened by the time they reach the topmost layer. Here, the skin cells eventually die and shed off our body. The cells of the dermis are far more stable than the cells of the epidermis. So if the tattoo is to last for a person’s entire life, the ink must end up in the dermis layer that does not shed off like the epidermis.

Since any puncture wound has the potential for infection and disease transmission, safety of tattoo making is a real issue. Tattoo artists use sterilization, disposable materials and hand sanitation to protect themselves and their clients. Regardless, tattoo making involve needles and blood and hence tends to carry several risks. These include transmission of diseases like hepatitis, tuberculosis and possibly HIV.

To date, there has never been a documented case of HIV transmission from a tattoo.

However, non-sterile tattooing practices can lead to the transmission of syphilis, hepatitis B and other infectious organisms. New tattoos especially without appropriate care can attract infections by contaminating bacteria and viruses. Some people also experience allergic reactions to tattoo ink which is yet to become a regulated item.

When Mom said you’d one day regret getting a tattoo, you didn’t believe her. Now a mere five years later, that multicolored rose with her name in italics across a small red heart on your arm -you just can’t stand it anymore. She was history and you’re now in a new relationship. You’re also given a shot at a terrific executive job and would love to don your gorgeous sleeveless dress for the interview. But you are concerned that your symbol of youthful self-expression could create issues with the interview board. You’d give anything to get that tattoo removed.

Well, you’re not alone. Estimates put it that about 50 percent of those who get tattoos later regret them frequently because they include a person’s name. Sound familiar? You’re in luck because tattoos can be removed by a number of ways. Laser treatment is today by far the most popular technique for tattoo removal. With lasers, tattoos can also be fully or partially removed and typically, black inks can be removed more completely. Before lasers became popular for tattoo removal, often painful methods are employed and involve scar-inducing surgeries. Pre-laser tattoo removal methods include dermabrasion, where skin is “sanded” to remove the surface and middle layers; cryosurgery, where the area is frozen prior to its removal and excision, where the surgeon removes the tattoo with a scalpel and closes the wound with stitches. In some cases involving large tattoos, a skin graft from another part of the body may be necessary.

The word ‘Laser’ is an abbreviated form for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. It removes tattoo with its continuous-wave capable of breaking up ink pigments non-invasively under the epidermis with hardly any pain at all. It offers a bloodless, low risk, effective alternative to the painful procedures used to remove tattoos prior to the 1980s. Each laser treatment is done on an outpatient basis in a single or series of visits and patients very rarely require topical or local anesthesia.

Since the 1960s, lasers had been developed for a variety of industrial uses. It emits wavelengths of light in short flashes called pulses that can be used on living tissues in many medical applications without scarring. Lasers can effectively remove tattoos that have been made using black or dark blue ink. Tattoos with colored pigments such as green and yellow is the hardest to remove.

A specifically developed technique called Q-switching uses three short, high-energy laser pulses to remove tattoos. When these short pulses of intense light are directed onto the tattoo and pass through the top layers of the skin, they are selectively absorbed by the tattoo pigments. The laser energy causes the tattoo pigment to break up into smaller particles which are then removed by the body’s immune system. The procedure uses specific wavelengths of light at optimum energy output so that only the tattoo pigments are targeted and cause no damage the normal skin cells. Because black pigment absorbs all laser wavelengths, it’s the easiest to remove. Other colors, such as green, selectively absorb laser light and can only be treated by selected lasers based on the pigment color. The impact of the energy from the laser’s powerful pulse of light has been described as similar to getting hot specks of sparks on your skin while playing with fire sprinklers.