Profile: Karma Nidup

I was born... in the cowshed nearby a beautiful lake surrounded with thick broad-leaved forest. My late brave mother was alone and while in labour she saw star through the window and named me “Kam Mindu” – meaning Northern Star. Later, my Buddhist teacher changed it to Karma Nidup which means “blessing of the stars”.

At school I… was a bit hyperactive (unusual for a northern star)

My first relationship was... that was in high school. She dumped me after few days for a guy who was a singer in the school. It is okay because even I admire singers… No grudges!

Friends say I... don’t look like 35… Keep saying it folks.

If I wasn't me I'd like to be... a television journalist or radio jockey.

At the moment I'm reading... books on genetics – well, I have to.

My worst job was... so far I have no complaint.

At the moment I'm working... on genetic diversity of Bhutanese and Nepalese pigs

... which is interesting because... these animals will change my title from Mr to Dr –hopefully, fingers crossed!
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Flying pigs

Marijuana grows wild in Bhutan and only a few people, mostly poor subsistence farmers, take notice of it. But they don’t consume it- instead this wild weed is fed to the pigs to fatten them, keep them quiet at night, and restrain restless behavior during oestrous.

Perhaps this Himalayan Shangri-La Kingdom may be the only country where pigs do ‘fly’. My research involves unveiling the phylogenetics and phylogeography of these ‘flying pigs’ using FAO/ISAG-recommended microsatellite markers and partial sequences of mitochondrial DNA. My wishful thinking is that findings from this study could be useful for drawing up a program for strategic conservation and sustainable utilization of indigenous pig genetic resources in Bhutan.


By Karma Nidup
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Profile: Dr. Gary Muscatello

Dr. Gary Muscatello joined the Faculty of Veterinary Science at the University of Sydney in 2008. He completed his BVSc at the University of Melbourne in 1997, after three years in practice he returned to the University of Melbourne to undertake postgraduate studies completing a PhD in Veterinary Microbiology in 2005, investigating the effects of farm management on ecology of virulent Rhodococcus equi. His work in the field of R. equi epidemiology has raised many questions regarding the method of spread of virulent R. equi on horse studs, with results suggesting an alternative contagious route of aerosol transmission.

Gary gave us some insight into his background and passions with his answers to our profile questions:

I was born... into a large immigrant Italian family in the Western suburbs of Melbourne.

At school I... was an AFL superstar in the making...

My first relationship was... in kinder with a freckled face red haired girl who lived a block from me, we were friends through to year 12 ...

Friends say I... love a challenge and don’t mind putting in the hard yards ..

If I wasn't me I'd like to be... a sports journalist.

At the moment I'm reading... Finding Nino, A sea change in Italy by Marc Llewellyn (I started reading this book at Christmas and am still on the first chapter!!).

My worst job was... haven’t had one yet!!...

At the moment I'm working... on developing new units of study in the Animal and Veterinary bioscience degree ...

... which is interesting because... it gives me the opportunity to mould young scientific minds...
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Saving hundreds of foals and millions of dollars

My work on the horse lung disease called 'rattles’ could save hundreds of foals each year and the Thoroughbred industry millions of dollars.

Rattles in foal is a huge problem in the Thoroughbred industry in Australia and throughout the world with treatment and management costs alone estimated to be $5 million each year. Given that on some farms, foals that get rattles can have as low as a one in ten chance of survival and the potential million dollar price tags generated from the sale of one of these ‘well breed’ foals at yearling sales, it’s not hard to realise the significant cost of this disease on the horse breeding industry.

In my work I discovered that I could measure the microbe (virulent Rhodococcus equi) responsible for this disease in the dust on horse breeding farms. The concentration of the microbe in dust was associated with the prevalence of ‘rattles’ (i.e. high numbers of microbes = lots of rattly foals). I was also able to detect the microbe on the breath of foals that where sick, they could be seen to be breathing out the microbe and possible infecting their mob mates.



The ability to measure this microbe in the dust on farms and from the breath of foals has lead to farmers and veterinarians having a better understanding of when and where the microbe can be inhaled by the foal and cause disease. Farm managers are now better equipped to identify environmental and mob warning signs, such as dry and sandy pens and the crowding of large number of foals in small yards for a long time, that may lead to increase risk of ‘rattles’. The development of farm management strategies to reduce the impact of this disease will involve minimise the risk of foal being in danger of inhaling high concentration of the microbe. Watering paddocks, good grass coverage and making sure foals avoiding large crowds will no doubt lead to a huge reduction in the occurrence of this disease and in so slashing its economic impact.

By Dr. Gary Muscatello
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Profile: Professor John Prescott, University Professor at Large

Professor John Prescott gave a lunchtime seminar in the Faculty of Veterinary Science on Wednesday, September 10, 2008. His talk looked at public health and zoonoses, with several attention-grabbing examples from research carried out in Canada by the Centre for Public Health at Zoonoses at the University of Guelph. Professor Prescott is in Australia for a month. This profile was sprung on him when he was least expecting it, but the results were very interesting! Let's hope other visiting professors can keep up the standard...
I was born... in a British military hospital in Libya with an identical twin brother... (evil laugh)
At school I... had a very broad education. I went to thirteen schools before I was 12. Usually when a boy changes schools they get beaten up in the playground, but that doesn't happen when you've got a twin brother.
My first relationship was... gee, I've had so many I don't remember.
Friends say I am... interesting, amusing, intelligent, handsome, good-looking...
I'm very bad at... names. People should wear name tags on their foreheads.
If I wasn't me I'd like to be... a Golden Eagle.
At the moment I'm reading... A Dance To The Music of Time, by Anthony Powell. This book was recommended by Bob Carr (Ed: recommendation is in My Reading Life: Adventures in the World of Books) as one of the best English language books in existence. It is catastrophically funny.
My worst job was... bagging barley on a back of a 3' wide combine harvester.
At the moment I'm working... in Australia on trying to improve my bacteriology teaching.
...which is interesting because... I've got quite a few new ideas.
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LHC to go off with a Big Bang

Somewhere in Europe, 100 metres underground, sits a supercooled, superbig science experiment ready to recreate the early moments of the Big Bang. No, it’s not the pet project of an evil genius intent on destroying the world- it’s the world’s largest particle accelerator, set to switch on in a few hours.

It’s known as the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), a £2.6 billion, 27 kilometre tunnel loop, constructed underground at CERN on the border between Switzerland and France. Inside the vacuum of the LHC, streams of protons, steered by thousands of magnets, will make the 90 microsecond trip around the loop before being smashed together head-on. Four detectors situated in enormous underground caverns around the ring will record the results.

Physicists hope that collisions between the proton beams will produce new particles such as the elusive Higgs boson, which can explain why all other particles have mass. The data should help us to understand what is the universe is made of and how it was created in the first place- Big Questions indeed!
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Profile: Kao "no middle name" Castle

I was born... in Townsville in the 70's. My parents lived on Magnetic Island (where compasses don't work properly!).
At school I... got comments on my strange sense of humour in every report card (including kindergarten), and didn't pay much attention to my teachers.
My first relationship was... with Sam in preschool, when I tried to convince him I could fly.
Friends say I... am good at remembering birthdays. They must not know about automated reminders from electronic diaries!
If I wasn't me I'd like to be... my dog, Miles, who gets to sleep for 22 hours a day.
At the moment I'm reading... I'm not actually reading any books, but I like to check salon.com, theonion.com and I love themonthly.com.au.
My worst job was... temping for a security company. One client stopped paying their bills when their security system was stolen along with all of their posessions, and the security company didn't notice.
At the moment I'm working on... a bone growth disorder called osteochondrosis in Thoroughbred racehorses.
... which is interesting because... individual animals can be worth so much, and the breed as a whole is very healthy.
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Science Fashion Tragedies Part I: The Lab Coat

Why is lab wear white, baggy, and supremely unflattering?

I suspect it's not the fashion sense of your standard science student at fault in this situation. Instead, I'm placing the blame fair on the shoulders of lab coat manufacturers. What lack of imagination on their part blinds them to the obvious need for an Evil Genius Lab Coat, or simply the Power Lab Coat (discrete shoulder pads and high collar) for those moments when we need to come across as supremely knowledgeable?

And the colour? Why white? It's black that is slimming! Australia is currently topping the charts when it comes to the proportion of obese people in our population, so a lab coat that doesn't scream "giant white whale" would seem like a sensible proposition.

Lab coats are there to protect our skin and clothes from chance exposure to chemicals and biological fluids when we get a bit too excited with the pipette. Theoretically, you need to be able to tear the coat off when sprinting for the emergency shower after you just covered yourself with acid. But this requirement doesn't seem like much of a barrier to lab coat diversity: thanks to the miracle of press-studs (or velcro for those that are after that hypercolor 80s inspired lab coat!) we could all be stylish and safe. Personally, I think I'd opt for a classic trench-coat inspired design, feminine and flattering, that would look good with the covered shoes (to be addressed later) that are also required for lab safety.

Lab-wear manufacturers, if you think that there is not enough demand for stylish lab wear to make this work, you're wrong. If someone can make money from ties with the periodic table on them, just imagine how much you'd make from stylish lab coats... a gift that scientists would actually like to receive!

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Platypuses- Dangerous when wet!

When you think of a platypus, what words come to mind? I’m thinking ‘cute’, I’m thinking ‘cuddly’, I’m thinking ‘perfect pet for my toddler/niece/nephew if only they would change those darn protected species laws’. If you thought any of those things, well, think again. I’m here to tell you that the platypus has a sting in its tail.

By now you know that male platypuses have poisonous spurs on each hind leg, which they use to inject venom into victims. Envenomation occurs when the platypus wraps both hind legs around the victim, driving the spurs into the flesh several times, and injecting venom as he does so. Unfortunate humans often need help to disengage an attacking platypus, as it is able to support its full weight by its spurs. There is even a story of one eminent platypus biologist who, when trying to untangle an angry male animal from a net, ended up with the platypus hanging from either side of his trouser fly (luckily he was wearing thick trousers and wasn’t hurt!).

I say lucky because although envenomation of humans has never reported to have been fatal, the venom produces swelling and excruciating pain- and morphine is mostly ineffective at pain relief. One victim, who had previously served in the Vietnam War, described the pain of platypus envenomation as worse than his shrapnel injuries, and it lasted for several weeks. Nausea, gastric pain, cold sweats and lymph node swelling all come with the territory too.

Yeah, yeah, you say, so they’re venomous, but they’re not all that scary. I beg to differ- have a listen to the bone-chilling growl of an angry platypus here.
So, in summary: Platypuses- get them before they get you!
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Why are we blogging?

Both Camilla and Kao have entered essays in the Wellcome Trust New Scientist Essay competition. Unfortunately, neither of them received quite the award they deserved, and as a result they have been driven to publish their wonderful essays themselves.

Since they needed a website to publish these essays on, they're going all the way and publishing other things too: articles on science news, interviews with interesting scientists, profiles of the other students and academics that they work with, and horoscopes. But first of all, and most important, our (tragically non-award winning) essays are posted below.
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