Sunday, January 29, 2012

Apoptosis and Signal Transduction - Drew Berry - YouTube - dprjones

From Drew Berry's post here:

There is one project that I did solve the problem of creating random, brownian motion not look directed: My Apoptosis and Signal Transduction.

YouTube video:

This was an exploration of what a signal transduction would 'look like' if you were to follow the chain of molecular events along a pathway. I published that animation in Science Journal's STKE ( (Molecular Animation of Cell Death Mediated by the Fas Pathway, Sci. STKE 2007 (380).

The technique I used to make it work was difficult and very slow to pull off. The whole 4 min sequence took me around 12 months to research, construct and generate the imagery. I think visually it is my most successful piece at showing the mechanisms that emerge from randomly wandering, cytoplasmic molecules and membrane bound receptors.

Video:

Jake: Hanging out with a teenage Einstein - Morley Safer - CBS 60 Minutes


From 60 Minutes Overtime

(CBS News) 

Jake Barnett is one in 10 million. The Indianapolis 13-year-old has been acing college math and science courses since he was eight years old. Now Jake is a college sophomore taking honors classes in math and physics, while also doing scientific research and tutoring fellow students. No one could have predicted that Jake would even make it to college. At age two, Jake began to regress - he stopped speaking and making eye contact. The diagnosis: autism. Jake is proud of his autism. "That, I believe, is the reason why I am in college and I am so successful," he tells Morley Safer.


The following script is from "Jake" which aired on Jan. 15, 2012. Morley Safer is the correspondent. Katy Textor, producer.

Child prodigies have long been a source of great fascination. We wonder, "How can so much talent reside in such a young body, so much genius?" In a moment you'll meet Jake a 13-year-old math and science prodigy who is confident he may one day challenge some of the established theories of physics.

Read more

Lawrence Krauss Interviews - Ira Flatow, Robert Wright, George Noory - Science Friday, Blogging Heads TV, Coast to Coast AM



Science Friday with Ira Flatow
Audo link
Link to article and podcast on Friday Jan 13th

Blogging Heads TV

The Wright Show with Lawrence Krauss

Coast to Coast AM
need a paid subscription to listen
Link

30 Renowned Writers Speaking About God - Dr Jonathan T. Pararajasingham

via Jerry Coyne on Why Evolution Is True

Another video of his was posted in July of 2011
50 Famous Academics & Scientists Talk About God
His YouTube channel is here

Speakers in order of appearance:

  1. Sir Arthur C. Clarke, Science Fiction Writer
  2. Nadine Gordimer, Nobel Laureate in Literature
  3. Professor Isaac Asimov, Author and Biochemist
  4. Arthur Miller, Pulitzer Prize-Winning Playwright
  5. Wole Soyinka, Nobel Laureate in Literature
  6. Gore Vidal, Award-Winning Novelist and Political Activist
  7. Douglas Adams, Best-Selling Science Fiction Writer
  8. Professor Germaine Greer, Writer and Feminist
  9. Iain Banks, Best-Selling Fiction Writer
  10. José Saramago, Nobel Laureate in Literature
  11. Sir Terry Pratchett, NYT Best-Selling Novelist
  12. Ken Follett, NYT Best-Selling Author
  13. Ian McEwan, Man Booker Prize-Winning Novelist
  14. Andrew Motion, Poet Laureate (1999-2009)
  15. Professor Martin Amis, Award-Winning Novelist
  16. Michel Houellebecq, Goncourt Prize-Winning French Novelist
  17. Philip Roth, Man Booker Prize-Winning Novelist
  18. Margaret Atwood, Booker Prize-Winning Author and Poet
  19. Sir Salman Rushdie, Booker Prize-Winning Novelist
  20. Norman MacCaig, Renowned Scottish Poet
  21. Phillip Pullman, Best-Selling British Author
  22. Dr Matt Ridley, Award-Winning Science Writer
  23. Harold Pinter, Nobel Laureate in Literature
  24. Howard Brenton, Award-Winning English Playwright
  25. Tariq Ali, Award-Winning Writer and Filmmaker
  26. Theodore Dalrymple, English Writer and Psychiatrist
  27. Roddy Doyle, Booker Prize-Winning Novelist
  28. Redmond O'Hanlon FRSL, British Writer and Scholar
  29. Diana Athill, Award-Winning Author and Literary Editor
  30. Christopher Hitchens, Best-Selling Author, Award-Winning Columnist

Rethinking "Out of Africa" - Christopher Stringer - Edge



I'm thinking a lot about species concepts as applied to humans, about the "Out of Africa" model, and also looking back into Africa itself. I think the idea that modern humans originated in Africa is still a sound concept. Behaviorally and physically, we began our story there, but I've come around to thinking that it wasn't a simple origin. Twenty years ago, I would have argued that our species evolved in one place, maybe in East Africa or South Africa. There was a period of time in just one place where a small population of humans became modern, physically and behaviourally. Isolated and perhaps stressed by climate change, this drove a rapid and punctuational origin for our species. Now I don’t think it was that simple, either within or outside of Africa.


CHRISTOPHER STRINGER is one of the world's foremost paleoanthropologists. He is a founder and most powerful advocate of the leading theory concerning our evolution: Recent African Origin or "Out of Africa". He has worked at The Natural History Museum, London since 1973,  is a Fellow of the Royal Society, and currently leads the large and successful Ancient Human Occupation of Britain project (AHOB),  His most recent book is The Origin of Our Species (titled Lone Survivors in the US).

Read more and watch video

Saturday, January 28, 2012

History of the Universe Made Easy

By potholer54



Forget gods and goblins, here is the real story of how we know the extent of our universe in time and space. Throw away all those religious books and look at some hard evidence.




Showing how our universe, solar system and planet Earth formed through natural and predictable processes.

Why do people laugh at creationists? #18

Another great video by ThunderfOOt



Part of a series of videos exposing the funny stupidity of creationists and why they deserve to be laughed at. In each case the creationist statements are shown to be outrageously stupid by even the most rudimentary knowledge of science.


In this episode it is shown how little respect creationists have for the western value of free speech. Repeatedly caught either censoring comments with zeal, or simply not allowing them. This trend goes across the board from the scientifically illiterate creationists, to the hub of the intelligent design movement, The Discovery Institute. Its further found that many of the earlier 'Why do people laugh at creationists' videos (particularly parts 3, 4 and 5, mainly containing material from the convicted fraudster and Young Earth Creationist, Kent Hovind), despite having an open comments section, have been targeted by creationist flagging campaigns.


Yup that's right, they had the latitude to present whatever argument they wanted, and what did they do? Embark on a flagging campaign. Evidently this is what some creationists think the strongest argument for creationism is.