"Probably not from carrot juice though... beta-carotene is often used to dye lemonade"
Beta Carotene was first isolated from carrots, and is the main pigment that gives their roots an orange color. At lower concentrations, Beta Carotene can give a yellowish appearance, as it does in Golden Rice.
From WebMD.com:
"...Your friend's yellow-orange skin hue is a tell-tale sign of a beta carotene overdose from his hefty carrot juice consumption."
From Mywellness.com:
"Drink too much carrot juice and your skin will begin to turn orange. This won't harm you, Diekman says, but it's a sign that you are probably getting more than your body needs."
From Hallelujah Acres:
"Carotenemia is the medical term for increased blood levels of the pigment carotene, a vitamin-A precursor found mainly in the fruits and vegetables, especially carrots and sweet potatoes. The excess carotene is deposited in the skin, where it imparts that distinctive hue. High blood levels of carotene are harmless, and enzymes in the body limit that nutrient's conversion to vitamin A so the vitamin won't reach toxic levels. If you don't like the orange color, cut down on the carrots or supplements. Your skin color will return to normal after a few weeks."
"Polar bear's liver is poisoned becuase of high quantitys of vitamin D, not vitamin A."
From Emazing Science Facts:
"Polar bear livers have such high levels of vitamin A that they are highly toxic to human beings."
From The Alaska Cooperative Extension:
"While most people do not have a ready source of polar bear liver, it is a well known, even notorious source of vitamin A. That is, vitamin A is toxic marginally above required levels and polar bear liver is exceptionally potent."
From Discovery Online:
"Although the extremely high vitamin A content in this fatty diet would be toxic to humans, the polar bear's liver can process it just fine. (When traditional Eskimo hunters killed a polar bear, they would drop its liver through a hole in the ice so nobody would be tempted to eat it.)"
From The Encyclopedia Britannica:
"The polar bear is sought for its trophy value and (especially by Eskimo) for its hide, tendons, fat, and flesh; the liver, however, is inedible and often poisonous because of its high vitamin A content."
Thank you, drive through.
Re:Why not just distibute vitamins?
on
Golden Rice
·
· Score: 2
"The best way to solve a problem with as many causes as malnourishment has is not to throw at it an expensive, narrow soloution that will be merely a remedy for one symptom of chronic hunger..."
And you say this in the same breath as, "Why not just distribute Vitamins?"
We're dealing with a population that has to worry about affording enough simple Calories to stay alive. Purchasing vitamins is out of the question. Sure, we could simply give them the pills instead, but while a pill may be cheap for us, they would have to be continually supplied, and so the recipients would be dependent on the fickle largesse of first-world donors.
No, Golden Rice will not save the world, but why are you so critical of this one man's attempt to help?
"Start somewhere, start small, but please start..."
Link to some of Ingo Potrykus' Responses
on
Golden Rice
·
· Score: 3
Here's a link to "Ingo Potrykus' Response To Golden Rice Critics", a page containing some comments from the head of the group that designed Golden Rice. I'm not going to quote the contents of the page here, but I recommend you read it if you're interested in what the professor himself has to say.
"Too much vitamin A is bad for you. In high levels it is a known teratogen (can deform a foetus)"
Yes, it's why a polar bear's liver is inedible, and why several Vitamin-A derived Acne medications have warning labels.
That's one of the reasons why the the Vitamin A in Golden Rice is in the form of Beta Carotene, which can be taken in doses 100's of times greater than the RDA (Vitamin A is considered to be toxic at around 20x RDA). BTW, Beta Carotene overdoses happen in real life every so often, usually with individuals who consume too much (up to several gallons) of carrot juice. There are no toxic effects, although in cases of severe overdose, your skin may turn orangish for several months.
Re:GM food is not a good idea yet
on
Golden Rice
·
· Score: 2
"Pennicillin doesn't reproduce."
Actually, Penicillin reproduces very well. Give it a loaf of bread and a warm, damp place and you'll see just how well it reproduces. The original strain of Penicillin was a contaminant in a petri dish, with later strains coming from such exotic locations as a rotting canteloupe.
"I'm sure they'll have no problem getting back in, provided that they don't have an EXCLUSIVE agreement w/ nVidia."
You've got a real good point there. nVidia is getting to the point where they have real monopoly power from a boardmaker's perspective, since ATI and Matrox don't sell chipsets. S3 (who sold their graphics division to VIA) still sells chipsets, but seems to be focusing on cheap integrated video and probably won't be coming out with anything new for a long time.
Now that 3dfx is now on shaky financial ground, it's sort of like the situation that used to exist with Intel, when AMD was still weak. A company could piss off Intel, but had to worry about the future possibility of AMD going under. If, say, Creative wanted to make 3dfx boards, nVidia could simply threaten to cut them off.
Via Hardware has a V4 PCI vs. MX PCI article which compares the two PCI boards. Performance of the two cards was similar, with the V4 faster in some cases (including, interestingly enough, 3DMark2000's Hardware D3D T&L benchmark), and the MX faster in others. Although not covered in this article, the V4 has faster 2x FSAA.
"At a roughly even retail price, it's a total toss up based on your own particular needs as to which card is for you. Chances are that you'll want to upgrade your video in either case if you plan on upgrading your system. Either way the GeForce2 MX will most likely afford you better low-resolution performance on a faster machine. For the low enders of the world, either card would be a pleasing addition to your system."
The problem with pre-paid phones is that the "refill" minutes expire, usually too quickly. Some plans may let you roll over minutes when you get a new card, but usually only once for a given set of minutes.
This might not be a problem if you're fairly consistent in how you use your phone, but if your usage varies widely from month to month, you could end up paying for expired time.
...at least not according to classical models of aerodynamics. See this October 97 New Scientist article, "On a wing and a vortex":
...Conventional aerodynamics--used in the design of aircraft and helicopters--rely on "steady-state" situations such as a fixed wing moving at a constant speed or a propeller rotating at a constant rate. By contrast, the motion of insect wings is a complicated 3D affair. Nevertheless, until recently researchers were not convinced that this special motion could generate any unusual sources of lift. For years, they struggled to explain insect flight using a theory rooted in steady-state situations, not understanding why their aerodynamic sums didn't add up. Ellington summarises it neatly. "Since the 1950s, we've been looking at insect flight with the wrong picture in mind."
3dfx still makes decent PCI cards. They're widely available, and you can sometimes find the V3-2000 PCI for $60 or less. Image quality and performance are actually quite good, and the V3 overclocks well (if you're into that).
If you're looking for something a little newer, the V4-4500 PCI and V5-5500 PCI cost a little more, but still perform quite well compared to their AGP counterparts.
I think the system should give moderators a textbox to explain the reason for their moderations. This text wouldn't show up on the comments, but would be seen during metamoderation.
The reason is, sometimes the reason for a moderation can be obscure. For instance, a perfectly reasonable looking post may actually be a crypto-Troll, with an informative-looking link going to a picture of you-know-what orifice, and sometimes trolls can be quite crafty. It would also be useful when dealing with Redundant posts, or explaining Funny messages when the humor is just a little too subtle for most of us.
I'm not sure if LMTs are quite as convenient as they first seem. Although such mirrors would be cheap, the amount of Mercury contain could cause a problem. There is always the possibility of accidental spills (seized bearing, clumsy grad student, etc...). More importantly, though--over time, the mirror would also lose Mercury through evaporation. Right now, there are only a few experimental LMTs, but this could pose a problem both for the astronomers as well as the local environment, if they were to become more commonplace.
"Nothing prevents people from taking a sample of that concoction of DNA off a T-shirt and PCR'ing it..."
No, but making the counterfeit DNA tags may be quite difficult. The DNA tag probably consists of a short sequence that is present at only low concentrations. To be able to make PCR copies, you first have to figure out what primers to use, which may not be too easy since the sequence is kept secret.
If they're smart, it will be mixed in with a lot of trash sequences as well, to serve as decoys. Since we have no way to pick out what's the real key sequence, we would have to copy them all -- and it's very easy to generate astronomical numbers of decoys.
Of course, if someone were to get hold of the test equipment they use, then the problem becomes a lot easier.
"...when the power supply gets kicked out of the socket?"
3dfx mentioned something about this in an interview of theirs (Sorry, no link handy). Apparently, the card will stop working, but there will be no damage to the card or computer.
Not with current technology we aren't...
on
TigerCloning
·
· Score: 3
I think the article is a little vague about what we're actually capable of doing right now. First of all, all we actually have is dead, preserved tissue. Current cloning techniques need intact, living cells to serve as a nuclear donor. It sounds like what they want to do is sequence the Tasmanian Tiger DNA, and then clone (in a molecular sense) portions that can then be grafted onto the nucleus of a living relative, until you've reconstructed the Tasmanian Tiger.
This means a massive, high-accuracy sequencing job (Possible, very very expensive--but the price is dropping), and the ability to insert large numbers of lengthy sequences in a targeted fashion (Barely possible, but currently not nearly feasible for a project this large).
The replacement of Tasmanian Devil DNA (Or whatever species they start with) will almost certainly have to be done piecewise, over several generations of Devils. Current cloning techniques almost certainly will also be used, since you need to get those modifications into the germ line (There are other methods besides cloning from somatic cells, but they don't work too well).
I've been wondering about other potential agents could be used instead of or together with glycerol to possibly improve the effect. DMSO is one possibility. Nontoxic, diffuses through tissues easily, and has an index of refraction of 1.477. Biologically inert sugars such as trehalose might also be added to the mix.
BTW, all of these agents also happen to be cryoprotectants.
Negative comment for user EvilMidnightBomber from Bob's Surplus Nukes, Inc.: Warning: Do not deal with this guy! His check bounced, he refuses to answer e-mails, and he nuked Manhattan! Stay away from!!!
How about have them put together a simple resistor ladder Parallel Port DAC? They're easy to make, and the parts are available from Radio Shack (although other places will probably be cheaper). I really don't have any electronics experience (I'm a Biology geek), but I still was able to put one of these together back in high school following a set of instructions that was included with the docs for some.MOD player. I later added a volume control and simple op-amp without too much hassle. And since I put everything on a breadboard, I didn't even have to solder.
The sound quality you can get is surprisingly good. I used mine for playing Star Control II (There's a command line switch for parallel port DAC support, I forget what it is). If this is a more programming related class, perhaps you can then have them write a few little programs that use the device.
"Do unto others what you would have them do unto you." "He who lives by the sword dies by the sword." "As you sow, so you shall reap." "What goes around, comes around."
Slashdot Mirror
"Probably not from carrot juice though... beta-carotene is often used to dye lemonade"
Beta Carotene was first isolated from carrots, and is the main pigment that gives their roots an orange color. At lower concentrations, Beta Carotene can give a yellowish appearance, as it does in Golden Rice.
From WebMD.com:
"...Your friend's yellow-orange skin hue is a tell-tale sign of a beta carotene overdose from his hefty carrot juice consumption."
From Mywellness.com:
"Drink too much carrot juice and your skin will begin to turn orange. This won't harm you, Diekman says, but it's a sign that you are probably getting more than your body needs."
From Hallelujah Acres:
"Carotenemia is the medical term for increased blood levels of the pigment carotene, a vitamin-A precursor found mainly in the fruits and vegetables, especially carrots and sweet potatoes. The excess carotene is deposited in the skin, where it imparts that distinctive hue. High blood levels of carotene are harmless, and enzymes in the body limit that nutrient's conversion to vitamin A so the vitamin won't reach toxic levels. If you don't like the orange color, cut down on the carrots or supplements. Your skin color will return to normal after a few weeks."
"Polar bear's liver is poisoned becuase of high quantitys of vitamin D, not vitamin A."
From Emazing Science Facts:
"Polar bear livers have such high levels of vitamin A that they are highly toxic to human beings."
From The Alaska Cooperative Extension:
"While most people do not have a ready source of polar bear liver, it is a well known, even notorious source of vitamin A. That is, vitamin A is toxic marginally above required levels and polar bear liver is exceptionally potent."
From Discovery Online:
"Although the extremely high vitamin A content in this fatty diet would be toxic to humans, the polar bear's liver can process it just fine. (When traditional Eskimo hunters killed a polar bear, they would drop its liver through a hole in the ice so nobody would be tempted to eat it.)"
From The Encyclopedia Britannica:
"The polar bear is sought for its trophy value and (especially by Eskimo) for its hide, tendons, fat, and flesh; the liver, however, is inedible and often poisonous because of its high vitamin A content."
Thank you, drive through.
"The best way to solve a problem with as many causes as malnourishment has is not to throw at it an expensive, narrow soloution that will be merely a remedy for one symptom of chronic hunger..."
And you say this in the same breath as, "Why not just distribute Vitamins?"
We're dealing with a population that has to worry about affording enough simple Calories to stay alive. Purchasing vitamins is out of the question. Sure, we could simply give them the pills instead, but while a pill may be cheap for us, they would have to be continually supplied, and so the recipients would be dependent on the fickle largesse of first-world donors.
No, Golden Rice will not save the world, but why are you so critical of this one man's attempt to help?
"Start somewhere, start small, but please start..."
Here's a link to "Ingo Potrykus' Response To Golden Rice Critics", a page containing some comments from the head of the group that designed Golden Rice. I'm not going to quote the contents of the page here, but I recommend you read it if you're interested in what the professor himself has to say.
"Too much vitamin A is bad for you. In high levels it is a known teratogen (can deform a foetus)"
Yes, it's why a polar bear's liver is inedible, and why several Vitamin-A derived Acne medications have warning labels.
That's one of the reasons why the the Vitamin A in Golden Rice is in the form of Beta Carotene, which can be taken in doses 100's of times greater than the RDA (Vitamin A is considered to be toxic at around 20x RDA). BTW, Beta Carotene overdoses happen in real life every so often, usually with individuals who consume too much (up to several gallons) of carrot juice. There are no toxic effects, although in cases of severe overdose, your skin may turn orangish for several months.
"I grok Spock!"
"Pennicillin doesn't reproduce."
Actually, Penicillin reproduces very well. Give it a loaf of bread and a warm, damp place and you'll see just how well it reproduces. The original strain of Penicillin was a contaminant in a petri dish, with later strains coming from such exotic locations as a rotting canteloupe.
Extraction and purification is the tricky part.
Anime fans familiar with the drug Accela in Lain may appreciate the irony in one of the advertising slogans Amtrak used:
"Get back lost time!"
"I'm sure they'll have no problem getting back in, provided that they don't have an EXCLUSIVE agreement w/ nVidia."
You've got a real good point there. nVidia is getting to the point where they have real monopoly power from a boardmaker's perspective, since ATI and Matrox don't sell chipsets. S3 (who sold their graphics division to VIA) still sells chipsets, but seems to be focusing on cheap integrated video and probably won't be coming out with anything new for a long time.
Now that 3dfx is now on shaky financial ground, it's sort of like the situation that used to exist with Intel, when AMD was still weak. A company could piss off Intel, but had to worry about the future possibility of AMD going under. If, say, Creative wanted to make 3dfx boards, nVidia could simply threaten to cut them off.
The problem with pre-paid phones is that the "refill" minutes expire, usually too quickly. Some plans may let you roll over minutes when you get a new card, but usually only once for a given set of minutes.
This might not be a problem if you're fairly consistent in how you use your phone, but if your usage varies widely from month to month, you could end up paying for expired time.
"Server Errors do not concern me, Admiral... I want those pages found!"
"How do 3dfx work as far as multiple-heads and so on go?"
I haven't tried a multiple monitor setup personally, but a friend of mine has one under W2K using a Riva128 AGP plus a V3-2000 PCI, with no problems.
"What about decent PCI cards? (no, really)"
3dfx still makes decent PCI cards. They're widely available, and you can sometimes find the V3-2000 PCI for $60 or less. Image quality and performance are actually quite good, and the V3 overclocks well (if you're into that).
If you're looking for something a little newer, the V4-4500 PCI and V5-5500 PCI cost a little more, but still perform quite well compared to their AGP counterparts.
I think the system should give moderators a textbox to explain the reason for their moderations. This text wouldn't show up on the comments, but would be seen during metamoderation.
The reason is, sometimes the reason for a moderation can be obscure. For instance, a perfectly reasonable looking post may actually be a crypto-Troll, with an informative-looking link going to a picture of you-know-what orifice, and sometimes trolls can be quite crafty. It would also be useful when dealing with Redundant posts, or explaining Funny messages when the humor is just a little too subtle for most of us.
I'm not sure if LMTs are quite as convenient as they first seem. Although such mirrors would be cheap, the amount of Mercury contain could cause a problem. There is always the possibility of accidental spills (seized bearing, clumsy grad student, etc...). More importantly, though--over time, the mirror would also lose Mercury through evaporation. Right now, there are only a few experimental LMTs, but this could pose a problem both for the astronomers as well as the local environment, if they were to become more commonplace.
"Nothing prevents people from taking a sample of that concoction of DNA off a T-shirt and PCR'ing it..."
No, but making the counterfeit DNA tags may be quite difficult. The DNA tag probably consists of a short sequence that is present at only low concentrations. To be able to make PCR copies, you first have to figure out what primers to use, which may not be too easy since the sequence is kept secret.
If they're smart, it will be mixed in with a lot of trash sequences as well, to serve as decoys. Since we have no way to pick out what's the real key sequence, we would have to copy them all -- and it's very easy to generate astronomical numbers of decoys.
Of course, if someone were to get hold of the test equipment they use, then the problem becomes a lot easier.
"...when the power supply gets kicked out of the socket?"
3dfx mentioned something about this in an interview of theirs (Sorry, no link handy). Apparently, the card will stop working, but there will be no damage to the card or computer.
I think the article is a little vague about what we're actually capable of doing right now. First of all, all we actually have is dead, preserved tissue. Current cloning techniques need intact, living cells to serve as a nuclear donor. It sounds like what they want to do is sequence the Tasmanian Tiger DNA, and then clone (in a molecular sense) portions that can then be grafted onto the nucleus of a living relative, until you've reconstructed the Tasmanian Tiger.
This means a massive, high-accuracy sequencing job (Possible, very very expensive--but the price is dropping), and the ability to insert large numbers of lengthy sequences in a targeted fashion (Barely possible, but currently not nearly feasible for a project this large).
The replacement of Tasmanian Devil DNA (Or whatever species they start with) will almost certainly have to be done piecewise, over several generations of Devils. Current cloning techniques almost certainly will also be used, since you need to get those modifications into the germ line (There are other methods besides cloning from somatic cells, but they don't work too well).
I've been wondering about other potential agents could be used instead of or together with glycerol to possibly improve the effect. DMSO is one possibility. Nontoxic, diffuses through tissues easily, and has an index of refraction of 1.477. Biologically inert sugars such as trehalose might also be added to the mix.
BTW, all of these agents also happen to be cryoprotectants.
...is user feedback, of course. For instance
Negative comment for user EvilMidnightBomber from Bob's Surplus Nukes, Inc.:
Warning: Do not deal with this guy! His check bounced, he refuses to answer e-mails, and he nuked Manhattan! Stay away from!!!
"That sounds fine to me, but a medical-screening version of the device hidden in the doorway at my insurance company sounds pretty scary."
Not a problem. I'll simply smear myself all over with tofu and organic veggies before applying for medical insurance.
How about have them put together a simple resistor ladder Parallel Port DAC? They're easy to make, and the parts are available from Radio Shack (although other places will probably be cheaper). I really don't have any electronics experience (I'm a Biology geek), but I still was able to put one of these together back in high school following a set of instructions that was included with the docs for some .MOD player. I later added a volume control and simple op-amp without too much hassle. And since I put everything on a breadboard, I didn't even have to solder.
The sound quality you can get is surprisingly good. I used mine for playing Star Control II (There's a command line switch for parallel port DAC support, I forget what it is). If this is a more programming related class, perhaps you can then have them write a few little programs that use the device.
"Do unto others what you would have them do unto you."
"He who lives by the sword dies by the sword."
"As you sow, so you shall reap."
"What goes around, comes around."
etc, etc, etc...