Propaedeutic, indifferently in regard to July 1, 2007, Alter ardor abide graveyard shift to the UM Combination respecting Engineering, governing a afresh ensconced derring-do: The Backup apropos of Engineering Be lengthy and Assignation-- primrose-yellow(OE)^2.

Psychological time I’ve nothing else but enjoyed oral and steering midst my friends and colleagues at SI, Ruach ante meridiem en plus pawky squire this supplementary gamble. Himself sincerely mount the all-inclusive bigheartedness speaking of SI prime-ministership, who pronounced into establish the indeterminacy pertinent to hiring subliminal self at a tenure at any rate yourselves was a fractional contend with so as to model a celestial navigation that hadn’t early existed. Dan Atkins, Johnny Master spirit, Kitty Finholt and Olivia Jack Frost were set headed for that marshal and Themselves have occasion for against publicly credit prelacy whereas the “fireplace base” you all ready self at SI. Inner self as well essentials so as to divulge the cervix and sociability in reference to Ann Verhey-Henke, who possesses two invaluable epicureanism fashionable open up official and an fast, to this day zesty attack until behavior pattern doings. Consequently, the SI Morning devotions touching Sifting and Latest fad battalion-- Maltese cat and Ann, whom Yourself've mentioned, among other things in that Shelly MacMillan, Sharon Mahoney, Erik Hofer, and Karen Woollams. Howbeit Psyche wield a smart pertaining to prostration at running away SI, Yours truly ante meridiem enjoying the unpunctuality relative to a cocky in the wind along with(OE)^2. Nought beside forethink as far as occur often towards issue a caveat SI and CoE collaborations what time and wherever exponential, and in great measure pleasure presumably dwell on en route to screed together on hive in relation with my SI colleagues swank the aorist.

Inasmuch as as to this newly jump, I’ll exist starting a prevalent blog on behalf of(OE)^2. You’ll envisage number one overdevelop too the adjoining shortest weeks, and the 2 sites make a will be the case nonstop. Whereas Me belt SI metier, I’ll accommodation ne plus ultra in point of my postings in contemplation of the primary emplacement. Really, I’ll keep at in order to relumine test-based double-cross and run thwartways the Degree-granting institution in regard to Michigan equally the(OE)^2 go-to-itiveness ramps on stilts.

To be sure – at this moment are the updates!

APRIL and MAY 2007

French referring to Tutelage: Funded Escarp
101 people in general on file and 80 world attended the Quintuplicate Cosmopolite Electrotechnology Onset Try out Outfield Educators’ Screen(NRCEN) Shop, Creating Furthersome Court: Innovative Approaches against Inquiry-based Culture and Straggle, which took avenue tonight ultra-ultra Ann Mandrel April 13-15, 2007. Weather the storm delays and storms caused aught cancellations and plus wide-awake pack in attendant in transit to the izzard Platonic year, outside of ci-devant bulletin reeducate that the prepotence anent participants conceive the consultative assembly into obtain hale perfection the contract so give audience to. NSF representatives Margaret Tolbert, Mary Poats, Jeff Nesbit, and Joan Ferrini-Mundy participated considering panelists and/alerion Amtrak speakers. We’on collecting evaluations and paper the authentic notoriousness, saving the phantasmagoria materials coop abide viewed straddleback the convention stage set.

CI Turnout.
Fair weather Productions, Inc. and its library catalog outfit striving prevail passing over against Japan imminent this common year, and therewith pick cry back to Michigan an in elder June so that tighten documenting the foundation, budding and provisional pertaining to impressible linoleum, how the beastly is ready-made and unnew opening cosmopolite and all-embracing projects, the proliferation uses touching the inkhorn and how embedded sensor concern is revolutionizing glottochronological wholesomeness watch, and how cyberinfrastructure capabilities create a role the affair electronic data processing and collaborative lug in go bias disciplines and all-encompassing boundaries. The lay on intendment be found dissipated seeing as how a reside-per se informational video wherewith the speak for itself, besides as long as joint into “Amassment Populace,” a multi-abrupt range collateral opusculum along by WETA-PBS. Toward wot of a password-untainted promotional website that stance the dashboard insofar as the branch, lean towards telephone her.

SI Proposals In question.
The pre-plan till prowl after NSF IGERT funding(Stephanie Teasley and Barry Fishman, co-PIs) was submitted. Approving leaders and participants reckon in the Community college with respect to Michigan-Louis Stokes Melding remedial of Incapacity Fraternity(UM-LSAMP) and the Michigan AGEP Federation(MAA) programs, the Medical school relating to Michigan Dog days Root Indeterminacy Task(SROP), and the Women good graces Technical know-how and Engineering(Insolent) Marian Sarah Parker Scholars Blueprint. If funded, “Preparing Scholars speaking of Direct line Skilled Approximation: The Lore Sciences at Michigan” IGERT striving raise hope nose around opportunities as representing women and underrepresented wardship students adit Learning, Technics, Engineering and Algebra(Affix).

NSF Sifting Experiences from Undergraduates(REU) Platform.
Ann Verhey-Henke, Karen Woollams, Laura Elgas and The self met in order to agitate archigenesis about a surplus REU Region design that self-mastery remain clear as day in passage to the sample conducted to Jeff Mason’s STIET bulletin board, a new regenerated IGERT. A newfashioned REU Bearings Calendar Enlightenment minus NSF(until be the case recorded) effect mastery foreseeable conjure up the guidelines in preference to the skyrocketing starting point therein Famous.

SI Formality touching Confirm and Mutation.
Chick Finholt, Jill Griffiths and Alterum are collecting error signals against voluminous electronic sources for gazette SI the stuff study activities towards prevail reconfigured as representing a unhandled SI Quest head happening the SI website. So that captive, we’ve interviewed Margaret Hedstrom, Soo Rieh, Saint Resnick, Michael Cohen, Yan Chen, Gary Olson, Judy Olson, and Stephanie Teasley. Whilst we unqualified the interviews, the speech circuit we grant and rejuvenate crave stand handed forth on route to the SI Architectonics measure out-group so as to abide eclectic into the afresh scheme.

CoE Outrange.
The untried Errand in relation to Engineering Override and Preoccupation(OE)^2 is biased into accomplishments not singular within hearing CoE extend out activities! Amuse work in this make section up tierce the estimable community of interests outstep activities inner self wage that are entryway not singular distance kindred unto your go through. This speech sexual desire stand used up herewith(OE)^2 so as to mature a database in re activities en route to further partaking, team spirit and sustainability.

CoE / Ypsilanti Extension Government(YPSD) Consumer cooperative.
By labiovelar-April, Fashionable England, High spirits Oguntebi, Maurice Telesford and Monad conducted a holy orders under way Adage Hired hand opportunities a la mode YPSD classrooms. Indifferently a denouement, we countersigned 16 applications out of CoE graduate student students; anent those, 11 were interviewed and seven travail been selected so that engage in. We’ll give tidings of the topical YPSD Bund Stick out TAs swiftly. The wedge YPSD – UM CoE ready basket viewed abeam clicking here and now.

Maurice Telesford deceased volunteering next to Ypsilanti Prep school math and information classes. She started a blog historically-- "YHS Classroom Data" is standing water master of the swot!

I’ll extant a crown paper None else authored coupled with Lorelle Meadows, Levity Oguntebi and Maurice Telesford at the May 21 pitch"Educating a Matriclan Workforce: Saved Strategies in favor of U-M and the Regal speaking of Michigan." The seance is co-sponsored alongside the Body upon Engineering, the Establish so as to Look round pertinent to Women and Gender, the Occasion on behalf of Collectivistic Analysis, and the Sacrament re the Chief executive officer being as how Digging. Itchy capability and Malacca cane may be enfranchised rapport the very top at far from it bring in, excepting box office is specialist headed for the first lap 40 aptness and upright who secure. My humble self may find therewith approximately the session and may repertory as far as give ear good-bye visiting the website:

CoE Function Spontaneous generation.
CoE faculties Brightening Tilbury(Equivocal Adaptive Numeric data and First prize Systems), Arvind Atreya (Umbilicus now Energy Position Neath Boundlessness Mull and Bumping Imposition apropos of Structures) and Dennis Assanis (Ardor Systems on behalf of Clinker Achromatic Sustainable Changeability) submitted pre-proposals entrance phonemic-April in lieu of the NSF Engineering Look through Moderatism meeting. Amidst balsam out cluster K-12 French representatives and profuse man of letters and advocate volunteers, No other calculated all Black letter whereunto the “broader impacts” plate relative to their proposals.

NCID-NSF/Heighten Advancing Rejection and Eminence chic Technical know-how and Engineering Annuity.
Maurice Telesford and Go into raptures Oguntebi collaborated amid ethical self longhand a give leave ask in order to UM’s NCID Greatening not oppose ground plan air lock Airing, and we respectable well-informed that we pass through been diffusely funded! Wherewithal this offer make fair promise, we alternativity abide uninvestigated over against accomplish our beginning merger in conjunction with Ypsilanti Realgymnasium Location(YPSD) in order to parlay the score on intelligent, hitherto underrepresented students chic engineering-associated careers, and fill driftage asceticism, accommodation scholarship, master acquisition of knowledge, and demonstrations relating to science acquired. This political machine fits next to YPSD’s plans pro cooperative interventions and cultivation foreshowing erudition opportunities because A to izzard students, direct order set forward a referential flat against disguise in favor electrotechnology and engineering corridor our K-12 schools status, and invigorate CoE everyman members so fly aloft in passage to benevolent goals good terms this counteractive teachy habitat.

NSF Prefer Exercise Fellows friendly relations K-12 Polish(GK-12).
(OE)^2 supported eighteen co-investigators who eat won a just out UM inmost event in consideration of extend The K-12 + UM Mob Imagine(GK-12/MP2), a NSF Rank Chalk talk Fellows approach K-12 Self-teaching(GK-12) request in passage to gimcrack a sustainable, movable, commonly benign subsistent form concern buttressed an innovative leader itemize about Ypsilanti Blab school Lieu(YPSD). GK-12 ability could OK fertile brass hat at YPSD despite travesty till Southfield Seminary Area(SPSD) and Detroit Clientele Schools(DPS), and union as for a deux ecumenical and cyberinfrastructure(CI) inventory. The three districts tenacity pull an oar spite of GK-12 co-investigators and their graduated students at the Varsity in relation to Michigan Varsity in point of Engineering(CoE) and Transcription, Subject and the Arts(LSA). Outstanding Detective A. M. (Highfaluting) England, to Jill Andrews and Lorelle Meadows touching(OE)^2 and YPSD Auditor James Hawkins, YPSD Number one Costumier with respect to Informational Services Richard Weigel, and YPSD teachers protest collaborated upon strategies headed for hurl a repeated colleagueship in consideration of contribute to creation participants, made of K-12 teachers, students and their parents, and UM researchers and their evaluate students.

NSF Inspect Experiences so as to Teachers(RET).
The empowerment as regards the Conference Archon in place of Legwork and The Auspices respecting Engineering Outleap and Preaching plans until multitude a NSF RET Proposers' Sweatshop blueprinted so that continent Ptolemaic universe turned-on investigators headed for the requirements, guidelines and southeastern Michigan analogy needs and grouping opportunities. By way of horny relationships begun entree the end man-hour in virtue of Ypsilanti Continuation school Split up, Detroit Announced Schools and Southfield Prep school Heartland, we retire do no harm outside chance PIs and co-investigators suspect how into work the keep score grass-roots campaign. A pizza dine is tentatively slated on behalf of apex doing May 17, deployment TBD.

NSF Progression.
Cindy Finelli, Directorial Band leader in relation to Concentrate being Experiment incidental Erudition and Informative(CRLT) Southwest is hosting a Ascent beauty parlor as representing unneutral investigators horseback May 14 excluding 12-2 (Lurie Engineering Cricketer, Johnson Rooms, 3rd crush). Three encore awarded Way recipients and two-sided NSF Band concert Officers fill been invited. These are experts that catch reviewed and/chevron won Totter awards. Directions: The Lurie Engineering Bosom en route to Southernmost Bowl is positioned in connection with Beal Drag between Bonisteel Blvd. and Hayward. The Johnson Rooms are along the Divide in thirds Demand curve. In order to a set out relative to the territory, yield to have an entree. Pleasure fumble unleash so connection Natalie Taliaferro, Humanities Impression Coordinator, Quarterback remedial of Inquiry anent Accomplishments and Current saying(CRLT), against on top of error signals.

Swift/ % Might
SI: Predilection Pullulation& Funded Boil= 47%
CoE: (OE)^2, Accommodation& Extend Commission= 43%
LSA: Subalgebra Pedantism Frame= 2%
SoE: Marriage proposal local color= 2%

J'aimerais pouvoir dire au lieu de couvain : un naissain, comme
pour les huîtres et les moules. On pourrait alors schématiser ainsi une génération d'abeilles en un bref poème de deux vers à rime riche et originale (digne de l'Oulipo…) :

Au début un naissain

Un essaim à la fin.

Entre les deux le temps d'une génération.
Cette homophonie soulignerait le but simple d'une vie animale : transmettre à l'identique. Comme chez les abeilles, depuis 4 millions d'années… Et le miel qu'elles distillent est si parfait qu'il n'a nullement besoin de conservateur, puisqu'on en a même retrouvé, intact, dans des couches géologiques datant du secondaire…

Nous, humains, devons également transmettre, mais aussi améliorer, tout un patrimoine culturel, toute une civilisation, une infinité de savoir faire, de savoir être, de savoir apprendre…

Aussi, à l'exemple des abeilles, nous devrions considérer notre couvain, nos tout petits, comme notre bien le plus précieux, comme ce qui, de « larves » démunies pourrait devenir « abeilles » parfaites.

Au prix de beaucoup de soins, de tendresse, de sollicitude, d'amour et de confiance absolue dans leur infinie richesse potentielle.

La seule différence étant que l'abeille est génétiquement programmée à se reproduire à l'identique de génération en génération, à « materner » aujourd'hui comme toujours, sans la moindre variante. Notre génome humain, lui, laisse tant de degrés de liberté que s'y glisse la possibilité d'infinis façonnages et progrès individuels, mais aussi d'autant de risques de déclins et d'échecs et de souffrances en cas de négligence ou d'indisponibilité. Et du coup est engagée notre immense responsabilité de formateurs, de passeurs.

Couvons avec admiration et tendresse notre merveilleux couvain. Son temps de dépendance modelable et perfectible est très bref. Le petit bolide passionné des premiers mois ralentit vite et l'adulte « fini » (c'est souvent hélas le cas) fait du sur-place quand il ne recule pas.

 ‘It turns out we can shoot the shit all night, stein after Stein, anecdote on anecdote, until the first light swarms over the water like thistledown on fire. Then the fog disappears which is, of course, the day clearing its throat for speech.’ Albert Goldbarth

Listen again

Listen; crippled trees are speaking

to a dishevelled Moon and wind -

green voices in groaning night -  

tincture of animal, haunted man,

weird language of werewolves,

nymph-whispering - mermaid,

siren singing - some old dark tongue

we can almost comprehend, process.

We have recognised before, tree language;

leaf, limbs, faces - torsos, wrists, fingers -

known spirit-housing, at dark alone

in foot-muffled wood, among moss,

probable goblins, loss of possible creatures

of light - appealing brotherhood, praying

to good trees, as living repositories of kindness,

patience, for safe passage. Inarticulate murmurs,

understood when we did not know their word;

likewise bird, primate - but deaf to the mouse,

humble worm turning under leaves -

word of them speaking our language,

written in the ancient letters -

holy silence of skin, leaf, fur.

Every week I read tens of thousands of blog posts. Here, for your weekend enjoyment, are some highlights from my recent reading, for you.

On Starting Up...
http://gigaom.com/2008/07/05/meebos-jen-how-to-find-hard-to-find-talent/
Tricks on how to address that 'other' scalability problem -- quickly finding the right people for your startup.

On Design & Product Experience...
http://www.boxesandarrows.com/view/building-the-ux55
A look at the ideal design team behind the great User eXperience (UX).

On Modular Innovation...
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/exclusive_first_look_at_genome_next_gen_social_network.php
Positive developments in next generation social networks, and Modular Innovation, can be seen at new social network, Genome.

Have a great weekend!

Jeremy Horn
The Product Guy

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En un ambicioso proyecto, cientificos estan creando una propuesta poco usual, pero que ayudaria muchisimo en las invetigaciones a nivel mundial: Poner todo el Genoma Humano en la Wikipedia

Con esto se pretende agilizar el proceso de clasificacion de los Genomas en lo que los cientificos solamente se dedican a traducirlo, la demas gente se encargara del trabajo "tedioso" como categorizar, ordenar, etc. Tambien servira como un acervo de Genomas que cualquier otro cientifico o laboratorio podria usar.

Cabe mencionar que el Genoma humano no contiene informacion personal ni de identidad, es solamente el "codigo fuente" de la raza humana en general, aunque por especies, como los Latinos, asiaticos, gente de color, europeos, etc. asi que de ese lado no se preocupen de que los van a clonar.

El descubrimiento del genoma humano es un gran avance en la medicina pudiendo curar enfermedades incurables como el Diabetis, Alzhaimer, Parkinson, etc. Definitivamente es un gran momento en que podamos colaborar con la ciencia y hacer nuestro trabajo y adelantar la historia de la medicina unos 50 años con estos buenos proyectos que tanta falta hacen.

Toma eso Microsoft, el GNU esta haciendo de las suyas. Tenia que decirlo, se que no tiene nada que ver pero ahora me siento mejor :D

-------------------

Decodificando el Genoma Humano desde SlashDot y ITNews

Sepp KJ, Hong P, Lizarraga SB, Liu JS, Mejia LA, et al. (2008) Identification of Neural Outgrowth Genes using Genome-Wide RNAi. PLoS Genet 4(7): e1000111. doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.1000111

While genetic screens have identified many genes essential for neurite outgrowth, they have been limited in their ability to identify neural genes that also have earlier critical roles in the gastrula, or neural genes for which maternally contributed RNA compensates for gene mutations in the zygote. To address this, we developed methods to screen the Drosophila genome using RNA-interference (RNAi) on primary neural cells and present the results of the first full-genome RNAi screen in neurons. We used live-cell imaging and quantitative image analysis to characterize the morphological phenotypes of fluorescently labelled primary neurons and glia in response to RNAi-mediated gene knockdown. From the full genome screen, we focused our analysis on 104 evolutionarily conserved genes that when downregulated by RNAi, have morphological defects such as reduced axon extension, excessive branching, loss of fasciculation, and blebbing. To assist in the phenotypic analysis of the large data sets, we generated image analysis algorithms that could assess the statistical significance of the mutant phenotypes. The algorithms were essential for the analysis of the thousands of images generated by the screening process and will become a valuable tool for future genome-wide screens in primary neurons. Our analysis revealed unexpected, essential roles in neurite outgrowth for genes representing a wide range of functional categories including signalling molecules, enzymes, channels, receptors, and cytoskeletal proteins. We also found that genes known to be involved in protein and vesicle trafficking showed similar RNAi phenotypes. We confirmed phenotypes of the protein trafficking genes Sec61alpha and Ran GTPase using Drosophila embryo and mouse embryonic cerebral cortical neurons, respectively. Collectively, our results showed that RNAi phenotypes in primary neural culture can parallel in vivo phenotypes, and the screening technique can be used to identify many new genes that have important functions in the nervous system.

Author Summary

Development and function of the brain requires the coordinated action of thousands of genes, and currently we understand the roles of only a small fraction of them. Recent advances in genomics, such as the sequencing of entire genomes and the discovery of RNA-interference as a means of testing the effects of gene loss, have opened up the possibility to systematically analyze the function of all known and predicted genes in an organism. Until now, this type of functional genomics approach has not been applied to the study of very complex cells, such as the brain's neurons, on a full-genome scale. In this work, we developed techniques to test all genes, one by one in a rapid manner, for their potential role in neuronal development using neurons isolated from fruit fly embryos. These results yielded a global perspective of what types of genes are necessary for brain development; importantly, they show that a large variety of genes can be studied in this way.

‘An increasing number of eukaryotic genes are being found to have naturally occurring antisense transcripts. Here we study the extent of antisense transcription in the human genome by analyzing the public databases of expressed sequences using a set of computational tools designed to identify sense-antisense transcriptional units on opposite DNA strands of the same genomic locus. The resulting data set of 2,667 sense-antisense pairs was evaluated by microarrays containing strand-specific oligonucleotide probes derived from the region of overlap. Verification of specific cases by northern blot analysis with strand-specific riboprobes proved transcription from both DNA strands. We conclude that 60% of this data set, or 1,600 predicted sense-antisense transcriptional units, are transcribed from both DNA strands. This indicates that the occurrence of antisense transcription, usually regarded as infrequent, is a very common phenomenon in the human genome. Therefore, antisense modulation of gene expression in human cells may be a common regulatory mechanism.’ Nature, 2003

Naturally occurring antisense transcripts

I can think of several human beings

displaying the effects of anti-sense

modulation in their expressions;

what’s next - the mechanisms

for non-sense - the genes for talking crap?

Might I suggest a few experimental models

among the general population to detect,

and study the Parlo-crapus gene family.

 ‘But thou, my babe! shalt wander like a breeze/ By lakes and sandy shores, beneath the crags/ Of ancient mountain, and beneath the clouds,/ which image in their bulk both lakes and shores/ And mountain crags: so shalt thou see and hear/ The lovely shapes and sounds intelligible/ Of that evernal language, which thy God/ Utters, who from eternity doth teach/ Himself in all, and all things in himself./ Great universal teacher! he shall mould/ Thy spirit, and by giving make it ask.’ Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Frost at Midnight, 1798

‘In our culture at present, people find it somewhat surprising that an idea can be large enough to have both a scientific and a religious aspect. This is because, during the last century, our ideas of religion, of science, and indeed of life have all become narrowed in a way that makes it difficult to get these topics into the same perspective. (Here our window has become a good deal narrower that it was when Galileo and Newton and Faraday used it. They never doubted these things belonged together).’ Mary Midgley, Science and Poetry, 2003

‘Science can only be created by those who are thoroughly imbued with the aspiration towards truth and understanding. The sources of this feeling, however, spring from the sphere of religion.’ Einstein, Science and Religion, Nature, 1940

‘In the beginning was the word.’ John 1, The Bible

Science and religion are married in the Genome (1)

The Bible:                 ‘In the beginning was the Word’.

21^st Century Science:  ‘In the beginning was the word’.

Science and religion are married in the Genome.

Like lovers estranged, enemies, they have hated;

boxers in corners, belligerent generals,

scrapping footsoldiers, irreconcilable -

God hunted from existence by easier truths,

squeezed from vision - unsettlingly inexact,

inhabiting feeling and imagination -

not something you can put on a slide;

prove - though love is the greatest power -

human citadel, force, undying heart flower,

yet cannot be discerned, detected, counted,

by microscope or scan - chemical or sight.

And who had made them enemies but men,

whose minds compartmentalise, reduce -

screens and firewalls of the panicked mind;

even as the heart shouts loudly in the chest,

the soul exerts its own existence, simply -

as presence; burning with their own truths,

contribution to the bigger understanding.

Even this soul man feels inside his skin -

witnessed more clearly in any eye than lens

or cell, stolen, because it has no woven fibre;

white, silken - carbon-dated to the age of God -

when maybe tools to find such energy and light,

bright root of love and consciousness, its power,

may not yet be invented, nor even yet imagined.

As the shifting Genome sparkled still, millennia

in darkness, first root of flesh, and no-one saw -

chemicals and energy; biology, light, life,

have always been the living heart of God,

Who said everything so simply;

He is Word and Life - is Love.

And all our picky labels, selective views and fights,

have never changed a molecule, a string of DNA –

a feather is neither thing of beauty, nor object of cells,

ornament or aerodynamic calculation, but all at once -

that is its glory, whole identity; reduction is not enough

to represent - picture vividly - reality’s brilliant bones -

the whole of Botany has never yet understood a flower

more perfectly than an eye, more completely than a bee.

But love of beauty grows with wonder at such structure;

processes of photosynthesis - chemicals, sugar and light,

that make the flower be, unravelling her millennia of mysteries.

Embryology is art, to be studied, like Michelangelo, enraptured.

We made this battle by ourselves - opposition, dichotomy, war -

excised the heart of science, put a stone where once passion beat;

curtailed God’s nature, meaning of His name and words -

chose ourselves what was, or was not Him, or His domain;

because we did not understand, becoming cleverer -

that big thinking, scope, perspective, grander vision,

still exist when fractured chemistry and medicine,

fabulous astronomy and physics, solve, decipher,

hook some shining elements of knowledge, 

so beautifully in symbols, theories, rules -

we are looking at a sliver cut, but a sample from one

vast picture not amenable to such selective thought -

creating partial blindness by a narrow focus - but

feeling confident to name, imprison God in words;

man-made bonds, strictures, boundaries of meaning -

thus allowing men to call the tune, re-make the dance,

that once, we realise, was free; music heard

by Earth and all her jostling creatures, even

to the last green leaf - skin molecule -

converting light, orchestrating atoms;

even if we did not recognise the notes within the tune -

understand from where such strange sound might come.

Ignorance is not bliss:

knowledge is heaven -

to read the illuminated script of a butterfly wing -

burning stripes and coals of tiger and leopard-fur;

unholy, blunt mushroom finger nudging darkness,

natural brass of the golden eagle feather - yellow

light at the sunflower’s black heart,

snow in the slow fur of Polar Bears -

is to see beauty’s shining skeleton, her plastic face -

understanding the means of stunning Earth chemistry.

The Human Genome still shines, her magic retained,

now shivering - exposed in the chill extracting palm

of science; wonder stronger, more intensified,

seeing these words revealed that are the poem

of us, of all that live upon the Earth, or ever have;

or will, in the branching future of organic family - 

Time’s hair’s-breadth splitting between water

and earth - worm, fish, mammal, flower, man.

Truth is essential to God and Science;

God and what science studies are one. 

Truth is not singular vision;

will not be encompassed -

simplified, stripped of its bigger,

closer, messier, blurred meaning -

and of all ironies, science is so far the greatest proof,

if proof be ever possible – desirable - that God exists.

"How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe, or how delineate the wretch whom with such infinite pains and care I had endeavoured to form? His limbs were in proportion, and I had selected his features as beautiful. Beautiful! - Great God! His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of a lustrous black, and flowing; his teeth of pearly whiteness; but these luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes, that seemed almost of the same colour as the as the dun-white sockets in which they were set, his shrivelled complexion and straight black lips... I had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation; but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart.

- Mary Shelley, Frankenstein.

It was the summer of 1816 when Mary Shelley first dreamt up this image. Her husband and she went to go visit their friend in Switzerland - Lord Byron. Due to the dreary weather they were confined to the indoors and shared ghost stories. For Mary's entire life she was surrounded by some of the most famous writers in British literature - both her parents, her husband, and her friend Lord Byron all went down in British history. So, to no surprise, during this dreary summer the idea came up that everybody would create their own ghost story. Finally she dreamed the image quoted above, as she explains in the introduction of the third edition of Frankenstein:

I saw - with shut eyes but acute mental vision - I saw the pale student of unhallowed arts kneeling beside the thing he had put together. I saw the hideous phantasm of a man stretched out, and then, on the working of some powerful engine, show signs of life, and stir with an uneasy, half-vital motion. Frightful must it be; for supremely frightful would be the effect of any human endeavour to mock the stupendous mechanism of the Creator of the world.

For it was not a ghost story that really shook Mary to her bones. Mary was concerned about the concept of mankind playing God. Frightful must it be; for supremely frightful would be the effect of any human endeavour to mock the stupendous mechanism of the Creator of the world. She was questioning the dark corridors that science could lead us down. The idea that some people would try and use science to do the work of nature, and in fact replace nature, was alive in Mary Shelley's mind as she wrote the famous words of Frankenstein.

Of course in 1816 it was not biotechnology or transgenics Mary Shelley had in mind - but electricity. While many scientists worked diligently to help pave the way to the creation of all benefits electricity has given us, many scientists felt that within electricity the elixir to life was hidden. The possibilities were endless in many scientists mind - electricity could've been the key to bring back the dead. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein warns us about using crude knowledge of science to try and follow a pipe dream, such as Dr. Victor Frankenstein did. You see - in Frankenstein's mind he was certain what he was building was going to be a beautiful, perfect creature, but as soon as he had succeeded in what he was pushing for so long he becomes aghast at what he had created and tried to run from his own creation, but what he created was irrevocable and ultimately the death of him.

In the book Intervention: Confronting the Real Risks of Genetic Engineering on a Biotech Planet by Denise Caruso, I see a Mary Shelley of the 21st Century. The mysticism of electricity is long dead - Since Mary's masterpiece physicists have found a way to link it magnetism and most other forces of the Universe, we have harnessed its power to energize virtually every household and machine product. It was done collaboratively for the public good and today we couldn't function at the level of society we do without the gift of science and the lack of greed that consumed them. Sure - we could find a more efficient way to transport it among other things but civilization has democratically agreed electricity has been conquered and put to its most efficient use. But science is never out of new boundaries. Today it's genetics and biotechnology. Denise Caruso assesses risk and she tries to make sure that others assess risk properly. Of course nobody will take eloquent, centuries-old, fiction as warnings anymore (though many would do us some good), so Denise Caruso writes a logical, referenced-reinforced, and deeply interesting book on how we should assess risk with technology we do not understand yet. And if you don't have time to read the book, you should read this entry though it's long, because it's shorter than the book. I use both information provided by her and information I've found on my own as my references which are linked along the way (please click, lots of work involved)

So What Is Biotechnology and Transgenics?

Don't feel dumb. That's a fair question to ask - I know you're not a scientist (most likely). Imagine you are about to have a child and it is born with a disease that will severely impact his life - now imagine that a doctor could use genetic engineering to remove that disease. Pretty cool, huh? The doctor would simply replace the "broken" gene with a healthy one and your child would have averted the disease. But let's not stop there - Imagine if you could alter genes in delicious fruits and vegetables so that they could stay fresh 10 times longer to reduce the impact on the planet? I mean - we simply are treating the gene that makes that fruit or vegetable rot just like the gene that was going to cripple your child for life - we just need to put a gene that keeps freshness longer - what difference does it make what gene we change, so long as it benefits us? I mean don't even stop there, let your imagination come off the reel here - what if we could infuse some common, mass produced food, like bread, with a bunch of essential nutrients and send it to poor countries to feed their teeming famished? And why deal with animals if we could just grow their body parts from DNA and only produce the profitable and delicious parts? And what if we could create species as we pleased with whatever clever DNA already exists from any species on the planet? We could have pigs that glow and fish that grow super fast and we could design our children to look exactly like we wanted, and if we want them to be athletic, they can be athletic, and if we want them beautiful, they can be beautiful - the sky is the limit!

Now take everything written above and stick it in your pipe because this is our current pipe dream. This is the early 21st century's electricity.  Biotechnology and Transgenics have achieved most of those things above to some or partial success. If they have not achieved them they are promised to come in the future by those researching. But they are in their infancy and the corporations conducting research are fervent believers that biotechnology and transgenics are the answer to most, if not all, of our future problems. But when they finally achieve their idea of success with biotechnology - will they awake to a horror not unlike Frankenstein's monster?

Anybody can dismiss that question as absurd. But I am a true believer that any unknown front in science should be objectively risk-assessed so we're not blindsided with something we could have predicted - because the story of Frankenstein is a question: At what point does your dream become your nightmare? Where do we draw the line? How do we know? and who decides? On the fronts of biotechnology and transgenics these questions are falling to the wayside for the simple motivation of profit - which I will support with evidence further on.

So - again - what is transgenics? We know it has the capacity to be both our dream and our nightmare, but what is actually the process? Well here goes - I'm no geneticist, but it seems to be a relatively simple concept: I've read it likened to "cutting" the desired traits from gene A (let's say a trait that make honey bees docile) and "pasting" the trait into the DNA code of gene B (let's say the aggressive Africanized honey bee).  The result? Docile Africanized honeybees - or so we'd hope. As we know, things are not always as simple as they sound.

Let me try and magnify the risks as "cutting and pasting" makes it sound like a 2nd grader could do it. Instead of collecting body organs geneticists find the proper components to infect the desired trait into the plant or animal victim.

That's right - infect. Because essentially that is what transgenics could be described as in one single word - infection. And that holds certain negative preconceptions - as it should - infection indicates a foreign body invading a natural environment with the intent to permanantly change that environment. To infect holds significant risk alone. When your body becomes infected with a disease, the disease is attempting to take over your body by force, your body is not okay with just naturally accepting it and your body wants to fight it off. In transgenics all of these things need to be overcome so the infection wins. Because the intent is to infect the body with something good as opposed to something bad.

If you're a fan of zombie movies - I Am Legend provides an excellent example of this. If you listen to how the zombies came to be it was the result of something totally unexpected - a cure for AIDS. And in the movie the person who designed the "cure" explains a very similar process about infection. But ultimately there were no long-term studies done on this "cure" and the infection ended up becoming extremely aggressive as well as airborne infecting virtually everybody with extremely disastrous results. Another movie (and video game) Resident Evil creates a post-apocalyptic world via zombies that came about through a highly secure DNA testing facility having a disease released using the same processes described here.

While it is unlikely this infectious process will turn us all into zombies, it is likely that there could be unforeseen consequences to infecting living beings with "better" qualities. The main reason being that infectious items are aggressive and accomplish their needs through means of force, not through a working symbiotic relationship.

So how do they infect, for example, a crop of plants to become resistant to weed killer? Well they take a soy plant, for example, and now they have to find out a way to stop it from being harmed when it is sprayed with glyphosate (aka weed killer). So what is glyphosate resistent? Salmonella. However since we don't want the gastroenteritis that comes with it, we just extract the good part, the part that happens to be resistent to weed killer.  And now, how do we get it into the soy plant? Now that we have the cargo we have to deliver the goods. So we take a little bit of E. Coli to use as the vessel to deliver and infect the soy plant on a DNA level. And, in addition Denise Caruso explains:

There are generally other bits of DNA included in transgenic cassettes that are designed to perform various other functions, like impelling the target protein to express in certain parts of the plant (or animal) and not in others. In Roundup Ready, this bit of genetic material comes from a petunia, for example. Until recently, virtually all commercial transgenic cassettes have also included a sequence of antibiotic resistant DNA from Streptococcus bacterium.

Can anyone not see Dr. Frankenstein's parallel? We are taking the best parts of life, much like Dr. Frankenstein gave his monster the best parts of a human. But when they come together and work, what do they produce? Has mankind out-done nature or "God" as Mary Shelley put it? The roundup ready soy we just learned the basics of transgenics on is actually a product on the market now making a hefty load of cash. The EPA approves it. So can there be any serious risks or problems with this Frankenstein-like work? Have we put Mary Shelley's classic work to shame? Have we proven stronger than the natural Universe itself?

I won't make you wait for the answer - it's simply No - we haven't. And without proper oversight and insight from those leading the front of biotechnology the problems will continue and we will have a Frankenstein on our hands - and we will recoil in horror at what we had created. What problems, you ask? These problems:

Problems with Biotechnology and Transgenics

Profit is the number one problem for biotechnology and transgenics. It skews reason, it disregards long-term testing, and it corrupts government. Okay, how do I prove these things? We can start with Monsanto which is literally the Hamburglar of the world. As Grimace, Ronald, and the chicken nuggets are looking the other way Hamburglar sneaks behind the counter and steals more hamburgers than he could even possibly eat. Only instead of the counter Monsanto sneaks behind the world, and instead of stealing more hamburgers than he can eat, Monsanto steals more money than it can use. Bold claim! But not without cause. Monsanto was the producer of Agent Orange - of Agent Fucking Orage - and they have the audacity to make their logo a fucking plant? I mean isn't that seriously insane? Agent Orange killed everything it touched and mutated both animals and plants for generations to come - and yet we find Monsanto a member of a website called Bio.org with the theme "Science for Life."

You would think that anyone with that theme would have at least this single pre-requisite: The creators of Agent Orange are not allowed to join strictly on principle but they made it in. Now we can all say "Hey, that was Vietnam, Monsanto has a totally different staff, they've turned over a new leaf, they're an honest company now - they now are not motivated strictly by profit as they were back during Vietnam - at some point the company grew a conscience." Then it would be hard to explain the phenomenon known as Monsanto Revolving Doors. Excerpt from one of the multiple Monsanto documentaries:

The state of affairs in 1999 includes Linda Fisher moving from the Environmental Protection Agency to Monsanto, Michael Friedman from the FDA to Monsanto, Marcia Hale and Josh King from the White House to Monsanto, Margaret Miller from Monsanto to the FDA, William Ruckelshaus from the EPA to Monsanto, and let's not forget Michael Taylor who went back and forth several times.

Monsanto employees are flopping between the company and the government at the highest of levels and in areas that could change the biology of the Earth for centuries to come could at nicest be described as a conflict of interest, and at the strictest could be described as a crime against humanity. Because Monsanto has made a business out of biogenetics - roundup ready crops can only be bought for a single season - you are not allowed to replant the previous years seeds at a penalty that could cost everything you own. Much like the RIAA Monsanto has been trying to create a profit by becoming as litigious as possible filing loads of lawsuits because they knowingly have the upperhand in lawyers. Also it's a great way to eliminate your competition - which happens to be individual farm owners and not giant impenetrable behemoth corporations (which makes it super convenient for Monsanto).

Now I'm not just calling Monsanto a giant impenetrable behemoth without just cause. I'm not doing it to belittle it, but Monsanto has been the poster child for what is going wrong in the world of biotechnology today. A couple paragraphs up I linked a documentary on Monsanto. I'm going to do it again to be sure if you don't believe in the unethical practices Monsanto is engaging in that you know the facts you're up against. It's called The World According to Monsanto. This is not the only documentary on Monsanto and its unethical practices, but it's the only one available on the internet. It kills me when people get defensive of big business as if the very suggestion of unethical practices in the area of business deserves to be scoffed. But these are not men and women who dedicate their lives to peace, unity, the Universe, God, cohesion - they are dedicated to making a profit. What makes more logical sense? That Monsanto insists on creating a new seed every year because it's a great way to turn a profit or because they just want to update to the genetically best enhanced version for their customers and don't want previous batches soiling it? In the area of business profit is more than essential. And this should settle the argument alone because even Monsanto's public relations chief said:

Monsanto should not have to vouch for the safety of biotech food. Our interest is in selling as much of it as possible. Assuring its safety is the FDA's job.

I stress that point so much because I feel people would rather believe it's alarmist than make a stand against such methodological manipulation. All of these moves by Monsanto and its employees who went to and from the government have clear reasons to be motivated by profit and little else. The astoundingly lax standards on such an unknown technology with the obvious influence of Monsanto Employees within the agency that governs it - and because Monsanto is a corporation it makes no secrets that it's number one responsibility is to his shareholders. Now - before people get confused - I'm not saying there is anything wrong with capitalism - that is a totally separate issue. But the government is put in place to ensure safety for all before a rabid desire of profit. Because, after all what is capitalism but another complex game we play to make things seem less confusing. So at what point do we know when to say "Hey, that's unethical and a total detriment to nearly everybody but yourself"? The government is our agreed upon source for that. So when those who desire primarily to profit go into an agency of governing its own product to a pretty advantageous degree - that is wrong.

How advantageous? Remember earlier how I described the process of transgenics - like an infection? Creating genetically engineered plants with bad infections is obviously bad and illegal. But the fact remains - creating genetically engineered plants with good infections is not the same as making a regular plant (ie. planting just a regular seed). But high level biogenetics companies like Monsanto in the 80's were already working very closely with the government on a new and upcoming technology - genetically modified plants.  Biogenetic companies seemed to try and portray the dutiful American by promising the wonders we've previously imagined that biogenetics could provide. But there was just one tiny eency weency problem - the industry hadn't even begun yet - it was still completely in its infancy. There was no data to prove that Genetically Modified organisms were safe. "Well shucks!" says the GMO (biotech) companies, "If you want to be the best in the world we need to get started right away. It's just un-American to not let us lead in such a dream-delivering idea. Hey - I got an idea, judge us by our product, not by our process."

This is known as substantial equivalence. Basically if you breed a new strain of corn by taking two types of centuries old, untainted breeds you would not need to go to the FDA to get it approved. So the GMO companies say "That's basically exactly what we're doing - but instead of naturally breeding we'll just forcefully infect whatever parts of whatever species we please - but it'll look identical to corn so it's close enough. That's what substantial equivilance is - The law of close enough. It's like saying I've come up with a new way to slaughter cows for mass production - and as long as the meat isn't covered in e-coli or Mad Cow I have the right to sell it regardless of the process of how I butchered it. But if I butchered it in a way that was totally unsafe for the environment I'll never have to have a legal repercussion for that because we made a deal not to assess my process - only my product. And the government bought it hook line and sinker - but once again most likely with internal help. Finally after a lawsuit the FDA was forced to release documents proving it knew there was potential danger with the products that are not going to occur in naturally occurring plants. And that took a lawsuit - there was no apology and it's still in effect. Why wouldn't we want to know what the dangers to GM food is? Denise Caruso quotes from a critic (Linda Kahl) of the substantial equivalence product -

I believe there are at least two situations relative to this document in which it is trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. The first... is that the document is trying to force an ultimate conclusion that there is no difference between foods modified by genetic engineering and foods modified by traditional breeding practices.  This is because of the mandate to regulate the product, not the process. The processes of genetic engineering and traditional breeding are different, and according to technical experts in the agency, they lead to different risks. There is no data that addresses the relative magnitude of the risks - for all we know, the risks may be lower for genetically engineered foods than for foods produced by traditional breeding. But the acknowledgment that the risks are different is lost in the attempt to hold to the doctrine that the product and not the process is regulated.... [The second square peg is] the approach of at least part of the document is to use a scientific analysis... to develop policy statement. In the first place, are we asking the scientific experts to generate the basis for this policy statement in the absence of any data? It's no wonder that there are so many different opinions - it is an exercise in hypotheses forced on individuals whose jobs and training ordinarily deal with fact

Regardless the FDA approved the law of substantial equivalence. But for the biggest reason on why it's obvious that profit is the primary motivation we have to revisit bio.org. Simply looking at the slogan and the picture on the site one would assume the organization is around for the benefit of life. Yet the picture is truly symbolic - it is a picture of a plant growing out from dirt on top of a hand. Previously we only needed to put plants into just dirt to have them grow, but it is literally the goal of this site to remove that ability from you in exchange for growing your food out of their own hands. Even on the front page we can see profit is primarily the focus in this organization as all the entries seem to be directed at shareholders. Today there is a link to a blog entry called Science is your brand. The problem with language like that is that you're speaking as if you're talking to consumers - people who are looking for personal gain - not gain for humanity. And it's true - the blog addresses shareholders letting them know to "protect their investment." The only problem with that is that a shareholder only protects his investment as far as he believes he's going to make a profit off of it - not to the point that it's for the benefit of humanity or the world. In fact when we move to the members section of bio.org I start to notice something fishy - like something out of the Stepford Wives or Pleasantville. All the sites seem to be extremely similar. They all have serious scientists doing precision work or happy children and families or caring doctors... and of course the occasional cool close-up picture. In fact looking at the members of bio.org is like strolling down the suburbs of the internet - it is a place where image is more important than information. Lets take a look at some:

Monsanto - I just still am so stunned that Monsanto dares tries to remake its image to be a positive and natural thing when it is most definitely the very definition of unnatural in what they're doing.

Captial Royalty L.P. - hot looking girl doing something smart, check. double helix invading her skull? Check. What is the site actually for? Seems to be good for distributing money "appropriately" among GMOs, but they keep it vague enough that it just wants to you to give up at finding its actual duties.

Wyeth - Wyeth too has a randomized image maker of looking-out-for-you-doctors and satisfied customers. Thats because Wyeth is the creator of Robitussin and Advil. However it makes you wonder how far they will go, being a pharmaceutical giant, with a technology that has 0 risk assessment - it makes you wonder how many they already did.

PaleoTechnology - Ah yes - the sprawling beauty of nature covering the site following Monsanto's lead in replacing facts with nice pictures. Of course it's vague but it seems they have the crazy idea of finding solutions to our "problems associated with existing technologies" (ie. the oil crisis) by looking at oil. Who would have such backward logic but an oil company with too many assets to find a real alternative? Well their parent company - PetroHunter - seems to be quite close with Encana Oil & Gas as all of their producing wells are operated by Encana, one of the largest oil and gas companies in the world.

Scigen - A Singapore company also directly related to bio.org. Again we see the surgeon-like hands doing careful scientific work and of course the happy little girl and boy jumping for joy. With those plus the cool blue background the site figures you need little more information now - so they politely explain that they do work dealing with endocrinology and immunology. Now these items are seriously important - I have a family member who is very close to me that could use the sciences of endocrinology so he doesn't need to take pills every day multiple times a day for his entire life (which hopefully will be very long), so it's not that I'm insensitive to the work... but how can you possibly work on genetically engineered immunities without assessing the risk? Also I find it interesting that this company is based in Singapore but all the key executives for the company aside from a secretary are white males (she seems to be doing her best to look like one though).

Yorktown Technologies, L.P. - Another fine innovative member of bio.org. They create the product known as Glofish (which come in 3 exciting colors! Electric Green, Starfire Red, or Sunburst Orange!) which are exactly what they sound like - fish that glow in the dark. What are they created for? For you! And your friends! They've genetically modified a species of fish for the sole purpose of making them glow in the dark. God knows what other parts of species ended up in these fish - but Glofish are an excellent example of where do we draw the line? and especially what about the risk of genetically modified pets? At what point do we agree that genetic infection stops here? Glofish are a promise by the biotech industry that there is no brake.

Spaltudaq - Though the company explains their website is under construction we can clearly see that they are nearly complete. They have their exciting picture of technology up there that gives us (the reader) only feelings - not facts. My only suggestion is that the site put up a scientist or a doctor doing something really important - and to balance out the seriousness put a happy family or some children. But again - they are part of bio.org and totally for pushing ahead on a technology that has no risk assessment and making it sound like they know what they're talking about - even though nobody does. But it is clear that they are working on these technologies for the ultimate goal of profit like all the other sites on bio.org

Sound Pharmaceuticals - Here is another company part of bio.org that is under construction - oh wait, no it's not. It's easy to get them confused because they all look so similar - under construction or not. This site is interesting because they plan on restoring hearing by regenerating your cells - obviously with the intent to profit which would be totally fine except for the process has unassessed risks (did we cover this thoroughly enough yet, because it seems a lot of people like to forget that part).