Discovery Of Intracellular Communication

Posted: 4/13/2019

Recently read this article: How secret conversations inside cells are transforming biology Organelles — the cell’s workhorses — mingle far more than scientists ever appreciated

A highly recommendable overview article!

Scientists can be extremely blind, dismissive, and ignorant for a very long time!

This is another, obvious case! So about 1990, a female scientist (Jean Vance) discovered and described it in a paper that the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and mitochondria inside a cell form form contacts together crucial for the synthesis of lipids.

Some salient quotes from above article (emphasis added):

1. “The first recorded glimpses of contact between organelles emerged about 40 years before Vance’s discovery. In the 1950s, microscopists in France snapped pictures of mitochondria making intimate connections with the ER in rat cells. But biologists at the time didn’t think they had a function.”
2. “A few other scientists, working between the 1960s and 1980s, saw tantalizing hints that parts of the ER cosy up to other structures — including the Golgi apparatus”
3. “Researchers [only] now recognize that interactions between organelles are ubiquitous, with almost every type coming into close conversation with every other type” (emphasis added)
4. “That was the backdrop against which Vance’s 1990 paper landed. It was seldom cited until the past decade, when the field rediscovered her work. That’s also when researchers began to pinpoint the specific proteins — called tethers — that form the contact points between organelles.”
5. “These sites [contacts between organelles] transmit cholesterol, oily waxes and other fatty molecules … Calcium, hydrogen peroxide and other water-soluble compounds also flow through these portals, which helps the cell to aggregate these molecules for specific reactions”
6. “The ER “looked like a hand clamped around a mitochondrion and squeezing it”, says Voeltz. Over time, the mitochondria constricted at these points and split into two”
7. “likens the relationship between the ER and mitochondria to a sensual and dynamic flamenco performance”

It appears that the newly rediscovered intracellular communication and exchange of molecules opens up a new and huge chapter in biology!

Mass Production Of Graphene Imminent?

Posted: 4/10/2019

Today, I read following article: Waxing approach to making graphene is a ripping success

This article suggests that finally a cheap, easy, and reliable method to produce graphene on a large scale has possibly been found. The secret is Persian Wax! :-)

This just might be the breakthrough, we have been waiting for!

Alchemy Is Back

Posted: 4/10/2019  Update: 5/21/2019

Sometimes history comes full cycle back! Or when bold ideas finally become reality many years(centuries) later!

Update Of 5/21/2019

I would be seriously remiss, if I did not add the tremendous impact of AI, machine learning, and in particular e.g. graph generation networks on chemistry, medicine, and biology.

AI is already helping to develop molecules with desired properties according to exact specifications.

Google has recently won a competition in protein folding (AlphaFold; Critical Assessment of Structure Prediction (CASP), a biannual competition aimed at predicting the 3D structure of proteins) and so on.

Original Post

Just read this article Using laser tweezers, chemists nudged two atoms to bond It’s the first time chemists have manipulated two atoms to create a compound

They call this a super controlled chemical reaction at the atom level.

Let the renewed search for the elixir of immortality or the philosopher stone begin! (just kidding)

This discovery has the potential to revolutionize/transform chemistry!

Prime Minister Theresa May Needs To Step Down ASAP

Posted: 4/8/2019  Updated: 7/15/2019

Update Of 7/15/2019

In the waning days of her premiership, Theresa May’s total incompetence and disastrous personality becomes so obvious again. President Trump had to dismiss the ambassador of the UK. The Prime Minister went so low as to criticize President Trump over certain tweets against left wing progressive Dimocratic Party Representatives.

Original Post

This endless, horrible drama about Brexit needs to end immediately. Enough is enough!

Theresa May falls far short of Maggie Thatcher. May is not up to the task! 

The prime minister:

1. Has obviously no viable vision nor any plans for post Brexit!
2. Is begging in Brussels way too much and too often. It is so embarrassing!

For the UK it is high time to focus on the after Brexit!

I have predicted her incompetence/ineptitude here soon after she became prime minister: 

Serious Doubts About The New British Prime Minister (posted: 7/13/2016)

Exposing The Demagoguery Of Bias & Discrimination

Posted: 4/6/2019

Just received a newsletter from MIT Technology Review in my inbox. The newsletter is titled “The Algorithm from MIT Tech Review ”.

It reads (emphasis added):

1. “Facebook’s algorithm is perpetuating discrimination. As we’ve discussed before, all algorithms are biased—and Facebook’s is no exception.”
2. “But new evidence shows that Facebook’s algorithm, which automatically decides who is shown an ad, carries out the same discrimination anyway. A team led by Muhammad Ali and Piotr Sapiezynski at Northeastern University ran a series of otherwise identical ads with slight variations in available budget, headline, text, or image. They found that those subtle tweaks had significant impacts on the audience reached by each ad—most notably when the ads were for jobs or real estate. Postings for preschool teachers and secretaries, for example, were shown to a higher fraction of women, while postings for janitors and taxi drivers were shown to a higher proportion of minorities. Ads for buying homes were also shown to more white users, while ads for rentals were shown to more minorities.”
3. 

What Is Wrong Here?

One study is no evidence! Not all algorithms are biased (this claim above is just absurd!)!

Ads are always targeted to selected groups! Why would a business waste money presenting ads to potential customers with low probability of making a purchase etc.

Bias and Discrimination as described here in this MIT Technology Review article are largely in the eye of the beholder

What is the point of publishing such an obviously incendiary and unscientific articles? Is it to enforce and impose totalitarian equality on the whole society at any cost? It seems so!

We are dealing here most likely with a new dogmatic, fanatic religion!

Many other examples could be presented here how politically overloaded terms like “bias”, “discrimination”, or “inclusive” are being abused as divisive weapons in our daily discourse even by (formerly) reputable institutions like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology!

It is absolutely appalling!

From The Playbook Of Feminism

Posted: 4/6/2019

Today, I saw this article Did a censored female writer inspire Hemingway’s famous style? I have to admit, I did not even read the article, because of lack of time. It reminds me of many other similar stories widely disseminated over the past several decades (E.g. Albert Einstein).

According to Feminism:

1. Behind every positive, famous man is a woman
2. Without these women, these men would not be famous

What Feminism conveniently omits:

1. Is there not a woman also behind every negative, famous man? (E.g. did Hitler, Stalin, Mao not have a mother, sister, mistress etc. etc.)
2. Who was behind this woman behind the positive, famous man? (Perhaps, a father or brother or some male mentor or some other male …?)

Caveat emptor:

All males watch out or you lose the battle of the sexes! The matriarchy is overtaking the patriarchy!

Major Upgrade Of Kitt Peak National Observatory

Posted: 4/3/2019

Just read DESI lenses see first light The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument will begin operation later this year. (published 4/3/19)

After decades of being kind of overshadowed by other astronomical observatories, Kitt Peak near Tucson, Arizona is going to become again a world leading research institution.

“On April 1 the dome of the Mayall Telescope … opened to the night sky, and starlight poured through the assembly of six large lenses that were carefully packaged and aligned for a new instrument that will launch later this year. Just hours later, scientists produced the first focused images with these precision lenses—the largest is 1.1 meters in diameter” What an incredible moment!

This new telescope features the “Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument, or DESI”. A marvel of technology:

“The finished DESI will measure the light of tens of millions of galaxies reaching back 12 billion light-years across the universe. It is expected to provide the most precise measurement of the expansion of the universe and provide new insight into dark energy, which scientists explain is causing this expansion to accelerate.

DESI’s array of 5000 independently swiveling robotic positioners, each carrying a thin fiber-optic cable, will automatically move into preset positions with accuracy to within several microns (millionths of a meter). Each positioner is programed to point its fiber-optic cable at an object to gather its light.

” (emphasis added)

Stay tuned!