Around the Blogs

It’s Friday again, and that means ‘around the blogs.’ Included are a few links to topics on personal development, science itself, and public understanding of science.

Google Maps meets bacterial genomes - I had missed this for my Around the Blogs post two weeks ago, and am making up for it here - Sandra introduces “Genome Projector,” a searchable database browser with zoomable user interface using Google Map API. Genome Projector currently contains 4 views: Genome map, Plasmid map, Pathway map, and DNA walk. Neat!

Personal Development

The grad school challenge: balancing diversity and depth - Comments and advice for beginning graduate students. Balancing skills such as understanding of theory, collection of piles of data, and experimental innovation, are vital to becoming a well-rounded scientist.

Mitowheel now helps you design PCR primers for mitochondrial DNA! - Attila introduces an upgrade on a cool human mitochondrial DNA visualization tool, MitoWheel.

Science Itself

Let7 miRNAs, Lin-28, Cancer and Stem Cells - Alex comments on a recent paper from Harvard Medical School, revealing that you need to inhibit a specific family of miRNAs to reprogram your cells. As he says, “Amazing.”

MicroRNA and stem cells - In a very timely post, Charles reviews some ScienceDaily news on miRNAs and stem cells.

Are bacteriophages picky eaters? - Naturally, phages don’t “eat” per se, nor do the make conscious “choices”, but for the theory that’s largely irrelevant. The studies that John describes seeks to explain the food choices of organisms in terms of how they maximize energy intake over time. Check it out to see how they do this.

Public Aspects of Science

Is GINA a good thing? - The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) is a contentious issue with personal genomics becoming possible, and Daniel comments on a Nature letter where one scientist takes the minority position against GINA.

Does the USA believe in International Science? - Or put another way, Brian asks why the USA’s visa policies make it nearly impossible for international researchers to participate in State-side symposia and conferences.

Late Addition

It seems that I always miss at least one good post around the blogs, and this week is no different:

Hot off the Press: Single-ribosome translation - Phillip at Biocurious reviews a neat paper, using optical tweezers to track ribosomal translation, one amino acid at a time.