Tuesday, May 13, 2008
scientific means and ends
Yesterday in the afternoon attended the system biology workshop where speakers talked about different aspects of it, from sequence comparison, to transcription factors being derived from transposons to development in Drosophila. The approaches taken were unique in the sense that teasing out problems depends so much on the thoughts that get into designing the experiments. Analyzing the data without any bias is the next step. Often scientists have their pet genes or processes and every thing seems to lead towards that, subconsciously. Joining the bandwagon is not foreign to science, as fads come and go. Over all approach seems to be to start with a system which is not complicated, like studying bacteria instead of human to find out metabolic pathways. A good model system to work on and a methodology that is easy or straight forward to follow help in the reproduction of the results. However still the data could be mined to get what will prove one’s hypothesis and lead one astray.
Monday, May 12, 2008
natual and manmade calamities
In the morning today heard about the 7.8 earthquake in Chengdu, called Lina immediately. She is ok. So many natural disasters are now there and also much severe, from cyclone in Burma, to volcano eruption in Chile to tornado in south east states of USA. Death seems so much in mind all the time.
In PBS heard about how USA destroyed the culture of the Native Americans by putting them in boarding schools where they were give English names and were forbidden to utter a single word from their native language and were Christianized. Such a shameful way to cultures without any remorse and still thought to be most civilized.
Destroying another culture has been such a predominant part of a culture’s identity as a better one. Once the temples, statues and paintings etc are destroyed in the name of Jesus Christ or Mohamed or Vishnu, there is no way to get the creation back in track.
I hear and read about war and death and destruction, almost all the time. I see guys in army trucks or otherwise killing other guys as well as kids and women, while women are begging for food for their kids. Some cases it is most sophisticated killing like dropping bombs on people they don’t know. War and destruction have been part of men’s culture from the beginning of civilization, from Greeks, Roman to USA. The major difference is that early days those who choose to fight and die were getting killed, not with the armada countries like USA has kills mostly civilians and injure masses.
I always wondered why people watch sports or any other activities where they are not physically participating but only seeing some one else doing the task, may it be car racing or American football game. There might be certain centers in the brain which make these the audience or onlooker feel as if they are in real the players and executing the action. After the arrival of TV, spectator sports have become one of the major attractions, big businesses as well as cause for obesity and obsession. Intellectual pursuit has been mostly replaced by watching in TV some one playing cricket or golf.
In PBS heard about how USA destroyed the culture of the Native Americans by putting them in boarding schools where they were give English names and were forbidden to utter a single word from their native language and were Christianized. Such a shameful way to cultures without any remorse and still thought to be most civilized.
Destroying another culture has been such a predominant part of a culture’s identity as a better one. Once the temples, statues and paintings etc are destroyed in the name of Jesus Christ or Mohamed or Vishnu, there is no way to get the creation back in track.
I hear and read about war and death and destruction, almost all the time. I see guys in army trucks or otherwise killing other guys as well as kids and women, while women are begging for food for their kids. Some cases it is most sophisticated killing like dropping bombs on people they don’t know. War and destruction have been part of men’s culture from the beginning of civilization, from Greeks, Roman to USA. The major difference is that early days those who choose to fight and die were getting killed, not with the armada countries like USA has kills mostly civilians and injure masses.
I always wondered why people watch sports or any other activities where they are not physically participating but only seeing some one else doing the task, may it be car racing or American football game. There might be certain centers in the brain which make these the audience or onlooker feel as if they are in real the players and executing the action. After the arrival of TV, spectator sports have become one of the major attractions, big businesses as well as cause for obesity and obsession. Intellectual pursuit has been mostly replaced by watching in TV some one playing cricket or golf.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
too long and too short
Often my time is spent in looking for things. I put it somewhere and the action was not mindful. Now I spend hours looking for it, either in my computer or at home, not in the lab any more as I have no wetlab. The amount of time I spend in looking for things as well as organizing and removing what I thought I need but not any more is enormous. Out of the days of our lives, the real time we utilize to do some thing meaningful is very short, unless we add every thing from brushing teeth to talking over the phone as meaningful. Every one has the potential to do great, but in real we either have no time nor the interest to do something. We would rather watch something some one else is doing, be a consumer.
My life is too long when I look in one way and too short when I look differently. Daily incidents of the past get quickly overwritten by the event of the present and the memory often glosses over the past, making it more horrific or terrific. I have almost forgotten most of my childhood, even Amgen days are now seems so distant. When I was going to study at USC in the evening, it seemed as if those days will never end. Then suddenly every event becomes a spec of the past and shrouded by later events.
It is like the children, who were born and now they are adults. During the time they lived at home all the time, they slowly grew up, became teenager and then left for college. Some how it seems as if they grew up with a flick of a switch and there were no intermediates, unless I look at the photos. What happened to all those bodies, the cute toddlers, the naughty boy’s, the adorable girl’s and the teenagers’ when the hormones started metamorphosing the body?
My life is too long when I look in one way and too short when I look differently. Daily incidents of the past get quickly overwritten by the event of the present and the memory often glosses over the past, making it more horrific or terrific. I have almost forgotten most of my childhood, even Amgen days are now seems so distant. When I was going to study at USC in the evening, it seemed as if those days will never end. Then suddenly every event becomes a spec of the past and shrouded by later events.
It is like the children, who were born and now they are adults. During the time they lived at home all the time, they slowly grew up, became teenager and then left for college. Some how it seems as if they grew up with a flick of a switch and there were no intermediates, unless I look at the photos. What happened to all those bodies, the cute toddlers, the naughty boy’s, the adorable girl’s and the teenagers’ when the hormones started metamorphosing the body?
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Gene, the scapegoats
Soon after their discovery, genes have become a part of our social expression in addition to being the darling of research. They also have become the scapegoat for any thing that happens to us, from our anger to the diseases we get. First they were selfish, using our body to propagate themselves. Once we have transmitted them to our progeny, then genes don’t need us and lead us to the path of demise and death.
They were supposed to be the cause of cancer, the oncogenes. They were supposed to be the reason for our mental illness, for our behavior of all kinds, even if we shoot some one for fun, we can always blame the genes, they made me do it. I am not at fault.
I think the more I learn about genes, I feel that the gene excuse is less scientific than thought. For sure we can be predisposed due to certain mutation in our genes to get lung cancer. However if we refrain from smoking and from the polluted smog filled areas, there is much less chance of us getting it. The same is true for how long we live or what we can become. The potential is there, but unless it is triggered by one or more of our behavior, eating a lot, doing no exercise, eating wrong kind of food or being under stress to be millionaire instantly, the chance of genes leading us astray towards our destruction is kind of remote.
They were supposed to be the cause of cancer, the oncogenes. They were supposed to be the reason for our mental illness, for our behavior of all kinds, even if we shoot some one for fun, we can always blame the genes, they made me do it. I am not at fault.
I think the more I learn about genes, I feel that the gene excuse is less scientific than thought. For sure we can be predisposed due to certain mutation in our genes to get lung cancer. However if we refrain from smoking and from the polluted smog filled areas, there is much less chance of us getting it. The same is true for how long we live or what we can become. The potential is there, but unless it is triggered by one or more of our behavior, eating a lot, doing no exercise, eating wrong kind of food or being under stress to be millionaire instantly, the chance of genes leading us astray towards our destruction is kind of remote.
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Today's thoughts, May 6, 2008
20 000 people might have died due to cyclone in Mynamar (Burma). Death is ever present and comes due to so many different factors. Death is teasing us every day in different accounts in newspapers, TV and online. Still we think it will not happen to us or to one of our loved ones.
Injection of a twist in the normal thinking process leads to eye opening of the mass and hence the recognition. Many have been recognized and appreciate long after they succumbed to death. But how that recognition benefits the deceased?
We fail to see most of the time the obvious. Every thing that looks familiar will cease to be that once we look close and hard enough. The simplicity hides the complexity and the ingenuity in common things or beings we encounter all the time and ignore its importance. It could be either or man made, such as a paper clip. Just think about the ingenuity behind those inventions or designs. We take fingers for granted. We don’t think about how effortlessly we are able to talk, even sing, unless we encounter some one with a defect, who can not speak a word. As long as we are not unfortunate enough to lose function of any one those, we ignore its importance and the complex engineering that has been in place to make us functionally active.
What does attract our eyes and our attention out of myriad things and phenomena that we conveniently ignore every day? What makes a girl heart throb and a picture that is worth thousand words? There has to be a common esthetic yard stick, a common beauty yardstick in our brain to make us agree in choosing what is beautiful.
Injection of a twist in the normal thinking process leads to eye opening of the mass and hence the recognition. Many have been recognized and appreciate long after they succumbed to death. But how that recognition benefits the deceased?
We fail to see most of the time the obvious. Every thing that looks familiar will cease to be that once we look close and hard enough. The simplicity hides the complexity and the ingenuity in common things or beings we encounter all the time and ignore its importance. It could be either or man made, such as a paper clip. Just think about the ingenuity behind those inventions or designs. We take fingers for granted. We don’t think about how effortlessly we are able to talk, even sing, unless we encounter some one with a defect, who can not speak a word. As long as we are not unfortunate enough to lose function of any one those, we ignore its importance and the complex engineering that has been in place to make us functionally active.
What does attract our eyes and our attention out of myriad things and phenomena that we conveniently ignore every day? What makes a girl heart throb and a picture that is worth thousand words? There has to be a common esthetic yard stick, a common beauty yardstick in our brain to make us agree in choosing what is beautiful.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
all creatures large and small
The diversity of beings in the world is amazing. The evolution as such is a tinkering process, trying out small changes at one time to find out if it can survive. Some thing that is lost in the translation is the evolution of higher organisms, is that each organism as a specie, is capable of survival, adaptation to the changing environment.
Higher organisms have better brain capacity, so that they can carry out additional functions. But they are not necessarily better in the game of survival. Every being from unicellular to human have the basic engines to eat, grow, propagate one way or other and communicate with their kind and also with the environment.
Trees are amazing as they have very few needs and withstand a lot of insult including cutting of limbs. Each organism is fittest in its own way. Otherwise there would be no amoeba or crocodiles any more. Some organisms have better sights than us, better hearing, better tactile response and motor action. Some insects can jump 10 times or more of their body length. Some organisms like fish and bees can change sex when needed and have eggs develop without fertilization which we can not.
Higher organisms have better brain capacity, so that they can carry out additional functions. But they are not necessarily better in the game of survival. Every being from unicellular to human have the basic engines to eat, grow, propagate one way or other and communicate with their kind and also with the environment.
Trees are amazing as they have very few needs and withstand a lot of insult including cutting of limbs. Each organism is fittest in its own way. Otherwise there would be no amoeba or crocodiles any more. Some organisms have better sights than us, better hearing, better tactile response and motor action. Some insects can jump 10 times or more of their body length. Some organisms like fish and bees can change sex when needed and have eggs develop without fertilization which we can not.
Monday, January 21, 2008
Her (Julie's) Prayer list got longer
The limits around us
Surround us
Sorround her
Like the layers of an onion
She can only think of you
And without the blink of her eyes
Connect you and upload all her wishes
To give her a hand
If you have one
To be patita paabana
Again and again
To heal the aching bodies
The aching stomachs
The aching hearts
Of all your children
By visitng us
Like the layers of an onion
She can only think of you
And without the blink of her eyes
Connect you and upload all her wishes
To give her a hand
If you have one
To be patita paabana
Again and again
To heal the aching bodies
The aching stomachs
The aching hearts
Of all your children
By visitng us
as avatars
As mother Teresa
As Gandhi
As Gandhi
As Martin Luther King
And
As others
As others
I am too ignorant to know.
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