Meta tags:

Headings (most frequently used words):

2011, the, tuesday, july, 2012, sunday, september, and, of, in, monday, 27, thursday, november, 08, wednesday, october, 19, august, american, is, future, book, review, chemical, nullius, verba, 30, friday, may, 17, december, 25, 15, 05, 02, 31, 21, previous, posts, archives, about, me, gene, duplication, molecular, promiscuity, blogging, at, scientific, physics, pr, problem, moving, beyond, string, theory, multiple, universes, other, blog, steve, job, christmas, message, for, our, friends, pharma, autism, studies, among, asian, diaspora, age, course, fever, chill, why, even, older, scientists, can, make, important, contributions, science, will, models, usurp, theories, robert, laughlin, powering, flame, life, death, my, favorite, insufferable, reaction, feynman, nobel, prizes, thoughts, on, personalised, medicine, it, not, blackmail, if, what, intuition,

Text of the page (most frequently used words):
the (708), and (400), that (207), for (156), this (109), are (107), have (97), but (83), with (81), not (77), physics (71), which (60), one (59), can (59), has (57), energy (57), his (55), more (53), would (51), about (48), like (47), there (47), from (45), was (45), our (44), all (43), been (43), you (40), #science (40), will (40), what (40), other (39), their (39), these (38), even (37), may (37), most (36), 2011 (34), who (34), they (33), chemistry (31), also (31), very (31), much (28), models (27), when (27), important (27), then (26), prize (26), than (25), 2007 (25), out (25), some (25), carbon (25), because (24), 2010 (24), 2009 (24), 2008 (24), 2006 (24), 2005 (24), problem (24), since (24), only (24), chemical (23), make (23), its (23), field (23), future (22), book (21), universe (21), could (21), time (21), such (21), new (21), disease (21), life (20), theory (20), intuition (20), now (20), age (19), fact (19), work (19), human (19), feynman (19), wavefunction (18), don (18), into (18), physicists (18), theories (17), different (17), nobel (17), through (17), think (17), last (17), people (17), really (17), snps (17), where (17), books (17), laughlin (16), well (16), few (16), years (16), seem (16), 2004 (15), scientific (15), comments (15), posted (15), little (15), dna (15), does (15), kind (14), fields (14), case (14), had (14), way (14), how (14), quantum (14), both (14), interesting (14), might (14), knowledge (14), scientists (14), although (14), discoveries (14), were (13), every (13), between (13), world (13), thinking (13), itself (13), discovery (13), simple (13), first (13), contributions (13), them (13), nature (13), seems (13), just (13), young (13), popular (13), molecular (12), labels (12), same (12), based (12), good (12), individual (12), many (12), problems (12), still (12), almost (12), theoretical (12), gene (11), matter (11), often (11), especially (11), become (11), your (11), big (11), right (11), recent (11), any (11), complex (11), product (11), drug (11), those (11), genetic (11), difficult (11), easy (11), public (11), combustion (11), course (10), american (10), ultimately (10), great (10), simply (10), another (10), factors (10), get (10), see (10), hard (10), lot (10), while (10), leading (10), instance (10), data (10), understanding (10), long (10), drugs (10), year (10), importance (10), too (10), pros (10), nuclear (10), early (10), should (9), used (9), autism (9), among (9), worth (9), come (9), sometimes (9), own (9), least (9), research (9), always (9), again (9), done (9), reaction (9), biology (9), things (9), obvious (9), yet (9), take (9), responsible (9), medicine (9), general (9), being (9), provide (9), history (9), sources (9), without (8), 2012 (8), why (8), job (8), blog (8), single (8), whether (8), part (8), old (8), computational (8), comes (8), exciting (8), solar (8), here (8), experimental (8), ideas (8), reality (8), far (8), say (8), fundamental (8), source (8), thus (8), non (8), already (8), probably (8), him (8), mechanics (8), oxygen (8), others (7), favorite (7), chemists (7), sense (7), relatively (7), paper (7), high (7), century (7), made (7), working (7), protein (7), known (7), george (7), reason (7), list (7), rather (7), whose (7), power (7), topics (7), personalised (7), advances (7), addition (7), thing (7), individuals (7), two (7), form (7), over (7), cons (7), doing (7), literature (7), fuel (7), know (7), look (7), phenomena (7), experiment (7), baron (7), cohen (7), greene (7), death (6), studies (6), asian (6), string (6), duplication (6), thoughts (6), structure (6), analysis (6), hoffmann (6), something (6), either (6), enzyme (6), numbers (6), feel (6), game (6), pauling (6), properties (6), truly (6), certainly (6), woodward (6), blackmail (6), give (6), hazare (6), equally (6), sure (6), genomics (6), finally (6), development (6), changes (6), temozolomide (6), knowing (6), possible (6), everything (6), promising (6), called (6), award (6), awarded (6), achievement (6), did (6), going (6), clear (6), making (6), find (6), laws (6), bang (6), dark (6), children (6), engineers (6), complete (5), robert (5), rules (5), knows (5), lead (5), hand (5), example (5), level (5), calculations (5), result (5), stable (5), energetics (5), due (5), remember (5), once (5), predictions (5), taste (5), said (5), use (5), directly (5), question (5), three (5), useful (5), ones (5), biological (5), read (5), undoubtedly (5), treatment (5), government (5), quite (5), whatever (5), mostly (5), however (5), someone (5), trying (5), highly (5), extremely (5), differences (5), genome (5), variety (5), complexity (5), clearly (5), snp (5), effect (5), amount (5), each (5), account (5), ability (5), need (5), constant (5), patients (5), brain (5), cells (5), key (5), controlled (5), body (5), produce (5), twentieth (5), thought (5), post (5), given (5), physicist (5), richard (5), change (5), dirac (5), comic (5), words (5), famous (5), water (5), burn (5), anything (5), climate (5), glucose (5), cannot (5), instead (5), dioxide (5), facts (5), better (5), economics (5), end (5), modern (5), found (5), relativity (5), grand (5), finding (5), cosmology (5), factor (5), contribution (5), crick (5), hypothesis (5), speculative (5), seen (4), christmas (4), want (4), molecule (4), involves (4), chemist (4), never (4), basic (4), lesson (4), becomes (4), picture (4), bigger (4), mind (4), scientist (4), after (4), having (4), contributing (4), half (4), gained (4), makes (4), system (4), anticancer (4), cases (4), accurate (4), color (4), compound (4), particular (4), smell (4), connection (4), heart (4), novel (4), mathematical (4), experience (4), empirical (4), ultimate (4), natural (4), synthesis (4), physical (4), tuesday (4), indian (4), plus (4), demands (4), importantly (4), diseases (4), image (4), environment (4), able (4), cancer (4), study (4), biochemistry (4), combination (4), enough (4), questions (4), methods (4), signal (4), scenario (4), latter (4), specific (4), proliferation (4), approach (4), genomes (4), efficient (4), doctors (4), turn (4), rich (4), written (4), likely (4), past (4), off (4), exactly (4), prizes (4), less (4), definitely (4), applications (4), considered (4), impact (4), black (4), real (4), volume (4), graphic (4), during (4), idea (4), describing (4), understand (4), authors (4), let (4), around (4), equation (4), sadly (4), profound (4), living (4), pick (4), second (4), point (4), biofuels (4), sea (4), lack (4), next (4), supposed (4), explanation (4), secondary (4), current (4), explanatory (4), behind (4), minds (4), trend (4), true (4), large (4), inductive (4), watson (4), chinese (4), indeed (4), jobs (4), company (4), view (3), further (3), name (3), review (3), fever (3), chill (3), diaspora (3), steve (3), friends (3), moving (3), beyond (3), blogging (3), promiscuity (3), molecules (3), keeping (3), touch (3), organic (3), toward (3), elementary (3), day (3), reading (3), forget (3), above (3), stay (3), learn (3), counter (3), unlike (3), intuitive (3), held (3), turned (3), led (3), group (3), issue (3), graphene (3), under (3), came (3), number (3), happened (3), wrong (3), himself (3), back (3), illustrated (3), story (3), down (3), against (3), free (3), agents (3), storage (3), help (3), played (3), linus (3), cold (3), build (3), largely (3), sophisticated (3), modeling (3), cut (3), features (3), define (3), quality (3), essential (3), moment (3), before (3), harnessing (3), substitute (3), rigorous (3), box (3), separate (3), answer (3), armchair (3), predict (3), recently (3), curious (3), play (3), einstein (3), experts (3), july (3), protests (3), until (3), majority (3), process (3), precisely (3), demand (3), themselves (3), away (3), harm (3), sunday (3), august (3), challenging (3), exceedingly (3), absence (3), medical (3), along (3), epigenetics (3), certain (3), enzymes (3), processes (3), influence (3), control (3), therapy (3), typically (3), disorders (3), determinants (3), markers (3), robust (3), role (3), noting (3), pinpoint (3), sort (3), unfortunately (3), difference (3), planet (3), lives (3), former (3), run (3), dictate (3), propensity (3), using (3), associated (3), wide (3), evidence (3), compounds (3), cell (3), multiple (3), unique (3), taking (3), extensive (3), meeting (3), piece (3), space (3), john (3), deserve (3), dynamics (3), rock (3), lifetime (3), men (3), harder (3), candidate (3), karplus (3), simulation (3), wouldn (3), notably (3), david (3), predicting (3), candidates (3), applied (3), passed (3), validated (3), statins (3), best (3), statement (3), pharmaceutical (3), industry (3), committee (3), actual (3), james (3), organisms (3), humans (3), surely (3), systems (3), spectroscopy (3), september (3), minor (3), narrative (3), points (3), ottaviani (3), myrick (3), dramatic (3), standard (3), medium (3), description (3), taken (3), close (3), intellectual (3), kinds (3), bohr (3), hold (3), deep (3), term (3), plants (3), hydrocarbons (3), matters (3), dictated (3), oxidation (3), none (3), context (3), production (3), warming (3), global (3), anyone (3), civilization (3), worse (3), widely (3), substance (3), special (3), technology (3), means (3), varying (3), products (3), ground (3), gas (3), density (3), availability (3), doubt (3), food (3), environmental (3), raw (3), comprehensive (3), existing (3), technologies (3), offers (3), intriguing (3), major (3), thinks (3), else (3), trash (3), resources (3), worldwide (3), allow (3), depends (3), sheer (3), chapter (3), provides (3), generation (3), philosophy (3), explain (3), reductionist (3), consistent (3), business (3), unified (3), exists (3), independent (3), social (3), starts (3), qed (3), nonetheless (3), model (3), rife (3), brian (3), accelerating (3), surprising (3), gamow (3), nobody (3), particle (3), started (3), mean (3), brilliant (3), lone (3), 1920s (3), across (3), increase (3), mathematics (3), innate (3), count (3), deductive (3), success (3), contrast (3), rate (3), building (3), tantalizing (3), territory (3), article (3), sample (3), test (3), parents (3), decades (3), articles (3), innovation (3), designers (3), condensed (3), impression (3), expositors (3), perhaps (3), describe (3), audiences (3), shoulders (2), thank (2), states (2), location (2), flame (2), powering (2), usurp (2), older (2), message (2), previous (2), college (2), textbook (2), masters (2), collaboration (2), borrow (2), open (2), pages (2), lessons (2), cited (2), principles (2), axial (2), leads (2), commonly (2), observation (2), indicating (2), conversion (2), graphane (2), counterpart (2), apparently (2), discussion (2), rings (2), learnt (2), must (2), calculation (2), store (2), strong (2), bonds (2), full (2), roald (2), striking (2), unto (2), designing (2), hydrogen (2), interactions (2), within (2), window (2), insight (2), allows (2), goes (2), alpha (2), helix (2), unmatched (2), gray (2), asking (2), statistical (2), ever (2), impossible (2), state (2), connected (2), acquire (2), details (2), art (2), element (2), ask (2), valuable (2), foundation (2), quipped (2), bad (2), theorizing (2), design (2), potential (2), math (2), comment (2), appreciate (2), regarded (2), outstanding (2), man (2), politics (2), personally (2), foremost (2), sign (2), healthy (2), democracy (2), cave (2), everyone (2), she (2), wants (2), street (2), call (2), fast (2), encouraging (2), therefore (2), promise (2), mapping (2), ourselves (2), causation (2), deserves (2), attention (2), versus (2), decade (2), sequence (2), epigenetic (2), health (2), stage (2), responses (2), later (2), revealed (2), fascinating (2), layer (2), determination (2), perfect (2), determine (2), linked (2), condition (2), psychological (2), task (2), serving (2), biomolecules (2), designed (2), demonstrate (2), continue (2), biologists (2), implications (2), correlation (2), acute (2), variations (2), situation (2), effects (2), exact (2), strategies (2), ideal (2), causal (2), beings (2), origins (2), response (2), her (2), treatments (2), appears (2), proteins (2), deciphering (2), nucleotide (2), species (2), population (2), compared (2), related (2), unusually (2), remain (2), providing (2), apoe (2), alzheimer (2), copy (2), solid (2), poor (2), category (2), reactive (2), onto (2), division (2), tightly (2), damage (2), produces (2), personalize (2), low (2), levels (2), saw (2), genetics (2), diversity (2), basis (2), advantage (2), recognized (2), detailed (2), continued (2), personal (2), lindau (2), hope (2), laureates (2), version (2), significantly (2), limitations (2), wednesday (2), trafficking (2), 1999 (2), rothman (2), schekman (2), zeilinger (2), bringing (2), phenomenon (2), presents (2), linear (2), chaos (2), dead (2), getting (2), categories (2), regarding (2), inevitably (2), palladists (2), women (2), somewhat (2), frequently (2), alone (2), produced (2), fantastic (2), results (2), stuart (2), schreiber (2), touted (2), significant (2), several (2), awareness (2), matured (2), birth (2), names (2), endo (2), discovered (2), described (2), selling (2), beta (2), venter (2), synthetic (2), southern (2), pure (2), favor (2), rise (2), stem (2), precedent (2), paul (2), thursday (2), faces (2), characters (2), easily (2), detract (2), wonderful (2), alive (2), friend (2), occupy (2), dealing (2), lectures (2), wonder (2), panels (2), face (2), eloquent (2), chess (2), park (2), father (2), actually (2), genius (2), solving (2), wildly (2), attempts (2), ups (2), discussions (2), personality (2), staking (2), biography (2), moments (2), information (2), colorful (2), character (2), endeavor (2), niels (2), monday (2), rain (2), seeing (2), times (2), fossil (2), bodies (2), cheap (2), cost (2), burning (2), pay (2), price (2), advantages (2), extraordinarily (2), fortuitous (2), anytime (2), soon (2), atp (2), put (2), gram (2), yields (2), liberated (2), earth (2), days (2), uranium (2), drives (2), burned (2), manner (2), actions (2), harmless (2), causes (2), discuss (2), merely (2), side (2), byproduct (2), imagine (2), toxic (2), forced (2), alternative (2), component (2), productive (2), humanity (2), proven (2), ease (2), transportation (2), safety (2), warm (2), stuck (2), hydrocarbon (2), evolution (2), nations (2), line (2), reactions (2), brings (2), existence (2), elements (2), truth (2), exception (2), tradition (2), writer (2), provoking (2), consequences (2), takes (2), meant (2), survey (2), stimulate (2), depend (2), concerns (2), vast (2), events (2), commonsense (2), eclectic (2), including (2), stored (2), beneath (2), promises (2), reactors (2), startling (2), finds (2), tanks (2), salts (2), fraction (2), needs (2), prove (2), gripes (2), talking (2), smart (2), assumptions (2), october (2), utility (2), psychologically (2), scant (2), currently (2), though (2), recognition (2), constructing (2), narratives (2), necessary (2), accuracy (2), greatest (2), treat (2), told (2), head (2), worthy (2), observations (2), rigor (2), famously (2), hidden (2), event (2), transduction (2), entity (2), continuing (2), continues (2), today (2), excellent (2), ignorance (2), set (2), accompanying (2), quantitatively (2), approaches (2), maybe (2), someday (2), sciences (2), mechanical (2), changed (2), advanced (2), disturbing (2), potentially (2), contribute (2), academic (2), researchers (2), visible (2), consider (2), 70s (2), involved (2), revolutionary (2), thirty (2), turks (2), twenties (2), formulated (2), skills (2), trade (2), starkly (2), vitamin (2), conclusion (2), person (2), career (2), crystallography (2), bonding (2), late (2), include (2), 40s (2), move (2), inspiration (2), fear (2), november (2), inquiry (2), technically (2), minded (2), probability (2), geographic (2), skewed (2), twenty (2), lawyers (2), link (2), autistic (2), relationships (2), section (2), convince (2), reached (2), freedom (2), wish (2), decline (2), pharma (2), salespeople (2), beginning (2), companies (2), ibm (2), guys (2), randall (2), modest (2), enjoyed (2), indicate (2), turbulence (2), liquids (2), entirely (2), suggesting (2), hawkings (2), greenes (2), blame (2), cutting (2), edge (2), soft (2), holes (2), travel (2), hesitant (2), serious (2), addressing (2), disservice (2), lasers (2), wow (2), trodden (2), writers (2), experimentally (2), unverified (2), topic (2), sound (2), universes (2), pitching (2), eager (2), laymen (2), higgs (2), boson (2), sell (2), engaged (2), answers (2), partly (2), metabolism (2), recreational (2), nullius (2), verba (2), loading, profile, haven, giants, standing, hal, abelson, text, site, copyrighted, reproduced, permission, citation, united, archives, insuffer, posts, wir, sind, alle, chemikers, develop, remembering, metals, macrocyles, metalloproteases, obeying, varied, contexts, interrogating, inorganic, handy, seamlessly, transition, subfields, specialization, intense, condescension, partially, iterated, seldom, practiced, professor, mine, recommend, flipping, random, page, ten, specialized, enamored, corner, involve, missing, forest, trees, reactivity, basics, groups, substituted, difluoro, piperidines, asserts, principle, substituents, cyclohexanes, equatorial, nmr, assisted, energetic, phd, advisor, refuted, cyclohexane, purportedly, theoretically, investigating, saturated, pressure, student, office, communicated, per, equivalent, benzenes, unsaturation, aromatic, unusual, stability, believe, suspect, recalls, leaned, chair, closed, eyes, brought, bear, consequence, formation, offset, incurred, loss, aromaticity, took, laureate, criticism, resounding, validation, terms, surprises, endlessly, narrates, insights, acquired, essence, boiled, fight, countless, rally, mimics, decides, stabilize, stabilized, lower, intimate, familiarity, rough, electrostatics, steric, solvent, influences, interface, nail, parameters, van, der, waals, radii, bond, lengths, lying, bed, managed, kcal, mol, anecdote, harry, expert, colored, coordination, complexes, deflated, proposed, immerse, yourself, laborious, characterization, significance, pink, floyd, freshly, grass, independently, virtually, lose, sight, disarming, filters, multimillion, dollar, cis, hexenol, palpable, elemental, unforgettably, direct, ignore, crave, definition, lets, skip, decisive, proof, commands, surprise, ingenious, derivation, ideally, smack, foreheads, fifty, imparted, noticed, built, statistican, memorably, manipulation, speculation, order, magnitude, zeolite, decision, pursue, discipline, intuitionist, grasp, unaided, agree, phrase, hear, league, traders, geopolitical, psychologists, pretty, mild, bloated, politicians, steeped, corruption, india, polity, hazara, satisfied, absolutely, obligation, formal, seeks, democratic, refuse, openly, kill, met, stayed, anna, mixed, feelings, bamboozled, undemocratic, blackmailing, force, threaten, accede, threatening, indirectly, throngs, decide, subtle, react, differently, cures, careful, astray, incomplete, confirmation, bias, tough, rewarding, pervasive, nurture, refers, induced, coded, includes, environmentally, stimulated, silencing, activation, genes, classes, operate, fetal, physiological, teach, adds, capability, distinguish, signposts, individualized, tendency, false, positives, negatives, small, percentage, conditions, diabetes, surrogate, ride, wheat, chaff, hone, instructive, untangle, cause, looking, interaction, sequencing, etiology, benefited, tools, classical, pharmacology, practitioners, arts, stand, equal, footing, unraveling, illustrates, plagues, dilemma, separating, ratio, extraneous, unrelated, correlations, genuinely, causative, diseased, exponentially, putative, usually, act, differential, occur, coding, regions, relevance, computers, enabling, jungle, outnumbers, intelligently, analyse, capable, distinguishing, noise, translate, practical, therapeutic, farther, imagined, scraped, surface, estimated, million, connections, various, professions, hobbies, political, views, family, pathogens, vaccines, patient, whole, battery, witness, personalizing, start, genomic, sequences, phenotypical, opened, avenues, strategy, compare, polymorphisms, base, pairs, variation, populations, arises, enormous, value, tracing, generally, categorizing, utilised, association, members, homogeneous, enable, phenotypes, overproduction, deficiency, generations, invariant, handle, notable, instances, alleles, inherits, maternal, paternal, inheritance, allele, greatly, increased, risk, prescribed, particularly, pernicious, prognosis, belongs, alkylating, common, class, transferred, rendering, incapable, causing, sustaining, modification, caused, treated, evolved, mechanisms, reverse, strips, functionality, attached, unwillingly, helps, reversing, action, mechanism, resisting, effective, paradigm, shift, uniqueness, concomitantly, recognize, ways, centuries, progress, astute, fully, suffering, rudimentary, physicians, prescribe, combinations, medicines, naturally, subjective, rely, hoc, interpretations, incompletely, documented, israeli, biochemist, ciechanover, expressed, customized, tailored, personalized, annual, report, final, edited, transport, blobel, canidates, won, lasker, indicator, anton, clauser, alain, aspect, unbelievably, weird, masses, dance, photons, informative, revealing, wondered, warrant, deserving, recipients, mandelbrot, entanglement, dare, shout, lair, hawking, penrose, stars, humungous, size, membrane, vesicle, add, happily, struck, dividing, assigning, prediction, lists, everywhere, fell, predicted, criteria, achievements, academy, awards, canes, honored, anyway, martin, command, honor, specifically, suffice, ken, houk, applying, baker, program, rosetta, folding, spawned, cool, peter, schultz, rare, cravatt, bertozzi, shokat, contributed, pioneer, raising, unhappy, obviously, powerful, tool, exploring, nanoparticles, frontrunners, moerner, orrit, zare, floated, con, bard, lionized, pill, carl, djerassi, surprised, immature, machines, stoddart, gratzel, unquestioned, predictors, converge, chambon, jensen, evans, akira, discussed, statin, blockbuster, revolutionized, nice, boost, maligned, awarding, precedents, alexander, fleming, antibiotics, blockers, antiulcer, gertrude, elion, immunosuppresants, exist, overdue, premature, rule, prevail, rope, carruthers, hood, pioneered, fingerprinting, western, blots, discovering, hunting, serial, killers, prizeworthy, pcr, honoring, jeffreys, stark, burnette, mcculloch, till, listed, politically, controversial, embryonic, targeting, diagnostics, receptors, electron, transfer, plucky, lucky, mull, incur, publicity, accepting, rejecting, gets, easier, gripe, distinguishable, resembled, counterparts, novelty, mountains, nothing, freeman, dyson, calls, proud, place, shelves, fans, fondness, fun, dick, approved, convinced, parts, humility, paced, podium, caltech, stressed, holding, oneself, absolute, integrity, successive, zoomed, device, employed, imparts, heightened, evident, intersperse, divergent, intersects, snapshots, walk, los, alamos, bewildered, struggled, comprehend, intractable, successful, safe, breaking, evocative, teaching, walks, sister, tragic, relationship, wife, included, strip, club, forays, solved, dunking, challenger, shuttle, glass, failure, rendered, fairly, albeit, brief, pioneering, manage, capture, characteristics, cherished, teacher, colleague, succeeds

Text of the page (random words):
d cannot be used directly for our actions and thoughts instead it is used to construct devilishly clever chemical packages of atp adenosine triphosphate which then serves as the energy currency our bodies and those of other creatures are staggeringly efficient at squeezing oxidation derived energy out of compounds like glucose for instance in the aerobic oxidation of glucose a single glucose molecule can generate 32 molecules of atp put another way the oxidation of a gram of glucose yields about 4 kilocalories of energy this may not seem like a lot until we realize that the detonation of a gram of tnt yields only about 1 kilocalorie the reason the latter seems so violent is because all the energy is liberated almost instantaneously clearly it is the all important energy term in the combustion equation that has made life on earth possible we are generously contributing to this term these days by virtue of quarter pounders and supersizing but our abuse does not diminish its importance the same term of course is responsible for our energy triumphs and problems fossil fuel plants are nowhere as efficient in extracting energy from carbon rich hydrocarbons as our bodies but what matters is whether they are cheap enough it s primarily the cost of digging transporting storing and burning carbon that has dictated the calculus of energy whatever climate change does of one thing we can be sure we will continue to pay the cheapest price for our fuel considering the many advantages of carbon it doesn t seem like anything is going to substitute its extraordinarily fortuitous properties anytime soon we will simply have to find some way to work around over or through its abundance and advantages if we think about it then the implications of combustion for our little planet and its denizens are overwhelming and sometimes it s hard to take it all in at such times we only need to take a deep breath and remember the last words spoken by kevin spacey s character from american beauty sometimes i feel like i m seeing it all at once and it s too much my heart fills up like a balloon that s about to burst and then i remember to relax and stop trying to hold on to it and then it flows through me like rain and i can t feel anything but gratitude for every single moment of my stupid little life that s right let s have it flow through us like rain and watch it burn image source posted by wavefunction at 2 48 pm 0 comments monday september 19 2011 book review feynman with his colorful personality and constant propensity to get into all kinds of adventures richard feynman is probably the perfect scientific character to commit to comic book form so in one way this graphic novel is long due what is remarkable is how powerfully jim ottaviani and leland myrick harness this unique medium to accurately dramatize the life and qualities of this genius both authors are uniquely qualified for this endeavor having already penned graphic portraits of niels bohr robert oppenheimer and leo szilard ottaviani and myrick manage to capture the essential characteristics that made feynman such a cherished teacher scientist friend colleague and public personality most importantly the book succeeds in vividly bringing out feynman s quintessential quality of almost obsessively staking out his own iconoclastic path both in science and in life the biography is really a memoir akin to surely you re joking mr feynman since it features feynman s own account of his life work and intellectual development the great strength of the book is that it uses close ups and color to highlight key words and moments from feynman s life while the biographical information in the book has been covered in other works and most notably in feynman s own memoirs the comic book form has a very different impact because of the combined literary visual effect it has on the viewer for instance in describing feynman s time at los alamos one can actually see people s bewildered faces as they struggled to comprehend both his genius in solving intractable physics problems and his wildly successful attempts at safe breaking there are evocative close ups of feynman s father teaching him to appreciate and truly understand nature during walks in the park of feynman encouraging his sister to learn science and his wonderful and tragic relationship with his first wife also included are feynman s strip club forays during which he solved physics problems his famous dunking of the challenger space shuttle s o rings into a glass of cold water to demonstrate their failure again rendered much more dramatic by the graphic medium and some fairly detailed albeit brief discussions of his pioneering work in quantum mechanics i was especially convinced of the power of the graphic form during the parts dealing with feynman s lectures about scientific wonder and humility as he paced the podium at caltech and stressed the importance of holding oneself to an absolute standard of integrity successive panels of the book zoomed in on his face this device which is commonly employed in comic books imparts a heightened sense of importance to the words in a way that would not be evident on simply reading them the other idea used in the comic medium is to intersperse the narrative with divergent panels for instance feynman s eloquent description of science as a great game of chess intersects with snapshots of a chess game played by two people in a park where his father has taken him for a walk the minor gripe i have with this comic account is that the faces of different characters are sometimes not easily distinguishable in addition the narrative would have had a bigger impact if the characters resembled their real life counterparts but these minor points detract little from the volume s novelty ottaviani and myrick have done a wonderful job in making a unique scientist and human being come alive in these pages with the mountains of literature written about feynman one would think that there s nothing new that could be said or done but this dramatic picture of richard feynman as his friend freeman dyson calls it will occupy a proud place on the shelves of feynman fans knowing his fondness for fun dick would undoubtedly have approved labels feynman posted by wavefunction at 8 53 am 0 comments thursday september 08 2011 nobel prizes 2011 so it s that time of the year again the time when just like richard feynman and paul dirac three lucky people get to mull over whether they will incur more publicity by accepting the nobel prize or rejecting it predicting the nobel prizes gets easier every year i said predicting not getting your predictions right since there s very little you can add in the previous year s list although there are a few changes the plucky palladists can now happily be struck off the list as before i am dividing categories into easy and difficult and assigning pros and cons to every prediction the easy ones are those regarding discoveries whose importance is now obvious these discoveries inevitably make it to lists everywhere each year and the palladists clearly fell into this category the difficult predictions would either be discoveries which have been predicted by few others or ones that that are non obvious but what exactly is a discovery of non obvious importance well one of the criteria in my mind for a non obvious nobel prize is one that is awarded to an individual for general achievements in a field rather than for specific discoveries much like the lifetime achievement academy awards given out to men and women with canes such predictions are somewhat harder to make simply because fields are honored by prizes much less frequently than specific discoveries anyway here s the n list 2 computational chemistry and biochemistry difficult pros computational chemistry as a field has not been recognized since 1999 so the time seems due one obvious candidate would be martin karplus cons this would definitely be a lifetime achievement award karplus did do the first md simulation of a protein ever but that by itself wouldn t command a nobel prize the other question is regarding what field exactly the prize would honor if it s specifically applications to biochemistry then karplus alone would probably suffice but if the prize is for computational methods and applications in general then others would also have to be considered most notably ken houk who has been foremost in applying such methods to organic chemistry another interesting candidate is david baker whose program rosetta has really produced some fantastic results in predicting protein structure and folding it even spawned a cool game but the field is probably too new for a prize 3 chemical biology and chemical genetics easy another favorite for years with stuart schreiber and peter schultz being touted as leading candidates pros the general field has had a significant impact on basic and applied science cons this again would be more of a lifetime achievement award which is rare plus there are several individuals in recent years cravatt bertozzi shokat who have contributed to the field it may make some sense to award schreiber a pioneer award for raising awareness but that s sure going to make a lot of people unhappy also a prize for chemical biology might be yet another one whose time has just passed 4 single molecule spectroscopy easy pros the field has obviously matured and is now a powerful tool for exploring everything from nanoparticles to dna it s been touted as a candidate for years the frontrunners seem to be w e moerner and m orrit although richard zare has also been floated often cons the only con i can think of is that the field might yet be too new for a prize 5 electron transfer in biological systems easy pros another field which has matured and has been well validated gray and bard seem to be leading candidates among other fields i don t really see a prize for the long lionized birth pill and carl djerassi although we might yet be surprised the time just seems to have passed then there are fields which seem too immature for the prize among these are molecular machines stoddart et al and solar cells gratzel medicine 1 nuclear receptors easy pros the importance of these proteins is unquestioned most predictors seem to converge on the names of chambon jensen evans 2 statins difficult akira endo s name does not seem to have been discussed much endo discovered the first statin although this particular compound was not a blockbuster drug since then statins have revolutionized the treatment of heart disease pros the importance as described in nobel s will is obvious since statins have become the best selling drugs in history it also might be a nice statement to award the prize to the discovery of a drug for a change who knows it might even boost the image of a much maligned pharmaceutical industry cons the committee is not really known for awarding actual drug discovery precedents like alexander fleming antibiotics james black beta blockers antiulcer drugs and gertrude elion immunosuppresants anticancer agents exist but are far and few in between on the other hand this fact might make a prize for drug discovery overdue 2 genomics difficult a lot of people say that venter should get the prize but it s not clear exactly for what not for the human genome which others would deserve too if a prize was to be given out for synthetic biology it s almost certainly premature venter s synthetic organisms from last year may rule the world but for now we humans still prevail on the other hand a possible prize for genomics may rope in people like carruthers and hood who pioneered methods for dna synthesis 3 dna diagnostics difficult now this seems to me to be a field whose time is very much due the impact of dna fingerprinting and western and southern blots on pure and applied science everything from discovering new drugs to hunting down serial killers is at least as big as the prizeworthy pcr i think the committee would be doing itself a favor by honoring jeffreys stark burnette and southern 4 stem cells easy this seems to be yet another favorite mcculloch and till are often listed pros surely one of the most important biological discoveries of the last 50 years promising fascinating advances in human health and disease cons politically controversial although we hope the committee can rise above this plus a 2007 nobel was awarded for work on embryonic stem cells using gene targeting strategies so there s a recent precedent 4 membrane vesicle trafficking easy rothman and schekman pros clearly important the last trafficking transport prize was given out in 1999 blobel so another one is due and rothman and schekman seem to be the most likely canidates plus they have already won the lasker award which in the past has been a good indicator of the nobel physics i am not a physicist but if i were i would dare to shout from my lair give hawking and penrose the prize for being rock stars of humungous size also anton zeilinger john clauser and alain aspect probably deserve it for bringing the unbelievably weird phenomenon of quantum entanglement to the masses zeilinger s book dance of the photons presents an informative and revealing account of this book i have also always wondered whether non linear dynamics and chaos deserves a prize the proliferation and importance of the field certainly seems to warrant one the problem is that there are way too many deserving recipients and mandelbrot is dead labels nobel prize posted by wavefunction at 6 29 am 1 comments wednesday august 31 2011 thoughts on personalised medicine this is a piece i had written up for the annual report of this year s lindau meeting of nobel laureates the final version had to be significantly edited because of space limitations so i thought i would post the full version here the future of personalized medicine in this year s lindau meeting the israeli biochemist ciechanover expressed great hope for the future of personalised medicine an age in which medical treatments are customized and tailored to individual patients based on their specific kind disease in some ways personalised medicine is already here over centuries of medical progress astute doctors have fully recognized the diversity of patients who are suffering from what appears to be the same disease based on their rudimentary knowledge of disease processes empirical data and experience physicians would then prescribe different combinations of medicines for different patients but in the absence of detailed knowledge of disease at the genetic and molecular level this kind of approach was naturally subjective it continued to rely on extensive personal experience and ad hoc interpretations of incompletely documented empirical data this approach saw a paradigm shift in the latter half of the twentieth century as our knowledge of dna and genetics revealed to us the rich diversity and uniqueness of individual genomes concomitantly our knowledge of the molecul...