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Might Hfq regulate sxy translation?
I've just returned from a visit to the University of Western Ontario, where I gave two talks, one about #arseniclife and one about competence. In the competence talk I briefly described how sxy...
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Cold frame or solar hot box?
Growing up in upstate NY, every serious gardener had one or more cold frames. No more economical way to extend your gardening season is available than a cold frame. These good old boys never bought...
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Evolution bugs me
Cover illustration for the forthcoming textbook by Carl Zimmer and Douglas Emlen This is a real photo. It's the cover for a new biology textbook by Carl Zimmer and Douglas Emlen. The photo shows...
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Rick wants my vote!
Rick Sanctimonious wants me to vote for him. This is known because he called me on the phone and left me a message to that effect. The Phactor is quite sorry he missed the opportunity to chat with...
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I Need Sleep
Anyone working in the lab is usually familiar with sleep deprivation. At one conference I stayed up all night playing pool and drinking till 4am with some mycologists, who assured me that you weren't a...
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Color illusion -- too cool to believe
By far the most striking visual illusion I've ever seen. A little bit of color after-effect turns a black-and-white photograph into a vivid color photograph. You may have to do it a few times to...
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A geologist riddle #25
The drawing from the field by a great geologist (already featured on this blog) from a country not yet discussed...the mysterious geologist travelled far, visited Ceylon, Japan, Taiwan, Celebes, Java,...
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For US$16,818.50 would you want a synthetic human virus?
In the media aftermath of the H5N1 transmission debate we've been hearing an awful lot about the possibilities of bringing synthetic biology to the field of virology. In fact, one of the best analyses...
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A long post about Hfq and Sxy
I've been doing a lot of digging around and reading about Hfq's possible involvement in post-transcriptional regulation of sxy. Now I need to write it all down here or I'll forget what I've done. 1....
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Silent treatment - What kind of Monday is this?
Mondays are usually a zoo; everybody wants everything from everybody and messages fly all over the place the whole day long. Today, the phone did not ring once today. About 25% of the usual email...
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Oh, yes, a reminder!
Maybe the memory isn't what it used to be, because somehow last fall the Phactor made an unplanned purchase of some spring bulbs on sale, and then had Mrs. Phactor yammering on about who (duh!) was...
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The Nostocaceae: Tangled Filaments
Macroscopic growth of the cyanobacterium Nostoc commune, from here. The cyanobacteria, commonly referred to as the 'blue-green algae', were one of the first groups of bacteria to be recognised as...
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Accounting for Taste: Why a Bear, but Not a Seal, Will Steal Your Cupcake
Humans aren't the only mammals with a sweet tooth. Omnivores from beagles to grizzlies can detect a wide range of flavors and enjoy the taste of sugar. But other mammals with narrow carnivorous diets...
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Climate Change - What to do?
Whenever the Phactor looks too closely, or actually pays any attention at all, to our governing bodies, and what they do and what they are incapable of doing, he gets very depressed. All the more so...
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Switches and latches on the ribosome
Call me a geek, but I'm a big fan of translational GTPases (trGTPases). They're essential factors for translation by the ribosome, highly conserved in all life and they're ancient. Really ancient....
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Blogging the Origin: Chapter II: Variation Under Nature
As you may recall in Darwin's long argument the point of the previous chapter was establish that variation exists within well understood domesticated plants and animals. In this chapter, Darwin extends...
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Cordial Chemistry: Syrup of Violets
Today's talk at the Chemical Heritage Foundation was by one of my fellow Fellows, Rebecca Laroche, on syrup of violets and Robert Boyle. It had long been known that adding an acidic material, such as...
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Something new - Balmy weather in March
It was quite a day here in the upper midwest. The high was near 80 and while dinner was cooking the Phactor was sitting on his patio at 7:15 pm nursing a margarita in the dwindling twilight and...
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Pi Day and the BBP formula
In the last few days I must write the 47th italian Carnival of Mathematics (Google translation), so I cannot write something about Pi Day. So, in the end of the day, I try to write a little post about...
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The last Ichthyosaurus
"The last Ichthyosaurus" (1854)"A hiss between the horsetailsSuspicious shines the sea -There comes with tears in his eyesAn Ichthyosaurus swimming here.He laments the corruption of times,as alarming...
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