Health NewsPenicillin Genome Announced
When I woke up this morning, the big news was that the genome of Penicillin has been determined. The paper will be published in the journal Nature corresponding with the discovery of Penicillin by Sir Alexander Fleming 80 years ago. Learning about the famous discovery as the accidental contamination of a Petri dish is a standard part of high school biology courses. It is often used as a prime example of luck being the meeting of opportunity and the prepared mind. Undergrad students of microbiology often get first hand experience with penicillin contamination in their lab experiments, much to the horror and chagrin of the post-doc supervising the lab.
The Prince and the P
Maybe Prince Charles should look again at Malthus. Malthus looked a population (P). Was Malthus wrong? In the early 1800’s, Malthus worried that the human population would soon outstrip the ability of humans to feed themselves. By the mid 1940’s agricultural methods were not keeping up with the human population and widespread famine seemed possible. Then, improved agricultural methods increased food production. Each time as the human population increases, scientific research translated into modern agricultural methods move the line. Which line am I talking about?
Genomics: A Megatrend Revisited
I was in the Horse Store earlier in the week looking around at all the neat stuff they have for the horse lover. As I was standing at the till, I noticed a little freebee booklet called “The Gatepost” self described at the Greatest little horse magazine. How could I resist?
The magazine seemed to flip open automatically to a page with a beautiful stylistic drawing of a DNA molecule and an article titled “Turn on Your Horse”.
As we prepared for the 21st Century, there seemed to me to be a whole trend of predicting and forecasting what would be the trends of the future. On the list of the best sellers was the book, Megatrends 2000 by John Naisbitt and Patricia Aburdene. They examined ten new directions. One of them was “The Age of Biology”
While much of what they speculated about the importance of biology, biotechnology and genetics has come become a reality, I don’t believe that they could have had any idea of how much genomics would become a part of our culture.
A beetle is a beetle is a beetle, right?
A beetle is a beetle is a beetle right? Not to a population biologist. This current epidemic contains millions of mountain pine beetles (MPB) spread across both Alberta and BC. Once beetles take flight each year in search of new trees, where do they go? Who is moving where? Is there anything different about beetles in different areas? These questions may prove crucial to our understanding of this and future outbreaks. However, before we can ask in depth questions we need a basic understanding of current beetle populations. Since we can’t just ask beetles these questions, we’re lucky that genomics offers tools which can help.
GURPS Bio-Tech
On my latest Calgary hunt for Biopunk material, I was curious as to whether various book and comic specialty shop clerks had any Biopunk books. I was surprised to hear that most stores didn’t have a clue as to what the term meant, nor really showed an interest other than the obligatory computer search. I had gone to a few bookstores and comic stores before ending my day at The Sentry Box.
I was overjoyed to see that the staff was absolutely passionate about Sci-fi and Gaming, even offering to watch my toddler while I looked around. They were amazingly helpful and interested when I asked if they had anything Biopunk. They hadn’t heard of the term either. I suppose that’s due to the relative newness of the genre, but once I explained they gleefully directed me to a number of novels and a book called GURPS Bio-Tech. The GURPS fourth edition (2006) “Bio-Tech” sourcebook by David Morgan-Mar and David Pulver is a different medium for those of you who are might like to mix your Biopunk and Role Playing Games (RPGs). This is also an excellent inspiration and resource for aspiring Biopunk writers.