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Systems Biology: Still New After All These Years

Systems Biology: Still New After All These Years

Aug 26 2009 | comment(s)

I've been mean to computational/network/systems biologists recently (twice). Real soon here I'm going to get into some positive aspects of these fields, but before that, I have to slam systems biology one more time.

Guess which blurb was written within the last 5 years, and which one was written more than 30 years ago:

#1:
Candomblé - Modern Day Animal Sacrifice Without The Zeitgeist

Candomblé - Modern Day Animal Sacrifice Without The Zeitgeist

Aug 26 2009 | comment(s)

Want to drive  the politically correct segment of academia into a  tailspin?   Tell them there's a group of people hurting animals and watch the outrage.   Then tell them they are religious and watch it grow.   But then tell them they are a South American religion and it's part of their native heritage.  Hilarity ensues.
  
Candomblé is a religion practiced by the "povo de santo" (people of saint) primarily in South America.  They say it is inspired by older African beliefs.  It definitely makes much use of animal sacrifice.   It believes in the 'soul' of nature so anthropologists label it a form of Animism.   
Damn Those Traffic Statistics

Damn Those Traffic Statistics

Aug 26 2009 | comment(s)

Before blogs, writers could delusionally imagine great things about who was reading them:

If you look at the traffic statistics for any newsish website you’ll see that people are reading when they’re supposed to be at work. Which means they’re multitasking. Which means they want short items.

This reminds me that something I’ve come to understand in my years in the business is that probably the greatest privilege that writers for traditional magazines have is that nobody has any idea who’s reading them...
Piano and PDEs

Piano and PDEs

Aug 25 2009 | comment(s)

The story goes back to a conversation between me and Lothar in the summer of 2005. “Which instrument do you like the most Purushottam?“, He asked. “Piano”, I answered quickly. Though I played only guitar, piano was my favorite always. ” And why is that?”, he insisted. Why one likes anything is a different issue altogether and I am not going to dwell into that here. Important to this context was the

National Enquirer, Citation Distortion, And Freaky-Deaky Butterfly Sex

National Enquirer, Citation Distortion, And Freaky-Deaky Butterfly Sex

Aug 25 2009 | comment(s)

Sometimes people are attracted to strange things. I still have trouble figuring out how people procreated in the 1970s and 80s - the hair, the moustaches, boys wearing those teeny short shorts - yuck. Apparently, butterflies are no different. Or so says a retired zoologist in a surprising PNAS article.
The Petabyte Problem

The Petabyte Problem

Aug 25 2009 | comment(s)

What do you do with a petabyte of data?

The question came up during a lunch today with two NASA computing people, on in IT and the other in supercomputing.  Modern satellites are returning petabytes of data, and there are many satellites.  This is far more than any human can expect to personally look at, and in fact more than they can fit into their local machine.  How do we make these huge amounts of data useful?

We can't ship it to the user's desktop-- there's no room, it'd take forever, and the user doesn't have tools that can browse massive data sets.
Saddest headline I've seen in a long time

Saddest headline I've seen in a long time

Aug 25 2009 | comment(s)

While searching Scientific Blogging to make sure no one had written anything on a topic I'm about to undertake, I saw the following headline under the Science Codex bar on the bottom right of the screen:

"New research examines how career dreams die"

I half expected a picture of a crying teddy bear to pop up, maybe one of those ads for a lifetime movie starring Sally Field as the stalwart store clerk trying to encourage the down-and-out teen from the wrong side of the tracks to toss aside the crack pipe and take up brain surgery. What a downer.
PRODUCTION AND IMPROVEMENT OF HYDROCARBONS IN LATICIFER PLANTS

PRODUCTION AND IMPROVEMENT OF HYDROCARBONS IN LATICIFER PLANTS

Aug 25 2009 | comment(s)

Biomass currently supplies about a third of the developing countries’ energy varying from about 90% in countries like Uganda, Rawanda and Tanzania, to 45 percent in India, 30 percent in China and Brazil and 10-15 percent in Mexico and South Africa

Bioengineering Of Crops For Biofuels And Bioenergy

Bioengineering Of Crops For Biofuels And Bioenergy

Aug 25 2009 | comment(s)

Biomass contributes a significant share of global primary energy consumption and its importance is likely to increase in future world energy scenarios. Current  biomass use, although not sustainable in some cases, replaces fossil fuel consumption and results in avoided CO2 emissions, representing about 2.7 to 8.8 % of 1998 anthropogenic CO2 emissions. Improved conversion efficiencies, besides a suitable management of biomass resources , could contribute significantly to reduce it unsustainable use, contribute a larger share of final energy demand and lead to a higher rate of fossil fuel substitution per unit of biomass energy.
Romantic Bats Use Musical Mating

Romantic Bats Use Musical Mating

Aug 25 2009 | comment(s)

Is there an "Air Supply" in the bat world?  Not really, though they seem to have love songs, say  researchers at Texas A&M University and the University of Texas at Austin

So let's look at the mysterious love sounds made by the winged creatures.
Women More Tentative Than Men, Maybe

Women More Tentative Than Men, Maybe

Aug 25 2009 | comment(s)

Women hedge and issue disclaimers and ask questions when they communicate, all traits that can suggest uncertainty and lack of confidence, but men do the same on gender-specific topics, according to new research from the University of California - Davis.

In his study, Nicholas Palomares, assistant professor of communication at UC Davis, asked nearly 300 UC Davis undergraduates, about half female and half male, to write e-mails explaining how to change a flat tire or buy make-up, among other gender-stereotyped and gender-neutral topics. Students were given the name and gender of the person they were e-mailing.
All Aboard! CendR Cargo Carrying Peptide Delivers Drugs

All Aboard! CendR Cargo Carrying Peptide Delivers Drugs

Aug 25 2009 | comment(s)

UC Santa Barbara scientists have revealed what they call a potential new drug delivery system - a biological mechanism for delivery of nanoparticles into tissue.

They developed a peptide, a small piece of protein that can carry "cargo" for delivery into the cell, whose cargo could be a nanoparticle, or even a cell.

Riding on the peptide, the cargo gets out of the blood vessel and penetrates the tissue.
Not Just The Gene - Abnormal SHOX Regulation Implicated In Short Stature And Leri-Weill Syndrome

Not Just The Gene - Abnormal SHOX Regulation Implicated In Short Stature And Leri-Weill Syndrome

Aug 25 2009 | comment(s)

The so-called SHOX gene (short stature homeobox gene) is responsible for the normal growth of bones and is often mutated in short-stature patients. Short stature is considered when final height of an individual is no more than 160 cm (men) or 150 cm (women).

Researchers in Heidelberg have now discovered that sequences of genetic material on the X and Y chromosome that regulate this gene are also crucial for growth in children.
Prospects Of Biofuel Production In Developing Countries

Prospects Of Biofuel Production In Developing Countries

Aug 25 2009 | comment(s)

An increasing population explosion and rapid industrialization is causing rapid destruction of forests. Nature crude is resulting in green house gas emissions causing population problems.

Renewable energy sources provide answer to both of these problems by way of providing clean fuel on renewable basis utilizing the solar energy.

However, there is always a competition between food vs fuel use of oils and any major thrust on biofuel production must take in to account that edible oils are not diverted to the production of biofuels.

Psychologist Says He Has Created The Ultimate David Bowie Song (And It Will Help Bowie Live Longer)

Psychologist Says He Has Created The Ultimate David Bowie Song (And It Will Help Bowie Live Longer)

Aug 25 2009 | comment(s)

Is music more than the sum of its parts?   We're going to find out if the right words and musical notes can lead to Frankenstein-ish success.
The Bayesian Approach To Entropy

The Bayesian Approach To Entropy

Aug 25 2009 | comment(s)

To start the process, I'm copying a post from my original blog.  I might post some of those entries here. Especially the ones which have  had a decent response.

The purpose of joining this community is to have a blog dedicated to popular scientific writing. The biggest advantage of this venture is that it will teach me how to communicate vague and
intuitive physical ideas in a clear scientific language.

This article assumes a preliminary knowledge of axiomatic thermodynamics.   But do proceed nevertheless!

------------------


We’ll see if this way of looking at entropy makes it more tangible!

We Perform Best When No One Tells Us What To Do

We Perform Best When No One Tells Us What To Do

Aug 24 2009 | comment(s)

How can companies get the best possible performance out of their employees? Let them do whatever they want! And furthermore, don't offer incentives. Sound counter-intuitive? Not if you look at what research has shown regarding the economics of motivation.
What the f**k is social media?

What the f**k is social media?

Aug 24 2009 | comment(s)

Given that this is a social media site, it might be good to know what social media is, and what it can do. Here is an interesting, humorous, but intelligent slide show with a few answers.
The Higgs Mass ? 120 GeV, SUSY Says

The Higgs Mass ? 120 GeV, SUSY Says

Aug 24 2009 | comment(s)

Today, although fully submerged by an anomalous wave of errands which had been patiently waiting for my return at work, I heroically managed to dig out of the ArXiv a paper worth a close look.
Autism Drives Academia?

Autism Drives Academia?

Aug 24 2009 | comment(s)

Tyler Cowen says the prevalence of individuals falling within autism spectrum make American academe competitive:
A lot of people at colleges are aware of dealing with autism (and Asperger's syndrome; I will refer generally to the autism spectrum) in their "special needs" programs. The more complex reality is that there is a lot more autism in higher education than most of us realize. It's not just "special needs" students but also our valedictorians, our faculty members, and yes —sometimes- our administrators.