Read them here. They are interesting and very practical. Though, I am not sure if I (will) follow all of them.

Not exactly, but they have got their vision enhanced thanks to the researchers at Johns Hopkins School of University. The enhanced vision is analogous to a hypothetical situation in which a person may get ability to see in the ultraviolet or infrared regions. Imagine, how the world would be if you could see in such extra-ordinary spectrums. No, you can’t imagine. It would be a completely different experience. Cool, eh.

Surprisingly, the mice’s brain quickly adapted to use the new enhanced vision. This means that brain can use new sensory information quickly. But how does the brain characterize and process the new sensory information immediately in a single generation. I mean, lets imagine a human-like organism which does not have the sense of smell. Now, when you artificially introduce such sense, how does the brain tell good smells from bad smells? Is there something inherent in smells (or sensory information in general) which make them good or bad? Or does the brain, over the course of evolution, learns such distinctions?

Read the news here.

The article talks about biocentrism. I find the article hinting towards something good; but, on the whole, it is unconvincing. Not at all scientific, in my opinion.

Read it here.

You love it or hate it, but you cant escape the complexity. These days my mind is just [i]BUZZING[/i] around. I don’t know what for I am so agitated or even hysterical. Everything is so fine in my life, but even then the mind is not at peace. God, why should I be concerned about every damn thing in the universe!

The Scientist contemplates things needed to be re-engineered/designed in humans if we were allowed to do so. It is a roller coaster ride of thoughts with the goal of making humans immortal. I know I am sounding a bit odd, but the article is the way it is. Check the article out.

Today, Microsoft awarded more than $500,000 (US$) in grants to six outstanding projects in the area of synthetic biology. Microsoft identified the proposals best positioned to tackle the computational challenges in two areas of synthetic biology:

1. Examining the re-engineering of natural biological pathways to produce interoperable, composed, biological parts

2. Building tools and information repositories relating to the use of DNA in the fabrication of nanostructures and nanodevices

A total of 49 proposals were received from eleven countries, truly outstanding for our first RFP in this field. Proposals were received from many of the most prominent researchers and labs in the field. Following an external peer-review process, six outstanding proposals were selected and are listed below; for biographies of the recipients and additional information, please refer to: http://research.microsoft.com/ur/us/fundingopps/RFPs/Synthetic_Biology_Awards_2006.aspx

- Computational Interchange Standards for Synthetic Biology. Herbert Sauro, University of Washington

- Design and Synthesis of Minimal and Persistent Protein Complexes. David Green and Steven Skiena, Stony Brook University

- BioStudio: A Collaborative Editing and Revision Control Environment for Synthetic Genomes. Joel Bader and Jef Boeke, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

- Identification of Standard Gene Regulatory Sequences for Synthetic Biology. Robert Holt, University of British Columbia

- Using programmable stacking bonds to combine DNA origami into larger, more complex, reconfigurable structures. Paul W.K. Rothemund and Erik Winfree, California Institute of Technology

- Noise Suppression and Next-Generation Cloning Vectors. Johan Paulsson, Harvard University

Surprisingly, all the projects are from Americas.

I took my GRE General Test yesterday. I scored 1500/1600 (Verbal: 700/800 and Quantitative: 800/800).

Bacillius subtilis has been hacked to store “e= mc2 1905!” in its DNA. Check this out.