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POPSEnzymes made to order Making enzymes is a tricky business. Even the names of the techniques sound mind-boggling, with the process involving a mix of 'quantum mechanical computation', 'advanced protein engineering' and 'directed evolution'. while naturally occurring enzymes speed reaction rates by many billion (or even trillion) fold, the synthetic enzymes gave more conservative boosts – around 100,000 fold. "The acceleration is really rather modest by comparison to Nature," admits Houk – but it's still incredibly exciting
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POPSProblem-based learning (PBL) in a biochemistry course Hal White of the University of Delaware (a major center for developing PBL strategies) gives an informal introduction to his style of using current and classic research to develop the "problems" that his students will tackle in the classroom.
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POPSUniversity Research Labs Produces Too Much CO2 Hervé Philippe, a Université de Montréal professor of biochemistry, is a committed environmentalist who found that his own research produces 44 tonnes of CO2 per year. The average American citizen produces 20 tonnes. Hervé Philippe“I did my PhD on nucleotide sequencing in the hope of advancing our knowledge of biodiversity, but I never thought that the research itself could have a negative impact on biodiversity,” he said, during a recent biology department symposium. He doesn’t believe in one magical solution, but rather in transformations adapted to each area. For universities, he recommends having less frequent international conferences, increasing the use of videoconferences, avoiding research on well explored topics, reducing publications and evaluating the amount of CO2 produced by research projects. On the web: About the Université de Montréal: http://www.umontreal.ca/english/index.htm.
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POPSWhy we may overlook extra-terrestrial life Ammonia, for example, has many of the same properties as water. An ammonia or ammonia-water mixture, stays liquid at much colder temperatures than plain water.Hydrogen fluoride methanol, hydrogen sulfide, hydrogen chloride, and formamide have all been suggested as suitable solvents that could theoretically support alternative biochemistry. All of these “water replacements” have pros and cons when considered in our terrestrial environment. What needs to be considered is that with a radically different environment, comes radically different reactions. Water and carbon might be the very last things capable of supporting life in some extreme planetary conditions. In any case, it is not beyond the realm of feasibility that our first encounter with extra-terrestrial life will not be a solely carbon-based occasion.
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POPSFasting: Is it beneficial to your health? ...fasting has been shown to be effective in treating high blood pressure, however, medical journals won't publish the research. Why not? No profit to be earned from recommending that people skip a few meals??
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POPSThe Astonishing Ignorance of Ben Stein It takes little effort to anyone who is even slightly knowledgeable about science to look at this interview and quickly determine that both of these men are astonishingly ignorant on the subject of evolution. The sole conviction they share is a concern that science will erode their faith in their "god did it" beliefs. How embarrassing for them. I didn't expect much from O'Reilly but was surprised by Ben Stein's stupidity.
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POPSsome scientific findings Redheads "In cases of severe malnutrition, normally dark human hair may turn red or blonde.' - may explains why Scotland has highest proportion of redheads due to its geographical mountains producing less nutritious foods...
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POPSFear can be cured, soon; somewhat disquieting. One little (or not so little) concern regarding these wonderful news, is that the same mechanism can be selectively used to implant fears not only to cure them, an hardly resistible temptation for those hungry for power & control.
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