Chris Phoenix asked me to comment on his entry: Studying Molecular Biology. As someone who is constantly playing around with cells I'll add this advice to how biological systems differ from watches and the Antikythera Mechanism, biological systems are composed of adaptable platforms such as the cytoskeleton and the network of cell signalling molecules. When you think about cells, don't think cars ... think computer operating systems (yes insert pitch for systems biology here ...). What we are doing in the lab is figuring out what makes cells malleable. And to a certain extent the answer is platforms and buffer systems. These platforms give some stability to the system allowing it to be grossly perturbed without the bottom falling out. The microtubule system can self organize but also respond to the addition of small factors. Buffer systems such as heatshock proteins, and degradation machinery (such as ERAD and NMD) also help cells cope with less than ideal proteins/mRNAs that may be beneficial to have. Molecules can perturb the system allowing cells to be shaped into neurons, skin cells and the baroque hair cells of your inner ear without falling apart. If you want to really understand the gestalt of the cell, read Marc Kirschner and John Gerhart's book The Plausibility of Life. Or read their great review in PNAS entitled Evolvability.
On to other stuff ...
For the best of Science blogging, visit the 69th edition of Tangled bank at Salto sorbius (aside: shouldn't the 69th edition has more love than war?).
An editorial from the NY Times on coruption & college sports:
The House Ways and Means Committee sent shock waves through college sports when it asked the National Collegiate Athletic Association to justify its federal tax exemption by explaining how cash-consuming, win-at-all-cost athletics departments serve educational purposes.
The short answer is that they don't. Indeed, they often undermine the mission of higher education by recruiting athletes who aren't prepared, then encouraging grade-padding and preferential treatment to keep them eligible for sports.
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The deeper and more alarming lesson is that the unethical behavior often associated with big-time college sports doesn't always end with athletes. It can easily seep outward, undermining academic standards and corrupting behavior in the university as a whole.
Big-money college sports, another example of a large entity sucking up money and resources in the name of entertainment and prestige whose only purpose is to self perpetuate.
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