4 ms·

This is the tragic fate of scientists and technologists. You work like a dog for your whole life to achieve a seemingly impossible goal -- eradicating polio, cl

This is the tragic fate of scientists and technologists. You work like a dog for your whole life to achieve a seemingly impossible goal -- eradicating polio, cloning sheep, storing the Library of Congress inside a cigar box, traveling to the moon. Against the odds, you succeed. Ten years later... everybody just yawns. Custom-designed organisms are, like, soooooo boring. What's on TV? It's like Feynman said: "Mathematicians can only prove trivial theorems, because any theorem, once proved, is trivial." And he thought he was kidding!

timr 19y ago
Well, of course...taken from the broadest possible perspective, it's obviously amazing that we can engineer living things to do our bidding. Whoopty-doo. From that perspective, it's also freaking amazing that we can keep our food fresh in mechanical ice boxes, that we can flush our onesies and twosies into oblivion at the flick of a lever, and that we can fly around the sky in our giant metal birds. I don't think it's particularly unreasonable to expect people to be familiar with a technology that is almost old enough to drink.
- mnemonicsloth 19y ago
  I'm in school now, and this is new information to me. Where do you go to learn about the envelope of what's possible in biotech? EDIT: Preferably without having to digest the whole curriculum. Also, how do I get one of those giant metal birds, and what do you feed them?
  - rms 19y ago
    http://www.biologynews.net/ http://www.biologynews.net/
  - timr 19y ago
    If you just want to read, there are a few books that are detailed, but still accessible. Any one would give you a much better understanding of what's possible: * Human Molecular Genetics by Strachan and Read -- this is a tome, but it's a great introductory reference to the field. (A lot of first-year grad students read this book when coming to molecular genetics from engineering and CS, incidentally.) * Molecular Biology of the Cell, by Alberts et al. -- an even bigger tome, but one you'll find on every researcher's bookshelf. * Genes NN by Lewin (where NN is an ever-increasing roman numeral; you can estimate the amount of time someone has been in the field by the size of the roman numeral on their copy) -- this is more of an undergraduate introduction to molecular genetics. The other books (especially MBC) are more useful as references, but this book is fairly accessible to newcomers. * Recombinant DNA by Watson et al. -- I hesitate to include this in the list, because it's now sadly outdated (written in 1992), but I still think it's one of the best-written, most accessible introductions to things like transgenics, genetic engineering, etc. Describes everything in a friendly, Scientific American style. It's also small. If you want a quick, friendly introduction to what was state-of-the-art 15 years ago, this is a great book. I know that most of these books are kind of thick, and that you said you didn't want to digest the whole curriculum, but I don't tend to read pop-science books in this field. I don't have much of an opinion on any particular popularization of molecular genetics. But if you want to gain a real understanding of molecular biology, these are the books you'd most likely be told to buy for molecular genetics 101 at your local university. PS: the giant metal birds eat Acme brand exploding bird seed, naturally....
    - yters 19y ago
      Any good sources for all the sciences? Also, is there an overview of how computer science impacts all the other academic disciplines?
  - mechanical_fish 19y ago
    Molecular Biology Made Simple and Fun Do not let its silly title fool you. This is an excellent book containing real biology facts. Plus, unlike Molecular Biology of the Cell, if this book falls on you from a high shelf you have a chance to survive. Of course, the book predates siRNA. Nothing ages faster than a molecular biology book.
    - motoko 19y ago
      Except one about web technologies. Have you ever bought a Ruby on Rails book?

timr 19y ago

Well, of course...taken from the broadest possible perspective, it's obviously amazing that we can engineer living things to do our bidding. Whoopty-doo. From that perspective, it's also freaking amazing that we can keep our food fresh in mechanical ice boxes, that we can flush our onesies and twosies into oblivion at the flick of a lever, and that we can fly around the sky in our giant metal birds. I don't think it's particularly unreasonable to expect people to be familiar with a technology that is almost old enough to drink.

mnemonicsloth 19y ago
I'm in school now, and this is new information to me. Where do you go to learn about the envelope of what's possible in biotech? EDIT: Preferably without having to digest the whole curriculum. Also, how do I get one of those giant metal birds, and what do you feed them?
- rms 19y ago
  http://www.biologynews.net/ http://www.biologynews.net/
- timr 19y ago
  If you just want to read, there are a few books that are detailed, but still accessible. Any one would give you a much better understanding of what's possible: * Human Molecular Genetics by Strachan and Read -- this is a tome, but it's a great introductory reference to the field. (A lot of first-year grad students read this book when coming to molecular genetics from engineering and CS, incidentally.) * Molecular Biology of the Cell, by Alberts et al. -- an even bigger tome, but one you'll find on every researcher's bookshelf. * Genes NN by Lewin (where NN is an ever-increasing roman numeral; you can estimate the amount of time someone has been in the field by the size of the roman numeral on their copy) -- this is more of an undergraduate introduction to molecular genetics. The other books (especially MBC) are more useful as references, but this book is fairly accessible to newcomers. * Recombinant DNA by Watson et al. -- I hesitate to include this in the list, because it's now sadly outdated (written in 1992), but I still think it's one of the best-written, most accessible introductions to things like transgenics, genetic engineering, etc. Describes everything in a friendly, Scientific American style. It's also small. If you want a quick, friendly introduction to what was state-of-the-art 15 years ago, this is a great book. I know that most of these books are kind of thick, and that you said you didn't want to digest the whole curriculum, but I don't tend to read pop-science books in this field. I don't have much of an opinion on any particular popularization of molecular genetics. But if you want to gain a real understanding of molecular biology, these are the books you'd most likely be told to buy for molecular genetics 101 at your local university. PS: the giant metal birds eat Acme brand exploding bird seed, naturally....
  - yters 19y ago
    Any good sources for all the sciences? Also, is there an overview of how computer science impacts all the other academic disciplines?
- mechanical_fish 19y ago
  Molecular Biology Made Simple and Fun Do not let its silly title fool you. This is an excellent book containing real biology facts. Plus, unlike Molecular Biology of the Cell, if this book falls on you from a high shelf you have a chance to survive. Of course, the book predates siRNA. Nothing ages faster than a molecular biology book.
  - motoko 19y ago
    Except one about web technologies. Have you ever bought a Ruby on Rails book?