GUI programs are notoriously complicated and time consuming to write, but they are an essential component in a computational scientist’s toolbox for one simple reason: they are the best means for developing deep intuition for the behavior of the algorithms that we write every day in our work. – David Mertens
The euro crisis – a portuguese perspective
We have a saying in Portugal: “things are bad, things are very bad”. It is something I have heard for as long as I can remember.
Clearly correlated
As a consequence, I think I have become something of a fierce detractor of correlations happily interpreted as causality.
Apple vs the World: On the broken state of patent law
On August 24, Apple won a huge patent lawsuit against Samsung and was subsequently awarded $1.05 billion in damages, an amount that they are now seeking to triple because the infringement was found to be “willful.” However, this is only the latest battle of a huge litigation war waged by ...
A biologist goes to the doctor
On Medical Diagnosis: who is ill, the individual who lost its robustness to compensate for deformations or the deviant from the population mean? — Nicolás Peláez
Sensationalism in science – The good, the bad, and the ugly
My thoughts on the technical and popular reporting of arsenic-based life, which was recently disproven.
So how did you...?
There is almost always one question that I receive when someone finds out both what my research is and that my background is in biology. That is 'So when did you start programming?’, with implication that the answer should be when I was a child. The answer is really that ...
Elevators and cancer
I study cancer. Except, of course, that I don’t. But if you’re a friend or family member of mine, there are pretty good odds that I’ve told you that I do. Before you judge me too harshly, let me assure you that I’m not a con artist using the prestige ...
A lucky and happy baby
Last week I participated the biggest conference in our research area, NetSci2012. At the opening keynote, my research advisor, Luis Amaral, jokingly pointed out that most of the people sitting in the room were teenagers fifteen years ago, when the first batch of researchers directed their attention to the newly ...
Roger Guimera receives Erdos-Renyi Prize in Network Science
Dr. Roger Guimera, an adjunct faculty in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering and Northwestern University and a Senior Researcher at ICREA, was awarded today the inaugural Erdo-Renyi Prize in Network Science. The prize, which is sponsored by the Network Science Society, acknowledges a scientist under 40 that has ...
A little story of innovation
Sequoyah was an illiterate Cherokee silversmith who, in 1821, created a syllabary to write the spoken Cherokee language. This was the first and only time in human history that a single man created an entirely new writing system. Sequoyah got the idea while he was dealing as a silversmith with ...
When personal emergencies strike
I recently had a family emergency. All is well now, but I was amused at just how much I used my scientific skills in handling the emergency. — David Mertens
Imagining Reality
I often imagine physical scenarios representing abstract concepts or phenomena. — Peter Winter
AI: Replication without understanding?
Artificial intelligence is a topic that is never far from my mind. But the first thing conjured up in people’s minds whenever I bring it up is the evil AI portrayed in movies and on TV. You know the ones: Skynet, Agent Smith, HAL, the Cylons, etc. In these movies, ...
Science is an art
Fiction author Elizabeth Gilbert ponders the emotional risks of creativity – and how to mitigate them. As scientists, why do we keep torturing ourselves with the idea that science is somehow different?
Adam Hockenberry successfully passed his PhD proposal
On Friday, May 11, lab member Adam Hockenberry passed his PhD proposal and is now a PhD candidate in the Interdepartmental Program in Biological Sciences. His research is centered on uncovering how sequence elements of genes regulate protein expression levels and is in collaboration with Dr. Michael Jewett in the ...
Life: A Net
Having children enables one to experience childhood again, including the insatiable curiosity – “Why is the sky blue?” “What is life?” My standard answer to this question has changed in recent years. — Meilin Huang
Rufaro Mukogo awarded MSc
Congratulations to Rufaro Mukogo who, on monday, May 7th, successfully defended his master’s thesis.
Learning to fly
I study systems biology using the fruit fly as my model organism. I recently attended my first “fly meeting,” a conference of others who study Drosophila melanogaster. Here are thoughts on studying the fly in general, and my impressions of that event in particular. —Nicolas Pelaez