Clik here to view.
Teach the controversy column?
Jay Mathews column the other day at the WashPo seemed to be promoting the idea that it would be a good educational idea to teach the controversy, to teach evolution and some form of creationism or...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Being a philosophess
"...as a Philosophess she will not be discouraged by one or two Failures" Benjamin Franklin, in a letter to William Brownrigg dated 7 November 1773, where he wonders if Mrs. Brownrigg has succeeded in...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Religion and health - a double edged sword
Long-time readers of this blog may remember a post from 2009 on religion and health. It summarized the findings of nearly 60 studies, and concluded that while going to church seemed to be linked to...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Generating final data for the #arseniclife paper
1. Cells for new DNA preps: For the replicate DNA preps (for the replicate LC-MS analysis), yesterday I inoculated GFAJ-1 cells into two 50 ml cultures in AML60 medium with 1500 µM PO4, with and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Here's the gel photo
These DNAs were all stored in the fridge (4 °C) in aqueous solution (10 mM Tris 1 mM EDTA pH 8.0) for two months before this gel was run. The DNAs in the 'ss' lanes were heated to 95°C for 10 min...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Academic publishing gets even sleazier
An email from Scientific and Academic Publishing: Dear Rosemary J. Redfield, This is Scientific & Academic Publishing, USA. Nice to get your information from the journal PLOS Pathogens and also...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Saturday winter fun - cooking
In a strange departure from normal, a Saturday arrives when the Phactors had no pressing errands to run and no other activities of note, and of course, with the outside temperature in the teens and a 6...
View ArticleClik here to view.
kumquats - a salad recipe
Kumquats are in season! But what do you do with the little beggers? They were one of those funny little fruits that the Phactor had never actually figured out what they were good for until the Phactor...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Fun and Games with super PAC, man!
You've got to love those guys, Steven Colbert & John Stewart; they may be the best political comedians ever, and nothing shows the ridiculous, the absurdities, better than satirical humor. How...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A surprising triumph in the fight against polio
Source: polioeradication.org The last case of polio in India occurred exactly one year ago, on January 13, 2011. In the decades-long battle against this devastating disease, this is one of the best...
View ArticleClik here to view.
What is your favorite deep, elegant or beautiful explanation (in chemistry)?
Over at Edge, they have a survey asking leading scientists, thinkers and writers about what they think is their favorite "elegant, deep or beautiful explanation". This is meant to be a very general...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The CsCl/mass spectrometry data
Here's the figure the collaborating grad student sent, showing his LC-MS analysis results of two DNA samples from the first set of GFAJ-1 preparations I sent him. Each data point is a fraction from one...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Ornithocheirids: Misunderstood Giants
The original specimen of Ornithocheirus simus, from Joseph Dinkel. The pterosaurs of the Ornithocheiridae that lived between the Early and mid-Cretaceous were not the largest pterosaurs to ever live,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Mostly Unicellular
"Unicellular organisms are so successful, so numerous, and so diverse that an unbiased description of life on Earth could be summed up with just two words: mostly unicellular." This is the 1st sentence...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Photographic Memory? Depends Where You're Looking
Even if you like to brag about your visual memory, your recall may really depend on the direction of your gaze. That's what two MIT scientists say after testing people's recollection of items on a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
GFAJ-1 growth curves in limiting phosphate
The BioScreen is a wonderful time-saver. Over the weekend it did growth curves using media with 9 different concentrations of phosphate, each with 10 replicates, taking readings every 20 minutes for...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Clik here to view.
The slumbering giant awakes
University campuses are strange beasts. They can transform from desolate ghost towns to crowded dynamos of activity almost over night. Over the holiday break the Phactor marveled at the solitude of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
SOPA and PIPA
These US House and Senate bills will censor the internet. Sign the petition to vote no on both.
View ArticleClik here to view.
Fraud in a glass of wine
One of the biggest stories in biomedical research during the last decade has been the discovery that certain molecules can mimic the effect of what's called caloric restriction, the reduced consumption...
View Article