The Nocera lab at the chemistry department at MIT studies the basic mechanisms of energy conversion in biology and chemistry. On advice he received from Kurt Vonnegut: “He told me, ‘stop worrying about the planet dying. When you have a big organism and you become irritating to it, the immunological system just kicks in and kills the invading organism’. And he assured me that we have just … Continue reading Personalized Energy
Source: The New Yorker PERSONAL HISTORY about the writer’s experiments with drugs. To live on a day-to-day basis is insufficient for human beings; we need to transcend, transport, escape; we need meaning, understanding, and explanation; we need to see over-all patterns in our lives. We need hope, the sense of a future. And we need freedom (or, at least, the illusion of freedom) to get … Continue reading Stories about mind-altering substances
Source: The New Yorker ANNALS OF SCIENCE about genetically-modified mosquitoes and the dengue virus. Aedes aegypti mosquitoes are among the deadliest creatures on earth. Before a vaccine was discovered in the nineteen-thirties, the mosquito transmitted the yellow-fever virus to millions of people with devastating efficiency. The mosquito also carries dengue, one of the most rapidly spreading viral diseases in the world. According to the World Health Organization, … Continue reading Engineered Mosquitoes
The Google Science Fair is an online science competition seeking curious minds from the four corners of the globe. Anybody and everybody between 13 and 18 can enter. All you need is an idea. YouTube channel The last year’s winners gave a TED talk and the video can be watched below. The topics were the following: Lauren Hodge in the 13-14 age group. Lauren … Continue reading Google Science Fair
Facts about the cockroach is interesting. Source: The Hindu It can: run three miles in one hour — the fastest insect alive hold its breath for 40 minutes live a week without a head, only dying of thirst because it has no mouth to drink water squeeze into cracks that are 1.6 millimetres thick — the equivalent of you trying to fit into a football survive temperatures … Continue reading Radiation Resistance
Source: Science Magazine Each year, Science Magazine and the National Science Foundation host the International Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge. The 2011 Challenge received over 200 submissions in five categories, which were evaluated based on visual impact, effective communication of a scientific idea, and overall originality. Visualizations with the most votes from the public received the People’s Choice award. The fantastic visualisations can be viewed here. ♦ … Continue reading Data Visualisation Part II: Sciences
Source: The Guardian Scientists have for the first time used DNA to encode the contents of a book. At 53,000 words, and including 11 images and a computer program, it is the largest amount of data yet stored artificially using the genetic material. The researchers claim that the cost of DNA coding is dropping so quickly that within five to 10 years it could be … Continue reading Book written in DNA code
Source: The New Yorker If the science truly succeeds, it will make it possible to supplant the world created by Darwinian evolution with one created by us. The first time Jay Keasling remembers hearing the word “artemisinin,” about a decade ago, he had no idea what it meant. “Not a clue,” Keasling, a professor of biochemical engineering at the University of California at Berkeley, recalled. … Continue reading Synthetic life
Source: The Hindu, India It is time that the authorities evolve strategies to contain the emission of green house gases since the vehicle population is increasing at a rapid pace. Scientists have for the first time found unequivocal evidence of another oxidant playing a vital role in the formation of gaseous sulphuric acid in the atmosphere. Until now, it was thought that the combination of … Continue reading A new oxidant in the atmosphere identified
Perpetual Motion of Thought 