Nerd Camp For Nerds

In my quest to rule microbiology with an iron fist, I am spending six weeks this summer in Woods Hole, MA in a microbial diversity course at the MBL (formally: Marine Biological Laboratories). This is awesome news for my future as a scientist - as it has been three days and already I've learned an amazing amount of material.

[It is kind of bad news because my fledgling relationship with Bombshell may be strained as the six weeks drag on. She also happens to be studying for a major grad school exam, further adding to her stress level. I have complete faith that everything will be fine - it would so suck otherwise - but she may come and visit over 4th of July *fingers crossed*]

Microbes are funny things to work with. You can't capture individuals like in classical ecology and studying how they grow is limited to the species we can grow in a lab - which is not a lot. Maybe about 1% of all species can be cultured with our current know how, which is really small considering there is more bacterial species on Earth than there are visible stars. But some of the ones we can grow are ridiculously awesome. Like this one:

These organisms are bioluminescent. When cell densities reach a certain threshold, all the neighboring cells begin to glow. This picture was taken with my regular camera in a dark room - no other light source. No UV light - this isn't like a black light poster. They are so bright you can actually read my writing on the Perti dish in the lower part of the picture (it's upside down).

I am not sure which species this is right now. We'll be identifying it using molecular/DNA techniques later this week. I'll keep you informed because I know you are on the edge of your seat.

Insightful Quote #2

Years of studies of patients who don't take their meds, grownups who have unsafe sex, and other flawed decision makers have chronicled the irrationality of Homo sapiens. Some of our foibles are quite specific, like overvaluing things we have, overeating food in larger containers and overestimating the probability of improbable events — the quirk that made the Meet Barack Obama fundraising lottery such a smart idea. But in general, we're ignorant, shortsighted and biased toward the status quo. We're not as smart as Larry Summers. We procrastinate. Our impulsive ids overwhelm our logical superegos. We plan to lose weight, but ooh — a cupcake! We're especially irrational about money; we'll pay more for the same thing if we can use a credit card, if we think it's on sale, if it's marketed with photos of attractive women. No wonder we apply for mortgages we can't afford. No wonder our bankers approve them.

Michael Grunwald, TIME Magazine

Insightful Quote

In fact, Obama is betting his presidency on our ability to change our behavior. His top priorities — the economy, health care and energy — all depend on it. We need to spend more money now to avert a short-term depression, then save more money later to secure our long-term economic future. We need to consume less energy in order to reduce our oil imports and carbon emissions as well as our household expenses. We need to quit smoking, lay off the Twinkies and avoid other risky behaviors that both damage our personal health and boost the costs of care that are ravaging the nation's fiscal health. Basically, we need to make better choices — about mortgages and credit cards, insurance and retirement plans — so we won't need bailouts down the road.

Michael Grunwald, TIME Magazine

Limited Audience?

"My geekiness is getting in the way of my nerdiness."

Hopelessly romantic

I stumbled across this on my Digg feed. It's a very touching confession from CNN.com -

here is a key highlight, but please take the time to read the whole thing:

What I remember most about our first years together was our laughter. We giggled in bed at night and over the course of long weekend mornings, lying on our backs, legs draped across each other's legs. Shameless hilarity in restaurants, malls, on the sidewalk -- a private world of absurdity and delight, in love with the ridiculousness of the world and each other.

(Note to self: Keep looking until you've found this)

From the end:

So we must build on what we had -- what we still have. We're different people now, in different lives. We've changed, and so our love must change. The problem isn't really that something is lost. It's that we've been looking in the wrong direction, sitting there waiting for something to materialize instead of getting up and making it ourselves. We'll have to try a little harder to see past the day-to-day. If I do, I'll find my wife -- she's in the basement taking stuff out of the dryer. And if she can postpone bedtime for just a few minutes (please!), she'll find me down in the living room watching bad TV. I can't tell you how easy it would be to get me to turn that damn thing off.

Spin, twirl, spin, kick

So I had one of those moments yesterday while I was teaching lab. As is custom, my fellow TA and I play music while the students are working on their experiments. I was in charge of music selection and chose to listen to LA's The Sound (100.3 FM) -- it's on those stations that just plays random music. Jumping from one genre to the other.

At one point "I wanna be sedated" by The Ramones started to play. The other TA and I kept giving each other looks as we subtly bopped along with the song. And I had this flash. Something my friends from college said often -- wouldn't life be so much more fun if people actually spontaneously broke out in choreographed dance, just like in plays and movies. I could see it. All the students standing up from their symmetrical lab benches, in their white lab coats, busting out in a well timed choreographed dance number. Specifcally at the part where the song goes, "Ba-ba-bamp-ba ba-ba-ba-bamp-ba I wanna be sedated".

It might actually look something like this:

Geeking Out

If you get a chance, check out this video. It may only impress some of you, but it is a rather awesome step in the right direction for next generation computers. And it's a great example of an idea so simple that you can't believe someone else didn't come up with it first.

You Have Been Warned

[Squiffy's House of Fun]

Because I love them

I think crows and ravens may be the coolest birds out there. They always impress me with their intelligence and resourcefulness. The ravens that inhabit Catalina Island are amazing at exploiting the stupid humans and their spawn. So when I saw this video, despite most people not caring, I just had to post it here to show everyone how cool these birds are.

Update: To make my main page less annoying, the video has been moved to this link: video!

Plus I think it's Sir David Attenborough narrating, which is always a treat.

Yes...

the moon does look bigger than usual tonight

So not only will it be full tonight - it will be the closest to Earth it has been for the last 15 years. Hope it's clear and beautiful where you are tonight.

All I want for Christmas

Oh green nerd gear how I love you!

[CleanTechnica]