Researchers at UC Berkley exploited an interesting property of extant species of the mollusk genus Conus. Apparently, the patterns on the shells of these little buggers is a reflection of activity patterns in their neurons.
Scientists scooped by evolution
It turns out that your classic experimental trick to mimic protein phosphorylation by mutating serines and threonines to aspartate or glutamate at phosphorylation sites was not first discovered by humans. Pearlman, Serber and Ferrell argue that many phosphorylation sites in proteins evolved from negatively charged amino acid residues, which means that phosphorylation evolved to mimic the effects of glutamate and aspartate. This, of course, occurred long before human scientists discovered in 1987 that you could replace phosphorlated serines and threonines with negatively charged amino acids and still get a functional protein.
“A Mechanism for the Evolution of Phosphorylation Sites”, Samuel M. Pearlman, Zach Serber, James E. Ferrell Jr., Cell Volume 147, Issue 4, 11 November 2011, Pages 934–946 Continue reading “Scientists scooped by evolution”
Blueprints of the Afterlife in the NY Times
About a quarter of the way through the book I’m finding this to be a great mix of Snow Crash-type characters in a world that would give Philip Dick a run for his money, with hints of Oryx and Crake and Against the Day. My intent is not deny Boudinot’s originality – it’s to get you to read the book.
At the NY Times: All Sorts of Strange Stuff Happens When You Destroy the World: Ryan Boudinot’s Novel ‘Blueprints of the Afterlife’, by JOHN SCHWARTZ
This novel is, in a word, freaky. Woo-jin, the dishwasher, finds a young woman’s body. It is taken away by the police, and he finds it again. But the first body is still in the morgue. Continue reading “Blueprints of the Afterlife in the NY Times”
Super Apathy
Briefly, I don’t care that you don’t care.
You can read the rest of my rant over at The Paltry Sapien
Just One Baby – Why We Vaccinate
For me, 5 February is Dana McCaffery Day. I originally wrote this in 2010 to explain how much her brief time in this world meant to me, even though I had never met her. I stand by every word, and even more so by every feeling, still today. I also choose to remember Dana’s birthday – the remembrance of her coming into her own being – as a celebration of a meaningful life, though I so desperately wish her life could have been as mundane as the rest of us.
Just One Baby
Today is the first anniversary of Dana Elizabeth McCaffery‘s birth. Unfortunately, Dana cannot join us in celebrating her birthday. Dana was killed by pertussis, or whooping cough. At under a month of age, Dana could not be vaccinated against pertussis and had to rely on herd immunity. Unfortunately, thanks in large part to the efforts of the anti-vaccination movement, immunity levels in Dana’s region of Australia were far below the herd immunity level necessary to protect those who cannot be vaccinated, like newborn children. Continue reading “Just One Baby – Why We Vaccinate”
The Finch and Pea 