You're entering grad school this year and already asking about job opportunities?? A graduate degree is in no way a free ride to employment. In some cases it can even hinder your employability. If you're pursuing a PhD, you're at least 6 years away from having a real job (post-docs are generally paid slightly more than an individual with a BS). You'll have plenty of time to think about things then. If you're going for a masters degree you need to understand that most employers (especially those in industry) consider an individual with a BS and two years of experience equivalent to one with an MS. But perhaps you're just doing it for the learning experience.
I've noticed that one of the major arguments against the use of federal funding for embryonic stem cell research revolves around the fact that there is still the opportunity for private funding. Such opponents of stem cell research claim that, if there is so much promise in this area of science as many researchers have claimed, why hasn't there been significant breakthroughs or significant amounts of private funding? These individuals then go on to make a direct correlation between the potential of stem cell research and the lack of substantial private funding.
THE MAIN REASON we are not seeing enormous amounts of private money being thrown towards stell cell researchers is simple: we are still working on the BASIC SCIENCE. Science doesn't progress from initial discovery to therapeutics overnight. It takes decades of basic research to build a foundation upon which medical applications can be developed. You must understand how things "tick" before you can improve upon them. This is the reason why WE NEED FEDERAL FUNDING; Big Pharma doesn't want to invest in something that isn't going to pay off until decades down the road. These organizations wait for the government to front for the basic science, then they jump on a few years down the road saving millions of dollars in R&D. And do you blame them? Why spend more when you can spend less and have the same results? And, yes, I do realize that Big Pharma isn't the only source of private money.
Just my take on the situation. I am probably a bit biased, but I hate narrow-minded individuals that fail to see things from both sides of the fence.
The fact that Aum Shinrikyo spent loads of money on their biological weapons and failed doesn't mean a thing, really. The cult sprayed crude slurry's of their agents of choice, which is very inefficient when compared to the stabilized and lyophilized agents that any offensive military program would employ. The sprayers that Aum Shinrikyo used also produced droplets that were too large to really be efficient (5 microns is optimal for for dispersal and lung retention). Moreover, the cult attempted these attacks during the daytime. UV radiation quickly obliterates most biological agents, which probably contributed most to the lack of infections. A scary fact about Aum is that they actually sent cult members to Africa during an Ebola outbreak in an attempt to secure that horrific virus. Given the rudimentary state of their bioterrorism program, who knows what kind of wake they would have left on their trip back to Japan. Ironically, Japan has utilized biological weapons more than any country to date. Japan's past was marred after employing biological weapons just prior to, and during WWII (see "water filtration" unit 731, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit_731).
I can't recall the exact study, but the US government simulated a bioterrorism cell. Basically they set aside a small group of scientists (3 or 4) and gave them limited funds ($10,000 if I recall correctly) in order to covertly set up and produce a bioweapons simulant from scratch. It was disturbing how quickly and quietly they produced weaponized agent. I encourage anyone interested in this subject to read books such as Plague Wars, Biohazard, and/or Germs.
I attended a biodefense conference in 2002 sponsored by George Mason University where I had the opportunity to listen to and speak with Dr. Popov and Dr. Alibek (former deputy director of Biopreparat, the Soviet bioweapons program), among many others. The Soviet bioweapons program rivaled that of their nuclear program, yet remained largely unknown until several defectors revealed the system. Interestingly, George Mason University became a sponge for many former Soviet bioweaponeers. It is now home of the National Center for Biodefense and Infectious Diseases (http://www.gmu.edu/centers/biodefense).
I'm sure we all remember the anthrax letters from 2001. This is the scary thing about biological weapons... the amount of damage that they can incur upon an infrastructure can easily rival any casualty concerns. Decontamination procedures are costly and time-consuming, and there isn't a single health-care system in the world able to handle mass FUD that such an attack would cause. Symptoms from many bioweapons agents mimic that of the common flu. As soon as it's announced that such an attack has occurred, everyone with the slightest cough or bit of paranoia is going to rush to the closest hospital and complain of smallpox/anthrax/tularemia/etc.
For more info on a not-so-commonly known bioterrorism event in the USA, check out Oregon in the mid 80's.
TFA states that Ubuntu doesn't come with a PDF converter. An Ubuntu install is accompanied by OpenOffice, and the Writer module of that suite can convert almost any document to PDF format. This is how I avoid the formatting issues that arise when attempting to convert.sxw documents to MS word documents (for emailing homework assignments).
Hopefully this will encourage more individuals to pursue advanced degrees in protein crystallography. I was recently at a talk where a soon-to-be PhD was discussing her crystallography work. She said that many people choose to pursue other areas in biochemistry/structural biology because protein crystallography is very unpredictable. Some proteins will crystallize in months while others can take YEARS! Waiting years before you can really dive into your PhD research is very discouraging.
I suppose it depends on the type of bullet as well. A bullet entering behind a shoulder would leave a small entry wound. As that bullet traveled and expanded as it crushed through bone, the exit wound would be huge. Of course, softer bullets would leave a larger exit wound than bullets more dense.
If you have done business with a company they are allowed to call you. It says this on the Do Not Call registration site somewhere. This means that if you stay at a hotel somewhere, they can call you up and offer you those stupid travel packages without violating the law. Asking them to discontinue those calls has seem to work for me thus far, but perhaps I'm just lucky.
Given that plague isn't a rare phenomenon (especially out West), I don't see too much to be concerned about with regards to infected mice running around. Some streptomycin or gentamycin should fix the problem. The article made this sound like it was wild-type Y. pestis, but if it were a hypervirulent type (which they wouldn't indicate), then I would be very concerned. The Soviet Union developed antibiotic-resistant strains of Y. pestis and the Japanese actually used it as a weapon against the Chinese (by dropping infected fleas from airplanes). Given the tidbits of information that have been published on N. Korea's BW program, I'm sure there are places in the US that study hypervirulent BW agents.
I'm just amazed by the lack of security at this place, which should be BSLIII (the second highest level of containment).
I have a fresh install of XP after it crapped out on me last night. I've been online for 5 minutes.. 7 minutes will tell if I get the wrong side of the coin.
I had pneumothorax back in February, but it wasn't sound related. I was in the shower and for no apparent reason I felt as though someone had hit me in the chest with a sledgehammer. I thought it was a heart attack at first, but since I was only 21 I ruled that out as unlikely.
I waited 3 days before I actually went to the hospital and those were the most agonizing days of my life. I'd run out of breath walking from my apartment to my car (literally, 10 feet). I just had this sharp stabbing pain in the left side of my chest. When I went to the hospital the doctor told me that it was rare spontaneous pneumothorax, and that it usually happened to tall, scrawny males that were smokers (I'm not a smoker). Anyways, 5 hours later I left the hospital with a tube coming out of my chest and a prescription for some Darvocet. I had to keep that tube in my chest to relieve the pressure that was preventing my lung from inflating for 3 days.
It was really interesting to look at my chest x-rays though. My left lung had completely collapsed! It's never a good thing when doctors are telling everyone that's walking by the computer screen to "Check out how collapsed this lung is!"
Anyway, I just wanted to give some first hand experience.
Well, yes, that's true. But he did this as part of his work with DNA. I mispoke I guess. I should've said "Post-DNA discoveries" or something. By the way... Crick wasn't entirely accurate with the central dogma. For instance, he thought the central dogma was a one-way road. He didn't think it was possible for you to go from RNA -> DNA, which isn't true. Many viruses do this using reverse transcriptase.
Watson and Crick wouldn't have accomplished much without Chargoff's data either. Chargoff recognized that A and T and G and C were in rougly a 1:1 ratio (# purines = # pyrimidines). Watson and Crick would've been screwed without alot of outside help. For example, they couldn't figure out why their model wasn't coming together. A chemist happened to be walking by one day and pointed out that oxygen is found in the keto, rather than enol form and nitrogen was found in the amino rather than the imino form (in living systems). Crick was a physicist and Watson was more of a general biologist.
Click here for video of the anniversary of the discovery of the structure of DNA. This was taped at Cold Springs Harbor Lab, where Watson is currently the director. Also, you can find their original paper that was published in Nature annoucing the discovery. It's interesting to note that since their discovery of DNA's double-helical structure, neither Watson nor Crick have discovered or published anything significant since then.
maybe salaries will be raised then? i'm currently an undergrad studying microbiology. i plan on going to grad school to pursue my PhD in the subject. however, coming out fresh w/ a PhD earns me about $35,000 a year for the 1st few years. managers at McDonald's make more than that, and they're not in school for 8+ years:-/
yeah, like krammer in that one seinfeld episode? the power in the building went out and that marathon runner's alarm clock didn't work, so he was late. krammer was supposed to have his backup internal alarm clock ready, but he said, "i guess i must've hit snooze". great episode
Carolina Biological Supply has a bunch of learning kits, books, and software that would probably help you out. We get most of our lab supplies through them.
after opening all of my gifts i go to throw my new video card into my computer. 3 hours later i leave the hospital with 6 stitches from my case-o-death:-(
Slashdot Mirror
But what happens when one nation decides this is a great idea while another fervently disagrees? Water doesn't obey boundaries.
You're entering grad school this year and already asking about job opportunities?? A graduate degree is in no way a free ride to employment. In some cases it can even hinder your employability. If you're pursuing a PhD, you're at least 6 years away from having a real job (post-docs are generally paid slightly more than an individual with a BS). You'll have plenty of time to think about things then. If you're going for a masters degree you need to understand that most employers (especially those in industry) consider an individual with a BS and two years of experience equivalent to one with an MS. But perhaps you're just doing it for the learning experience.
Segway declares bankruptcy after losing it's stranglehold on the North Korean electric scooter market.
Seriously, why would the ban Segway exports?
I've noticed that one of the major arguments against the use of federal funding for embryonic stem cell research revolves around the fact that there is still the opportunity for private funding. Such opponents of stem cell research claim that, if there is so much promise in this area of science as many researchers have claimed, why hasn't there been significant breakthroughs or significant amounts of private funding? These individuals then go on to make a direct correlation between the potential of stem cell research and the lack of substantial private funding.
THE MAIN REASON we are not seeing enormous amounts of private money being thrown towards stell cell researchers is simple: we are still working on the BASIC SCIENCE. Science doesn't progress from initial discovery to therapeutics overnight. It takes decades of basic research to build a foundation upon which medical applications can be developed. You must understand how things "tick" before you can improve upon them. This is the reason why WE NEED FEDERAL FUNDING; Big Pharma doesn't want to invest in something that isn't going to pay off until decades down the road. These organizations wait for the government to front for the basic science, then they jump on a few years down the road saving millions of dollars in R&D. And do you blame them? Why spend more when you can spend less and have the same results? And, yes, I do realize that Big Pharma isn't the only source of private money.
Just my take on the situation. I am probably a bit biased, but I hate narrow-minded individuals that fail to see things from both sides of the fence.
The fact that Aum Shinrikyo spent loads of money on their biological weapons and failed doesn't mean a thing, really. The cult sprayed crude slurry's of their agents of choice, which is very inefficient when compared to the stabilized and lyophilized agents that any offensive military program would employ. The sprayers that Aum Shinrikyo used also produced droplets that were too large to really be efficient (5 microns is optimal for for dispersal and lung retention). Moreover, the cult attempted these attacks during the daytime. UV radiation quickly obliterates most biological agents, which probably contributed most to the lack of infections. A scary fact about Aum is that they actually sent cult members to Africa during an Ebola outbreak in an attempt to secure that horrific virus. Given the rudimentary state of their bioterrorism program, who knows what kind of wake they would have left on their trip back to Japan. Ironically, Japan has utilized biological weapons more than any country to date. Japan's past was marred after employing biological weapons just prior to, and during WWII (see "water filtration" unit 731, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit_731).
I can't recall the exact study, but the US government simulated a bioterrorism cell. Basically they set aside a small group of scientists (3 or 4) and gave them limited funds ($10,000 if I recall correctly) in order to covertly set up and produce a bioweapons simulant from scratch. It was disturbing how quickly and quietly they produced weaponized agent. I encourage anyone interested in this subject to read books such as Plague Wars, Biohazard, and/or Germs.
I attended a biodefense conference in 2002 sponsored by George Mason University where I had the opportunity to listen to and speak with Dr. Popov and Dr. Alibek (former deputy director of Biopreparat, the Soviet bioweapons program), among many others. The Soviet bioweapons program rivaled that of their nuclear program, yet remained largely unknown until several defectors revealed the system. Interestingly, George Mason University became a sponge for many former Soviet bioweaponeers. It is now home of the National Center for Biodefense and Infectious Diseases (http://www.gmu.edu/centers/biodefense).
I'm sure we all remember the anthrax letters from 2001. This is the scary thing about biological weapons... the amount of damage that they can incur upon an infrastructure can easily rival any casualty concerns. Decontamination procedures are costly and time-consuming, and there isn't a single health-care system in the world able to handle mass FUD that such an attack would cause. Symptoms from many bioweapons agents mimic that of the common flu. As soon as it's announced that such an attack has occurred, everyone with the slightest cough or bit of paranoia is going to rush to the closest hospital and complain of smallpox/anthrax/tularemia/etc.
For more info on a not-so-commonly known bioterrorism event in the USA, check out Oregon in the mid 80's.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rajneesh
TFA states that Ubuntu doesn't come with a PDF converter. An Ubuntu install is accompanied by OpenOffice, and the Writer module of that suite can convert almost any document to PDF format. This is how I avoid the formatting issues that arise when attempting to convert .sxw documents to MS word documents (for emailing homework assignments).
Hopefully this will encourage more individuals to pursue advanced degrees in protein crystallography. I was recently at a talk where a soon-to-be PhD was discussing her crystallography work. She said that many people choose to pursue other areas in biochemistry/structural biology because protein crystallography is very unpredictable. Some proteins will crystallize in months while others can take YEARS! Waiting years before you can really dive into your PhD research is very discouraging.
I suppose it depends on the type of bullet as well. A bullet entering behind a shoulder would leave a small entry wound. As that bullet traveled and expanded as it crushed through bone, the exit wound would be huge. Of course, softer bullets would leave a larger exit wound than bullets more dense.
If you have done business with a company they are allowed to call you. It says this on the Do Not Call registration site somewhere. This means that if you stay at a hotel somewhere, they can call you up and offer you those stupid travel packages without violating the law. Asking them to discontinue those calls has seem to work for me thus far, but perhaps I'm just lucky.
Given that plague isn't a rare phenomenon (especially out West), I don't see too much to be concerned about with regards to infected mice running around. Some streptomycin or gentamycin should fix the problem. The article made this sound like it was wild-type Y. pestis, but if it were a hypervirulent type (which they wouldn't indicate), then I would be very concerned. The Soviet Union developed antibiotic-resistant strains of Y. pestis and the Japanese actually used it as a weapon against the Chinese (by dropping infected fleas from airplanes).
Given the tidbits of information that have been published on N. Korea's BW program, I'm sure there are places in the US that study hypervirulent BW agents.
I'm just amazed by the lack of security at this place, which should be BSLIII (the second highest level of containment).
I have a fresh install of XP after it crapped out on me last night. I've been online for 5 minutes.. 7 minutes will tell if I get the wrong side of the coin.
I had pneumothorax back in February, but it wasn't sound related. I was in the shower and for no apparent reason I felt as though someone had hit me in the chest with a sledgehammer. I thought it was a heart attack at first, but since I was only 21 I ruled that out as unlikely.
I waited 3 days before I actually went to the hospital and those were the most agonizing days of my life. I'd run out of breath walking from my apartment to my car (literally, 10 feet). I just had this sharp stabbing pain in the left side of my chest. When I went to the hospital the doctor told me that it was rare spontaneous pneumothorax, and that it usually happened to tall, scrawny males that were smokers (I'm not a smoker). Anyways, 5 hours later I left the hospital with a tube coming out of my chest and a prescription for some Darvocet. I had to keep that tube in my chest to relieve the pressure that was preventing my lung from inflating for 3 days.
It was really interesting to look at my chest x-rays though. My left lung had completely collapsed! It's never a good thing when doctors are telling everyone that's walking by the computer screen to "Check out how collapsed this lung is!"
Anyway, I just wanted to give some first hand experience.
Well, yes, that's true. But he did this as part of his work with DNA. I mispoke I guess. I should've said "Post-DNA discoveries" or something. By the way... Crick wasn't entirely accurate with the central dogma. For instance, he thought the central dogma was a one-way road. He didn't think it was possible for you to go from RNA -> DNA, which isn't true. Many viruses do this using reverse transcriptase.
Watson and Crick wouldn't have accomplished much without Chargoff's data either. Chargoff recognized that A and T and G and C were in rougly a 1:1 ratio (# purines = # pyrimidines). Watson and Crick would've been screwed without alot of outside help. For example, they couldn't figure out why their model wasn't coming together. A chemist happened to be walking by one day and pointed out that oxygen is found in the keto, rather than enol form and nitrogen was found in the amino rather than the imino form (in living systems). Crick was a physicist and Watson was more of a general biologist.
Click here for video of the anniversary of the discovery of the structure of DNA. This was taped at Cold Springs Harbor Lab, where Watson is currently the director. Also, you can find their original paper that was published in Nature annoucing the discovery. It's interesting to note that since their discovery of DNA's double-helical structure, neither Watson nor Crick have discovered or published anything significant since then.
this would've been a +5 insightful if i would've left out the "fuck slashdot..." part. stupid mods, blow me
this is a tragic event, why not sticky this to the top of the main page?? fucking slashdot...
there's gonna be some poor driver stuck behind this slow bastard beeping away... "drive your bike on the shoulder damnit!"
that's my idea of fun... a bunch of drunk sweaty men crammed shoulder-to-shoulder in a tiny-ass car munching on sausages :-/
maybe salaries will be raised then? i'm currently an undergrad studying microbiology. i plan on going to grad school to pursue my PhD in the subject. however, coming out fresh w/ a PhD earns me about $35,000 a year for the 1st few years. managers at McDonald's make more than that, and they're not in school for 8+ years :-/
fuck you mods..
yeah, like krammer in that one seinfeld episode? the power in the building went out and that marathon runner's alarm clock didn't work, so he was late. krammer was supposed to have his backup internal alarm clock ready, but he said, "i guess i must've hit snooze". great episode
Carolina Biological Supply has a bunch of learning kits, books, and software that would probably help you out. We get most of our lab supplies through them.
after opening all of my gifts i go to throw my new video card into my computer. 3 hours later i leave the hospital with 6 stitches from my case-o-death :-(
yeah, that's like 115 million dollars per year to pay that off... i think some other news sites would've covered this if it's this huge :-/
come on guys, april fools is still many months away!