Biology Category Archives
понять фенотипы
6 September 2012 | Biology | 2 Comments
так было:
Back in 2001, the Human Genome Project gave us a nigh-complete readout of our DNA. Somehow, those As, Gs, Cs, and Ts contained the full instructions for making one of us, but they were hardly a simple blueprint or recipe book. The genome was there, but we had little idea about how it was used, controlled or organised, much less how it led to a living, breathing human.
так стало:
That gap has just got a little smaller. A massive international project called ENCODE – the Encyclopedia Of DNA Elements – has moved us from “Here’s the genome” towards “Here’s what the genome does”. Over the last 10 years, an international team of 442 scientists have assailed 147 different types of cells with 24 types of experiments. Their goal: catalogue every letter (nucleotide) within the genome that does something.
<…>
Think of the human genome as a city. The basic layout, tallest buildings and most famous sights are visible from a distance. That’s where we got to in 2001. Now, we’ve zoomed in. We can see the players that make the city tick: the cleaners and security guards who maintain the buildings, the sewers and power lines connecting distant parts, the police and politicians who oversee the rest. That’s where we are now: a comprehensive 3-D portrait of a dynamic, changing entity, rather than a static, 2-D map.
так будет:
The next phase is to find out how these players interact with one another. What does the 80 percent [of genome that has a “biochemical function”][1] do (if, genuinely, anything)? If it does something, does it do something important? Does it change something tangible, like a part of our body, or our risk of disease? If it changes, does evolution care?
—
[1] — да, в общем, и не 80:
And what’s in the remaining 20 percent? Possibly not junk either, according to Ewan Birney , the project’s Lead Analysis Coordinator and self-described “cat-herder-in-chief”. He explains that ENCODE only (!) looked at 147 types of cells, and the human body has a few thousand. A given part of the genome might control a gene in one cell type, but not others. If every cell is included, functions may emerge for the phantom proportion. “It’s likely that 80 percent will go to 100 percent,” says Birney. “We don’t really have any large chunks of redundant DNA. This metaphor of junk isn’t that useful.”
состав мыслей
15 August 2012 | Biology, Lifeform, Psychology, Science | 3 Comments
есть в этом что-то чарующее, да?
Однажды я увидел, как с их стола упал коробок спичек, и его содержимое рассыпалось по полу. «Сто одиннадцать!» – одновременно закричали оба, и затем Джон вдруг прошептал: «Тридцать семь». Майкл повторил это число, Джон произнес его в третий раз и остановился. Мне потребовалось некоторое время, чтобы сосчитать спички, – их было 111.
– Как вы могли пересчитать их так быстро? – спросил я и услышал в ответ:
– Мы не считали. Мы просто увидели, что их сто одиннадцать.
– А почему вы прошептали «тридцать семь» и повторили три раза? – спросил я близнецов.
– Тридцать семь, тридцать семь, тридцать семь, сто одиннадцать, – в один голос ответили они.
по крайней мере, для математика:
Стараясь их не спугнуть, я незаметно подкрался поближе и понял, что они были погружены в какую-то особую, чисто числовую беседу: Джон называл шестизначное число, Майкл, кивнув, подхватывал его, улыбался и, казалось, пробовал на вкус, а затем сам отвечал шестизначным числом, которое Джон в свою очередь принимал с глубоким удовлетворением. Близнецы были похожи на двух знатоков вин, обнаруживших во время дегустации редкий букет и смаковавших его.
если бы вы прочли только эти два абзаца, то смогли бы понять, какими именно были эти шестизначные числа?
Святой Грааль
14 August 2012 | Biology, Literature | No Comments
еще про хакеров — Билл Гейтс когда-то давно:
If you want to change the world in some big way, that’s where you should start — biological molecules.
невольно вспоминается Дольмечер из Стивенсоновского “Зодиака”.
создавая вселенные
26 June 2012 | Biology, Lifeform | No Comments
еще о моделировании:
How do you design a utopia? In 1972, John B. Calhoun detailed the specifications of his Mortality-Inhibiting Environment for Mice: a practical utopia built in the laboratory. Every aspect of Universe 25—as this particular model was called—was pitched to cater for the well-being of its rodent residents and increase their lifespan. The Universe took the form of a tank, 101 inches square, enclosed by walls 54 inches high. The first 37 inches of wall was structured so the mice could climb up, but they were prevented from escaping by 17 inches of bare wall above. Each wall had sixteen vertical mesh tunnels—call them stairwells—soldered to it. Four horizontal corridors opened off each stairwell, each leading to four nesting boxes. That means 256 boxes in total, each capable of housing fifteen mice. There was abundant clean food, water, and nesting material. The Universe was cleaned every four to eight weeks. There were no predators, the temperature was kept at a steady 68°F, and the mice were a disease-free elite selected from the National Institutes of Health’s breeding colony. Heaven.
и о будущем:
So what exactly happened in Universe 25? Past day 315, population growth slowed. More than six hundred mice now lived in Universe 25, constantly rubbing shoulders on their way up and down the stairwells to eat, drink, and sleep. Mice found themselves born into a world that was more crowded every day, and there were far more mice than meaningful social roles. With more and more peers to defend against, males found it difficult and stressful to defend their territory, so they abandoned the activity. Normal social discourse within the mouse community broke down, and with it the ability of mice to form social bonds. The failures and dropouts congregated in large groups in the middle of the enclosure, their listless withdrawal occasionally interrupted by spasms and waves of pointless violence. The victims of these random attacks became attackers. Left on their own in nests subject to invasion, nursing females attacked their own young. Procreation slumped, infant abandonment and mortality soared. Lone females retreated to isolated nesting boxes on penthouse levels. Other males, a group Calhoun termed “the beautiful ones,” never sought sex and never fought—they just ate, slept, and groomed, wrapped in narcissistic introspection. Elsewhere, cannibalism, pansexualism, and violence became endemic. Mouse society had collapsed.
astonishing depravity
11 June 2012 | Biology, Culturology, Geography, History | No Comments
а вот снова о любви — краткое содержание статьи доктора Джорджа Мюррея Левика из (той самой) Северной партии Роберта Скотта:
A previously unpublished four-page pamphlet by Dr. George Murray Levick R.N. (1876–1956) on the ‘Sexual habits of the Adélie penguin’ was recently rediscovered at the Natural History Museum (NHM) at Tring. It was printed in 1915 but declined for publication with the official expedition reports. The account, based upon Levick’s detailed field observations at Cape Adare (71°18′S, 170°09′E) during the course of the British Antarctic (Terra Nova) Expedition 1910, commented on frequency of sexual activity, autoerotic behaviour, and seemingly aberrant behaviour of young unpaired males and females including necrophilia, sexual coercion, sexual and physical abuse of chicks, non-procreative sex and homosexual behaviour. His observations were however accurate, valid and, with the benefit of hindsight, deserving of publication. Here we publish the pamphlet in its entirety, reinterpret selected observations and comment on its significance as a forgotten work by the pioneer of research on Adélie penguin Pygoscelis adeliae (Hombron and Jacquinot 1841) biology.
это он еще в английской частной школе не учился. но все равно увлекательный анторпологический срез.
via.
страна убийц
7 June 2012 | Biology, Crime, Politics | No Comments
о “борьбе” с наркоманией, о неком Евгении Ройзмане.
via.
о жизни
5 March 2012 | Biology, Lifeform | No Comments
в Питтсбурге открылся новый музей:
One of the cool things about natural history museums is that they show you how nature has changed over time, adapting to volatile conditions and extreme challenges. And nothing is more volatile, extreme, or challenging than the human race, so it makes sense that there would be a museum to chronicle just how much we’ve messed with plants, animals, the climate, and in general the world around us. The Center for PostNatural History, opening this week in Pittsburgh, is that museum.
определенно, там должен быть еще и ресторан.
новые Иисусы
24 August 2011 | Biology, Lifeform, Religion | 2 Comments
очередное предсказание — или наблюдение:
In a presentation here yesterday at the 13th Congress of the European Society for Evolutionary Biology [David] Hughes [an evolutionary biologist at Pennsylvania State University] and colleagues reported that some of today’s major religions emerged at the same time as widespread infectious diseases, and they propose that the two helped shape one another. The same dynamics may be reflected today in how people in Malawi deal with the AIDS epidemic.
ну, и это нам ведь уже знакомо, да?
James Delmore Shapely had come to the attention of the AIDS industry in the early months of the new century. He was thirty-one years old, a prostitute, and had been HIVpositive for twelve years.
<...>
Shapely’s murder, some said sacrifice, had taken place in Salt Lake City. His seven killers, heavily armed fundamentalists, members of a white racist sect driven underground in the months following the assault on the airport, were still imprisoned in Utah, though two of them had subsequently died of AIDS, possibly contracted in prison, steadfastly refusing the viral strain patented in Shapely’s name.
под рукой
26 July 2011 | Biology, Hardware | No Comments
снова про татуировки замечательное:
Using a nanosensor “tattoo” and a modified iPhone, cyclists could closely monitor sodium levels to prevent dehydration, and anemic patients could track their blood oxygen levels [or measuring glucose levels in those with diabetes].
via.
под кожей
17 February 2011 | Biology, Hardware | No Comments
будущее рядом с нами:
Jim Mielke’s Tattoo Computer is a combination of an e-ink tattoo and a subcutaneous, blood powered computer. The small bluetooth enabled device is built into a thin silicone sheet which is then rolled and inserted through a small slit in the skin. Once inside and unfurled, a tiny blood-powered fuel cell is hooked up via tubes to an artery and a vein, from whence it draws glucose and oxygen.
обрабатывать пемзой, думаю, не рекоммендуется.