I’ll continue writing on useful or interesting readings in biophysics — Part I, a few weeks ago, dealt with textbooks. There are many technical or scientific books that either aren’t actually about biophysics, or that are about a narrow aspect of biophysics, that are nonetheless particularly useful or stimulating. Here are some that come to … Continue reading Readings in Biophysics, part II (Readings not in Biophysics)
I like graphs. At their best they are useful, elegant, and thought-provoking. At their worst, they’re infuriating. Modern systems-ish biology seems to have an abundance of awful graphs, even in good papers (as noted earlier, for example), perhaps because the complex statistical procedures it often uses are hard to make sense of. There’s no excuse … Continue reading (Another) bad graph
I’m asked fairly often to suggest things to read on the topic of biophysics, for people new to the field or just curious about it. Two weeks ago, for example, I gave an informal talk — more like a discussion & conversation — for the local Society of Physics Students (undergraduate physics majors). It was … Continue reading Readings in Biophysics, part I
I finished a stint on a National Science Foundation grant review panel this afternoon — my eighth, I think, and the second in which I was a “virtual panelist,” joining by videoconference a panel physically held in Washington, D.C. Thinking of the pros and cons of being a virtual panelist brings up the broader questions … Continue reading I think of the ones I consider my favorites / I think of the people that are working for me
I was delighted to hear that this year’s Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine went to James Rothman, Randy Schekman and Thomas Südhof for uncovering the molecular machineries that govern cargo trafficking in cells. Trafficking is a fascinating and hugely important topic, and it’s one that has influenced my own work as well. For a … Continue reading Vesicle Trafficking, and the Nobel Prize
Biophysicists are, I think, expected to have broad-ranging interests and skills. When I was interviewing for faculty positions, for example, I was asked in all seriousness, “When I cook a chicken in a pot and it makes a squishy sort of jelly, what is that?” Despite being vegetarian and never having experienced chickens-in-pots, I babbled … Continue reading On the injection of thawed meat through garden hoses
There are, of course, wild tigers and leopards in India (though far fewer than one would like); there’s a small pocket of lions, and there are no cheetahs. I’ve always been amazed by maps showing past distributions of cheetahs extending into nearly all of India, since one never comes across cheetahs in Indian stories. There’s … Continue reading Cheetahs and Tigers
Greetings from New York City. My work is very simple. I have come to New York because it is the most forlorn of places, the most abject. The brokenness is everywhere, the disarray is universal. You have only to open your eyes to see it. The broken people, the broken things, the broken thoughts. The … Continue reading City of Glass
A few weeks ago, following a post on Steve Hsu’s blog, I read an interesting essay by Steven Pinker on science and the humanities: “Science Is Not Your Enemy An impassioned plea to neglected novelists, embattled professors, and tenure-less historians.” It seems these days there’s a deluge of text on the state of the humanities, … Continue reading On how impractical cuisine can save the humanities
A very quick post: Working on an education-related grant, I’m learning all sort of things about the university, some of which I’d be happier not knowing. Such as: dorm housing costs are very expensive. In a vague sense, I knew this, but I wasn’t actually aware that the on-campus room and board costs are about … Continue reading Butler not included (or is he?)
