This came in my inbox today: solicitation to submit manuscripts to a journal completely outside my area of interest and proficiency. My email client software had an interesting reaction to it: The next email in my inbox was this: OK, that’s taking things a bit too far. Random solicitation of editors (did I mention that was not […]
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Iddo
cag·ey /ˈkājē/ (adjective) Reluctant to give information owing to caution or suspicion CAGI /ˈkājē/ (acronym) Critical Assessment of Genomic Interpretations. For details keep reading. The ability to sequence one’s genome adds a new dimension to the ancient maxim “know thyself”. What could be more revealing of one’s self than one’s own blueprint, explaining existing […]
Haven’t had some music here for a while. So here are two version of Son House’s “Death Letter Blues”. The first by the master himself, the second by The White Stripes. Enjoy!
Since its publication, the paper about bacteria using arsenic instead of phosphorous has been criticized from several different angles. First for the media pre-publication stoking, which lead many journalists to speculate about microbes from Titan while the paper was still embargoed (titanic microbes?), when ultimately it was revealed that we are dealing with earthlings, although […]
So everybody is excited about the new GFAJ-1 bacterium that Felisa Wolfe-Simon and her colleagues have discovered. A common buzzphrase diffusing through the media and blogosphere is “NASA discovers a new life form“. (Or, better yet alien life.) Big press conference, and I just finished going through the article that Wolfe-Simon and colleagues have published in Science. Great […]
Iddo: Following an earlier post on the hype cycle of genomic and other technologies, Leighton Pritchard has suggested producing a more elaborate phase diagram of predicted vs. actual usefulness of, uh, stuff. We kicked around the idea back and forth over the weekend, and here’s the result. Over to Leighton, who gets the lion’s share of […]
I received this email today today. I especially appreciate the personal touch in the salutation. Dear Dr. [NAME] Currently, we are involved in organizing “International Conference and Exhibition on Proteomics & Bioinformatics” (Proteomics-2011), will be held during 6–8 June 2011 Hyderabad, India. The main theme of Proteomics-2011 is to “Promote foster & enhances (sic) research […]
The hype cycle characterizes the over-excitement and subsequent disappointment with new technologies. I expanded this a bit to include research and social trends in science which seem prevalent nowadays. Any views represented in this hype cycle diagram are my own, and in no way represent the views of my employers, family, friends, neighbors, greengrocer, auto […]
Personal genetics companies are fitting in well with the post-Thanksgiving Day consumer frenzy in the US. Well, maybe not so much of a frenzy in this slow economy, more like mild agitation. 23&me are having a sale, your genotype for $99 (+ 1 year subscription, etc, comes out to $159). You can get your genotype, […]
If you entered this post to comment the error in the title, then I have one word for you. Gotcha! Yes, “warm blooded” animals are not, really, warm blooded. After all, a lizard in the baking sun has a core temperature higher than most mammals, but it is still called “cold blooded”. So-called cold blooded […]
I’m at College Station airport, Texas, waiting for my delayed flight and hope that the weather in Dallas lets up within the hour. A good time to take a break and blog. College Station is the home of Texas A&M University, which is a place I am always happy to visit. The scientists here are […]
Every time I go through exam statistics of one of my classes, I cannot help thinking of this particular gem from Third Rock from the Sun:
Proposal Sergeant: On your feet you hackers! Up, up up up up! What do you think this place is, one of your conferences where you can sleep in late and grab a cafe-latte on your way to the keynote lecture? NO IT IS NOT! This is a grant writing boot camp! We’re up bright and […]
This made it to the front page of Reddit. Hilarious…
Yes, it’s that time when we all get together in front of the screen to watch another beautiful game played by that fantastic team contributing to the Carnival of Evolution. This time hosted on the lovely green pitch of Byte Size Biology. So get your popcorn, sunflower-seeds, crisps or any other culturally-appropriate sports-watching food and…… […]
