Posts

Voyager's Gold Record- Vintage Technology for Extraterrestrial Audiophiles

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I'm a huge Sagan fan, and even today I am surprised at how well his words and the 70's series resonate gloriously.  But WTF is with the Gold Record on Voyager?  The records were constructed of copper with a gold plating and contain Sounds of Earth, featuring the audible signatures of our planet from birds to Chuck Berry playing guitar. The records were placed on both Voyager spacecraft launched in 1977 and now are somewhere out past Pluto.  Sagan noted, " The spacecraft will be encountered and the record played only if there are advanced space-faring   civilizations   in interstellar space." That is, if they have a turntable.  Shot into space, any extraterrestrial can enjoy "Sounds of Earth". If they have a good thrift shop they might find a way to play the damn thing. Of course, back in the 70's we were pretty sure that the LP was here to stay.  I remember thinking they should have shot the KISS Alive II double album into space too. The p

DNA Damage and Glyphosate? Critical Evaluation of a 2007 Report

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A question appeared over on GMOanswers.com and I thought I'd take a stab at it.  I remember looking at it briefly awhile ago, but it didn't stick in my brain.  Maybe because it was not worth sticking there. Last night I took a critical look at this work.  If you take the time to read it you find that even the authors have many mundane explanations for the results.  However, the title becomes a headline and is part of the glyphosate=danger mantra repeated by low-science-resolution readers that seek confirmation of their biases.  Judging by the capitalization in the question, the person with the question even cut-n-pasted the title. Not too many calories being expended to sort out this mystery!  However, education is my goal, so here goes...  Question on GMOanswers :  Can you comment on this study about DNA damage due to Roundup Evaluation of DNA damage in an Ecuadorian population exposed to glyphosate? The report you refer to is Paz-y-Miño et al., (2007), a "Short C

Biotech Literacy Day Talks!

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For all of you that could not see the Biotech Literacy Day talks in real time- here are the links!  If they don't work on the click, cut and paste! You may have to download the small SilverLight Plugin! 1. Dr. Kevin Folta  UF/IFAS Horticultural Sciences Department     Genetically Engineered Crops in 2014:  What Are They and How Do They Work?  -  24 minutes http://mediasite.video.ufl.edu/Mediasite/Play/b3980f891e9445f881fdbe8a09fdb0301d 2. Dr. Bruce Chassy  University of Illinois@Urbana-Champaign               "Risks vs. Benefits  Health, Safety and Environment"   - 36 minutes  http://mediasite.video.ufl.edu/Mediasite/Play/4789e14d844c4a74aba2d7df829b132a1d 3. Dr. Val Giddings  Innovation Technology & Information Foundation       "Public Policy, Testing, Labeling, Patents"  -   27 minutes http://mediasite.video.ufl.edu/Mediasite/Play/e29938267e744894a15b99ef2eb427881d 4. Tamar Haspel  The Washington Post 

Can't Get Seeds for Independent Research?

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One of the most lame complaints levied by those opposed to trangenic technology is that scientists just can't get seeds to do the independent research.  I've noted 3-4 ways that seeds may be obtained in this blog over time. It is the laziest complaint- a sure sign of people not even willing to do cursory leg work, and simply parrot the junk people tell them.  I can get seeds in a few days- they are as close as your local seed catalog.  Just for fun, I looked in Hummert's catalog today. The 2014 catalog has transgenic seeds for sale.   They only sell 'roundup ready' sweet corn, but that's still something.  Anyone wanting to seriously examine the product certainly could, and any of the half-dozen or so scientists that claim that this is evil technology could do it too-- if they wanted to.  Top of page 16- Oh, I guess it is pretty easy to get.  Of course, there are a few technical issues at play.  First, you'll have to sign a contr

Teaching Children to Love Science

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One of the most important parts of my job is connecting science to the children of our community.  I was fortunate to have parents and teachers that fostered and encouraged my participation from the beginning, and some of the most memorable times in school were based on a simple experiment with curious results.  Here's a video of one of my visits to a local elementary school with two PMCB graduate students. 

The Day I Paid to Have My Best Friend Killed

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On May 31, 2013, I planned on writing this blog but I could not do it. I figured I'd give it a year. So now it is posted on May 31, 2014.  Every time I actually sat down to do it, emotions grabbed me and stopped me.  It was one of the worst days ever- but one of the best days ever.  Two extremes at one time and a harsh ride in between. I'll explain.... My dog Xeenah was exceptional.  Humans keep dogs, or they keep us, they are beasts in our home.  But Xeenah is a dog that became one of us.  She was sweet, strong, smart, funny.  She was with us through some of the worst of times and an ever present contributor to the best of times. The whole story of how I got her  and my first farewell was posted on this blog a year ago, the day she died.  I couldn't write about what I'm preparing here- no way.  here it is 365 days later. This is a story of putting a dog to sleep.  I was not "putting her to sleep".  She was not going to sleep, as she did 10,000 times b

Three Hot Tweets

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Since the dawn of the internet I've been blown away by the beautiful writing, wonderful pictures, and more photos of monkeys smoking than I can browse in a good afternoon. Over the last few weeks I think the crazy people have dialed it up. Can't believe the junk I'm reading! But on the other hand, I've been so excited to read the poignant, concise and beautiful words on Twitter.  The last week was awesome. Thanks Hank, Kellie and Sanjay for these gems...  " Arrogance is the full-bellied 'protecting' the starving from # frankenfoods ." @KellieRyanB "The anti-GMO folks just hate corporations more than they love people." @HankCampbell " anti-GMO come across as privileged urbanites who show startling lack of compassion for the poor and rural." @Sanjaybhatikar "Full belly, full wallet, empty skull=bad food science decisions." @ (well, me)