Apa Itu Deria Ke-6?

APOSL's Melawan Sains Palsu video shoot. Muhammad Musoddiq Bin Jaafar wrote the script. Shot at Penchala Terrace.

A.R. Wallace: Exploratory Journeys in Melaka & Sarawak, and his Influences on Malaysian Natural History Study

This wonderful talk was given by  Lim Tze Tshen, a research assistant at University Malaya.

I fetched the speaker at 4.15pm and made our way to Lake Gardens. Kian Keong was already eaiting for us there.

Upon arrival, we ate and chit chatted while waiting for the rest to show up.

This is the first time we have held a talk in the open, without the use of a projector. Participants had to download the presentation and load it into their smart phones so they could follow the speaker as he presented.

The talk was very intersting. It was obvious Tshen is a fan of Wallace's work and life. The man discovered and catalogued many thousands of species of flora and fauna found in our home country. His study was so extensive and authoratative that several animals and regions were named after him! Yet, until the talk, I did not know much about Wallace.

Tshen only covered Wallace's explorations in Malacca and Sarawak, and did not touch on his research into the theory of natural selection. Part 2 of his talk will be held another day, probbaly next year as APOSL already has events every month till October.

PS. Tshen is giving the same talk at People's Merdeka Exhibition (https://www.facebook.com/events/1456072861364575/permalink/1457800061191855/)

The Surprise at Hari Rosalind Franklin

This year, we celebrated our birthday by honouring Rosalind Franklin.

Lyana helped us get a room in Universiti Malaya. I arrived early with my kids and Doppo to set up.

Only 5 people showed up at the appointed time. Nonetheless, we settled down to watch a documentary about Rosalind Franklin and the race to figure out the structure of the DNA while tucking into the food.

Most of the members were about an hour late!

I had organised a surprise for APOSL that day. It was a video of Rosalind Franklin's Student Council President saying hi to the science club! I had written to RFU a few weeks in advance. I did not think anything would come of it. To my relief, Maggie from RFU helped by asking Gabe to do the video. You can see the reaction of the APOSL members below.

After that, we sang happy birthday and had the most fabulous chocolate ganache cake made by Su.

Su's APOSL Visit To UM Zoology Museum: I make a lousy fossil

http://snuze.blogspot.com/2015/06/i-make-lousy-fossil.html

Some people want to become diamonds after they die. Some people want to be star dust again. Me, I'm happy to be fertiliser. Unless I could become a fossil, because that would be extremely cool. But then again, that isn't very likely.

I got an opportunity to see fossils first hand at the Universiti Malaya Museum of Zoology with the crew from the Advocates of the Propagation of Science Literacy (APOSL) on Saturday, April 25th. Whodathunkit there's a museum of natural history in the heart of the great metropolitan of Kuala Lumpur? 

Ta-da!

The Museum of Zoology is located in a new-ish block in the Institute of Biological Science (better known as ISB , Institut Sains Biologi), Faculty of Science. It is adjacent to the Institute of Mathematical Science (whose notice boards feature the most interesting stuff about numbers that even those allergic to maths like me find fascinating) and is open during weekdays from 9 am to 4 pm.

The entrance to the museum.

We were fortunate that the curator, Prof. Sasekumar, very graciously agreed to open the museum to us on a weekend and made himself available to show us around and answer our questions.

Prof. Sasekumar, the Curator.

He explained that a large number of the specimens were collected over the years from various sources. Some were donated by state museums that have run out of space to store their natural history specimens, while others were the university's own research collection. A few others were gifts from visiting biologists who brought specimens of animals that are common in their country, like the muskrat specimen from North America and a piranha from Brazil. It was here that I discovered that piranhas look a lot like pomfrets with bad teeth.

Prof. Sasekumar explaining the Earth's biological time scale.

Prof. Sasekumar began the tour by explaining the wonderful mural of the Earth's geological and biological time scale that was painstakingly done by students of the ISB. No members of the Homo spp. family were included in the mural as the most recent animal in the mural still predated Lucy by a few million years. 

 The Earth's biological time scale mural. 

 The Earth's geological time scale mural

The Curator further explained about how fossil evidence supports the biological time scale. He invited us to read further on the geological time scale as it was not his area of expertise and suggested that we speak to the Geology Department for more information.

One of the members asked Prof. Sasekumar if he has had to answer questions from students who are inclined towards creationism. His adroit answer was, "Let's keep science and religion separate." 

 Some of the resources available at the museum. Sticky tape is optional.

 Look at the date of the periodical at the far right. 

Prof. Sasekumar took us into his office for fossil viewing. I was gaping so much at this huge replica of a crinoid leaf fossil that I forgot to snap a pic. It looked like Han Solo in carbonite! He explained to us that fossils are generally expensive and that most that are on display are replicas of some sort. However, he did show us one of the few real fossil specimen of the museum which was a trilobite fossil. It was a lot smaller than what was shown in my biology text books, that's for sure.

Previously, there was no real effort to hunt for fossils in Malaysia. The recent discovery in Pahang gives hope to paleontologists and dinosaur hunters in the country for more exciting discoveries to come. The BBC has an excellent page of resources on fossils, which you can visit here.

 The Godfathers of Biology: Darwin, Linnaeus, Wallace and Mandel

Decorating the entrance to the exhibit are posters of the Godfathers of Biology; Charles Darwin, Carolus Linnaeus, Alfred Russel Wallace and Fr. Gregor Mandel. I can't wait for the September talk on Russell Wallace! Please visit the APOSL Facebook page for updates on this talk and other exciting events.

The Zoology Museum is divided into several sections: the Fossilarium (in Prof. Sasekumar's office), the Osteological exhibits, the Rainforest Diorama, the Animal Diversity exhibit, the River Basin Diorama and the Entomology Box.

The Osteological or bones exhibit feature several specimens that help us compare how form matches function in terms of skeletal structure. Although all bones are hardened by calcium, the structure differs to match the form and function of the animal.

Prey vs Predator skull comparison.

The crocodile skull above is an excellent example. Its skull is heavy, with a hinged jaw that gives it one of the most powerful bite in the animal kingdom. The muscles that hold the jaw open, however, are relatively weak, which makes the slamming force of the upper jaw snapping shut perfect for quick kills.

Their triangular teeth is perfect for tearing their  prey's flesh, but the lack of molars means that crocs cannot chew their food. Therefore, crocodiles use biting and whiplash motions to rip their prey apart and swallow the pieces whole. Think of it as swallowing your KFC drumstick as a whole piece. Plant-based food requires a lot of chewing to render it digestible, so this lack of molar also means a strict Atkins diet and no carbs for the crocs.

The crocodiles' metabolism is relatively sluggish and they take a long time to digest the pieces of prey that they swallowed. This is why they only need to eat every few weeks or so and spend most of their time just hanging out and chilling. Eyes at the top of their head are perfect for scouting careless prey moseying by where they lie in wait, half submerged.

Multi-teeth nightmares are made of these.

You expect to be frightened by the fangs of predators but nothing prepared me for the squirm-inducing teeth of herbivorous critters. Apparently plant-devouring critters have TONNES OF MOLARS to help them grind down their tough and fibrous vegetarian meals. I can't really explain why they give me the heebie-jeebies, but if you have trypophobia, you would probably understand.

Not serpent wine

No El Nino this year, thank God

I found the water cycle diorama interesting as it gave a good explanation about the great flood that affected Kelantan late last year. Did people really think that they can raze forests to a nub and that nature will not retaliate? Idiots.

Flood oracle

Scary tales.

We never really pay attention to soil loss because we are in the tropics. But in places where desertification is a problem, people scrutinise water movement and soil erosion in order to arrest the widening of deserts. Let's hope that we don't let things get that far before we do something concrete about our top soil loss.

The exhibit included some fine examples of the local fauna. Sadly, a number of them are already no more, and many more are on the endangered species list (e.g. kancil, binturong, tenggiling etc.). I'm an omnivor myself, but I don't get people who eat animals that are already diminished in number unless they actually dwell in the forest and cannot get poultry et al. What's wrong with sticking to beef, rabbits, chicken, etc? Assholes.

Tropical jungle animals

Corals and peat swamp forest

More on peat swamp forest.

I'm sure that not many of us here in Malaysia realise that we are home to more than one kind of swamp forest: the mangrove as well as peat swamp. Sepang used to be a humongous peat swamp forest reserve, as well as many areas dotting the coastline of the peninsula.

The mangroves are important because it provides a nursery for the natural fishery lots. Not to mention it helps to control coastal erosion, provides home to tonnes of biodiversity, help to detoxify the coastline and is a pretty neat place to visit.

Peat swamps are important because they are invaluable water catchment areas, provide shelter and food to migratory birds, enriches the soil, increases the underground water table reservoir, and many more. Sadly, they are also located in areas that are prime for development. I guess we'll only pay attention to the damage caused by loss of peat swamp forest when we have problems like flash floods and top soil loss.

Oh wait. It's already on going but nobody cares.

 Prof. Sasekumar explaining the difference between the stingless 

and regular bees

We ended the tour with a visit to the stingless bee colony housed outside the museum. The bees were acquired from an apiary in Melaka. They produce small quantities of high quality honey that the Institute sells on a seasonal basis. What a pity that our visit did not coincide with the season. *pouts*

 Stingless bee colony

The museum may be modest in size but is chock-full of information on Malaysia's environmental heritage with  its exhibits of preserved animal specimens and informative posters. The museum is happy to entertain tours of pax up to 20 people, so please contact them if you are interested!

Melawan Sains Palsu Dalam Masyarakat

Hari ini APOSL menjemput Muhammad Musoddiq Bin Jaafar untuk memberi ceramah bertajuk Melawan Sains Palsu Dalam Masyarakat.

Beberapa bulan yang lalu, saya menjumpai satu komuniti Facebook bernama Pseudoscience Watch yang banyak membongkar produk-produk dan perkongsian online yang berasaskan sains yang tidak betul atau palsu. Saya mengajak kumpulan ini untuk berkongsi pandangan mereka dengan APOSL.

Mereka menghalakan saya kepada Muhammad Musoddiq. Muhammad memegang ijazah dari Universiti Malaya dalam bidang Eksperimen Fizik.

Pada mulanya beliau berkata dia akan bercakap selama 30 minit sahaja disebapkan bulan puasa. Tetapi akhirnya, dia bercakap selama 2 jam!

Dia menjelaskan ilmu yang digunakan oleh orang-orang tertentu dan syarikat-syarikat tertentu yang mempromosikan produk-produk yang meragui. Satu daripadanya ialah produk yang boleh detox badan daripada racun-racun dalaman, kononnya. Produk ini dilekatkan pada tapak kaki dan kaki direndam dalam air. Setelah beberapa minit, air kelihatan gelap. Kononnya itu adalah racun yang keluar daripada badan pesakit dengan pertolongan produk yang berkenaan. Kami para hadirin semua gelak apabila ketahui fakta yang sebenar daripada Muhammad.

Selepas perkongsian Muhammad, kami bercadang untuk menghasilkan video pendek untuk orang awam supaya tidak tertipu oleh produk-produk yang mempunyai dakwaan yang luar biasa.

APOSL & Good Will Walk 2015

by Pepper Lim

I met The Flying Singh last year at Mantin. This year he told me about his plan to raise money for Food Bank Malaysia to help needy people like the recent flood victims in Kelantan. His plan was to raise money by walking from Perlis to Melaka.

I asked the APOSLs if they were interested to help and a few stepped forward to donate while a few said they would walk. We raised RM510 among ourselves and 5 APOSLs volunteered to walk.

Terence, Lyana, Izzudin, Arvinder and I met the Good Will Walk team at Tanjung Malim on Saturday, 9.5.15. The meeting point was at the Tg. Malim Gurdwara. Everyone including the men had to cover their heads. The gurdwara had scarfs and bandanas for visitors. We made Terence wear a pink scarf.

All the walkers were resting when we arrived at 3.30pm. So, we amused ourselves by telling stories.

At 4.00pm, the gurdwara served hot tea with crackers. Then, it was time to start walking. Our target for that afternoon was to walk about 12 kilometres towards Kuala Kubu Baru.

The walk was quite easy. There was no rush. The GWW team was more interested in the safety of the group and ensuring everyone was enjoying themselves. Some of the local teenagers joined us.

We walked along the old trunk road. It was a one lane and narrow. We had to pay attention to the on coming traffic. At the front of the pack was old uncle Jagtar Singh. He constantly gestured the traffic away from us during the entire walk.

There were kampong houses along the road we were on. There were no fences surrounding the homes and I noticed the garden was usually swept and kept neat.

I had a talk with Dendi Johari, an Orang Asal from Kampung Jader, Gua Musang, Kelantan. He is a youth leader of his people. He told me many stories about his kampong life and his vision for his kin. While we walked, he told me something interesting. He said, they walked to know what it feels like to suffer like the poor who had to walk everywhere.

APOSL Beer Survey

Sam, the guy who brought you all the APOSL street surveys, is at it again. This time, he is surveying the perception of beers and their actual tastes.

Video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vV7814-5bQE

TL;DR: Heineken came out tops.