Adenine-Thymine In a helical tryst with Guanine-Cytosine Protein-RNA Catalyst of translation Wrapped in their embrace Cellular membranes You hold me together with Hydrophobic states Oh Allostery You convert my R to T Perfect synergy My dear Meiosis Broken strands are a delight Lets recombinate
The Science Creative Quarterly
From creative
A FABRICATED PAPER: HYPERACTIVE SLOTHS LEADS TO ISOLATION OF A NEW COMPOUND
(This paper was designed by a group of students for a class project, and as such is completely fabricated) TITLE: Hyperactive sloths leads to isolation of a new compound ABSTRACT: The observation of hyperactive three-toed sloths, Bradypus variegates, on the island of Barro Colorado is due to the addition of Panamae caenaela to their diets. P. caenaela is only found on the Barro Colorado Island which explains why only hyperactive sloths were found on the Barro Colorado Island. Using gas chromatography/ mass spectrometry analysis, we were able to isolate the compound responsible for the hyperactive behaviour of the sloth. The…
SIX DEGREES OF BEING SMALL.
The medieval followers of Aristotle, first in the Islamic world and then in Christian Europe, tried to make sense of the moon. It was suggested in Antiquity that the moon was a perfect mirror; its markings were reflections of earthly features. On Sunday July 16th 2000, the longest-lasting lunar eclipse in 140 years was said to have occurred. The moon plunged for almost two hours dead center through the shadow of Earth. The earth’s shadow has two parts: the umbra, the dark space directly between the earth and the moon, and the penumbra, the weaker shadow that extends outward like…
THE HEDDA GABLER CONJECTURE
(This piece is an attempt at plotting out the classic Ibsen play as if it were a science experiment – wiki links to Henrik Ibsen and the play itself) ABSTRACT: In contrast to previous studies conducted in recent years on the causal relationship between narcissism and self-destruction (A. Strindberg, H. Ibsen, A.Chekov), we have sought to produce a linear-time chart allowing for the groundwork of a general model. By subjecting several axioms to a sequence of increasingly complex control variables, we find latent inconsistencies inherent in the initial equation, resulting in a paradox. SUBJECT HEADINGS: Time, Fate, Will, Greed, Destiny,…
IMPERATIVE AND INDIFFERENCE.
Like some animal licking matted fur, the softness of the tongue on the softness of the wound. The sum of the wounds is a ball that expands according to its own clock, whenever it damn well pleases. Asserts itself always at the beginning of the day, I wake up to it, chattering its bad news into the ether. The ether is created by the imperative of the system; by the whoosh of blood and air through the tunnels of the body. This intent movement, going places, distribution. I lay on my bed trying to attach myself to the imperative of…
INCREASE THE N
(scroll down for audio file) there’s a trend but the error is big increase the N the rat’s no good use the guinea pig increase the N the antibody’s weak the background high increase the N my P value is bigger than pi increase the N (chorus) increase the N ramp it up i need another hundred let’s cut it up my wild-type is out of control increase the N let’s rock’n’roll the blot is shit the signal strong increase the n it’s above control there’s something wrong increase the n mass-spec it baby give me the truth increase the…
CHILD’S PLAY
My brother sent me a subscription to the British magazine New Scientist last Christmas. I love it. It arrives once a week and sits, like a center piece, in the middle of the kitchen table. Everyone in the family takes turns reading it, each finding, at different times during the week—over coffee and toast, before soccer practice, while the spaghetti sauce simmers—bits of articles that are so awesome we are compelled to read them aloud to one another. Oh my god, one of us will say, you have to hear this. Over the past year conversations at the kitchen table…
A FABRICATED PAPER: MITOCHONDRIAL EVOLUTION: SHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I GO?
(This paper was designed by a group of students for a class project, and as such is completely fabricated) TITLE: Mitochondrial Evolution: Should I stay or should I go? ABSTRACT: The distinction between prokaryotic and eukaryotic cell structure is still accepted today as the most fundamental discontinuity in the living world. In the process of analyzing the newly sequenced bacterium Rickettsia prowazekii it was discovered through a BLAST search that a non-coding region of DNA showed high homology to the importin-α gene of eukaryotes. The genomes of Rickettsia canada and Rickettsia rickettsii were both found to contain a sequence homologous…
HARMONY IS ALWAYS HERE
The SCQ would like to introduce a new category, which we have tentatively called “impressions.” Think of it as an avenue to reflect on the music, words, or film that affect your relationship to science or your relationship to something that entails a small link to science. Hmmm, is that vague enough? – – – – – I’m not entirely sure if I became a rational scientific person by nature or nurture. Whether it is genetic or whether it is the obvious result of too many years of study. Whatever the case may be, I am a slave to my…