Oh my it's been a while!!

I am sorry for not posting in what, three months now? How oh how will you, dear readers, ever forgive me for such a travesty? I guess I can win back your love and trust by posting a recap to make up for time lost:

Dec:
1. Took my first finals and finished my first quarter as a UC graduate student. Huzzah! In celebration of my last exam, I wandered around campus for about an hour taking pictures of the snow and ice that covered the ground. You can find those on Facebook.
2. Flew back to NC to spend a wonderful break with my family. It was ~70 degrees when I got off the plane, compared to the 26 degrees I left. Glorious!
3. Anna graduated from CH. Congratulations!!!
4. Visited some friends at CH for a crazy (not really) night out the same day Saket came home from San Fran. I was just tipsy (Greg) and NOT drunk: I have never been "drunk" in my life, and certainly don't plan on becoming so anytime soon!
5. Dad came home from India the day before our birthday. Such goodness!
6. Turned 23 and was treated to a delightful birthday by some dear friends.
7. Discovered the deliciousness of pita chips + hummus.
8. I read a LOT: Quicksilver (Neal Stephenson), Les Miserables (Victor Hugo, the unabridged version), The Amber Spyglass (Philip Pullman), Heretics of Dune (Frank Herbert), Atonement (Ian McEwan), The Omnivore's Dilemma (Michael Pollan)...totally ~4,000 pages of text. Woohoo!
9. Attended "First Night Raleigh" for the first time since living in Cary for almost nine years. Got my picture taken next to a giant acorn (which was later featured on CNN, no less) and listened to an excellent Beatles cover band before watching an amusing though underwhelming improv comedy show.

Jan:
1. Went out to dinner with some friends in med school at CH and others around Cary at La Hacienda in Chapel Hill. What an amazing group of individuals! Shannon lent me some books which I'm slowly but surely working through. Thanks Mahoney!
2. Flew back to Chicago to spend a few days getting used to the Windy City before the start of winter quarter on the 7th.
3. Went to see a "Star Wars" exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry here in Chicago. I love how that museum is just a twenty minute walk from where I live. I think I posted about the show earlier, but let me tell you, it was spectacular! This is me letting my geek flag fly real high, I know, but I'm just such a "Star Wars" nut. It was delightful to get to see actual props from the movies, including the original Han Solo and Chewie outfits, along with the original C-3PO and R2-D2 costumes. Amazing!! Not to mention the scaled models of the famous ships, from Luke's X-wing to Imperial Star Destroyers. The attendees were mostly middle-aged people with lots of little kids who grew up with the new trilogy instead of the old. I felt like I had more in common with the 40-somethings who actually knew and loved the old movies than the teenagers who looked like they would rather be anywhere else. If they only knew what they were missing! You can see pictures of the exhibit on Facebook.
4. Classes started the next day (Monday). A new quarter, another chance to shine. Bonnie was away in India for a couple weeks in December and flew back to NY on the 1st. She got in late on Tuesday (I think). I had spent a good bit of the weekend cooking (enchiladas, lasagna, stir fry = delicious!) so she didn't have to worry about food for a bit. It was nice catching up on our respective breaks and I was dying to hear about her impressions of India. Sounds like it was a pretty positive trip overall (except for the inevitable bout of illness) and of course wonderful for her to visit her beloved betrothed Jeffrey who's studying in Rajasthan.
5. School's going fine. My cancer biology class is great (molecular mechanisms), my cell bio is all right, though Ursula Storb is a fantastic lecturer, and signal transduction is useful though not terribly exciting.

Feb:
1. Went on a fantastic ski trip with Kevin and his friends at Northwestern. Got to meet some great new people, and discovered another ERS opponent! Enjoyed the best day of skiing I've ever had, despite having not skied since high school...I even took down a black diamond (ok, it was a Wisconsin black diamond, but it still counts in my book). Only fell once, but in line for the BD, not on the slopes: exceptionally embarrassing given the fact that I literally just toppled over without anyone/anything touching me, and that Kev and I had said just seconds before that the folks in this line were the better skiers on the slopes (the line was only for blue square and black diamond). I guess I proved us wrong! Had a great time cooking food and talking with everyone. Thank you so much NU Mat Sci people for such a great time!
2. The Giants won the Super Bowl! I'm sure everyone knows this already, but I was super excited to see them win: not because I'm a huge Giants fan (though my mom is) but more because I could not bear to watch a cheating team win football's biggest prize. I don't hate the Patriots because they win, but because they cheated and tried to hide evidence. As a non-athletic person, I have tremendous respect for athletes and the feats they accomplish in sports. I also have no tolerance for cheaters, which is why Floyd Landis deserved to be stripped of his Tour de France win, which is why Marion Jones deserved to lose all her Olympic medals, which is also why the Patriots should have lost the Super Bowl just inches away from "perfection."
3. School's rolling along as usual. I did find out that I got the highest score in my CanBio class on our midterm. Rather shocking (but obviously immensely gratifying), since that hasn't happened in a science class since I left high school! Maybe I really can be a cancer biology rock star, but only if I redouble my efforts and be excellent in all my classes on all my assignments. Unlike some people, I'm not a natural genius and know that I really have to work extra hard for my successes. Alas, a rougher road but a sweet finish at the end!
4. It's still February now, so I promise to post again before March. Thanks for reading, and cheers!

Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving was wonderful...I don't think I've eaten so much in such a short amount of time ever before! His grandmothers (they literally live next door to each other, so we split our time between their houses) made dishes especially for me, including a spinach souffle and cauliflower with cheese. All the food was delicious, and I got the recipe for a dessert called "Banana Split Dessert" which was just fabulous. Kevin and I made Rolo cookies (chocolate cookies with Rolo candy pieces baked into them) which were a hit with the family. I also wrote his grandmother a poem which she read to the entire group during Thanksgiving dinner. She started to tear up a bit while everyone laughed. Kevin said that I would be a success if I could make her cry. I think that's an odd way to impress, but apparently it worked :).

I finished my last class on Wednesday around 1:30 and Kev actually beat me to my apartment where he met me around 1:40. I quickly packed up my things and we headed out around 2. By 4:30 we were in Hope, Illinois (Hope is a really tiny town, of maybe 20 people where his grandparents, both sets, live. It's about 30 minutes from Urbana-Champaign, where the University of Illinois's flagship campus is, which itself is about 3 hours south/southwest from Chicago). We briefly met with Grandma James (maternal grandmother at whose house we stayed) then headed next door to Grandma Saullers for dinner. It was entirely vegetarian except for some ham. We chatted with them for a while then went back to James' to bake the cookies. The first of Kev's relatives came in around 1:15 a.m. from Indianapolis. We played gin rummy with his cousin Eric until about 3:30 in the morning. Perhaps not the best idea, since I was woken up by the chatter of more relatives around 7 before finally getting out of bed around 9:15 (after Kev attacked me). More people stopped by and visited and eventually Thanksgiving lunch was ready and served around 12. What a feast! After lunch Kev, his cousins, and I went out to play some croquet. It was fun, and thanks to Kev I managed to finish in second place. We came in to warm up and played some gin rummy. Later, we went out again to play basketball (my fingers were frozen!), then came in for some hot chocolate. Kevin, Eric, and I played the Game of Life which I won by a narrow margin. After that we grabbed some leftovers for dinner. We then headed next door to hang out with Grandma Saullers for a while and played some dice games that Kevin taught us. We tried to get to bed early, but instead stayed up rather late planning our shopping spree with maps and lists and everything. Eric's family had to leave early Friday morning and no one else was ready to go shopping, so it was only Kev and I.

We woke up early to go shopping in Champaign. The plan was to wake up around 3:15 and head out by 3:45, but we accidentally slept in a bit. I suddenly woke up at 4:30, checked my clock, and dashed out of my room to wake Kevin up. We left just after 5 after hurriedly getting dressed and waiting for the car to warm up. The temperature hovered around freezing (getting as low at 18), with wind chill, the entire time we were there. The crowds weren't as bad as we thought they might be, with Circuit City and Target having the longest lines outside. We made off with some great bargains everywhere we went. We both bought thermal underwear which will be very handy in the next couple of weeks. I also got a 50-pack of DVD-Rs for about $15, which is about a 75% discount.

We got back in around 10:30, exhausted but happy. I ate a quick breakfast of metal muffins and yogurt before taking a lovely 3 hour nap. Kev bought a king-size down comforter that he promptly wrapped in a duvet cover (my suggestion, he didn't know he should get one for it) and then took a nap under it. His landlord doesn't understand how to properly heat his building so Kev's room is often 59 degrees when he wakes up in the morning. Can you imagine?! After our naps, we ate some lunch (leftover Thanksgiving food), and then put up a Christmas tree. At 6 we went next door to his other grandma's for dinner and had grilled cheese with tomato soup. We said goodbye to them, then came back over to pack up our stuff and head out. We left around 7:15 and made it back to my place in really good time, just around 9:45. Kev helped me bring all my stuff up and then left for Evanston.

Now I have to get back to work. I've got lots of papers to read and a problem set to work on. All in all it was a wonderful Thanksgiving break, thanks to Kevin and his wonderful (yet admittedly slightly crazy) family!

Recap

I'm sorry I haven't posted in a while. Here's a quick recap of the last couple of weeks:

1. Halloween was rather laid back; we had candy set out but ended up eating most of it (read: all but one piece) since the tenants downstairs took care of all the trick-or-treaters. I saw a guy riding a bike in a chicken suit. No helmet.
2. I shadowed a team of medical residents on their clinical rounds in a pediatric oncology ward. More on that later.
3. Happy Diwali and Saal Mubarak!
4. Took another midterm (genetic analysis) that I didn't finish (I don't think anyone else did either), and handed in another midterm for cancer biology (take home!)
5. Happy birthday Mom!
6. I got a care package from home filled with Indian goodies. I had to fight with the post office to get it though. More on that later.
7. I was sick yet managed to remain almost asymptomatic the whole time. Weird.
8. One of my professors bought me coffee soon after I let him know he missed, for the first time in 15 years, his All-Stars session (a bi-weekly seminar for BioMed students where faculty present their research in hopes of recruiting grad students to their lab).
9. As I held the door for a gentlemen who was leaving the bank as I was entering, he countered my attempt with the line, "Oh no, beauty before age, beauty before age." It made me smile.
10. I baked cookies and made some Indian dishes.
11. I've got real Thanksgiving plans for the first time in years. I'll be heading to Hope, Illinois (near Urbana-Champaign) to spend the weekend with Kevin's family. It's going to be awesome!
12. It's cold. And dark...early. Welcome to Winter in the Windy City!

Sorry Ma, It's in My DNA

In DNA Era, New Worries About Prejudice - New York Times

Today the New York Times published an article about the potentially worrisome implications that new scientific research cataloging the genetic differences between human populations may have. What troubles me, reading the comments of folks interviewed for the article or whose comments on blogs were gleaned as testimony, is how so many people have difficulties "accepting" these genetic findings as real and fraught with implications. Do you "accept" the law of gravity or the explanation for why the sky looks blue? Facts are facts regardless of one's opinion. The genetic differences are real, but the implications not necessarily as dire as predicted.

For instance, one point of contention is the link between genetics and intelligence and how certain populations seem to have different sets of "intelligence sequences/genes" than others. Say for example, genetics clusters A, B, and C seem to correlate with higher than average IQs. People of European descent whose DNA was tested have more of the A and B clusters than people of African descent who have few of the A or B clusters but many of the C clusters. Is this genetic proof that Europeans are inherently/innately smarter than Africans? First, look at the measure of intelligence used: IQ, the intelligence quotient. A person's IQ roughly relates their age to their mental skills, such that if two people, one who is 8 and the other 24, get 35/40 questions right on an IQ test, the 8 year-old is said to have a "higher IQ."

The important things to know are what questions were asked and the educational background of the test takers. If you've ever taken an IQ test, you know the kind of questions you can expect. "Which shape goes next?" "Which word does not belong?" "If this object were folded up, what shape would it look like?" ad nauseum. Are these the only criteria by which society measures intelligence? What about memorization skills? The ability to compute large sums without external aids? How about writing plays or composing operas? Note how none of these skills are tested on most IQ tests (for obvious logistical reasons), yet how often many are used to rate "intelligence" in people.

Whence comes this discrimination opportunity? The idea that, oh my goodness, race exists? That people are fundamentally different genetically (otherwise we'd all be identical clones of one another)? What does a genetic basis for race really change? We simply know the reason behind the fact we've known for ages. Does that change the fact in some fundamental way? Just because I know scientifically why the sky looks blue doesn't change its beauty for me.

If we want to avoid feeding discriminatory minds with genetic ammunition, then we need to make clear what our notions of "equality" are. People are not the same physically, emotionally, mentally, or spiritually. People are not the same genetically. What then does "equal" mean for human beings? The the law should treat everyone the same. But what about people with valid mental illnesses who commit criminal actions when out of control ? Students should be put in classes according to age. But what if they're a prodigy and should be advanced several years? We should have rules and exceptions to each for special cases. If that's true, are we really being equal?

So many traits, like intelligence or outgoingness, are both genetic and environmental in nature. You could have all the "right" genes for intelligence, but if those abilities are not nurtured or supported, or if development is hampered by physical or emotional considerations, then a person who is "born smart" may very well score poorly on an IQ test or be considered average or even dumb by society. Conversely, a person "born with average intelligence" who grows up in a household where learning is nurtured and encouraged could become very bright and score brilliantly on such tests.

It's true that many traits are mostly genetic, such as skin or eye color (along with some diseases), and in those cases environment has little affect. That these "facts of life" are ever the basis for discrimination I find simply ridiculous. A person literally had no choice what skin color they were born with. To a large extent they can choose their behavior and what to make of the opportunities (no matter how few or many) open to them. People should be judged for things they have control over, and the more control the better.

In the end, it is our choices that we have control over, not our genetic inheritance, that truly make us who we are and how we interact with our society.

Halloween really is a scary day

I finished my CanBioI midterm yesterday and was looking forward to printing it out and handing it in this morning. When I open the file on the computer in the library, however, I see a bunch of gibberish sprawled across the Word document. The horror sinks in and I realize I saved my paper in MS Word 2007's new .docx file format that is incompatible with 2000. It's too late to dash back to my apartment to edit the file, so I fight panic and try a different set of computers in the BSLC (main building for my program). Sure that, despite the computers having Word 2003 installed, my file would be useless again, I started thinking of a story for my TA.: "I finished the midterm, I swear, I'm just an idiot and saved it in the wrong file format." Uh huh. That's a real likely story. To my extreme relief, I see "Microsoft Word is converting the file" scroll across the bottom and hold my breath. Sure enough, I see real words instead of Wingding symbols and I'm saved! Heart attack averted and lesson learned.

Who needs coffee when you've got adrenaline?

Today we got back the results of our Cell Biology midterm. Cue scary music and "Psycho" violins. I was rather surprised at the results. Out of a possible 150 points the class average was, drumroll please..........77. That's right. Approximately 51.33333333%. (Last year, the average was about 100, or about 66.666666%). Here's what perhaps more shocking. The highest score achieved was a 106. That's approximately 70.66666666%. Even the most studious student did no better than a C! (if 90-100 A's, 80-90 B's, etc). Standard deviation was 15 points. I'm not a statistics guru, but I think that means most people did pretty poorly and it was a really hard test. Does that sound right? Oh, and how did I fare? Let's just say it could have been a lot worse. It's comforting to know that this exam is but 30% of our grade, and that I've got 40% almost perfect with my weekly discussion write ups and awesome presentation. I do know, however, that I must study even more than a week ahead (and harder than ever) for our last exam. Just to think, some people believe I'm so smart...This is graduate school baby!

And now for something completely different:

While walking back to my apartment today, my eyes randomly alit on a license plate cover that had the words "University North Ford" in a way that looked surprisingly familiar. Neither the design nor font were anything striking, but something says "North Carolina" and some Triangle resident more specifically. In the three seconds it took for me to think this through, I reached the bumper plate and, sure enough, saw the words "First in Flight" printed below the alphanumeric string. Two points for me! Call it some bizarre intuition, sheer luck, or magic (given the day of the year), I was quite pleased.

I kind of miss NC license plates. It's a silly thing to miss, but it's something that really gives one a sense of place. It reminded me of our road trip this summer. We passed through over a dozen states and saw only two NC plates in an entire month on the road. Where do North Carolinians go over the summer? Maine? New York? No one wants to see California? Utah? Idaho? Shame on them!

An Incendiary Corollary

Rethinking Fire Policy in the Tinderbox Zone - New York Times

So it appears my post last week about people not being able to prevent wildfires was surprisingly topical given the recent fires in southern California. What still remains distressing about the whole situation is how truly preventable it was, and how preventable future fires really are. These fires are only fought with such stringent measures because people and their property are in the danger zones. I don't want to sound heartless, and I do feel sorry for the families of those that lost their lives, but they really should have known better.

I think this line from the article sums up my frustration: "Many Californians say they want the best of both worlds — life in the danger zone and more fire protection — and are frustrated that they do not have it." Oh, really? It's like wanting all these great government programs and ridiculously low taxes at the same time. So they really want hundreds of overworked forest service men and women and firefighters risking their lives practically year-round to protect houses that should have been built elsewhere in the first place? Forget the houses, let's give a break to the firefighters and stop asking them to join a futile and foolish fight.

I said this before and here's some scientific validation:

"Fire-management experts like Professor Minnich, who has compared fire histories in San Diego County and Baja California in Mexico, say the message is clear: Mexico has smaller fires that burn out naturally, regularly clearing out combustible underbrush and causing relatively little destruction because the cycle is still natural. California has giant ones because its longtime policies of fire suppression — in which the government has kept fires from their normal cycle — has created huge pockets of fuel that erupt into conflagrations that must be fought." (emphasis my own)

So what's the solution? Change cannot happen overnight, but a strict change in policy should be enacted as soon as possible. If Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wants to fight these fires once and for all, then he must first call for housing restrictions in danger zone areas. I would also like to see a waiver for protection should things go awry (i.e. another raging blaze). If we can strip this expectation of senseless protection from people's minds, then maybe we can make them think twice of what they're about to do. If you know the cavalry won't be coming, it's a lot harder to start a fight you know you can't win on your own.

For a state that is traditionally so environmentally progressive (see automobile emissions requirements), it's rather shocking that these environmentally devastating policies are still on the books. Sometimes the best way for humans to make a positive impact on their environment is to just let Nature do all the hard work and stay out of her way.

A Nobel Experience with Dr. Craig Mello

I've posted about Nobel prizes quite recently, and now I can add another Nobel experience that was absolutely sublime.

On Thursday, the 25th of October, I came face-to-face with some real "Nobelity." Craig Mello, a researcher at the University of Massachusetts, won the Nobel Prize in Medicine/Physiology last year along with his friend and colleague, Andrew Fire, now at Stanford. They were recognized for their groundbreaking work in the roundworm C. elegans that uncovered RNAi, or RNA interference, a cellular defense mechanism that is conserved across species and offers a new and profound insight into the way genes are regulated and foreign pathogens are fought. The laboratory technique derived from this work is one I will quite likely be doing in the lab myself. It has virtually transformed expression studies around the world. Dr. Mello's lecture, titled "How a worm won five Nobel Prizes in Medicine," was quite entertaining and it was neat to see pictures from the Nobel ceremony. Some notes:

• He could not stress the importance of collaboration and communication in science enough. It may sound obvious, but the cutthroat competition to get published in major journals often becomes more of a priority for some scientists than sharing valuable results and information with fellow researchers
• Life exists on a cosmic timescale and in continuum---&> evolution; look for conservation and relationships between diverse species
• "Defective genes do not actually look like cheese puffs"- in response to a CBS 15-second spot attempting to explain how RNAi works
• Even his daughter, only 7 years old, can understand RNAi, so it's not a profoundly complex idea, but one with profound implications for medicine and such
• RNAi shows heritable, systemic, and amplified transmission
• It's an active/responsive mechanism that requires many genes but can respond faster than DNA mutation
• miRNA (microRNA) was not fully appreciated until entire genomes were sequenced and the level of homology between organisms recognized
• RNAi's implications for medicine: 1) better understanding of gene regulation (in cancer, for example), 2) identifying genetic pathways in disease, 3) developing drug platforms that directly target gene expression with minimal side effects, 4) personalized medicine
• His daughter is a Type-I diabetic who's alive and healthy today thanks to genetic engineering. I know that many people recoil at the thought of GMOs (genetically modified organisms), but I believe many do not appreciate how much good has been done thanks to them. Hardier crop strains, insulin from bacteria, etc.
• Winning a Nobel Prize makes your neighbors appreciate the work you do in worms more. They will actually listen to you.

After the lecture (which, by the way, almost NO ONE attended despite press delivered to the entire scientific community of Chicago), I was lucky enough to get to meet Dr. Mello, have him forgive my fumbling attempt at asking a question and giving me a patient answer, get his autograph, and get my picture taken with him! A couple of other UC students were there (not from my program), and when they saw my camera they asked for a picture as well. I obliged and think I made a couple of guys extremely happy. I had a wicked midterm the next day to study for so I left for home right after the lecture (though of course I took some pictures of the inside and outside of the Field while leaving). See Facebook for the pictures.

I walked on air all the way home.