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Is anyone else obsessed with tiny lab equipment?! These little Petri dishes are so cute! 😭🥺😍

The Paper: Optimization of affinity, specificity and function of designed influenza inhibitors using deep sequencing The Jist of It: Authors Whitehead et al. (2012) use "deep sequencing" to search for antiviral agents, targeting influenza viruses. In short, they took a protein sequence, mutated it randomly throughout, and looked for new versions that were better at binding to viral proteins. (If an inhibitor protein binds a viral protein, in this case, it deactivates it.)...

Treating Influenza: A “Good Old Days” Paper on a Virus That Isn’t Covid The Paper: Optimization of affinity, specificity and function of designed influenza inhibitors using deep sequencing The Jist of It: Authors Whitehead et al. (2012) use “deep sequencing& #8221…

Take a look at one company's sleuthing efforts to dig up a potential anticancer drug target....

How One Pharma Company Found a Rare Drug Target Take a look at one company’s sleuthing efforts to dig up a potential anticancer drug target.

The internal chemistry of cells is a marvelously complex world.

Cell Chemistry Gone Wrong: How Disease Begins in Cells and How We Can Fix It The internal chemistry of human cells is a marvelously complex world.

Many modern medicines come from biology. Can biological systems be used to find even more of them?

Can Microbes Discover New Drugs for us? Many modern medicines come from biology. Can biological systems be used to find even more of them?

How to deal with imposter syndrome!

Facing the Imposter You really think I know what I’m doing here?

1. The Brothers Karamazov Why do bad things happen to good people? Why do bad things happen - at all? 2. A Restless Age Augustine was a rebellious little scoundrel turned sage, and his pursuit of purpose is a prime example of a wholesome religious life. 3. The Catcher in the Rye Angsty teenager thinks he's much more culture non-conforming than he actually is....

TL;DR of 100 Books Read in 2021 1. The Brothers Karamazov Why do bad things happen to good people? Why do bad things happen – at all? 2. A Restless Age Augustine was a rebellious little scoundrel turned sage, and his pursui…

Check out my latest article for Science Buffs, the STEM blog of University of Colorado Boulder!

Cancer Cells Can Evade Treatment. How Can We Stop It? Check out my latest article for Science Buffs, the STEM blog of University of Colorado Boulder!

Whether listening or playing it, music is good for you. Need the latest science to prove it to you? Musical ability is correlated to high test scores in reading and math. One study tested grade school students on musical skills like pitch, meter, major/minor keys, reading music, and more, and they found students who scored high here tended to also score high in math and reading....

Why Study Music? Whether listening or playing it, music is good for you. Need the latest science to prove it to you? Musical ability is correlated to high test scores in reading and math. One study tested grade sch…

Last year (or was it the year before), I got around to Adler & Van Doren's How to Read a Book, on recommendation of fellow homeschoolers obsessed with something called "classical education." I never got around to it then - maybe I'd appreciate it more now? Turns out, it left me quite inspired. How to Read a Book didn't only recommend historical records and philosophical dialogues....

Anarchists, Abbeys, and Murder (Real or Imagined): Half a Year’s Worth of Classic Literature Last year (or was it the year before), I got around to Adler & Van Doren’s How to Read a Book, on recommendation of fellow homeschoolers obsessed with something called “classical ed…

Styrofoam is a major pollutant. What if there were worms - and their bacteria - who could break it down?

Microbiomes Digest Styrofoam for Mealworms You are tasked with the care of a clew of mealworms. You swap out the bran they are happily munching on with – wait for it – Styrofoam. The worms keep eating as usual, metamorphose thei…

Graduate Student Bookshelf: Creativity by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Graduate Student Bookshelf: Creativity Creativity: The Psychology of Discovery and Invention by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi You may know Csikszentmihalyi from his piece Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, in which defines flow as a …