http://www.sciencemag.org/content/340/6134/1235009.abstract
Impact of Shale #Gas Development on Regional Water Quality: Disposal of #fracking wastewater will be a future issue
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/340/6134/1235009.abstract
Trnp1 Regulates Expansion and Folding of the Mammalian Cerebral #Cortex: less in mice gives more human-like folds
http://www.cell.com/retrieve/pii/S0092867413003498
Glossary of Their Quarry. #exoplanet types: circumbinary, pulsar, core & rogue. Hot Jupiters, waterworlds, #exomoons
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/340/6132/570.summary
And a Glossary of Their Quarry.
Quoting from the podcast summary…
QT:{{”
So far, scientists have uncovered over 800 exoplanets roaming the cosmos—but as Sara Seager said earlier, we’re still searching for that Earth-like, Goldilocks planet.
…
Most of the planets we’ve discovered up until this point are what’s called Hot
Jupiters, which are gas giants about the size of Jupiter in our solar system with a pretty
big range on either side, so the smallest Hot Jupiters would be about 50 Earth masses.
…
The nastiest place to live would probably be pulsar planets.
…
And I
think another really unpleasant place to be would be a core planet. So core planets, they
sort of resemble something like Mercury, the size of Mercury, maybe even smaller.
…
I think just like in the solar system, actually, some of the best places for potentially
finding life outside of our solar system might be moons. So we call them exomoons or
moons orbiting exoplanets.
…
But we have seen and are seeing more and more of are theses
circumbinary planets,
which means a planet with two suns. So, Tatooine is sort of the iconic example.
…
Yes, waterworlds. So those are pretty diverse, and they are usually super-Earth-size so
they’ll be like 10 times the mass of Earth.
…
And then there are some planets that just go rogue.
“}}
Interesting discussion of a new sleep medication related to orexin, which is a protein that when removed is associated with narcolepsy.
http://stm.sciencemag.org/content/5/179/179ra44
Genome Res. 2001 Apr;11(4):531-9.
Identification and functional analysis of mutations in the hypocretin (orexin) genes of narcoleptic canines.
Hungs M, Fan J, Lin L, Lin X, Maki RA, Mignot E.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11282968
#Orexin Receptor Antagonists Differ from Standard #Sleep Drugs… Interesting discussion of a new insomnia medication
http://stm.sciencemag.org/content/5/179/179ra44
Interesting discussion by Ken Dill reviewing the field of protein folding over the past 50 years. Dr Dill links it to a number of diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and type II diabetes, which are transmitted by aberrantly folding proteins. There is also a bit of discussion about folding landscapes in the funnel.
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/338/6110/1042
The #Protein-Folding Problem, 50 Years On: Broad review, ranging from funnels to misfolded proteins & Alzheimer’s
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/338/6110/1042
Interesting discussion about the creation of smart rocks and smart pebbles, which allow the tracking of current. These contain a data logger embedded in either aluminum or plastic. The tricky bit is how one finds them after they have been dropped off. Some ways might be radio transmitters, metal detectors and so forth but all of these have downsides.
How to Build a Smarter #Rock? Put a data #logger into aluminum or plastic; then track via radio or metal detector
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/338/6113/1412.summary
Half a Million DVDs in Your #DNA: Nice writeup of Goldman et al paper, highlighting 3X density incr. to >2 PB / g DNA
http://news.sciencemag.org/biology/2013/01/half-million-dvds-your-dna
Very interesting discussion outside of science about the potential of storing large quantities of archival data on DNA. The statistic is that you can store a little more than 2 petabytes in a gram of DNA. This is actually cost effective relative to magnetic tape if one wants to do storage for >500 years. However one imagines that as the price of DNA sequencing and synthesis goes down this will become more favorable, perhaps being reasonable for archival storage in the ~50 year regimen. One of the issues with DNA storage, of course, is the lack of random access and the inability to rewrite over already stored media. But for long-term archival storage DNA is considerably more stable than the magnetic storage on tape or disk.
http://news.sciencemag.org/biology/2013/01/half-million-dvds-your-dna http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v494/n7435/full/nature11875.html
Battle for the Barrel: Going from E10 to E25 gas (%ethanol) is a battle between #biofuel hopefuls & big #oil
https://www.sciencemag.org/content/339/6126/1374
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23467469
Should You Mix Those Two Drugs? Ask Dr. #Google. Nice use of co-associated #search queries by @Rbaltman et al.
http://news.sciencemag.org/math/2013/03/should-you-mix-those-two-drugs-ask-dr.-google
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/339/6123/1026
A Call to Cyber Arms: Highlights the effectiveness of #stuxnet & the potential of future cyberweapons
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/339/6123/1026 #security
Interesting discussion of various bits of computer security in relation to the United States and China. There is mention that by far the most successful weapon developed thus far is the Stuxnet virus, which has not been publicly claimed by the United States or Israel but is suggested to have originated with them. There is also mention of a Snowden-like character from China who gave an interview to a US publication in relation to the extent of Chinese hacking.