January 2010
4 posts
Oscillator is Moving!
I’m super excited to be moving Oscillator over to ScienceBlogs! Make sure to update your bookmarks and visit me over at http://scienceblogs.com/oscillator!
3 tags
"Synthetic" Biology and Evolution by Symbiosis
I like using synthetic to mean “working together”, in “real” synthetic biology as bringing together (synthesizing) a lot of components from different living things in order to create a unique whole, and in “natural” biology in terms of how every living thing must live together with others in communities made up of complex interdependent relationships....
5 tags
Synthetic Sources of Natural Rubber
Rubber can be made chemically from fossil fuels, but natural rubber from tropical trees is still the best source, and in many cases the only usable one (car tires need a lot of natural rubber for the right combination of strength and elasticity). Besides being difficult to grow and relatively inefficient, rubber trees are also facing a fungal plague that could potentially wipe out natural rubber...
4 tags
Jonah Lehrer on Failure
A great article about failure and science by Jonah Lehrer in Wired, Accept Defeat: The Neuroscience of Screwing Up. I will quote the part about the work of Kevin Dunbar studying how scientists work in their “natural environment” at length because it is awesome:
Science is a deeply frustrating pursuit. Although the researchers were mostly using established techniques, more than 50...