Byte Size Biology

Marketing yourself is a process you go through many times. The job hunt comes to mind — but not only. Academia is rife with self-marketing: grant applications, promotion & tenure reports, attracting students to your courses and to your lab,  competing for conference lecture slots, giving a lecture.

But not only academia, and not only in the present day.

Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was, among many other things, a civil and military engineer.  Marc Cenedella has this report on Da Vinci’s resume, sent to the Duke of Milan, who apparently was in need of some military hardware.  The resume, such as it is, is truly a great piece of self-marketing. Note how LDV tailors his resume to the Duke’s needs. He does not list his artistic achievements (which were many by the time), but only those achievements and skills that fit his prospective employer’s interests. My observations are in boldface.

“Most Illustrious Lord, Having now sufficiently considered the specimens of all those who proclaim themselves skilled contrivers of instruments of war, and that the invention and operation of the said instruments are nothing different from those in common use: I shall endeavor, without prejudice to any one else, to explain myself to your Excellency, showing your Lordship my secret, and then offering them to your best pleasure and approbation to work with effect at opportune moments on all those things which, in part, shall be briefly noted below.

1. I have a sort of extremely light and strong bridges, adapted to be most easily carried, and with them you may pursue, and at any time flee from the enemy; and others, secure and indestructible by fire and battle, easy and convenient to lift and place. Also methods of burning and destroying those of the enemy. [Before the legendary British WWII Bailey Bridge]

2. I know how, when a place is besieged, to take the water out of the trenches, and make endless variety of bridges, and covered ways and ladders, and other machines pertaining to such expeditions.

3. If, by reason of the height of the banks, or the strength of the place and its position, it is impossible, when besieging a place, to avail oneself of the plan of bombardment, I have methods for destroying every rock or other fortress, even if it were founded on a rock, etc.

4. Again, I have kinds of mortars; most convenient and easy to carry; and with these I can fling small stones almost resembling a storm; and with the smoke of these cause great terror to the enemy, to his great detriment and confusion. [Battlefield smoke].

5. And if the fight should be at sea I have kinds of many machines most efficient for offense and defense; and vessels which will resist the attack of the largest guns and powder and fumes.

6. I have means by secret and tortuous mines and ways, made without noise, to reach a designated spot, even if it were needed to pass under a trench or a river.

7. I will make covered chariots, safe and unattackable, which, entering among the enemy with their artillery, there is no body of men so great but they would break them. And behind these, infantry could follow quite unhurt and without any hindrance. [Yes, LDV invented the tank! Note also the combined infantry / armor tactics].

8. In case of need I will make big guns, mortars, and light ordnance of fine and useful forms, out of the common type. [Not only can I do it, I can do it cheaply, by re-purposing your existing ordinance.]

9. Where the operation of bombardment might fail, I would contrive catapults, mangonels, trabocchi, and other machines of marvelous efficacy and not in common use. And in short, according to the variety of cases, I can contrive various and endless means of offense and defense.

10. In times of peace I believe I can give perfect satisfaction and to the equal of any other in architecture and the composition of buildings public and private; and in guiding water from one place to another. [Dear Duke: you want to hire me even if you are not fighting, or you will want to keep me after your wars are over.]

11. I can carry out sculpture in marble, bronze, or clay, and also I can do in painting whatever may be done, as well as any other, be he who he may. [Another peacetime skill.]

Again, the bronze horse may be taken in hand, which is to be to the immortal glory and eternal honor of the prince your father of happy memory, and of the illustrious house of Sforza. [Catering to the employer's vanity. Gotta know how to do it right...]

And if any of the above-named things seem to anyone to be impossible or not feasible, I am most ready to make the experiment in your park, or in whatever place may please your Excellency – to whom I comment myself with the utmost humility, etc.” [I realize make big claims, but I can back them up. Just get me an interview.]

edw513 at Ycombinator.com has adapted this resume to fit current market needs:

If it worked for Leonardo da Vinci, maybe it could work for me. The next time I’m looking for a job, I’ll try this:“Most Illustrious Proprietor, Having now sufficiently considered the specimens of all those who proclaim themselves skilled developers of applications of business, and that the invention and operation of the said programs are nothing different from those in common use: I shall endeavor, without prejudice to any one else, to explain myself to your Company, showing your Management my secret, and then offering them to your best pleasure and approbation to work with effect at opportune moments on all those things which, in part, shall be briefly noted below.

1. I have a sort of extremely light and strong functions and modules, adapted to be most easily ftp’d, and with them you may pursue, and at any time combine them with others, secure and indestructible by standard mean time to failure of hardware and denial of service, easy and convenient to compile and catalog. Also methods of unzipping and storing the data of the customers.

2. I know how, when a website is besieged, to shard data onto the cloud, and make endless variety of mirrors, and fault tolerant disks and RAIDs, and other machines pertaining to such concerns.

3. If, by reason of the volume of the data, or the structure of the btrees and its indexes, it is impossible, when conducting a search, to avail oneself of sub-second response time, I have methods for benchmarking every process or other function, even if it were interpreted, etc.

4. Again, I have kinds of functions; most convenient and easy to ftp; and with these I can spawn lots of data almost resembling a torrent; and with the download of these cause great terror to the competitor, to his great detriment and confusion.

5. And if the processing should be on the desktop I have apps of many machines most efficient for data entry and reporting; and utilities which will satisfy the needs of the most demanding customers and users and consumers.

6. I have means by secret and tortuous scripts and modules, made without leaving tracks, to generate source code, even if it were needed to run on a client or a server.

7. I will make secure firewalls, safe and unattackable, which, entering among the hackers with their utilities, there is no body of crackers so great but they would break them. And behind these, software could run quite unhurt and without any hindrance.

8. In case of need I will make big properties, methods, and collections and useful forms, out of the common type.

9. Where the operation of compiling might fail, I would contrive scripts, functions, routines, and other parameter driven processes of marvellous efficacy and not in common use. And in short, according to the variety of cases, I can contrive various and endless means of data entry, reporting, and storage.

10. In times of low revenue I believe I can give perfect satisfaction and to the equal of any other in maintenance and the refactoring of code public and private; and in guiding data from one warehouse to another.

11. I can carry out code in Javascript, PHP, or C, and also I can do in network administration whatever may be done, as well as any other, be he who he may.

Again, the intranet app may be taken in hand, which is to be to the immortal glory and eternal honor of all your customers of happy memory, and of the illustrious house of Google.

And if any of the above-named things seem to anyone to be impossible or not feasible, I am most ready to make the experiment in your data center, or in whatever place may please your Businessperson – to whom I comment myself with the utmost humility, etc.”

Today is the 366th birthday of Sir Isaac Newton. Formulator of the three laws of motion, the theory of gravity, inventor of the first reflecting telescope, theory of color, calculus (with due credit to Gottfried Leibniz), the generalized binomial theorem, and president of the Royal Society.

Newton in a 1702 portrait by Godfrey Kneller

All which ties in directly to retail, and biodiversity. Huh?

Co-operative Farms (UK) recently bought 1,000  rare and endangered apple varieties, with colorful names like Great Expectations, Fairie Queen, Northern Spy, Forty Shilling, Duck’s Bill and Bloody Ploughman. (I wonder how the last name came to be; actually, maybe I shouldn’t.) This also includes Isaac’s Newton’s Tree: the apple variety cultivated from the descendants of the tree which inspired Newton to formulate the Theory of Gravity. Many of those apples were dessert apples, but some fell out of favor the strains were no longer grown, threatening to disappear.

Co-op Farms are bottling them up as the “Truly Irresistible Tillington 1,000″ pressed apple juice. I think it is great that a retail chain is funding crop diversity and finding a way to make some money in the process. Although with 7,500 cultivars worldwide, apples as are not exactly under an extinction threat. But there is also the matter of food variety, cultural heritage and, of course, preserving the history of physics. Or bottling it up, whichever the case may be.

Also, fruit, including apples, are important in the small-arms industry:

In the Hatena story about symbiosis, I posted the following picture drawn by Ernst Haeckel:

Lichen, from "Art Forms of Nature" / E. Haeckl

Beautiful!  In this day and age of imaging, high resolution photography, and molecular graphics, we forget that scientific drawing was a skill as necessary to life scientists  as microscopic imaging, or molecular graphics is today.  Indeed, biology was very much a descriptive discipline in the 19th century, and being able to articulate your findings –in words as well as in art — was as valuable a skill as the ability to posit a hypothesis and then design an experiment to test it.  Possibly even more valuable in some circles. Scientists won medals and were awarded promotions based on their drawing skills. A naturalist’s drawings could not be inaccurate, nor could the images be occluded or embellished, they had to be very precise. But that does not mean that there was no room for artistic input.  Those could be found in the hues, the lighting, the composition, point of view angles and arrangement of the subjects drawn. Haeckel definitely had his distinctive style: part Romantic, with a Gothic undercurrent. In Art Forms of Nature he would take a series of subjects in the same genus, and arrange them in the contemporary style tessellated form, like this (all pictures are from Wikimedia Commons and are in the public domain):

Darwin himself was so impressed by Haeckel’s drawings that he wrote they were “..the most magnificent works which I have ever seen, & I am proud to possess a copy from the author“. Haeckel himself was a staunch supporter of evolution by natural selection, and held Darwin in great esteem. It very brave stand taken by a young assistant professor in Jena in Germany  at a time when evolution itself was already quite accepted in many scientific circles, but Darwin’s theory of natural selection was still hotly debated. Haeckel served to popularize evolution, and his popular lecture series in Jena attracted hundreds of listeners. His beautiful drawings serve as a frontispiece to his scientific writings, serving not only to illustrate, but to attract his readers.

His was a troubled soul. The love of his life, Anna Sethe Haeckel died of a sudden illness at a young age. He remarried, but never recovered from his broken heart, calling Anna the “only true love” of his life. While being a popular advocate of natural selection, he also attracted a lot of ire form his peers and the public. He was strongly opposed to any form of organized religion, even more so following his personal tragedy. His was the religion of Spinoza and Goethe — that of monism. Unlike Darwin, Haeckel zealously recruited Evolution to a cultural fight, and has caused a massive backlash from established religious circles that is lasting to this very day. He was  Romantic, in the sense that he was influenced by such as Goethe and Humboldt, seeking underlying unities in nature and in life, a quest which may have lead him to his greatest  — yet  false — achievement.

The central medusae are Desmonema annasethe. Haeckel named them after his late wife Anna Sethe. The medusae tentacles reminded him of her "long flowing hair".

Haeckel is best known for formulating the now-rejected Biogenetic Law which states that the embryonic development of an individual organism (its ontogeny) followed the same path as the evolutionary history of its species (its phylogeny). The Biogenetic Law, or Law of Recapitulation (ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny) was in the books until the late 20th century. Although it is pretty clear that the phases an embryo goes through do not match the species history, it is still an idea that is circulating in popular culture and pseudo-scientific circles. Haeckel was accused at his time and later of forging the famous embryo sketches, an accusation that, if it weren’t for the support of Darwin and other prominent scientists of his time, would probably have caused him to lose his job. The forgery vs. overzealous interpretation debate continues to this very day, and unfortunately serves  in very a warped interpretation as an argument against evolution. The creationist reasoning goes something like: “Haeckel lied –> the law of recapitulation is founded on a fraud –> all evolution is a fraud”.  Not a very smart argument, since recapitulation was never a pillar of natural selection.

In 1997 Michael Richardson and colleagues published an article titled:  “There is no highly conserved embryonic stage in the vertebrates: implications for current theories of evolution and development”.  In the article, they compared photographs of embryos to Haeckel’s illustrations, and found gross discrepancies, which they interpreted as probable fraud.The other side of the story is that Richardson et. al left the yolk sacs in, (Haeckel removed them) and compared their photos to a derivative work rather that Haeckel’s drawings where the embryos are actually quite different from each other.  In 2002 they published another paper, where they explored Haeckel’s ideas as well as his drawings, and concluded that although deeply flawed, it is hard to show fraud especially since Haeckel himself was not the strict recapitulationist that his later followers were.

Haeckel, E. 1874. Anthropogenie: Keimes- und Stammes-Geschichte des Menschen; From left to right: fish, salamander, turtle, chicken, pig, cow, rabbit, human. The uppermost row of illustrations represents a conserved stage across Vertebrata

I’m not getting into this discussion, really, which sometime seems like a 150 year old flame war on fark.com (Let’s see if this link gets my blog farked, hehe). My take is that an amazing artist and naturalist such as Haeckel was seeing from his own heart’s desire, but so were a lot of other embryologists, way down to  my biology teacher in high school. (I dropped the developmental biology course in college, something I regret now, so I don’t’ know what went on there). The seduction of an all-encompassing elegant theory explaining embryonic development has caused many to go, in some form or another, for the Biogenetic Law.

Man, but his drawings are amazing. I can’t wait for my mail order of  Art Forms of Nature to come in. and I wonder how Haeckel, if he had lived today, would have injected from his artistic talent into macromolecular drawings such as this:

Illustration of aquaporin, a membrane molecule that controls the flow of water to the cell. The central mesh in A and B shows the water flow. ischer G, Kosinska-Eriksson U, Aponte-Santamaría C, Palmgren M, Geijer C, et al. 2009 Crystal Structure of a Yeast Aquaporin at 1.15 Å Reveals a Novel Gating Mechanism. PLoS Biol 7(6): e1000130. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.1000130

Update: Art forms of Nature in PDF and HTML is available here.

Richardson, M., Hanken, J., Gooneratne, M., Pieau, C., Raynaud, A., Selwood, L., & Wright, G. (1997). There is no highly conserved embryonic stage in the vertebrates: implications for current theories of evolution and development Anatomy and Embryology, 196 (2), 91-106 DOI: 10.1007/s004290050082

RICHARDSON, M., & KEUCK, G. (2002). Haeckel’s ABC of evolution and development Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, 77 (4), 495-528 DOI: 10.1017/S1464793102005948

Robert J. Richards (2008). The Tragic Sense of Life

Ernst Haeckl Kunstformen der Natur (in HTML and PDF format, German).