Random Helpful Science Facts

As you may know I have recently graduated with a bachelor's degree in biology with a minor in psychology.  Sweet, right?  Well... the "real world" isn't all it's cracked up to be.  My performance on the GRE's (Graduate Record Examinations... ugh) reached an entirely new level of embarrassing.  I'm sorry that I don't know a billion useless vocabulary words and their equally numerous useless antonyms.  I don't know about you, but I see myself as a pretty smart (perhaps intelligent, even?) girl and I have to admit I will never understand the use of mass standardized tests as a means of measuring intelligence.  This test puts a number to my name.  If my number isn't higher than most other peoples' numbers, then I lose.  Well... let's just say I lost.  Anyway, that whole ramble came about because I am now perusing the internets for a job... or as I like to informally say.. a yob.  A yob is different than a job, in my own personal definition, because a job is just something you do for a little bit of money here and there and you don't really care all that much about it in the long run.  A job really doesn't help you attain any higher goals other than maybe buying that new PS3 game or replacing your makeup collection.  A yob, however, is more on the line of a career but is instead still considered a temporary position because it is more like a stepping stone into a certain career path.  I see a yob as something you need to gain experience to be able to get an actual career.  A yob may also, on occasion, allow you to continue your education while partaking in the yob and the yob may even pay for some of that education. (Gasp!)  Anyway, I want a yob.

Who's hiring?

In my perusal of the internet for sciencey-like yobs and other related sciencey-like things, I stumbled upon (not literally, though I do love that website) my new favorite news site:

Medical News Today!

This is like a science geek GOLDMINE.  How have I never seen this before?  Where has this site been all my life?  I CAN'T BELIEVE I'VE BEEN MISSING OUT FOR SO LONG.  Ahem... anyway... as I was reading through some articles at twice the speed of light I made a mental note of some things I would like to bring to your attention.  (This is, of course, only due to the fact that I got tired of looking for yobs and decided to entertain my brain with some hopefully helpful science facts.)

1.  If you sleep 6 hours or less (on average) every night, you have a 50% increased chance of getting colon cancer than people who sleep at least 7 hours a night. (That's without mention of the increased risk of obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and of course.. death.)

2.   If you have serious, treatable, chronic migraines, you should have surgery!  That's right... 90% of patients showed at least a partial pain relief even 5 years after the surgery.  If you're interested, here's the article.

3.  The way your DNA is wound up and tightly compressed into chromosomes in the nuclei of your cells has helped determine a certain chemical signal that triggers some forms of cancer.

4.  On many occasions the first time people know they have heart disease is when it takes their life.  There will soon be a diagnostic bio-nanochip that can be implanted in or near your heart to detect and diagnose early sings of heart disease.

5.  Babies who are diagnosed with spina bifida and have corrective surgery in the womb (yeah! seriously.) have fewer complications than those who have surgery after they are born.  Awesome!  The eight year trial period stopped early because of such positive results.

Good news in the science community.  Now to find that yob...