Anisotropic Perspectives

…but in Canada.  Who’s the best lecturer?

BIG IDEAS

Wired.com: Bell Labs Kills Fundamental Physics Research

After six Nobel Prizes, the invention of the transistor, laser and countless contributions to computer science and technology, it is the end of the road for Bell Labs’ fundamental physics research lab.

What a testament to the power of suggestion!  As the heartbreaking followup investigation confirms, the reality of disease continues long after the large (often unaffordable) donations to Benny Hinn are spent and the limbic system is calmed.

Part 1:

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Maybe it’s because you’re “not Bayesian”…

Maybe you see the theorem, and you understand the theorem, and you can use the theorem, but you can’t understand why your friends and/or research colleagues seem to think it’s the secret of the universe.  Maybe your friends are all wearing Bayes’ Theorem T-shirts, and you’re feeling left out.  Maybe you’re a girl looking for a boyfriend, but the boy you’re interested in refuses to date anyone who “isn’t Bayesian”.  What matters is that Bayes is cool, and if you don’t know Bayes, you aren’t cool.

Convert here.

Bravo, ladies.  I expect we’ll see more projects using increasingly powerful and affordable genetic testing technologies in the future.

They found that one-fourth of the fish samples with identifiable DNA were mislabeled…  Seven of nine samples that were called red snapper were mislabeled, and they turned out to be anything from Atlantic cod to Acadian redfish, an endangered species.

What may be most impressive about the experiment is the ease with which the students accomplished it. Although the testing technique is at the forefront of research, the fact that anyone can take advantage of it by sending samples off to a laboratory meant the kind of investigative tools once restricted to Ph.D.’s and crime labs can move into the hands of curious diners and amateur scientists everywhere.

What’s your application?  Read it all.

Cool.

Philadelphia’s Monell Center sampled the air directly above basal cell carcinomas [using GC-MS -ed] and found it was different to similar samples from healthy skin.

…

[Another group -ed] has trained dogs to detect subtle changes in the odour of urine which could indicate bladder cancer, and is hoping to detect prostate and skin cancers the same way.

I used to dream about things like this.

Photos from the Daily Mail

More from the Source (Hong Kong LEGO Users Group)

These are the three major reasons Olivia Judson gives for not trivializing evolution as an optional component of introductory biology.  It’s a great article, and I’d like to emphasize an additional point: it’s a powerful idea that just works.  Hence the excitement over comparative genomics.  By studying the process of evolution by natural selection on the genetic level (studying the DNA of closely and distantly related species), we can identify parts of the genome that are likely to be “evolutionarily constrained”.  That is, random mutations that mess up traits important for successful propagation are selected out, while random mutations in less useful regions can get passed around.  Why does this matter?  It helps us identify “useful” genes for experimental investigation (genes that could put your life or health at risk if they are spelled a certain way or are put in the wrong environment).

From the Phoenix Mars Lander…

“We have water,” said William Boynton of the University of Arizona, lead scientist for the Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer, or TEGA. “We’ve seen evidence for this water ice before in observations by the Mars Odyssey orbiter and in disappearing chunks observed by Phoenix last month, but this is the first time Martian water has been touched and tasted.”

Basically, the TEGA cooks the sample, releasing vapors that are then characterized by a mass spec that allows comparisons of isotopic abundances of H, O, C, and N (in other words, looking for molecular signs of life).