Why is science important?

Came across this site debating why science is important. Ever been asked by a child, teenager, anyone really, about why anyone should bother with studying science, why science should be funded etc? You may find your answer here...

I quite like this answer...

Achoo!

Booked myself into the allergy clinic to look into getting desensitised to dust and maybe one of my other allergies (pollen or mould), as quite frankly, I'm getting sick of the asthma/eczema/hayfever that they cause me. Especially when I visit family and stay in dust-ridden spare beds, but it affects me almost on a daily basis. I also wanted to talk about getting E-chan tested soon, just in case he has some allergies.

So there we were in the waiting room, which I must say has the coolest toys ever, and a Paediatrician there, who had a spare appointment, took one look at E-chan and said "I want to see him!" (he has a rash around his mouth). So we changed course a bit, and talked about us both. After my appointment, E-chan got tested for allergies. At his age, environmental allergens are only just developing as their bodies get exposed to them increasingly, but food allergies are possible. Given both his dad and mum has allergies, he had a 50-80% chance of having allergies, poor sod. And he does.

To eggwhite (no suprise there, he's had some exposure, and I ate it while breastfeeding), cashews (I gulped a lot in the middle of the night when ravenous whilst breastfeeding), so again, no suprise but the shock allergy was: SESAME!!!

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

This means he will have to be raised without hommous (one of my 6 food groups) and tahini!! I guess I must have wolfed down more sesame than I realised whilst breastfeeding.

Next week, I'll ask about the likelihood that he'll grow out of these with time. The good news it that he isn't allergic to fish, milk, or soy, and due to not being fed nuts, he has no other nut allergies. And the other good news is that we know he's had egg and hommous recently, and there was no extreme reaction (e.g. anaphylaxis). But avoiding them will help keep him clear of eczema. Along with avoiding tomato, broccoli, mushroom, avocado and other things that bother me, as it's likely he has the same intolerance to salicylates.

But for me, there will be 15 weeks or so of weekly allergen injections, followed by monthly maintenance doses for a year or so. Probably followed by allergy-free bliss. It worked for my Dad, and countless others. Oooh, and Seagreen - they reckon my so-called cat & dog allergy is probably just my dust allergy - they told me to think of cats in particular, being indoor creatures, as "big dustballs"!! (NB This says nothing of the past cleanliness of your house - I've reacted to every cat I've been near since I was about 3).

all thumbs

The last few days has been like a slapstick Laurel and Hardy skit. Or Laurel, without Hardy. E.g. hang up the towell after shower. Towell falls to ground immediately. Pick towell up and put it back, towell falls down AGAIN!! Pick towell up, put it back and hold it there... hold... hold... and it finally stays. Put something in bin, swinging bin top swings straight back and pushes rubbish back out.

Does anyone else feel like a bit of a clutz when they get their periods? (This is, I might add, my first one in over a year, and I have not missed them one bit).

Calling for theories on an evolutionary principle...

OK - getting a bit more intellectual now.

I have a question to throw out there. If you believe in intelligent design or creationism, go away - this won't interest you.

Being pregnant brings about lots of bodily changes. For example: breasts get larger; nipples start to change shape a bit and practice making milk (ie start to leak colustrum - the pre-milk that is produced before the baby's sucking action "turns on" the actual production of breast milk). The biological reason for these things are obvious.

Another interesting change is that if your nipples are pale or skin coloured, they are likely to get some darker pigment in them and become more defined visibly. It is thought that this helps baby to find nipples in poor light! How cool! As Seagreen put it, it's like flowers evolving bright colours or dots leading to the nectar and pollen, to attract birds and pollinating insects.

One thing that's got me a bit curious though - what is the purpose of women having hair on their nipples? I haven't got any more or less than I always had since being pregnant. But I do wonder what they are doing there? This is one of those mildly awkward questions that I never ask other women, but often wonder. Kind of like discussing bikini waxing. I know men have nipple hairs, and that chest hair growth for them usually starts around the nipple (I used to swim in a squad as a teenager and therefore saw many boys go through puberty...). But women have generally evolved to have less hair. Do you think that:

a) nipple hair on women is a vestigial trait that will probably eventually disappear from the female gene pool along with chin and upper lip hair?
b) it has some biological function, such as providing friction for baby when feeding?
c) you have a freaky mind - just let it go? or
d) other?

Curious to hear what you think.