It boggles my mind how fast kids seem to grow up these days. Hell, in less than a decade from the time I entered high school, 13, 14, and 15 year old girls are exchanging J-14 Magazine for Elle. And who can blame them when their resident superstar Miley Cyrus is posing on the cover of that very adult magazine. And not merely posing, but doing so in a revealing way. Haven't seen the pictures yet? Well, judge for yourself then (archived via Google Images):





Nothing says role model for early teen girls more than lying on your back in black leather thigh-high boots.

If that hasn't convinced you, you should check out Miley's latest music video, "Party in the USA". Here's a hint on what it's like - the lyrics "movin' my hips like yeah!" are in the oft-repeated refrain. Also, in the opening verse, she sings "Hoped off the plane at L.A.X./ Welcome to the world of fame excess", followed by an interestingly placed "Whoa!". When I listened to the song for the first time, I thought she actually said "fame and sex", which would definitely fit arriving in Los Angeles, as well as the intriguingly timed "Whoa!". Maybe I'm reading into too much here, but listen and see what you think.

In the recent weeks we've seen another addition into the "kids are growing up so damn fast" file, this time on the male side - or more correctly, the boy side. Enter Justin Bieber, a youTube sensation recently signed by megastar Usher. His first video entitled "One Time" has just under 7 million views on youTube, and his buzz rating has been through the roof.

Acknowledging the overall hilarity that is a 15 year old boy singing about his "one love, one heart, one life", some of the remaining lyrics are just ridiculous. My personal favorite is "Shawty right there/ She's got everything I need/ And I'ma tell her one time/ Give you everything you need down to my last dime."

That's right, this kid is rolling in so much cash that you can forget about daddy, the one Justin Bieber will keep feeding you that sugar now. Oh, and don't forget that your bedtime is 10:00pm and you have Junior Varsity soccer practice tomorrow afternoon. [sarcasm alert].

Point to note - normally you have to have 1) gone though puberty; and 2) be able to get into a rated R movie without mommy or daddy's permission before you can start signing about "shawtys".

Shifting back to Miley now, perhaps the most disheartening thing about her is that she is priming young girls (in some instances, really young girls) to be 100% style and 0% substance. Let's be real, no 16 year-olds watch Disney channel. So instead of being one of her audience's peers, she's being their cool big sister they never had. You know, the one who got to stay out late and wear clothes more suitable for a 21 year old than a 15 year old.

All of this emphasis on the perfect body, hair, make up - perhaps there shouldn't be any focus on this no matter what age you are. OK, that's being naive, but can we at least shield our little sisters from this world until they're old enough for a driver's license?

You would think that somewhere companies wouldn't exploit 16 year old girls, turning them into mini-sexbombs in order to meet quarterly estimates. Of course I was joking on that statement, that would never happen. In case you forgot, "Cash Rules Everything Around Me, C.R.E.A.M. get the money, dollar dollar bill y'all."

During "Party in the USA", Miley sings that her "tummy's turning, feeling kinda homesick". I think if I ever have a daughter, my tummy's gonna be turning forever knowing she'll eventually have to deal with all this craziness!

So today was my first day of graduate school classes. Everything went really well. It will be quite a busy schedule, with three 90-minute lectures a week (Mon., Wed., Fri.), but as long as I read before hand I will be fine. Plus, all the classes are video recorded and posted on the course website, so I can review actual lectures in addition to my notes and reading. Good stuff.

Also, I've identified one additional rotation lab that I am interested in working in for my first lab rotation. The lab of Dr. Kurt Hankenson, D.V.M., Ph.D. works on bone, which I did extensively throughout my undergraduate time at Rutgers. Here is a summary of Dr. Hankenson's research taken from his faculty page:

The guiding mission of our research program is to better understand cellular and molecular mechanisms of bone remodeling and regeneration. With this knowledge we will be better equipped to develop treatments to restore bone mass in osteoporosis and enhance regeneration of bone defects and non-unions. This research focus has developed around two intersecting themes: (1) the regulation of bone cell function by extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins, and (2) the regulation of marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) quiescence, proliferation, fate determination, and differentiation.

MSCs are the precursors for osteoblasts, which are bone-forming cells. My undergraduate researched focused on the protein osteocalcin (OC), which is a protein synthesized and secreted by osteoblasts that plays a crucial role in bone mineralization. As you can see, my undergraduate research looked at fully mature osteoblasts rather than the progenitor MSCs, and as such the research focus differs from that of Dr. Hankenson; at Rutgers, our lab was looking at effects of OC deficiency (which assumes already functioning MSCs), however if MSC function is impaired, then osteoblast formation is also impaired, so OC concentration will likely decrease in the first place.

In any event, Dr. Hankenson was very excited to hear of my strong interest in his lab, and I have a meeting scheduled with him for later in the week. As an aside, I was informed of Dr. Hankenson's work by a graduate student named Grace at the CAMB Happy Hour this past Thursday evening. I have always maintained the perception from current students and faculty that continuing your undergraduate work is frowned upon, as it limits one's personal scientific expansion. And while I respect and understand that advice, I was refreshed and renewed to hear the Grace's rebuttal, being that if you are sure you are excited about the science, why not continue your undergraduate work? You will have unwavering passion for the work, and you could finish your thesis in a shorter amount of time.

Overall, I know the point of rotations is to expand one's research experiences, learn new experimentation techniques, and ultimately find out what tickles your scientific fancy. And now I'm reassured that it is OK if what gets me motivated and excited is the same science I had been working on for four years at Rutgers.

And lastly, I am still getting used to calling faculty by their first names! It's very odd for me, as I was raised that you always show respect by using a proper title (in most instances here, Doctor or Professor works fine) followed by their surname. As I refer to professors' names by their last name, I see the eye rolls of older students. So that is taking a while to get used to, but no matter how many scientists I develop first-name relationships with, I don't think I will ever refer to my undergraduate P.I. by anything else than the perfectly appropriate Dr. B!

Cheers,

Mike C.

Apologies for my blogging hiatus, as I was reminiscing this weekend on my undergraduate times with my friends at Rutgers. Of course, there was plenty of debauchery Friday and Saturday night in New Brunswick, but Thursday here in Philadelphia was quite a night as well.

My roommates and some of our new friends headed out to the Festival Bar at the Hub (5th and Fairmont) to check out the opening night of the 2009 Philadelphia Live Arts Festival, which runs September 4-19. The Festival appears to be a horde of artistic ventures, including dance, theater, improv, and visual arts, and the information book is over 70 pages long (pictures forthcoming).

Our crew headed on the Market-Frankford Line and made our way to what appeared to be a desolate area of cross streets and traffic lights. One of our members caught a glance of a banner directing us to the back of this small warehouse, and as we carefully trekked over, we saw the beginnings of the bar.

The bar was a more like a lounge with a dance floor, with fascinating art displays on the perimeter along with spectacularly upholstered couches and loveseats. The experience could be best described as entering a dada world.

It was a slow night overall being the opening night, but the word on the street says it becomes a poppin' dance club for the rest of the two week festival, especially on the weekends. As the description of the bar reads on its website, "It’s your once-a-year, ultra-hip-coutry-lodge-backwoods-Pennsylvania-taxidermy-antlers-yellowed-couch-doily-make-out-lounge."

I suppose the couches are for the "make-out-lounge" part - seems like I'll check it out next weekend then! In the words of our dadaist Frenchmen and women, "ooh, la la".