…and this is a 
This morning was a long session broken into two big chunks, and I'm afraid it was too much for me — my recent weird sleep patterns are catching up with me, which didn't help at all in staying alert.
Robert Huber: Intracellular protein degradation and its control
This talk was a disaster. Not because it wasn't good, because it was; lots of fine, detailed science on the regulation of proteases by various mechanisms, with a discussion of the structure and function of proteasomes, accompanied by beautiful mandalas of protein structure. No, the problem was that this listener's jet lag has been causing some wild precession of my internal clocks, and a quarter of the way through this talk all systems were shutting down while announcing that it was the middle of the night, and I really couldn't cope. I'm going to have to look up some of his papers when I get home, though.
Walter Kohn: An Earth Powered Predominantly by Solar and Wind Energy
Kohn has made a documentary to illustrate the power of solar energy. It was very basic, a bit silly — John Cleese narrates it — but might be useful in educating the pubic. He showed excerpts from it, and while it was nice, it didn't fire me up.
Peter Agre: Canoeing in the Arctic, a Scientist´s Perspective
This was a bit strange. We've had all these science talks on global warming, so Agre decided to just show us what we stand to lose, and showed us photos of his vacations on canoeing trips in Canada and Alaska. They were gorgeous photos, but please don't show me your photo album when I'm crashing hard.
I think my new and revised plan is to take a nap this afternoon and try to recharge a bit. I really must be alert for tomorrow's session with Shimomura, Chalfie, and Tsien, which are the talks I was most anticipating. There's also a curious talk by Werner Arber on something called Molecular Darwinism which has my skeptical genes tingling; I've got to see what kinds of evidence he provides for that. So brain must not melt down now.
Life Science
Environment
Comments
Posted by: cervantes
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July 1, 2009 9:36 AM
Just one more demonstration that youth is wasted on the young. If you were 24, you wouldn't need sleep. But you'd also be cutting the lectures to head out on the town. Come to think of it, that's probably what you should have done with the canoe trip and the John Cleese movie . . .
Posted by: Krystalline Apostate | July 1, 2009 9:38 AM
PZ, for the jet lag, I suggest melatonin. Last time I flew to China, I took it on the plane (there & back), & had none of the symptoms of it.
Sorry for not suggesting it sooner.
Posted by: Alan Kellogg | July 1, 2009 9:51 AM
On Conference Talks
It is my experience that most any subject presented at a scientific talk is going to require some degree of follow up. The good news is, the literature is out there; the difficulty lies in finding the time and money you need for the research.
On Sleep
Next year I recommend arranging a week at the conference site just before the conference for the purpose of getting your internal clock reset. See the sites, meet with local folk, visit resident scientists. Give yourself time to adjust so you can enjoy the conference better. Just a proposal, that's all.
Posted by: Benny the Icepick | July 1, 2009 9:58 AM
Jetlag sucks, but you might want to check your spelling on the phrase "educating the pubic."
Don't worry, there was a senior BBC editor who made the same error in a front page headline on Princess Diana.
Posted by: Morgan | July 1, 2009 10:09 AM
I tend to do a lot of travelling and going East is always the worst. But I don't think there is a lot you can do except battle through the first day. I think it's a mistake to go for a nap - at least not a long one. You're better off trying to go as long as you can this evening and get to bed around 9ish and with a bit of luck you get a night's sleep and you're fairly weel adjusted - from the point of view of sleep patterns. Your mental state I can't comment on :-)
Posted by: Southern Comfort | July 1, 2009 10:14 AM
"educating the pubic"?
Hmm I guess you DID have other things on your mind.
Goodnight,and may all your dreams be wet ones.
Sorry, I just couldn't resist.
Posted by: xebecs | July 1, 2009 10:54 AM
I just looked up Walter Kohn. 86 years old? Wow. And he just made a documentary? At his age, I fully expect to be drooling over bowls of lime jello in a moldy attic somewhere.
Posted by: Hanspeter | July 1, 2009 10:56 AM
If Tsien is Roger Tsien, aka GFP guy, I've heard him talk before and it wasn't a very good talk. His lab's work is amazing, but his seminar was barely ho-hum.
Posted by: Rorschach | July 1, 2009 11:00 AM
I told you, 'twas all this beer mixed together the night before !!
Posted by: daveau
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July 1, 2009 11:03 AM
On our first trip to Europe, the spousal unit & I took a nap around noon the first day, then accidentally slept until around 6:00, wasting nearly a full day in London. Then, after going to bed late, we still woke up at 3:00 AM, along with all the other Americans.
Subsequently, we take melatonin on the flight over in order to get some sleep, then stay active and awake the first day, except for a short nap before dinner. That produces some semblance of normalcy for the rest of the trip. We still wake up at 3:00 AM, but we can go back to sleep. We are always the first ones at breakfast, though.
Yes, it seems much harder to go east. We have gone to Hawaii (from Chicago) without any issues, but were wiped out by the return trip.
Posted by: Geoff | July 1, 2009 11:10 AM
Glad to hear the session was good and too bad about the jet lag. It usually takes me three days to get over it but walking around at night helps a lot.
Happy Canada day to my fellow brethren.
Posted by: Glen Davidson
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July 1, 2009 11:15 AM
Eesh, "evolution genes" are involved in "molecular evolution." They might very well be a sound hypothesis, but I sure don't like the name.
Anyway, I doubt that there'd be "evolution genes" and then all of the rest of the genes and regulatory sections. Most likely the whole genome has a kind of "adaptability" that comes from, and facilitates, evolution.
Glen D
http://tinyurl.com/mxaa3p
Posted by: eNeMeE | July 1, 2009 11:45 AM
The fatigue is just your brain getting back at you for threatening it.
Posted by: Jay | July 1, 2009 1:17 PM
Glen D: I noticed the same thing, and I'm looking forward to PZ's writeup on the topic. I also think the author has some English-as-a-second-language issues which adds to the confusing conclusion of his abstract.
Horrible name, though. Why did he need to use Darwin's name? Or maybe he just did it for filler in his abstract and lecture.
Posted by: Rosie Redfield | July 1, 2009 1:17 PM
Sadly, it looks like Werner Arber has drunk deep of the 'evolvability' Kool-ade.
Posted by: ZK
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July 1, 2009 3:57 PM
Jet lag from eastward travel is the worst, it usually hits me big style 48 hours after I return from the USA and then I just crash, completely crash for more hours than I can explain.
Jet lag from travelling west (e.g. Europe to USA) is almost non-existent, at least I think so. So P.Z. should be plenty refreshed to fill in the blanks when he returns!
Cheers.
ZK
Posted by: llewelly | July 1, 2009 4:26 PM
Molecular Darwinism? Huh? I thought Molecular Darwinism was dead?Posted by: Merrydol | July 1, 2009 6:24 PM
The term "evolution genes" makes me squirm, so I second Glen D. Does he mean "any bits of DNA that may at some point, in some way, under some circumstances affect other bits of DNA"? I'm looking forward to the review of the talk and hoping there's some clarification on what that really means- try not to sleep through it, good luck with the jet lag!
Posted by: M Murphy | July 1, 2009 8:07 PM
Jet lag or not, you're still managing to whip out 4 updates daily.
Posted by: CleeseBlog | July 2, 2009 7:50 AM
If you really want to get fired up, you might want to take a look at...
Unknown Lifeform in North Carolina Sewer!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcKpx2DxGwY