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Selection of a DNA aptamer for homocysteine using SELEX from Maureen McKeague on Vimeo.
The lab is exploring a chemical technique called SELEX-systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment-which generates short segments of DNA and RNA called aptamers. These nucleic acids can be designed to stick to almost any target molecule. For McKeague’s Ph.D. research, the target molecule-played by undergraduate student and Scottish folk dancer Charlotte Bradley-is the amino acid homocysteine. High levels of this amino acid are an indicator of cardiovascular disease. McKeague’s aim is to use SELEX to create aptamers to cheaply and accurately measure homocysteine in blood samples. [SOURCE]
Posted: December 28th, 2010
at 2:41pm by Black Ock
Categories: science,ninjas are everyehere
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North American English Dialects Map
This book is the product of a particular kind of vision, of a world that is hurtling despite itself towards a transcendently positive future of increasing complexity and capability. "Technology" is not the real subject, that just happens to be the current edge of the curve. It’s an attractive vision, and certainly it’s possible to see some of this in the world when approached from the right angle. Evolution and related processes do have a ratchet effect; the world is learning to do what it does better. That’s great, but either this happens with human guidance or without it. If technology in truth can’t be managed, then we don’t really need to think about it, we can just play with our gadgets. If, on the other hand, technology can be shaped and guided by humans, then we need better ways to do just that. Dealing with climate change is the most obvious area where we need more control, not less. Getting transported into ecstasies by the technical sublimeAdoesn’t help. The reality of our technological world — its glories and its disasters, its potentials and ptifalls — has to be faced squarely. Trying to paint a moral valence on technology as a whole is a mistake; like the humans who propel it forward, it contains multitudes.
Posted: December 28th, 2010
at 2:12pm by Koookiecrumbles
Categories: the column
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When hunting for a technical co-founder, don't assume that anyone who writes code is a good fit to build your product. There are manyAvariationsAin skills, attitudes, and riskAappetitesAamong programmers and getting the right person on board from the start is really important.
Posted: December 28th, 2010
at 2:09pm by Koookiecrumbles
Categories: the column
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I was recently thinking why do I procrastinate. AYes, I do procrastinate; as my previous boss described me, I’m honest. AI think honesty helps you focus on a meaningful solution to the problem instead of masking it and being defensive. And specifically to work, I think the normal state of a man is to want to work and him not working is mostly because there are obstacles blocking him. ABlocking obstacles in abstract stuff aren’t so obvious as in the real world.
Posted: December 28th, 2010
at 2:08pm by Koookiecrumbles
Categories: the column
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Social entrepreneurs working in Africa would seem to be a world apart-literally-from most U.S. business executives. But two professors from theAWharton School say there are more similarities than might be apparent at first. Social entrepreneurs in developing countries, they say, work in highly challenging, highly uncertain conditions-and so do corporate managers who wrestle with all kinds of social, economic or demographic changes.
Posted: December 28th, 2010
at 2:05pm by Koookiecrumbles
Categories: the column
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Quote of the Day
"Often I feel I go to some distant region of the world to be reminded of who I really am… Stripped of your ordinary surroundings, your friends, your daily routines, your refrigerator full of your food, your closet full of your clothes, you are forced into direct experience. Such direct experience inevitably makes you aware of who it is that is having the experience. That’s not always comfortable, but it is always invigorating." - Michael Crichton, Travels, as quoted in Rolf Potts’ Vagabondi
Posted: December 28th, 2010
at 7:41am by Koookiecrumbles
Categories: quote of the day
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How much do cultural biases affect economic exchange? We answer this question by using data on bilateral trust between European countries. We document that this trust is affected not only by the characteristics of the country being trusted, but also by cultural aspects of the match between trusting country and trusted country, such as their history of conflicts and their religious, genetic, and somatic similarities. We then find that lower bilateral trust leads to less trade between two countries, less portfolio investment, and less direct investment, even after controlling for the characteristics of the two countries. This effect is stronger for goods that are more trust intensive. Our results suggest that perceptions rooted in culture are important (and generally omitted) determinants of economic exchange.
Posted: December 27th, 2010
at 2:53pm by Koookiecrumbles
Categories: the column
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"The strong manly ones in life are those who understand the meaning of the word patience. Patience means restraining one's inclinations. There are seven emotions: joy, anger, anxiety, love, grief, fear, and hate, and if a man does not give way to these he can be called patient. I am not as strong as I might be, but I have long known and practiced patience. And if my descendants wish to be as I am, they must study patience."
Posted: December 27th, 2010
at 2:50pm by Koookiecrumbles
Categories: the column
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