| Friday, August 28th, 2009 |
| 9:29 pm |
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| Tuesday, April 28th, 2009 |
| 1:45 pm |
Green things
Thanks to a very generous holiday gift from family, we have been growing and eating our own herbs in our little NYC apartment since January. This is what the crop looks like today: I only have two more weeks of nutrients left for these though, so I'm considering replanting. Here's what I'm considering: Bay Oregano (greek) Lettuce Cilantro (Culantro?) Chervil Arugula Lemongrass Dwarf Sage Cherry tomatoes Pak Choi Any other ideas - specifically herbs or small veggies that one can't readily buy at the supermarket? |
| Friday, November 7th, 2008 |
| 1:52 am |
And you thought *you* were tense on Election Night...
The Obama Campaign put some behind-the-scenes photos on Flickr recently, and this one really stands out. I don't know what exactly they are watching on TV here, but this is certainly the picture of a man becoming President. I think he might just turn out to be even better than the hype. |
| Thursday, July 24th, 2008 |
| 5:33 pm |
Cariacature
Apparently 'research faculty' == 'intern'. I think it's time to upgrade... Current Mood:  hopeful |
| Thursday, June 12th, 2008 |
| 11:47 am |
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| Thursday, December 27th, 2007 |
| 12:15 am |
More Proteins in Second Life
 You wait two months and then three posts come along together. It's like the good old days of the number 63 bus. I've been doing more work on building protein structures in the Second Life virtual environment. The coordinates in 3D space come directly from the Protein Data Bank. I recently met a new friend, Graham Mills, in SL, and he happens to also have an interest in rezzing proteins. While our methods are similar, his models are far more automated and interactive, which will be wonderful for teaching purposes. His RL blog details some of the challenges and ideas that rezzing proteins in SL has produced. Graham has set up a very handy online interactive database of all our current structures. Now all we need is funding for an island to display them all in one place (or maybe even an archaepelago, if Warren Buffet is reading this!). This picture is my avatar, sitting (as has become traditional) on the motor domain of kinesin, ( 3kin). Kinesin is the protein that makes much movement possible within eukaryotic cells cells. The magnificent sunrise over Elon University's sim is provided by the new First Look Windlight client for Second Life. Current Mood: accomplished |
| Wednesday, December 26th, 2007 |
| 11:40 pm |
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| 11:28 pm |
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| Monday, October 29th, 2007 |
| 8:53 pm |
The Leaning Tower of 34th St
Just returned from a wonderful weekend in the Catskills, and am extremely disappointed to be back in the Big Smoke. |
| Tuesday, August 21st, 2007 |
| 9:27 pm |
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| Saturday, August 18th, 2007 |
| 1:23 am |
Sitting Pretty on a Pretty Molecule
 After stumbling on a recent SL-blog post by Troy, I decided to ask for his script and try to put some protein molecules from the world's 3D protein structure database into Second Life. Here's a picture of me sitting on Green Fluorescent Protein! This particular model is on display (for the time being) at Second Nature island. I've also donated some models to the excellent Genome Island, which is well worth a visit. Troy was kind enough to give me his lovely open source scripts, and I modified them a little for what I wanted. Producing every atom and bond in even a small protein would quickly cause SL to seize up, so I opted for the still pretty, but more efficient, display of the carbon backbone only. This retains the beautiful molecular shapes without crashing the simulator. It's a lot of fun to literally walk around molecules that I've used daily in the laboratory. Anyone got any other favourite proteins that they'd like to use as a coffee table? Current Mood: geeky |
| Friday, July 20th, 2007 |
| 2:01 am |
Neurons no longer have to choose between being a Tortoise or Hare
I'm a neuroscientist who has spent the better part of ten years studying neurotransmitter-gated ion channel proteins, the molecular switches which allow nerve cells to talk to each other. These switches form the mechanism which allows so-called 'fast' neurotransmission. The nerve impulses themselves (or 'action potentials') are made mainly by fast voltage-gated sodium channels. On the other side of the neuronal speed-dial are the developmental biologists, who measure neuronal signalling in millimeters per hour or day. Of course Nature seems to create a mechanism for every gap and we now see an intermediate speed acting on the order of minutes involving my old friend, biochemistry. A recent paper in PLoS ONE by Fasano and colleagues appears to demonstrate a novel mechanism for neurotransmission. They blocked the fast voltage-gated sodium channels with the actively toxic component of puffer fish venom, tetrodotoxin. Startlingly, they could still measure excitation of downstream neurons without an action potential having carried the signal. Instead, the signal was borne by a biochemical cascade involving a lipid called ceramide:  I doubt that this new mechanism will put traditional neuroscientists out of business (for instance, lifting a beer to one's lips would be excruciating if performed on the order of minutes instead of seconds, as fast neurotransmission allows). In that case, what processes would this slow mechanism control in the body? This isn't discussed much if at all in the paper itself, but perhaps the comments process allowed by PLoS journals will help. Current Mood: awake |
| Wednesday, July 11th, 2007 |
| 11:02 am |
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| Saturday, July 7th, 2007 |
| 10:57 pm |
Trip to the Alma-Mater-in-Law
Went to Vassar today with dr_brundle, and had a great time in the sunshine feeling all collegiate again. A bit desolate with all the students away for the summer, but I love a deserted college, for its faintly post-apocalyptic atmosphere. |
| Friday, June 29th, 2007 |
| 9:06 pm |
Simpsons Avatar Goodness
 This is great. Do your own at http://www.simpsonsmovie.comThe 'Random' Avatar generation might be my favourite option, though. It's amazing how well the random avatars come out so consistently, which I think goes to show how wonderful the overall design for the Simpsons is. Current Mood:  sleepy |
| Thursday, June 28th, 2007 |
| 6:38 pm |
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| Friday, June 8th, 2007 |
| 10:12 am |
Daemons and Assessments
I've been doing lots of self-assessment tests lately to figure out what I'd be happy doing with my life, so another is no skin off my nose. I like the 'Johari Window' aspect of this one. Feel free to modulate my daemon as you see fit: Apparently I am destined to eat gazelles for a living. |
| Monday, June 4th, 2007 |
| 10:14 pm |
Watermelon - Safe Handling Instructions
One of the joys of Summer in NYC is the availability of refreshing watermelon. It's nice that they give 'Safe Handling Instructions', which when I saw it thought it would be a warning not to drop it on your foot (Heavy!) but is actually an entreatment to cook it properly. Maybe not. |
| 12:51 am |
Geeky goodness
The picture I made from my previous post got published by icanhascheezburger.com, the popular repository of all things kitteh and bucket. Apparently I didn't quite get the language correct, so it was changed. Current Mood: geeky |
| Saturday, June 2nd, 2007 |
| 12:03 pm |
Meme Mashup of the Week
Two things made me smile this week, so I made a mashup of them in true Web 2.0 style:  Yes, I both viewed a lot of LOLCatz, and also played a lot of Desktop Tower Defense (WARNING, addictive, productivity-maiming game!). Kitty should try a spiral maze! Current Mood: artistic |
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3nd3avour's journal
quixotic
I was so pleased with how the GFP turned out, that I've been trying to build some more molecules in 
anxious