Consider Bookhling

I read an interesting article on the peculiar ability of larvae of sea floor species called sand dollars. Apparently they are able to clone themselves into two smaller copies when faced with possible danger, like the presence of fish mucus on the sea floor. Since a number of species of fish eat the larvae of sand dollars, they adapt to the situation by cloning themselves into two when fish mucus is detected in their vicinity. The term cloning, while technically correct, might come across as something of a misnomer here, since the actual mechanism relies on the original splitting into two smaller yet genetically identical versions of the original. Think of starfish and how they are able to regenerate into whole forms when cut into smaller pieces, as each of those pieces slowly grow into a whole starfish. According to the article linked above the sand dollars are biological cousins of starfish so the precise method of the ‘cloning’ itself isn’t as mysterious as it would first appear. After all, most of us have seen or are at least familiar with the variety of plant and animal species that are known for their regenerative capabilities.

What makes this species appeal to me, however, is that external trauma is unnecessary for this macroscopic and relatively complex organism to split into two identical copies of itself. Starfishes and plants need the environment to actively interfere for their regenerative mechanism to activate. However, these sand dollars seem to be able to demonstrate such behavior at will, or at least evolved in such a way that they are able to actively split and clone themselves in presence of certain chemical stimuli in the environment, with no need for physical injury. With the practice and study of synthetic biology becoming increasingly wide spread and accessible, such novel biological behavior might suggest wide variety of future utility of the specific protein/genomic mechanism behind the organism, medical, industrial, and perhaps even architectural. With the study into cloning being such a specialized discipline it is, such macroscopic and controllably ’splitting’ organism will be able to open worlds of opportunities for those who wish to study mechanics and effects of cloning. Being able to observe self-cloning at the scales of bacterium is one thing, observing and possibly controlling them at macroscopic scale is another. With the chemical stimuli in the environment as the primary factor for the organism’s decision to split, it would be a relatively simple matter to control such biological construct as we see fit, provided that we are able to engineer the organism from ground-up.

There are other, perhaps even more far-reaching subjects that might be studied using this organism. The behavioral pattern of cloned organisms in comparison to their original, for example. The precise method at which random variables of the biological evolution was able to give birth to such mechanism of selective self-cloning is very interesting to me as well. Was it really ‘random’, or was there some sort of chemical or environmental preferences that lead to such evolutionary marvel? How about the problem of identity? Can such concept be manifest at some level in rather dense organism like the sand dollars? If so, how would they cope with the moments of their ’split?’ Or are they simple biological machines feeding, expelling, and propagating without apparent ‘will?’ (whatever ‘will’ might be. On this point Lynn Margulis might have suggested that will as an expression of life form might not require complex nervous systems like that in humans) I am anxiously waiting for any follow-up study of the organism.

Just a short note about a cloning kit developed by Qiagen and Invitrogen. Will this be a first step in signalling the trend of the industry toward relatively freely available bio kits for DIY synthetic biology? I certainly hope so. Disposable lab kits packaged for small-scale labs and private hobbyists might prove to be a lucrative market in the near future once more universities get around to introducing synthetic biology curriculum to their students.

Of course, a number of such kits had been available for smaller scale purchase before, but I find this one significant in streamlining of the process, inclusion of ‘directions’, and appearance in mass-media outlet like the wired magazine… Some of the problems plaguing the field of synthetic biology at this point is the problem of general appeal and accessibility (other than the usual technical issues), and this might be beginning of an industrial trend in fixing it through the ‘hand of the market.’

Synthetic biology, being a biotechnology of information, will benefit greatly and show rapid growth from industrial level support. I can’t even begin to talk about the benefits of biological economy, and many in the field of economics and biology seem to agree on that issue.

There are some who are voicing concerns about streamlining of technology involved in the general biotechnological process pampering the scientific community, but I find such arguments rather shortsighted. The technologies available to us at the moment are not perfect. If we can’t get minor technical details out of the way of the real pursuit of science, the field of science as a whole will remain on the fringe of the human civilization. The pressing need here is to broaden the field and scope of the science itself so that the average layman might apply him or herself along with the traditional scientist population. Such a change will be able to trigger a whole spectrum of economic and social changes in creation of jobs and specialties, with more even distribution of knowledge which will further the advances of humanity as a whole.

No matter how much I’d like to deny it, advance of science is intimately linked with fostering of proper economical and sociocultural environment for such a change.

I will post more on the matter as I go along.

I happened to stumble upon this article about a program called scientists without borders. It’s basically a web 2.0 project much like jove, but with focus on interactivity and network building for scientist around the world with goal of negating some of the more significant effects of brain drain across the globe rather than sharing physical data or research protocols. Wonderful stuff, somewhat of expected and perhaps even redundant with all the ‘community’ sites aimed at various strata of the world popping up all over the place, but still it’s nice to see that someone in this world noticed the negative effects of professional brain drain and is attempting to do something about it (I’m looking at you, United Nations). Perhaps this program can also work in favor of certain people of professional learning scraping dishes in remoter corners of the globe simply due to the problems of accessibility, rather than lack of talent or diligence. Such waste of men/womenpower always bothered me.

The problem of brain drain is a serious issue. It had been as long as anyone can remember. However, just like the field of synthetic biology which, despite being of opensource nature (reflecting the roots of the movement based on informations technology), can’t establish itself without significant industrial presence of genome synthesizing and computerization facilities, science utilizing web 2.0 concept itself won’t work well without some sort of physical international distribution network that would make it possible for remoter corners of the globe to have access to the more sophisticated laboratories and equipments available in richer nations.

Application of the web 2.0 and related human network philosophy (…engineering?) ethos is only beginning, of course. What we see right now will not even remotely be close to what we will see in the future, and all I can say at the moment regarding the matter are mere speculations. However, am I too far gone in predicting that in the future the science community might be able to reap the benefits of an international laboratory that does the lab work ‘contracted’ from scientists around the globe regardless of nationality and location?

I read a poem from a blog of my acquaintance, titled ‘On time’ written by John Milton.

Beautiful poem. I just wanted to share it with you all…

I’m a physicist (to be). Everything in the world is within the realms of cause and effect, even the imagination of the human beings, even the ‘bits’ of information that can ever be represented by the universe itself. If my belief is true, just what mechanic of this universe allows impressions to surpass their expressions? Musics transcendent over instruments, and memory over life? Integrated together into a beautifully knit whole, yet one’s emergence feels entirely different from the substance it originated from.

Again, I am a physicist and a scientist (again, in training). And I refuse to leave such profound movements of my heart to simple metaphysical jumblings as if they weren’t part of this universe to begin with. I can perceive them, and I can feel its intent spreading throughout my heart. The indescribable sensation of being alive and empathetic to things made by the living, they are definitely integral parts of this physical universe.

The beauty should not be relegated to some pathetic social conventions that grew from physical impediments of last few centuries should humanity ever hope to go beyond a few more centuries into the future. If something in this universe is so capable of grasping at our hearts, then we must be able to explain it in the language of this universe. We must be able to recreate it. And active study and understanding of us, the life, might as well be the first step into the breach.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is the reason why I am obsessed with artificial life.

Charlie Rose is one of my favorite journalists of the day. His talk shows have certain depth and intensity rarely seen in crapfests passing for shows on the television today, and I try my best not to miss any of them (though due to time restraints I usually watch them on the net these days). Broad topic coverage ranging from top of the lines sciences to cultural phenomenon, and he isn’t afraid to dig deeper into those topics and is enough of a man to admit to things he doesn’t know in professional context. Meticulous research of topics seem to be his friend (unlike most talk show hosts these days, who seem to throw anything off the top of their head hoping to sound intelligent).

I’ve recently found out (this morning, about thirty minutes ago actually) that Charlie Rose is also a sort of gadget geek. In fact, he loves his gadgets so much that he would jump to their defense at the risk of physical harm to his own body. Seriously, how cool is that? A world class journalist who also knows to appreciate the finer (techie) things in life! The world needs more of those I think. The divide between the technologically proficient and technologically illiterate had been getting on my nerves in view of the path the human world as a whole seem to be taking. Maybe someday the divide will become so transparent that it won’t be visible to anyone but the most determined observer…

This is another special post on the interesting free lectures and gallery talks at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Quite a number of interesting events this week as well, so make sure to visit if any topic catches your fancy.

There is a gallery talk titled “Medicine at the Metropolitan Museum-Egypt”, centering around the ancient Egyptian artifacts in collection of the museum and their uses and significance within ancient Egyptian medicine-culture. Since such ancient cultures usually give no specific distinction between the science of medicine, religious rituals, and philosophy/belief system, I suspect that this talk will cover a range of broad topics pertaining to all aspects of ancient Egyptian culture in general. The time is at eleven A.M. at the gallery talk stanchion in the Great Hall.

Another interesting event, this one a concert, at the Met on the same day. The official description of the event is as follows.

…

The viola d’amore is an unusual stringed instrument that most often has several sympathetic, or resonating strings underneath six or seven playing strings. But what does love have to do with—of all instruments—the viola? Between performances of baroque masterpieces for one and two viola d’amores, we will attempt to answer that question.

We will also have a rare opportunity to hear three of the Metropolitan Museum’s most beautiful eighteenth-century instruments, played by Paul Miller and Thomas Georgi, with Lucas Harris (theorbo) and Kate Bennett Haynes (‘cello).

…

The time is at three thirty P.M. I am definitely making some time to attend this one!

On Thursday, May 15th, another interesting gallery talk titled “A Sense of Place in American Modernism.” It will be an exploration of the American modernism and their stylistic formula in depicting/utilizing the concept of locale within their works. The time is at eleven A.M., at the gallery talk stanchion in the Great Hall.

On Friday, May 14th, there is a gallery talk titled  “Sir Anthony van Dyck: Court Painter to Charles I.” The title pretty much says everything. I am interested in some of the more classical paintings, so I think I’ll visit this one if I get the time. The time is at seven P.M., at the gallery talk stanchion in the Great Hall.

On Saturday, May 15th, a really interesting event regarding forms and functions of masks in African, Native American, and Precolumbian arts and cultures. I’ve always been fascinated by masks and their place within human history, an interest I gained while studying C.G. Jung a long time ago. I find that the logic and philosophy behind the concept and idea of masks are applicable even within the modern times, and they form ever present cultural presence underlying the general zeitgeist of any era in human history.

I certainly thank the museum for making such educational opportunities available for free. If only I could get some more free time…

The political strife and violence in Lebanon is reaching its heights, and might get worse. Am I too quick to blame this event on the recent Israeli incursion into the Lebanese territory? To be frank, in the past situation of the Israeli invasion of the Lebanese sovereign soil, the decision to attack was a total military and political failure in that Israeli army was unable to secure total victory over the Hezbollah faction and that the Israeli government was unable to secure moral and legal superiority over the faction/party/idea they were supposedly fighting against despite relatively significant loss of resources and decidedly superior men/womenpower Israeli army had considering the strength of the enemy. All that ‘war’ caused was worsening of the split within the already significantly weakened Lebanese government base and moral justification and effective recruitment campaign for Hezbollah and other violent political parties of the middle east sector of the world. Regardless of what the Israeli government and military intended during that ‘war’ (which is in itself peculiarly uncertain), the end result is that a sovereign nation’s economy was destroyed along with significant portion of its infrastructure. And looking at all the homeless people in the NYC, I don’t think people without money and education would devote themselves to peace with the people who bombed the hell out of their job, homes, and families. It almost seems as if some core faction within the Israeli government doesn’t wish for any sort of stabilization of the middle east region, a claim frequently sprouted by many fringe theorists of international politics. Either that or the visible majority of the Israeli government is composed of idiots who can’t figure out what’s good for their own country, but I’m personally against assuming that other people are simply retarded, so this is beginning to worry me quite a bit.

The government ‘crackdown’ on the Hezbollah owned media/telecom facilities hint toward some sort of outside influence/pressure that had been building up for quite a while, ignited by already present internal strife for/against the Hezbollah and the brand of politics such parties frequently represent, militaristic, fundamentally religious (though I do not believe that any religiously fundamental and political objective can be in any way related to religion) and anti-Israel policies. This is a nasty can of worms for any surrounding nations, including Israel, since any sort of intervention by a single foreign state in the region would be interpreted as partisan to one side or another, since everyone around Lebanon has a direct geopolitical and diplomatic interest within the region and its controlling regime.

What is even more worrisome is how the Lebanese military is intervening in the conflict between two major governing factions of Lebanon. In my experience with world history, such movement by the military of a sovereign nation rarely results in any diplomatic or politically sound policies. In fact, they tend to foster a tendency toward ultra-nationalism and dictatorship in which the military is such a deeply entrenched influence in the governance of a nation that they need to spend decades, and even centuries to cleanse themselves of the impact, provided that they are lucky enough to be rid of the military dictatorial regime in the first place. Numerous examples of such situations abound, like Iraq under Sadam, China, Pakistan, past South Korea (not contemporary), and in some limited fashion, even Japan (though not in any contemporary times).

I do find some of the people of Israel I know to be perfectly lovely and respectable people. And that is the same sentiment I have for the people of Lebanon towards whom I hold great respect. Yet the regional government policies and their actions (especially that of Israel) certainly leaves a lot to be desired, to the point that they are making a perfect stranger like me, who resides in NYC and holds no aptitude in international politics, to suspect of willful wrongdoing in supposed interest of their nation, which will soon prove to be severely short sighted.

If only United Nations had some effective decision making organ and a backbone to support their decisions, about the half of the mobilzing conflicts in the world would be finished before they even start. Perhaps this century will see the United Nations finally taking a step to becoming something they always meant to be?

Seriously, the military in Lebanon wasn’t as pronounced as they are now, and I’m beginning to suspect that certain chain of circumstances stemming from the widely publicized (and criticized) Israeli invasion of Lebanon led them to gaining certain political and cultural momentum they were prevented from attaining in pre-war Lebanon. Of course, I’m no expert on the matters of international politics and their subterfuge which tend to be rather too subtle for public consumption, but still, the logical reasons to suspect so are clearly in place, I think.

All the more reason to lament the lack of backbone present in contemporary United Nations. Have I ever mentioned that I am a great supporter of the concept of United Nations and such related ideals of internationalization? Some would cry foul at such sentiments, but I view the problem of internationalization as the problems of implement rather than idea, so there it is.

In this world, where the powers of individual states fluctuate and condense into arms-based absolute levels (am I the only one finding it ridiculous that the only permanent members of the security council happen to the the biggest arms manufacturers and sellers in the world?), the only sure way for peace would be to place some sort of international laws, enforcements for such laws, and forums to discuss such laws beyond the narrow aspirations of any single nation. Unlike what some amazingly complacent people seem to believe, population in misery have a habit of wanting to be rid of the source of their misery, and within the cycle of the world economy, which is a physics applied with human emotion, the source tend to be (justifiably?) those who are more advantaged than themselves due to environment/stroke of luck, slant of the system itself and etc. Such a world system is innately unstable in that the very moment it is implemented upon real people, it begins to manufacture dissidents with significant energetic potential and logical reason to overturn the whole system. Such a system maintained by human beings able to perceive the threat to their relatively priviliged way of life, then must spend significant amount of energy and resources to manufacture the ‘antibodies’ against such dissidents, the very dissidents who are in fact also the result of the materials and resources that might have been spent to further the causes of general human philanthropy.

In such a world, composed of such examples of humanity, the only efficient way (physically and economically, in long term) would be to provide a forum in which disadvantaged nations and individuals might be able to speak out on equal footing as the ones with the most nuclear weapons on subjects that affect them. And economical and diplomatic fairness guaranteed by the international organization (United Nations) would provide the incentive for the groups of weaker nations and middle-of-the-way bourgeoisie nations (like many nations in the Europe region) to seek diplomatic methods to their conflicts that would in the end be significantly less violent and damaging to the infrastructure and civilians of the world (though I expect that they will be no less fierce).

The problem, then, is how such international organization would rise to such prominent position amidst all the scheming supernations of the world, and how such an organization would be able to guarantee fairness and diplomatic coverage to the less advantaged portion of the globe, preventing them from turning into groups of violent dissidents like so many supernations had done before.

I have been crazy busy lately, preparing papers for my discipline of choice (physics), brushing up on my synthetic biology, and catching up on some art related reading materials, centered around Jasper Johns. Will they all condense into some masterful singular post? Maybe… Maybe not. Regardless, I’ve been rather enjoying my new-ish vigorous lifestyle. All the intellectual stimulation really makes me feel alive!

Today I’m just going to make a note on some events at my favorite place in the NYC, the Met. As I am perpetually broke just like so many other students of science, all the events are free with museum admission. And as everyone who spent their teenage years in the city knows, the admission fee to the museum is negotiable. I’d suggest at least paying around five dollars though. Just to be polite.

Among the many things going on at the museum this week, I am particularly looking forward to the guided tour on Tuesday. Titled “A treasure hunt for book lovers”, they would guide me through the various galleries of the museum ranging from Mesopotamian to European while tracing the history and nature of books through the collections at the museum. As you might have guessed from the blog title and my alias, I am something of a bookworm, a bibliophile-in-training, so to speak. I’ve read them all, from Latin codex to Asiatic scrolls and ebooks… Though I lack the expertise to read the old tablets of ancient Middle Eastern origins, something I would mend soon enough. I am not particularly good with languages, but I’m still very fond of them. Beautiful phrases and imaginative stories hold certain profound depths and aesthetics that might as well be linked with the fundamental nature of mind and even the universe itself, I think. The time is at eleven in the morning, at the gallery talk stanchion in the Great Hall. This is at Tuesday folks!

On Friday, there will be a gallery talk about Gustave Courbet and his works at the Tisch galleries on the second floor of the museum. That’s where they are holding the special Gustave Courbet exhibits. While his works might not appeal as much to trained eyes of the modern popular culture, they still retain certain flair unique to the artist. The adventurous, and yet tragecomedic life of the artist himself lends certain spice to what might be a dull showing to some modern audience. The time will be seven in the evening.

The next gallery talk I am interested in is titled “A Closer look: Agnolo Bronzino’s Portrait of a Young Man.” The artist is from the 16th century, so this is not a modern exhibition. I was always fascinated by the refreshing and ingenious workmanship present in many of the Renaissance paintings, so this is a good chance to finally learn something of the era and one of its more prominent artists. The time is at seven in the evening, at the gallery talk stanchion in the Great hall.

The last, but not least, this event is series of professional lecture on Gustave Courbet’s work in the Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium on the first floor, starting at two in the afternoon. The topics range from the significance of the female dress in Courbet’s art, to the artist’s relation to the modern art. These fully featured lectures are also free with admission, so anyone interested should partake.

A lot of leisure activities this week. The real question is whether I would be able to make the time to get to those events… Since skipping my own lectures are out of the question, I’m in something of a tight spot. The fact that I am in position to need to study a discipline of science outside my own doesn’t really help things either. Of course, I do them because I enjoy them, so there’s no regret. I’m just hoping that I can get some free time this week…

Arts and sciences being separate from birth is an illusion dreamed up by the modern era. When will the world learn?