Not much of scientific worth today. Rather, just a perspective. I guess if I have a hobby, it’s reading history. I hated history when I took it in school, because it just seemed to be a bland regurgitation of dates (it is unclear why I didn’t hate science, which was largely a bland regurgitation of facts). But I love reading it now, especially historical fiction, which provides a narrative to the reality (I highly recommend “Gates of Fire”). (more…)
Archive for October, 2010
On influenza
Sunday, October 31st, 2010On Texas
Monday, October 25th, 2010Texas is my adopted state, I’m originally from the Midwest. Like many transplants, I find the place to be freaky. On the one hand, there is a certain frontier mentality that is refreshing. On the other, there is a certain retrograde mindset that is terrifying. Let’s start with attitudes towards the government. Our gubnor is in a constant pissing match with the Feds over, well, not much except his own political future. But this message resonates with Texans, who like to envisage themselves as embattled and downtrodden by the heavy-heeled boot of authority. (more…)
On metagenomics
Sunday, October 24th, 2010So, I’ve returned from the ERTC (see previous post), and it was a gas. I think one of the more interesting things about the conference was that it was primarily Chinese and European scientists, and thus gave me some insights into how Americans tend to skew discussions. In any event, one of the coolest talks I saw was by Zhao Liping of Shanghai Jiaotong University (aside: this is where my most excellent graduate student, Xi Chen, came from; whatever you guys are doing there, you’re doing a great job!). Dr. Zhao talked about metagenomics of the gut as a function of diet. He makes a very good case that you are what you eat. Not so much in terms of the food, but in terms of what bacteria the food cultivate over time. To a first approximation, if you eat crap, you cultivate crap bacteria (pathogens), whereas if you eat well, you cultivate more gut-friendly bacteria. (more…)
On futures
Tuesday, October 19th, 2010I’m at the Exploratory Round Table Conference in Shanghai, which is ostensibly a forum to discuss what directions synthetic biology will take into the future. As with most such forums, it frequently devolves into a discussion of what synthetic biology is (or is not). I am as happy to engage in such silly discussions as anyone else, especially given that I think synthetic biology is a buzzword rather than a discipline. (more…)
On graduate students
Sunday, October 17th, 2010As any faculty member knows, graduate students are our future. Or, more precisely, graduate students are the serf-like remnants of an ancient, hierarchical Germanic university culture that we continue to pretend drives innovation in the world. This pretense has some basis in reality, since graduate students are often very smart, very motivated, and very productive. Which ultimately is good for the faculty members who feed, vampire-like, off their productivity. (more…)
On predicting evolution
Tuesday, October 5th, 2010It sucked to be a dog in the late 1970s. It wasn’t just that your owners wanted you to wear cute, doggy-tailored wide-bottomed jeans, it was the fact that your historical enemies, the cats, had unleashed a devastating wave of biological warfare on you. (more…)
On spoofing
Monday, October 4th, 2010This can be considered sort of a hybrid post, bringing together “On the threat of synthetic biology,” “On GATTACA and taggants,” and “On fear.” (more…)