Of everything I have read involving your work, I've easily found the WILT proposal the most fascinating. Could you provide a brief overview of it, so people may learn of this fascinating possible treatment.
Also, a quick update on how you're going about bringing this treatment to become a reality?
This has been my favorite novel since I was about 12. Even though it's got Forward's normal hard sci-fi scattered throughout, it's overall very endearing and a pretty easy read.
The novel follows the complete evolution of a race of creatures living on the surface of a neutron star. They eventually make contact with humans, but since they live a million times faster than us the contact is problematic.
It's always been my absolute favorite, and first recommendations to anyone. The sequel, Starquake, is also pretty good, but usually a bit more difficult to find.
These are the kinds of questions that you should be asking your advisor. Giving you direction in your career is a pretty significant aspect of the mentor role. I'm amazed you haven't already had these kind of discussions. This faculty member chose you to work for them; there's obviously a reason, and thus they should have an interest in your career.
We don't know you. He/she does...at least more than us.
Granted, they may be apt to nudge you towards academia, but they should also be very familiar with the commercial applications of the field.
It's certainly a field where I could see there being a lot of consultant work in the coming years, and you could try to set yourself up for that role when you're more experienced. It's nice and cushy when you've got cred.
Also, application of biological systems to other non-biological processes is certainly a possibility...one you're set up well already to tackle with your compsci background.
Again, you're ignoring a wealth of resources available at your university. Ignore us and go ask there.
"Our nanoparticle-coated electrodes make electrolysers efficient enough to provide hydrogen on demand from a tank of distilled water in your car."
I can't decide whether using bottled water as a fuel source would end up making it more expensive, or less. On one hand, someone would try to make even more money off it...but on the other, it's already the most ludicrously priced product out there.
disclaimer: yes, I know bottle water isn't distilled...or even filtered, often.
To say that it runs on potential energy? The device always *has* gravity, but it's not drawing it off. Once you supply the device with some potential energy though, it takes that energy and utilizes it.
I guess "Potentia" isn't as marketable a name, though.
The software automatically plays the song files in the background (sans volume) and re-records them as MP3 files so they can be transferred to any device. Note: DoubleTwist only does this for songs you own or are authorized to play in iTunes.
Yeah, until the paper actually goes up, it just comes off as half-assed. If I was working off just the news reports, I'd say "You want a land bridge between South America and Madagascar? It's called Africa. Oh, those frogs aren't related to these? So what...maybe you just havent found 'beezlebubo' fossils on Africa yet."
I'm going to have to read this article because I really don't see how they came to this conclusion. It would have been quite plausible for these frogs to be spread across South America, Africa and Madagascar/India...then once all three seperated, these frogs won out in SA, they lost out to other frogs in Africa, and they lasted a bit longer in Madagascar.
You've got to assume poor conclusions weren't made because there's no way the study would have been published in PNAS if they had...but wow, this might just be horrible reporting.
Google has a SafeSearch option. That's a deterrent to accessing adult content.
Granted, it's only default on for images...and there's no restriction I know of to turning it off.
But it's certainly something.
I agree, young Han Solo stories are always great.
There's already good material too. Brain Daley's original Han Solo Adventures would make fantastic one-off movies, and AC Crispin's trilogy would make for a fantastic series.
Misleading. Mitochondrial DNA varies quite a lot between individuals. This is due to its high mutation rate due to a lack of "error-checking" like in nuclear DNA. You may have inhereted it from your mom, but certain samples of yours (all your mitochondria will not have the exact same genome) will be different than hers. Also, comparing your mitochondrial DNA to mine, and then our nuclear DNA, our mitochondrial DNA would be far more dissimilar.
Not really the growth of features...the function of them, yes. Mitochondrial diseases usually cause the malfunction of the eyes, ears, liver, heart, etc...disorders where the "problem" is sequestered to a certain tissue. Though, there can be broader disorders such as a general intolerance to physical exertion.
Mitochondrial DNA is always passed on by only the mother, this happens similarly in most metazoans. Mitochondrion present in sperm are marked with ubiquitin so that theyre destroyed once released into the zygote. As for genetic recombination being benificial...not really. Mitochondrial DNA only code for something like 35 genes. Some (like ribosomal RNA) would be completely dibilitating if defective, others not so much. Most of the proteins used in the mitochondria are actually coded in nuclear DNA, so they do benifit from recombination. Mitochondrial DNA actually will mutate fairly often due to the lack of recombination, and problems are common, but they usually arent serious...and often the problems stay sequestered to the area (within the body) where the mutation first occured.
I hope you aren't working in the sciences, or as a doctor...if so, you should have learned long ago how dangerous "100%" is. If you're going to be informative, at least be completely so...HIV does not have a 100% mortality rate. A few ways to look at this: 1) No one dies from HIV, they die from complication brought about by HIV. or 2) if 1 person dies from say...a car accident after being infected, there's no longer a 100% mortality rate. 3) Latent infections. Some rare people can be infected for very long period without showing significant ill effects. How long? Who knows, it's only been recognized for about 30 years.
From what I remember, there's been a fair amount of species found that have developed a tolerance for cold temperatures; but there's been very limited results of research into obligate psychrophiles, which would have more likely evolved in a cold environment.
I think this field is one of those areas of bacterial research that is going to be very slow in developing due to the incredible difficulty of culturing these kinds of organisms in vitro.
One of my old professors published a very interesting paper on finding ways to isolate these difficult organisms: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/296/5570/1127?ijkey=2zqckfPCzt9z2&keytype=ref&siteid=sci
First off, Aciclovir (Herpes) and Abacavir (HIV) are two examples of them being used in anti-viral applications.
Second, my guess is that, when replicated in vivo, is that the replication would occur but leave a mismatch, after which the offending base (the "fake one") will be cut out by either base-excision or nucleotide-excision. If this happens, there's really no problem with these things being around as long as they aren't in incredible quantities.
Fortunately, this is nothing ilke cancer. Cancers typically occur because a defect in genetic code can be replicated and the defect propigates. Where this differs is that these new bases have the *ability* to replicate, they'll do it fine in vitro. You aren't going to find them in an organism unless they're specifically put there, so replication isn't possible in vivo. In order for new genetic code involving these bases to get incorporated into an organism's genome, there would also have to be major modifications made which allowed the organism to produce these new nucleosides, in addition to the ones it already does.
These two "new bases" are basically nucleoside analogues...which have existed for years. Usually they are used in anti-viral applications.
What happens, is that they are similar enough to existing bases to be incorporated into a growing DNA strand, but are different enough to be unreadable. This works to put a monkey wrench in the viral machinery.
The article is very vague, but what Im taking from it is that these two new bases are readable, and that with a proper supply, DNA containing these bases can be properly replicated.
What I'm interested in knowing, is how the new codons containing these bases will be interpreted.
Going through all the FDA and EMEA rigamarole is far easier/faster on a "similar" drug because you usually only have to exhibit that your drug has a similar efficacy as existing options. (this is always set on a case-by-case basis, but "no more than 10% worse" is a fair generalization) When you cut down on the amount of studies, and depth of those studies, it brings the drug to market far cheaper and faster.
Even still, it's a long and arduous process. For example, my company became an independent entity in 1999...yet our first commercial drug is still a year from market, and our second is two years past that. Additionally, these are mostly "convenience drugs"...meaning, you take one of our pill instead of 8 of this other or the like. So, we aren't even breaking new ground here, just being innovative with existing knowledge. Yet, it still takes this long to get approvals from these agencies.
If you want cheaper drugs, then make it a cheaper/easier process to get drugs to market.
If you want a cheaper/easier process to get to market, pharmaceuticals will be less regulated.
If pharmaceuticals are less regulated, they'll be A) less effective and B) more dangerous.
When I look at my personal health care, I really don't care how *much* a drug will cost, as long as I can know the exact efficacy of its use, and the side-effects that come along with it. I'd much rather take that route, than pay 1/10 the cost for some snake oil.
Sorry, but Dreamcast has to win.
If for no other reason than the (sad) realization that more alcohol was consumed in college in front of Virtua Tennis than in front of tits.:(
Slashdot Mirror
Look into his work. WILT specifically adresses the problems brought about by telomeres.
Of everything I have read involving your work, I've easily found the WILT proposal the most fascinating. Could you provide a brief overview of it, so people may learn of this fascinating possible treatment.
Also, a quick update on how you're going about bringing this treatment to become a reality?
This has been my favorite novel since I was about 12. Even though it's got Forward's normal hard sci-fi scattered throughout, it's overall very endearing and a pretty easy read.
The novel follows the complete evolution of a race of creatures living on the surface of a neutron star. They eventually make contact with humans, but since they live a million times faster than us the contact is problematic.
It's always been my absolute favorite, and first recommendations to anyone. The sequel, Starquake, is also pretty good, but usually a bit more difficult to find.
Is Hilary Duff the other?
These are the kinds of questions that you should be asking your advisor. Giving you direction in your career is a pretty significant aspect of the mentor role. I'm amazed you haven't already had these kind of discussions. This faculty member chose you to work for them; there's obviously a reason, and thus they should have an interest in your career.
We don't know you. He/she does...at least more than us.
Granted, they may be apt to nudge you towards academia, but they should also be very familiar with the commercial applications of the field.
It's certainly a field where I could see there being a lot of consultant work in the coming years, and you could try to set yourself up for that role when you're more experienced. It's nice and cushy when you've got cred.
Also, application of biological systems to other non-biological processes is certainly a possibility...one you're set up well already to tackle with your compsci background.
Again, you're ignoring a wealth of resources available at your university. Ignore us and go ask there.
I can't decide whether using bottled water as a fuel source would end up making it more expensive, or less. On one hand, someone would try to make even more money off it...but on the other, it's already the most ludicrously priced product out there.
disclaimer: yes, I know bottle water isn't distilled...or even filtered, often.
To say that it runs on potential energy? The device always *has* gravity, but it's not drawing it off. Once you supply the device with some potential energy though, it takes that energy and utilizes it.
I guess "Potentia" isn't as marketable a name, though.
The software automatically plays the song files in the background (sans volume) and re-records them as MP3 files so they can be transferred to any device. Note: DoubleTwist only does this for songs you own or are authorized to play in iTunes.
Yeah, until the paper actually goes up, it just comes off as half-assed. If I was working off just the news reports, I'd say "You want a land bridge between South America and Madagascar? It's called Africa. Oh, those frogs aren't related to these? So what...maybe you just havent found 'beezlebubo' fossils on Africa yet."
I'm going to have to read this article because I really don't see how they came to this conclusion. It would have been quite plausible for these frogs to be spread across South America, Africa and Madagascar/India...then once all three seperated, these frogs won out in SA, they lost out to other frogs in Africa, and they lasted a bit longer in Madagascar.
You've got to assume poor conclusions weren't made because there's no way the study would have been published in PNAS if they had...but wow, this might just be horrible reporting.
Google has a SafeSearch option. That's a deterrent to accessing adult content. Granted, it's only default on for images...and there's no restriction I know of to turning it off. But it's certainly something.
I agree, young Han Solo stories are always great. There's already good material too. Brain Daley's original Han Solo Adventures would make fantastic one-off movies, and AC Crispin's trilogy would make for a fantastic series.
Misleading. Mitochondrial DNA varies quite a lot between individuals. This is due to its high mutation rate due to a lack of "error-checking" like in nuclear DNA. You may have inhereted it from your mom, but certain samples of yours (all your mitochondria will not have the exact same genome) will be different than hers. Also, comparing your mitochondrial DNA to mine, and then our nuclear DNA, our mitochondrial DNA would be far more dissimilar.
Not really the growth of features...the function of them, yes. Mitochondrial diseases usually cause the malfunction of the eyes, ears, liver, heart, etc...disorders where the "problem" is sequestered to a certain tissue. Though, there can be broader disorders such as a general intolerance to physical exertion.
Mitochondrial DNA is always passed on by only the mother, this happens similarly in most metazoans. Mitochondrion present in sperm are marked with ubiquitin so that theyre destroyed once released into the zygote. As for genetic recombination being benificial...not really. Mitochondrial DNA only code for something like 35 genes. Some (like ribosomal RNA) would be completely dibilitating if defective, others not so much. Most of the proteins used in the mitochondria are actually coded in nuclear DNA, so they do benifit from recombination. Mitochondrial DNA actually will mutate fairly often due to the lack of recombination, and problems are common, but they usually arent serious...and often the problems stay sequestered to the area (within the body) where the mutation first occured.
I hope you aren't working in the sciences, or as a doctor...if so, you should have learned long ago how dangerous "100%" is. If you're going to be informative, at least be completely so...HIV does not have a 100% mortality rate. A few ways to look at this: 1) No one dies from HIV, they die from complication brought about by HIV. or 2) if 1 person dies from say...a car accident after being infected, there's no longer a 100% mortality rate. 3) Latent infections. Some rare people can be infected for very long period without showing significant ill effects. How long? Who knows, it's only been recognized for about 30 years.
From what I remember, there's been a fair amount of species found that have developed a tolerance for cold temperatures; but there's been very limited results of research into obligate psychrophiles, which would have more likely evolved in a cold environment. I think this field is one of those areas of bacterial research that is going to be very slow in developing due to the incredible difficulty of culturing these kinds of organisms in vitro. One of my old professors published a very interesting paper on finding ways to isolate these difficult organisms: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/296/5570/1127?ijkey=2zqckfPCzt9z2&keytype=ref&siteid=sci
Hire the lawfirm of Guinness and McGregor
First off, Aciclovir (Herpes) and Abacavir (HIV) are two examples of them being used in anti-viral applications. Second, my guess is that, when replicated in vivo, is that the replication would occur but leave a mismatch, after which the offending base (the "fake one") will be cut out by either base-excision or nucleotide-excision. If this happens, there's really no problem with these things being around as long as they aren't in incredible quantities.
Fortunately, this is nothing ilke cancer. Cancers typically occur because a defect in genetic code can be replicated and the defect propigates. Where this differs is that these new bases have the *ability* to replicate, they'll do it fine in vitro. You aren't going to find them in an organism unless they're specifically put there, so replication isn't possible in vivo. In order for new genetic code involving these bases to get incorporated into an organism's genome, there would also have to be major modifications made which allowed the organism to produce these new nucleosides, in addition to the ones it already does.
These two "new bases" are basically nucleoside analogues...which have existed for years. Usually they are used in anti-viral applications. What happens, is that they are similar enough to existing bases to be incorporated into a growing DNA strand, but are different enough to be unreadable. This works to put a monkey wrench in the viral machinery. The article is very vague, but what Im taking from it is that these two new bases are readable, and that with a proper supply, DNA containing these bases can be properly replicated. What I'm interested in knowing, is how the new codons containing these bases will be interpreted.
Going through all the FDA and EMEA rigamarole is far easier/faster on a "similar" drug because you usually only have to exhibit that your drug has a similar efficacy as existing options. (this is always set on a case-by-case basis, but "no more than 10% worse" is a fair generalization) When you cut down on the amount of studies, and depth of those studies, it brings the drug to market far cheaper and faster. Even still, it's a long and arduous process. For example, my company became an independent entity in 1999...yet our first commercial drug is still a year from market, and our second is two years past that. Additionally, these are mostly "convenience drugs"...meaning, you take one of our pill instead of 8 of this other or the like. So, we aren't even breaking new ground here, just being innovative with existing knowledge. Yet, it still takes this long to get approvals from these agencies. If you want cheaper drugs, then make it a cheaper/easier process to get drugs to market. If you want a cheaper/easier process to get to market, pharmaceuticals will be less regulated. If pharmaceuticals are less regulated, they'll be A) less effective and B) more dangerous. When I look at my personal health care, I really don't care how *much* a drug will cost, as long as I can know the exact efficacy of its use, and the side-effects that come along with it. I'd much rather take that route, than pay 1/10 the cost for some snake oil.
Sorry, but Dreamcast has to win. If for no other reason than the (sad) realization that more alcohol was consumed in college in front of Virtua Tennis than in front of tits. :(