Thursday, July 26, 2012

Leave Biological Programming To Allah


And while we are at it, Happy Ramadan, everybody! Go visit a mosque while you can.

Biology's Master Programmers
For more than a decade, synthetic biologists have promised to revolutionize the way we produce fuels, chemicals, and pharmaceuticals. It turns out, however, that programming new life forms is not so easy. Now some of these same scientists are turning back to nature for inspiration.
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Solar Makes Sense

solar-powered solar system 19/365
solar-powered solar system 19/365 (Photo credit: Faisty.com)
It is like tapping into nuclear energy minus any of the radiation: the Sun is at a safe distance. But the trick has been to make business sense out of it.

The Dog Days of Solar
The solar industry has done a spectacular job lowering costs in the past three years, slashing per-watt costs in half.... The challenge isn't lack of innovation or financing ..... smaller players face the powerful headwinds of competing against giant incumbent providers with access to large amounts of cheap capital, all while needing to work out the kinks of a new production process at scale ..... Many upstart solar companies did the right thing by betting on new technologies to bring the cost of solar power closer to that of fossil fuels. In the end, though, market woes may trump their technical advances.

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This Blog On Google News?

Image representing Google News as depicted in ...
Image via CrunchBase
Don't tell me this blog got featured on the Google News page. And if it did, why is not there an avalanche of traffic?


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Monkey Business

Raw Peanut pods ... Trái đậu Phộng tươi .
Raw Peanut pods ... Trái đậu Phộng tươi . (Photo credit: Vietnam Plants & America plants)
Is this a good idea?

Scientists Control Monkeys' Brains with Light
optogenetics—a technique by which genetically modified neurons are made to fire with light. ..... These brain circuits control behaviors such as movement and emotion and, when faulty, can lead to diseases ranging from depression to Parkinson's.
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