A Queer Mobile

Hand dexterity makes cloning work better

This article in Wired News: Chopsticks for Better Cloning doesn't surprise me at all. South Korean researchers have been able to do physical manipulations involved in cloning research much more effectively than westerners can. When I was an undergratuate I had the opportunity to work in a biochemistry lab at the University of Illinois. One of the post-docs in the lab was a brilliant South Korean researcher. She dazzled all of us with her ability to manipulate chick embryo tissue. I spent time with her to learn some of her secrets: patience and a light touch. But, as the article points out, there's the dexterity that comes from working with steel chopsticks, too.

Wind power

This article in Wired News: Map Reveals Airstream Potential has a map of the top wind energy sites world-wide. The article shows that we could extract an incredible amount of energy from wind if we just start doing it.

There's incredible interest in Iowa to install wind turbines in the northwestern part of the state. The power companies pay farmers a goodly sum each year to lease space for turbines - it's a win both for land owners and for the power companies. John and I pay an additional $12 a month to our power company so that they'll buy all our electricity from renewable resources - particularly wind.

Teaching evolution in a better way

This link (The evolution of a fight to the end - - MSNBC.com) details part of the next salvo in the intelligent design versus evolution battle. Where I'm frustrated with science education is that I don't think most high school biology courses teach evolution the compelling way.

Arguments from organism morphology isn't very convincing, but the evidence for biological evolution at the molecular level is overwhelming. Indeed all the microbial taxonomy I learned in the 1970's is trash. Most of that taxonomy was based on morphology. The new taxonomies are all based on DNA sequencing - and it's much clearer how things relate.

It's possible to illustrate how evolution happens through computer simulation (a bit about Michigan State University's simulation software). The questions that intelligent design folks raise the most often - how does complexity arise without intelligence - are amply illustrated by these simulations. Why not devise computer simulations that high school science students can explore for themselves?

Automated tagging

This link from Wired News: Judging a Book by Its Contents takes a brief look at work being done at Amazon.com to pull statistically improbable phrases from books. These phrases, in Amazon's words: "are the most distinctive phrases in the text of books in the Search Inside! program." What's really cool is that Amazon pages provide links to other books that have similarly improbable phrases.

The Wired article mentions that this is an example of an automatically created tag - something I suspect we'll see used much more frequently. For the fun of it I've been playing with using Mac OS X.4's Spotlight feature to access infrequently used phrases to probe the content of my computer.

Password generator

This link to a Password generator is a great idea. So many people use the same passwords on every site. That can become a problem if one site's compromised - someone might be able to access your information on other sites using the same login credentials.

The easy way around this is to add the name of the site to your master password and then scramble them. This link helps you do that quickly and easily. (I've been doing something similar by hand for a long time.)

The Average Joe: A Book Publisher Blog: How to Improve the Brick and Mortar Bookstore Experience

Here are ideas on how to make bookstores a bit more attractive: The Average Joe: A Book Publisher Blog: How to Improve the Brick and Mortar Bookstore Experience.

Now that I'm in Cedar Rapids the nearest independent bookstore is twenty miles away in Iowa City. John and I spend more money there and at the local Barnes & Noble than we ought, but we usually turn first to Amazon (especially now that I forked over my money and became an Amazon Prime customer. I get free shipping 2nd day air on everything I buy.)

Things not in this post that I'd love in a bookstore: someone like my old friend Robert Clark who knows the literature and my interests and reading habits. That's easier in a store with a narrow focus, like Robert's late, lamented store. But Amazon gives me a real service with recommendations. They're certainly not perfect, but I've found more than one treasured book that way.

Great design samples

The Christian Science Monitor's article (The Tao of design | csmonitor.com) points to two fabulous websites that illustrate the best in new design. The AIGA Design Archives provides a browser that covers the best in design for 2004 in areas like illustration, typographic design, and information design. The Retail Alphabet Game lets you try your skill at identifying logos from a single letter. Some are easy, and some have me stumped. But it's amazing how much information a single letter can convey!

So how does acupressure work?

This fascinating post (Acupuncture, real or fake, may help migraines - Alternative Medicine - MSNBC.com) covers research that shows that acupuncture is highly effective at treating migraine pain - but so is inserting needles at other than the 'right' acupuncture points!

We're far more complicated than we realize. This article published by New Scientist looks at thirteen different things we really don't understand. Point one is the power of the placebo effect. As the article demonstrates, the placebo effect isn't simply that higher regions of the brain can manipulate - ignore, for example - sense input. The neurons themselves can be reprogrammed - at the cellular level - to respond to placebo. The mind can affect the body's biochemistry in profound ways. We ought to stop regarding the placebo effect as something to be 'controlled for', and we ought to begin looking for ways to take advantage of it.