next Abstract In this series, twenty one dialogs that reference genetics from the six seasons of the HBO television series The Sopranos are cited and discussed, in chronological order, from the perspective of a fan who is a geneticist. The context of each citation with respect to the plot and characters will be the main focus of discussion. General Introduction There are twenty one explicit references to genetics and DNA in seasons one through six of HBO’s The Sopranos television series about a contemporary mafia family in Northern New Jersey. Five of these refer to forensic uses of genetics, but…
The Science Creative Quarterly
From commentary
ALL CHANGE IS NOT EVOLUTIONARY
What is evolution? Who was Darwin? What do the words Darwinism, natural selection, or survival of the fittest really mean? These words and phrases have been bandied around over the past century, used interchangeably, frequently in the news, and known very much as players of one of the most controversial topics in our society today. Basically, Darwin opened a pretty large can of worms when he wrote “On the Origin of Species” in 1859, and the impact of “The Descent of Man” can still be felt today. In short, evolution is the process whereby species arise. Natural selection is a…
SCIENCE, RELIGION, AND THE CREATION OF LIFE ON EARTH
Introduction I have found that one of the difficulties in discussing religion is often a matter of semantics. Consequently, I would like to begin by providing the context for the following discussion. I am a Christian; and while I have made active efforts in understanding other faiths, I am not knowledgeable enough to give an all-inclusive treatise on Science and Religion. Instead, much of what follows will be relevant only within the framework of the Christian faith. Specifically, I would consider myself to be devout and active in my faith; I also believe that I am well versed in Christian…
BE VERY AFRAID
Since it was very much inspired by Mr. Vonnegut, we’d like to (again) present this piece to you. He will be missed. The SCQ would also like to ask, “what are you afraid of?” Comments can be left here. – – – A few months before he died, a Nobel Prize winner wandered into my office, sat down, and proceeded to talk about science and ethics. He did this for about an hour. In fact, most of it boiled down to something like this. “Science is in a very interesting predicament these days. It has accelerated so much, in so…
IPCC FAQ PART DEUX (BURCH MIX): OR HOW TO CAPTURE THE CLIMATE CRAZE.
(Click here for the IPCC FAQ Part I) Even those living under the oft-referenced proverbial rock would find it difficult these days to avoid the tempest of public opinion, news media attention, and political rhetoric swirling around the climate change issue. On the heels of Al Gore’s turn as an Oscar winner, and the vast swell of public awareness about the perils of climate change that preceded it, the report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Working Group I was unleashed upon political pundits and the pseudo-scientists of the popular media. In part II of our Intergovernmental Panel on…
A CURMUDGEONLY CLARIFICATION OF “CAVITATION” AND A CALL TO CORRECT ALL CRACKING CONTENT
Being of a curious mind, I am occasionally fascinated by simple things such as the phenomenon of cracking knuckles. In this respect, I have done some very basic research regarding this phenomenon and have been repeatedly disappointed by the explanations presented on nearly every web site I have seen that attempts to describe the process in question. There are many physiological reasons that our joints make noise, but the description of at least one of these processes is always, well…not what it is cracked up to be. Specifically, virtually every web article mentions “cavitation” as the primary cause of the…
THE EVOLUTION OF DESIGN: ENGINEERING ENTERS THE BIOLOGICAL REVOLUTION
“And there are even some engineers in this [biology] class!” – a seemingly innocent remark, but one that contains sentiments often expressed in the biological realm: engineers just don’t really fit in. At first glance, nothing seems out of the ordinary with this statement – and both parties would probably agree – of course engineers don’t fit in. There is just something fundamentally different between these two disciplines, the respective parties would say (or between biology and the other physical sciences, for that matter). An attempt to justify this would then be given in some remark about engineers being good…
SEX AND SMARTS: UNDER-REPRESENTATION OF WOMEN AMONG SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING FACULTY
I am in the process of becoming a scientist. A female scientist. I didn’t think that my gender was relevant to my career aspirations. I have plenty of female company (and competition) as an undergraduate science student at UBC. The ratio of women to men in my classes must be close enough to 50/50 that I have never noticed a gender imbalance (nevermind an advantage in heterosexual dating odds for women in my discipline.) Ditto for the distribution of intimidatingly-smart students; the prof-stumping questions come from women just as often as from men. I have worked in research labs that…
CREEPING INTO YOUR HEAD – A BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO MICROGLIA
Know anyone with a brain? Know anyone with a problem with their brain? If you answered yes or no to either or both of those questions, you need to know about microglia. More importantly, however, you need to know about them in order to alleviate my distress. It’s a sucking burden to over and over have it come out at the grocery store that I am a microgliologist and to have no one know what I just said. Not ever. Always just a cocking of the head and a stifled pursing of the lips. So, what are microglia? They are…