Edge Master Class 2009 THE CURRENT CATALOG OF LIFE By Ed Regis In their futuristic workshops, the masters of the Synthetic Genomics, Craig Venter and George Church, play out their visions of bacteria reprogrammed to turn coal into methane gas and other microbes programmed to create jet fuel 14. August 2009 — John Brockman is a New York City literary agent with a twist: not only does he represent many of the world's top scientists and science writers, he's also founder and head of the Edge Foundation (www.edge.org), devoted to disseminating news of the latest advances in cutting-edge science and technology. Synthetic genomics, the subject of the conference, is the process of replacing all or part of an organism's natural DNA with synthetic DNA designed by humans. The specter of "biohackers" creating new infectious agents made its obligatory appearance, but synthetic genomic researchers are, almost of necessity, optimists. Church is also founder and head of the Personal Genome Project, or PGP. [ Permalink ]
The CV « Curriculum Vitae Personal Statement My name is BENEDICT LE GAUCHE and I was born on 02/05/83 which makes me 28 and ripe as a lemon. I’m looking for a job I’ll like. As a man of integrity I’m not about to try and give you the impression that all the jobs I’ve had previously were brilliant learning experiences tailor-made to equip me for precisely the job I’m applying for (hello you) when in reality they have been, for the greater part, boring and drudgerous and disheartening. I should state I was not bad at them. The capacity to bear such trials whilst retaining an at-most-times sunny disposition might be called something like ‘the ability to work under pressure’. Work History Cleaner/Caretaker; The Women’s Organisation, Manchester ; 11/08/2010 – Present Duties include: Working out how dirty I can let the building get without Lisa complaining and then cleaning to this exact standard. Host: Zion Arts Centre, Manchester; 02/02/2011 – 28/07/2011 Moving chairs from one place to another place. Pointless.
DIYbio/FAQ From OpenWetWare DIYbio FAQ v1.5: "The biohacker's FAQ" This FAQ for DIYbio is actively maintained by it's editors, and by you! Edit your contributions directly or email updates to the DIYbio email list, diybio@googlegroups.com. Major contributors (in alphabetical order): The contents of this FAQ are copyright under the OpenWetWare Copyright policy (Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported). This Frequently Asked Questions document is for the DIYBio mailing list. 1.0 - copied on 4/7/2009 from heybryan.org...DIYbio_FAQ 1.1 - some updates to clarify original version 1.2 - new sections, reorg, + sections about DIY agar DOI:10.1007/BF00152620 --jcline@ieee.org 1.3 - expand projects sections. DIYbio is an organization that aims to help make biology a worthwhile pursuit for citizen scientists, amateur biologists, and DIY biological engineers who value openness and safety. What is DIYbio's mission? -- Len Sassaman, DIYbio google group Schmidt M, 2008. IRGC 2008. Other Papers:
Do learners know what they need? There is a lot of talk about learner needs, needs analysis and learner centred lesson planning and course planning. But do learners really know what they need? Or do they just tell us what they want? The difference between “wants” and “needs” is neatly illustrated by the image on the right – a want is something that is desirable but unnecessary. In education the reliance on needs analysis worries me, as I fear it might be misplaced. But we don’t always notice and the doctor analogy is perhaps right – the learners come to us and say “I’m having problems” before we then think about what the causes and solutions might be. To find out – I conducted a small scale study with a group of FCE learners. The results show three tiers of prioritisation: Tier 1: Vocabulary, Use of English, Exam PracticeTier 2: Speaking, Writing, GrammarTier 3: Reading, Listening. The first tier may reflect learners’ beliefs about language learning and exam preparation more than it does their needs. References:
Systems & Synthetic Biology How much are you worth? « EFL thoughts and reflections The issue of pay has always been a sensitive one. I recently came across 2 adverts which shocked me, both concerned pay: 1)La rémunération proposée est de 17,00 € Brut /heure.=17 Euros before any taxes=13 euros an hour2)Our online school offers qualified teachers $9 per class before tax=7 Euros an hour Both jobs only require a ‘TEFL certificate’ ie even a weekend one would be valid. The fat has truly been trimmed! Of course, the first job may seem better paid but think about….travel time, travel cost, prep time, no/few materials. Also, perhaps we can class the 1st as a small language school but the second is from one of many internet schools which seem to be the first wave. I know both places and neither knows the DELTA or what an MA TESOL is. Back in the day DELTA qualified people were only on about £2 an hour more than CELTA teachers and the MA was the same. I don’t think this is fair so I propose this: So, how much are you worth an hour? Like this: Like Loading...
synthesis British stereotypes: do mention the war, please | Jonathan Freedland | World news The stereotype is itself a stereotype. The European image of the Brit – either pukingly drunk football fan or snooty City gent, both living off past imperial glories, sullenly resenting being in Europe rather than ruling the world – is itself a cliche. Just as Brits know that every good Frenchman wears a striped shirt and beret, and that ruddy-faced Germans subsist on a diet of beer and sausage, so we know precisely what all those Europeans think of us. And, sure enough, drink, class and the second world war all crop up in the thumbnail sketch of the British (Europeans tend to use "British" as a synonym for "English", rather forgetting the Scots, Welsh and Northern Irish)provided by our colleagues across the Channel. It would be nice to say that our neighbours have us all wrong – but, sadly, cliches only become cliches if they are built on a foundation of truth. Start with the bottle. Still, it's not the volume of pints (or litres) consumed that has led to our boozy reputation.
WHAK! [KEVIN KELLY:] The main question that I'm asking myself is, what is the meaning of technology in our lives? What place does technology have in the universe? What place does it have in the human condition? And what place should it play in my own personal life? I'm trying to investigate ways to understand the long-term consequences of technology in the world and place it into some position along with other grand things like biological nature, big history, the physics of the cosmos, and the future. There's no predictive theory of technology either. There is a common sense that each novel technology brings us many new problems as well as new solutions — that it offers many things that we desire as well as many things that we want to eliminate. One of the reflex responses to technology's problems is prohibition. But even with all this, we still don't have a good sense of what technology is or how we should define it. Science and technology are intrinsically connected.
Neither models nor miracles: a look at synthetic biology The 20th century broke open both the atom and the human genome. Physics deftly imposed mathematical order on the upwelling of particles. Now, in the 21st century, systems biology aims to fit equations to living matter, creating mathematical models that promise new insight into disease and cures. But, after a decade of effort and growth in computing power, models of cells and organs remain crude. Researchers are retreating from complexity towards simpler systems. And, perversely, ever-expanding data are making models more complicated instead of accurate. Synthetic biology does away with systems biology's untidiness by focusing on individual parts, creating a tool set for engineering organisms unconstrained by biology as we know it, making the discipline more like software programming. A dream deferred Systems biology takes over where the sequencing of the human genome left off. These efforts began with a cell related to those that make up humans, but much simpler: yeast. Running ≠ Hiding
On Biotechnology Without Borders Can the reengineering of biology be coupled to the spread of tools and knowledge sufficient to improve the health of people and the environment worldwide? We believe the answer is yes, albeit with much work to be accomplished both technically and culturally. Practically, a comprehensive overhaul of the process by which living systems are engineered is needed. Legal, political, and cultural innovations are also required to collectively insure that the resulting knowledge and tools are freely availably to those who would use them constructively. We do not know how to make biology easy to engineer (think playing with Legos or coding software with Java). The Cambridge iGEM students benefited from a preexisting collection of free-to-use standard biological parts, collectively known as the BioBricks collection. Practically, the phenomenon of orphan diseases points to a broader challenge underlying all innovation and development. Drew Endy is a biological engineer at Stanford University.
Current Interest - 15 Incredible Applications of Biomimicry In our previous article, The 15 Coolest Cases of Biomimicry, we listed such great ideas as Velcro, Gecko Tape and Whalepower Wind Turbines to illustrate some of the most awe-inspiring applications of biomimicry: the developing engineering practice of designing sustainable human technologies inspired by nature. Here are 15 more examples coming out of the biomimetics workshops of academia and industry that illustrate the range of nature-inspired designs that may lead humanity into the future. 1. Harnessing the Sea On the energy front biomimicry is offering several intriguing designs for tapping the movement of waves and tides to produce electricity from mechanical energy. An Australian company BioPower Systems has developed Biowave, a system that mimics the motion of underwater plants to generate power. 2. Another new biologically-inspired system making use of fish dynamics to convert tidal power into electricity is the bioSTREAM system by BioPower. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14.