Chemistry Instructor at Grand Rapids Community College
I am always amazed at the complexity of biological structures. There is so much freedom at the atomic level and we sometimes forget that until we find out how difficult it is to simulate the motions with computer. This article shows attempts to simulate protein functions using graphics processing units. This is the 2nd article I have read recently on using gaming technology for something other than… well… gaming.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=gpu-aids-photosynthesis
I know that I suffer from allergies during small parts of the year. This podcast from Science Friday covers this annoying topic. It is interesting to hear about the water soluble enzymes on pollen that illicit an immune response in humans. If you have allergies or know someone who does, this is worth a listen.
http://www.sciencefriday.com/program/archives/200904242
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about E. Coli Part I: Scientific American Podcast
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Carl Zimmer discusses his book on E. Coli and there are some interesting historical pieces in this first podcast. I recently went to a talk that discuss the possibility of “kissing” developing to pass useful bacteria back and forth between people and I was reminded of this when I listened to this podcast. Certainly, we have gained much knowledge from studying more simple species and learning how genes are activated, deactivated, and passed from one cell to another.
I am just seeing if embedding a powerpoint is possible.
