Day Off - Updated

Today, I went to the bioinformatics class which I am only attending without having enrolled in it. The professor did not come and gave us no excuses for his absence. I consider the more the professor shows he is committed to the subject, the more he can catch the attention and hearts of students.

I am almost to the point of not going to those classes anymore. I feel it will be fruitless to me and that it would be much more sensible to prepare me to do the admission exam on geophysics.

A little update here: As my blog friend, Juan Julián Merelo Guervós, said in the comments box, the bioinformatics professor's absence has to do with one of the Seven Deadly Sins: Sloth! :)

Well, it is very plausible. :)

The Seven Deadly Sins Of Bioinformatics

As I am concerned with applying for a bioinformatics MSc., so I am looking for informations of that field, mainly those ones providing a critique panorama of its current (and, of course, future) trends and games. What I have most heard is that bioinformatics is the future, the 21st Century Job, it will help to replace the petrochemical industry bringing to us an alternative energy resource which is not only green, but, also, renewable, and so on. Despite all those positive remarks, I am not interested in them. I want to know critique statements about that field, what is hard to find out when talking to bioinformaticians here, since what they have told makes me feel as though I was in a Marlboro ad. :)

I have found a very interesting presentation about the deadly sins of bioinformatics, see this link:

The Seven Deadly Sins Of Bioinformatics.

The Seven Deadly Sins Of Bioinformatics are the following:

01. Parochialism And Insularity
02. Exceptionalism
03. Autonomy Or Death!
04. Vanity: Pride And Narcissism
05. Monolith Megalomania
06. Scientific Method Sloth
07. Instant Gratification

Gosh! A bioinformatics laboratory being the lair of at least one of those sins could become a hard place to social interaction.

By the way, the presentation is a nice overview of what is happening nowadays in bioinformatics, its current research situation and the views the computer science guys have of the biology guys (and vice-versa).

Darwinmania

Very interesting articles from New York Times blogger Olivia Judson! In three parts, see them:

Darwinmania!

An Original Confession

Let’s Get Rid of Darwinism

Those articles are intended to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the first announcement of [Darwin's] discovery of natural selection, the main driving force of evolution.

Excellent!!

Evolving Design Through Simulated Evolution

Amazing article from Elisava:

Bionics And Design: Witnesses To The Evolution Of This Approach.

Some quotes from the text:

"[...] Natural history research, even that which seems to be no more than the fruit of pure and empty curiosity, can have very real uses, which would be enough to justify it even to those who only want research into useful things, if before condemning we could have the patience to wait for time to show the use we could make of its [...]."

Rene-Antoine Ferchault de Reaumur, A History of Wasps - 1719.


"It is the story of the development of the branch of mathematics called the calculus of variations, which concerns questions of optimization —finding forms or patterns that maximize or minimize a particular quantity Is the igloo the optimal housing form for minimal heat loss to the outside? Do bees really use the least possible ammount of wax in constructing their hexagonal cells?"

Stefan Hildebrandt & Anthony Tromba - 1985


"The oldest shells in the universe are the crusts of the cooling stars... We can compare them to an egg-shell: they are formed on the surface of moving liquid drops. In long-ago prehistory, about 400 million years ago, living nature took advantage of the fact that a curved structure is 50 to 100 times stronger than a flat structure of the same thickness. This means that the protecting envelope around fragile micro-organisms can as much reduce the expense of material and weight as obtain a greater degree of protection[...]."

Heinz Isler - 1989


"I believe that flowers —vivacious or woody plants— not only present the most frequent type of shell, but that they are also those of the greatest beauty. They offer a complementary perfection: they are kinetic structures. According to need, they can vary their form to open or close the flower, or even to aid the process of pollinization[...]."

Heinz Isler - 1989


"Nature offers us a range of secrets that will not be revealed except with much patience and love [...]."

Le Ricolais - 1935-1969

On Penguins And Submarines, Airplanes, And So On!

Interesting finding here:

Aerodynamics In The Animal World. Yes, I know: Another Google automatic translation. But, it is better to read something slightly comprehensible than nothing at all. The main ideas are very clear, I think. :)

The article has to do with the aerodynamics on animal bodies, such as the Penguin's, and how it deals with aerodynamical problems - turbulence, acceleration issues, and etc.

The Penguin's streamlined body could be an inspiration when it comes to submarine body design, helping to create even quieter, faster, and more efficient submarines. Let alone it could also be applied on other areas strongly relying on aerodynamics, such as airplanes, rockets, and etc.


See a short movie of the Ṕenguin's flight here.

Evolving Robotic Dance Style Through Simulated Evolution

Very interesting this post here. It has to do with the evolution of robot gestures, let's say "dancing", with the use of a genetic algorithm. The performance is evaluated accordingly to the facial expressions of the audience and the objective is to maximize the attention level from the public. Very nice!

Via Pieces of Digital Media.

Evolving Organisms Behaviour Through Simulated Evolution

PLoS Computational Biology has an article upon using genetic algorithms to evolve organisms and the complexity of their behaviour, see here.

GECCO 2007 In Videos

Here you are nice videos upon the debate which had the presence of luminaries from biology in general, such as Richard Dawkins, Steve Jones, and Lewis Wolpert. The debate was chaired by Peter Bentley. See here.

Thanks to Xavier Llorà, from IlliGAL Blogging, for the link..