1) The original research article is open access so you can take a look for yourself. The differences were statistically significant between the two groups (ASD-positive versus -negative) but there isn't enough data to estimate a sensitivity or specificity for using this as a test.
2) It could be a diagnostic test. In theory that would allow potential treatments to begin before the behavioral aspects of ASD manifest (which is around 2yo correct?)
The MinIon does 150Mbp per hour for six hours, so about 900 megabases. And anyone who works with DNA sequencing knows that 50kb reads are unbelievably fantastic. If it works that alone will change the way genomics is done.
They have a rack-mounted system that runs samples (or aliquots of the same sample) in parallel. They claim 20 of these could do a human genome in 15 minutes. So, big system for genomes, little USB system for fieldwork and smaller target sizes.
When we see data indicating these mice have a 5-year survival which is greater than the control (uh... or whatever the equivalent is since even healthy mice maybe don't live 5 years) then I too will be celebrating.
Since the maximum lifespan of a lab mouse is about three years, and the record is 5, you're maybe asking a bit much.
How long would the electrolysis take? Perhaps you fill the tank with water, plug your car into an electrical jack and wait a few minutes while the hydrogen bubbles into a in-car storage tank. Then the station doesn't have to store the hydrogen until you need it and you're not pumping it into your car.
Turns out the N800 has a 400MHz processor as well, but it was underclocked to save battery life. The new OS has better power saving features so N800 owners get a free 70MHz speed bump.
I agree. It is the responsibility of the applicant to justify the study.
If he can't make a strong enough case, which it appears he did not, then the application should be denied. It doesn't matter if the committee agrees with his point of view or not - the don't just say "Oh, well I know what he means even if he didn't really explain it very well." There's lots of other applicants with lots of other valid research. Why risk that this guy will actually make something out of this proposal, which actually sounds a bit weak IMHO.
I also agree that he's just trying to get some press out of the whole thing. A "War on Evolution" will get lots of attention in Canada.
I don't understand your arguement that cancer is a form of life. It is simply your own cells that have become defective. Curing yourself of cancer is like having your appendix removed (except that it's harder to achieve). It's not a form of life. Your immune system actively does this every day.
Cancer isn't an evolution of life either - life has spent billions of years evolving to a point where it is really good at preventing cancer. A car with smashed-in bumpers and its engine stuck on isn't a new type of car, it's just a damaged one.
Sure, cancer does contribute to population control, but if you're worried about that then maybe you should be campaigning against soap and fresh drinking water. Those make more of a difference than cancer treatments ever will.
Also of interest might be this article over at Ars Technica: "A guide to ripping and encoding music". It discusses some of the more practical aspects of music ripping and encoding.
If you're wanting to get first-hand experience with Mac OS X 10.4 you may be shelling out some additional cash - looks like the Mini only ships with Panther (10.3): http://www.apple.com/macmini/specs.html.
They're probably ESTs. I think the coffee genome is 500-750Mb (depending on the species), so 200,000 shotgun reads are only going to give you 20% of the genome at best. No way you'd identify 35k genes from that.
You're right - it's hard to see the value of this. WashU does that many sequencing reads in a day - it would probably cost about $1M.
Normally I'm happy to see scientists get recognition for their hard work, but if the data isn't public then, really, why should anyone care?
Slashdot Mirror
1) The original research article is open access so you can take a look for yourself. The differences were statistically significant between the two groups (ASD-positive versus -negative) but there isn't enough data to estimate a sensitivity or specificity for using this as a test. 2) It could be a diagnostic test. In theory that would allow potential treatments to begin before the behavioral aspects of ASD manifest (which is around 2yo correct?)
The MinIon does 150Mbp per hour for six hours, so about 900 megabases. And anyone who works with DNA sequencing knows that 50kb reads are unbelievably fantastic. If it works that alone will change the way genomics is done.
They have a rack-mounted system that runs samples (or aliquots of the same sample) in parallel. They claim 20 of these could do a human genome in 15 minutes. So, big system for genomes, little USB system for fieldwork and smaller target sizes.
Maybe everyone should read the article. They're being genotyped (700,000 SNPs by Affymetrix array) not sequenced. There is a significant difference...
When we see data indicating these mice have a 5-year survival which is greater than the control (uh... or whatever the equivalent is since even healthy mice maybe don't live 5 years) then I too will be celebrating.
Since the maximum lifespan of a lab mouse is about three years, and the record is 5, you're maybe asking a bit much.
How long would the electrolysis take? Perhaps you fill the tank with water, plug your car into an electrical jack and wait a few minutes while the hydrogen bubbles into a in-car storage tank. Then the station doesn't have to store the hydrogen until you need it and you're not pumping it into your car.
Dunno - that's just a total guess on my part.
Turns out the N800 has a 400MHz processor as well, but it was underclocked to save battery life. The new OS has better power saving features so N800 owners get a free 70MHz speed bump.
I agree. It is the responsibility of the applicant to justify the study.
If he can't make a strong enough case, which it appears he did not, then the application should be denied. It doesn't matter if the committee agrees with his point of view or not - the don't just say "Oh, well I know what he means even if he didn't really explain it very well." There's lots of other applicants with lots of other valid research. Why risk that this guy will actually make something out of this proposal, which actually sounds a bit weak IMHO.
I also agree that he's just trying to get some press out of the whole thing. A "War on Evolution" will get lots of attention in Canada.
I don't understand your arguement that cancer is a form of life. It is simply your own cells that have become defective. Curing yourself of cancer is like having your appendix removed (except that it's harder to achieve). It's not a form of life. Your immune system actively does this every day.
Cancer isn't an evolution of life either - life has spent billions of years evolving to a point where it is really good at preventing cancer. A car with smashed-in bumpers and its engine stuck on isn't a new type of car, it's just a damaged one.
Sure, cancer does contribute to population control, but if you're worried about that then maybe you should be campaigning against soap and fresh drinking water. Those make more of a difference than cancer treatments ever will.
The knoppix LiveCD - now fortified with extra bioinformatics! It's a BLAST.
http://bioknoppix.hpcf.upr.edu/
Also of interest might be this article over at Ars Technica: "A guide to ripping and encoding music". It discusses some of the more practical aspects of music ripping and encoding.
If you're wanting to get first-hand experience with Mac OS X 10.4 you may be shelling out some additional cash - looks like the Mini only ships with Panther (10.3): http://www.apple.com/macmini/specs.html.
I still want one, though.
They're probably ESTs. I think the coffee genome is 500-750Mb (depending on the species), so 200,000 shotgun reads are only going to give you 20% of the genome at best. No way you'd identify 35k genes from that.
You're right - it's hard to see the value of this. WashU does that many sequencing reads in a day - it would probably cost about $1M.
Normally I'm happy to see scientists get recognition for their hard work, but if the data isn't public then, really, why should anyone care?