Unsurprisingly, I have indigestion. My Dad had indigestion, I have indigestion, lots of out-of-shape American males have indigestion. Now, just as antibiotics are one of the things that make modern life better than antiquity, I can point to the presence of drugs like Pepcid Complete as proof positive that civilization is making progress. My Dad would belch for hours, I take a Pepcid and belch for minutes. Progress. (more…)
Archive for March, 2011
On Pepcid
Monday, March 28th, 2011On paleovirology
Wednesday, March 9th, 2011Like most nerds, I like reading science fiction. It’s not that I think that these fantastical futures will come to pass, it’s more just appreciating the imagination and optimism of those who are unfettered by the realities of experimental failure. Even dystopias seem like Nirvana compared to a day at the bench; the skin jobs actually worked in Blade Runner, didn’t they? (more…)
On aptamers
Sunday, March 6th, 2011OK, so it’s been awhile. I busted my arm, which made typing modestly difficult. I’ll gear up here with an easy (but still hopefully meaningful) one:
The word ‘aptamer’ comes from the Latin ‘aptus,’ to fit. Thus, this was meant to be a polymer (incongruously Greek) that ‘fit’ to its target. Of course, the origins of this word are not nearly as rational or pedantic as we like to make it seem. We’d developed in vitro selection methods (as had Larry Gold and Craig Tuerk), and were attempting to do some marketing. I have always liked inventing words (and concepts, although the precedence of one over the other is surprisingly random), but I must say I’m a bit of a piker at it. (more…)