I’ll continue describing a graduate biophysics course I taught in Spring 2015. In Part I, I wrote about the topics we covered. Here, I’ll focus on the structure of the course — books, assignments, in-class activities, and the students’ final project — and note what worked and didn’t work. (What didn’t work: popsicle sticks.) Click … Continue reading Recap of a graduate biophysics course — Part II
Appallingly, the University of California system has just prohibited its employees from using AirBnB (and other peer-to-peer services) for business-related travel [link: Inside Higher Ed]. I’ve become a big fan of AirBnB [wikipedia]. For those unaware of it, it links people with rooms or apartments or houses to briefly rent out with people looking for … Continue reading UC vs. AirBnB
One of the recent meetings of our Systems Biology center was devoted to social media and related things, about half of which dealt with Twitter. I’ve generally been confused by twitter — I can’t see why anyone would want to drown in a flood of short, superficial messages, or why anyone would expect an audience … Continue reading Twitter, cat pictures, and other wonders of the internet age
One topic I’ll probably comment on fairly often is the vast ecosystem of microbes that coexist with us, mainly inside our digestive tract. Why? (1) The Microbiome is Hip and Trendy. Hardly a day goes by without hearing something new and exciting about it. To pick an example from just a few days ago: gut … Continue reading The Microbiome is Hip and Trendy
The Eighteenth Elephant 