Hari Darwin 2015 by Pac Kun

This article is written by Pac Kun and is taken from his blog: http://pacuniverse.blogspot.com/2015/02/hari-darwin-2015.html

(Darwin my man. Great scientists and a naturalist. )

Hari yang paling aku tunggu2 dalam bulan ni adalah Hari Darwin. Bagi aku, Darwin adalah salah satu dari hero aku. Begitu juga dengan Nikola Tesla, Einstein dan ramai lagi saintis dari masa dulu. Nama penuh beliau adalah Charles Robert Darwin. Bapanya bernama Robert Waring Darwin. Dalam mendekati sains dari asas ke big bang, cosmologi, fizik (sikit sikit la), quantum mekanik, string theory, multiverse theory (masih hipotesis) aku terjumpa satu topik yang menarik ia berkenaan asal usul, teras biologi, evolution. 

Sebenarnya Hari Darwin tu disambut di seluruh dunia pada 12/2/2015. Tapi Hari Darwin tak dapat cuti sehari, well it's not a holiday, well ia macam hari penghargaan macam tu la, so semua orang bekerja hari Khamis dan Jumaat macam biasa. Terpaksa la benda tu dibawa ke hari Sabtu di Pusat Sains Negara.

Ini first time aku pergi sini. Tapi aku terdatang lambat pulak. Kira ada 30 minit tertinggal tayangan filem Inherit The Wind di Makmal Watson-Crick.

(Watching inherit the wind ♡)

Tapi memang boleh tahan cerita itu. Nampak sangat jelas2 pendidikan di US menolak teori evolusi didalam biologi pada mata pelajaran sains di masa lampau. Semua ajaran yang boleh dipercayai adalah melalui the Bible. Sains tadak. Habis tayang masing2 tepuk tangan. Haha! Cerita tu memang awesome. Memang tepat pilihan Pepper! Lepas tu Pepper cakap kuat2 kat semua orang yang Pac Kun nak take group photo. Alamak! Terkial2 aku pasang tripod. Alamak! Masing2 tengah menunggu.

 

(Yang kat sebelah aku tu Sam. Co founder APOSL. Baris ke 2 yang aku kenal Ecah, Ken dan Mike. Baris ke 3 yg aku kenal Yat, adik ken, amoi Sabah cosplay, amoi putih gile, Pepper, doktor pakar kulit, Hafiz dan Terence.)

Lepas buat test shot 10 saat, then we have a go with full member shot! Hah! See that?? 10 orang Melayu ada dalam group yang hadir (ini bukan semua jumlah ahli). T^T !!!! Aku sangat terharu. Akhirnya jumpa jugak dengan orang yang sama fahaman tentang sains dan evolusi serta. Mula2 aku agak pandang rendah bagi 1-2 orang ahli tu... tapi aku buat silap. Aku mintak maaf lepas kenal dia orang. Sorry~~~ I was wrong and I feel ashamed of myself. Dan dapat juga berjumpa ahli lain dan baru. Separuh dari dia orang aku kenal. Separuh lagi tak kenal.

 

(Permandangan kat luat psn. Terus aku pasang tripod kat sini.)

Ada yang datang dari berbagai background. Ada yang baru kenal APOSL.

Then we go outside the lab and drink coffee and biscuits. It was fun. Ingatkan dah habis dah lepas tu. Tapi Pepper ajak kita orang lepak sampai habis waktu. So aku okay. Jom pergi McD Bangsar. Perbualan topik masa dalam kereta adalah yang terbaik. Sesungguhnya mereka adalah my people. Lepas itu disambung dekat McD.

Kami bual sampai malam non stop tentang sains, falsafah, theologi dan politik semasa. Sangat suka dengan dengan perbualan macam ni. Nampak kami macam hero dekat McD masa tu. Orang lain banyak pasang telinga. Yes!

(oh yeah~~)

Lepas pukul 10 malam, kami bersurai. Penuh rasa puas hati, rasa beruntung, dan hidup semula. Terima kasih Pepper dan Sam sebab sudi jayakan perjumpaan group APOSL atas nama Darwin. It's great stuff and we want more!!

Hari Rosalind Franklin & APOSL Birthday 2015

Rosalind Franklin was a scientist who broke the secret of the double helix but her great achievement was stolen from her at a time when women were seen as nothing more than assistants to male scientists.

Born 25 July 1920, APOSL celebrates her birthday together with ours.

Saturday, 4July 2015
B6 Seminar Room, Division of Genetics and Molecular Biology, University Malaya

RSVP here: https://www.facebook.com/events/357776544406695/?ref=4

Measles: A Deadly Disease With No Cure (An Open Letter To Parents)

Measles: A Deadly Disease With No Cure

An open letter to parents

6 February 2015

Dear Parents In Malaysia,

RE: MEASLES: A DEADLY DISEASE WITH NO CURE

In light of the recent measles outbreak in the USA, allegedly spread from Disneyland, the APOSL Science Club encourages every Malaysian parent to insist on measles vaccination for themselves and their children. It is free for all new born babies in our country but for those who missed that chance, you can ask your trusted doctor about it.

Measles is one of the most infectious diseases known to mankind. It is airborne and a “carrier” who is seemingly healthy can easily spread it while walking in public spaces such as shopping centres through coughing and sneezing. At Disneyland, 59 people contracted the disease. Before global immunisation, an estimated 2.6 million people died from measles a year.

There is no cure for measles but it is highly preventable through vaccination. Measles is more than just red spots on your body. While it is usually harmless, some patients could develop complications which could lead to subacute sclerosing pan-encephalitis (SSPE) and even death. Children and the elderly are two groups of people most at risk.

The best defence against measles is prevention by way of immunisation through vaccination.

Immunisation has been proven safe for decades despite unproven allegations from the anti-vaccine movement. We request parents to be more informed about vaccination and not succumb to fear mondering by certain parties. Please listen to your doctor who approves of vaccination to protect your loved ones.

Read more at: http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/measles/basics/definition/con-20019675

On behalf of the APOSL science club,

Pepper Lim

Dr Chow Su Lin, Paediatrician

Dr Kok Sen Wai, Psychiatric MO.

Dr Alistair Furze, Ph.D Life Sciences

Dr Norliana Khairuddin, Senior Lecturer, Universiti Malaya

PS. Andrew Wakefield who started the controversy of linking MMR vaccines to autism was convicted of falsifying his research and has been barred from practising medicine.

Update: MalayMail Online published it here: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/what-you-think/article/measles-a-deadly-disease-with-no-cure-aposl-science-club

Hari Darwin 14.2.15

Pusat Sains Negara
Bilik Watson.

Click for more info: https://www.facebook.com/events/371360799709911/

APOSL Survey 3.0 (Video and results)

We put forth the statements below to Malaysians and recorded their reply only as TRUE, FALSE or DON’T KNOW:
1. Human has never been to the moon
2. You can get AIDS by hugging someone with AIDS
3. Vaccination causes autism
4. Science brings more harm than benefit to humanity
5. *Shark's fin has the same nutrition as your fingernails

This survey was carried via 2 methods; on the streets where we approach them personally and online.

Information for the street survey
Time : 10am to 4pm
Date : 25 January 2015
Location : KL Sentral, Central Market and Masjid Jamek
Method : Be nice, smile and approach random people and ask for their reply on selected statements.
Total respondents : 166

Information for the online survey
Date : 24 to 31 January 2015
Method : 3 sets of Google Forms in 3 languages namely; English, Malay and Chinese, were shared out online. The downside for this method is that we can’t really be sure if the respondents are Malaysians

Total respondents breakdown by language:
English - 67 Respondents
Malay - 118 Respondents
Chinese - 8 Respondents
Total - 193 online respondents

Total samples collected is 359

Sample size, Margin of Error and Confidence Level
a. http://www.robertniles.com/stats/marg...
b. https://www.checkmarket.com/market-re...
c. https://www.surveymonkey.com/blog/en/...

In reference to the websites above and the sample size of 359, the margin of error is 5.3% at the confidence level of 95%

I acknowledged the above calculation is very simplistic and that there are proper methods and mathematics involved that only professional statisticians are able to do.

*Typo error
Mistakes were made during language translation that resulted into 2 versions of statement number 5 as such:

In the English and Malay online survey, the statement is as such:
“Shark's fin has THE SAME nutrition as your fingernails”
It has 185 respondents, making the margin of error 7.35% for a confidence level of 95%

In the Chinese online and Street Survey, the statement reads:
“Shark's fin has MORE nutrition as your fingernails” (174 respondents)
It has 174 respondents, making the margin of error 7.58% for a confidence level of 95%

Both the above statements are different and we shall treat the results as separate.

Demographics
For each of the respondents, we also recorded their age group as such:
a. 13-20
b. 21-30
c. 31-40
d. 41 and above

We also recorded their ethnicity as such:
a. Malay
b. Chinese
c. Indian
d. Others

We admit the ethnic category might create discontentment from the public who might see us as being racist. We understood the risk of being labelled as such. However, after much deliberation on the objectives some of the statements are trying to achieve, we went ahead. We have a hunch the results will show an interesting gap. Do bear in mind that not all the results will necessarily show the ethnic breakdowns, only the selected few which we want the relevant authorities to take note.

At the time of writing, we have yet to tabulate the results, hence we could be dead wrong.

Why are we doing this survey?
Curiosity.

Are we funded?
Nope. Not a single cent.

Are we professional statisticians?
Nope. We wouldn’t even dare refer ourselves as amateur. Think of us as motley crews trying to find out what’s up with Malaysians in terms of basic scientific knowledge

Survey 3.0 detailed breakdowns will be out soon