Nobel Week

The Nobel Prize is a set of awards in the fields of literature, medicine, physics, chemistry, economics and peace. It is awarded annually in recognition of cultural and/or scientific advances and is widely considered the most prestigious award in the above fields. 

For scientists, the Nobel Prize is like winning a gold medal at the Olympics or "Best Actor" at the Oscars. It's a really, really big deal. 

So in honor of Nobel Week, I will be highlighting all of the 2014 prizes. The first announcement, scheduled for Oct 6th, is in the field of Physiology or Medicine. Predictions anyone? 

Read more about the Nobel Foundation here

Friday Funnies: I F*cking Love Science Edition

"Forgive me, scientists, for I have sinned"

Adam Ruben, PhD, author of the book Surviving Your Stupid, Stupid Decision to Go to Grad School has a new post on the Science/AAAS magazine. Follow the link below to read the full post.

http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career_magazine/previous_issues/articles/2014_05_20/caredit.a1400126

Cosmos has arrived!

I first wrote about the re-make of Cosmos in this blog post. The first episode aired last Sunday evening. You can watch the first two episodes online, and I've also included the links below. 

Episode #1: Standing up in the Milky Way

In this first episode, Tyson introduces a few famous scientists from history and highlights how their ideas shaped the current model of the universe. What follows next is a whirlwind tour of the history of the universe--from the Big Bang all the way through to the evolution of man. 

Episode #2: Some of the Things That Molecules Do

In this episode, we leave the world of the stars and go to the molecular level--the genetic code. Tyson explains the difference between artificial and natural selection. Yet he cautions that even when evolution comes up with a specialized adaptation, there is no accounting for catastrophic events and the extinction of a species. The program concludes with speculation about life on other planets. 

This show is not meant to be a hard science program. The biology presented in the second episode is something that every high school student should know. Instead, I'm hoping this program will begin a dialogue. 

In this reboot of the Cosmos series, the producers' goals are to encourage science literacy. Executive producer Seth MacFarlane had this to say about the show:

"I think that there is a hunger for science and known about science 

and understanding of science that hasn't really been fed in the past 

two decades [...] There's been a real vacuum when it comes to science 

education. The nice thing about this show is that I think that it does what the 

original 'Cosmos' did and presents it in such a flashy, entertaining way that, as 

Carl Sagan put it in 1980, even people who have no interest in science 

will watch just because it's a spectacle."

I agree with MacFarlane's analysis--there has been a real lack of popular shows about the natural world. I'm not sure that the science presented on Cosmos needs to be flashy and entertaining. Yet I can appreciate the stories and animations as a way to introduce fundamental scientific discoveries and help foster an interest in those who wish to learn more. I hope that people who are interested in science will now have a starting point for further reading and researching topics of interest and that the show will inspire the public to support scientific research and discovery. 

Helix

 Image from the "Pilot" episode courtesy of the Helix website.

Playing God and tampering with the genome can lead to deadly results--and that's clearly the case in the new original series "Helix" from the Syfy channel.

The series follows a group of experts from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) who travel to a remote research compound in the Arctic to investigate a dangerous new disease outbreak. However what they soon discover is that this deadly virus changes and mutates infected individuals into something bestial and superhuman. Cut off from the rest of the world, the scientists face a terrifying life-and-death struggle to find a cure for the disease before an outbreak annihilates the human race. 

Deception, double-agendas and constantly revealed plot twists make this show an exciting, fast-paced thriller. If you're interested, you can access the first three episodes here on the Syfy channel's website.  

If you still have some doubts, the show boasts and impressive list of veteran producers including Steven Maeda from "The X-files," Stephen Welke from "Alphas," and Ron Moore who helped make the "Battlestar Galactica" remake into such an awesome series. After watching "Helix" the past few weeks, I have am certain that the rest of the season will be just as action-packed. 

Forbes 30 under 30

Congratulations to UCSF student Jon Ostrem (left) and UCSF fellow David Weinberg (right) for being named to Forbes 30 under 30 list in the field of Science!

 

Ostrem, a student in the lab of Kevan Shokat, created mutant-specific inhibitors of the oncogene K-Ras.

Weinberg, a fellow at UCSF,  is studying how cells determine how much protein to produce.

I expect we will continue to hear many awesome things from these two! For the full list, follow This Link. 

Parasite Tales for Every Occasion

My friend Louise G. was published on The Toast!  You can read her column on parasites here.