understanding digital biology :: essays research papers

UNDERSTANDING DIGITAL BIOLOGY Explaining digital biology is impossible without explaining its principle. The purpose of this text is not to report experimental results. Rather, it tries to explain to laymen, in the simplest terms, this radically new approach to biology. We hope it will be useful to all, scientists or not, who find it hard to "make the leap". Indeed, is it possible to believe that the specific activity of biologically-active molecules (e.g. histamine, caffeine, nicotine, adrenalin), not to mention the immunological signature of a virus or bacterium can be recorded and digitized using a computer sound card, just like an ordinary sound? Imagine the perplexity of Archimedes confronted with a telephone, and being told that by using it he could be heard on the other side of the world, were we not to explain the nature of sound waves or their translation into electromagnetism. Life depends on signals exchanged among molecules. For example, when you get angry, adrenalin "tells" its receptor, and it alone (as a faithful molecule, it talks to no other) to make your heart beat faster, to contract superficial blood vessels, etc.. In biology, the words "molecular signal" are used very often. Yet, if you ask even the most eminent biologists what the physical nature of this signal is, they seem not even to understand the question, and stare at you wide-eyed. In fact, they've cooked up a rigorously Cartesian physics all their own, as far removed as possible from the realities of contemporary physics, according to which simple contact (Descarte's laws of impact, quickly disproved by Huygens) between two coalescent structures creates energy, thus constituting an exchange of information. For many years, I believed and recited this catechism without realizing its absurdity, just as mankind did not realize the absurdity of the belief that the sun cir cles the earth. The truth, based on facts, is very simple. It does not require any "collapse of the physical or chemical worlds." That molecules vibrate, we have known for decades. Every atom of every molecule and every intermolecular bond-the bridge that links the atoms-emits a group of specific frequencies. Specific frequencies of simple or complex molecules are detected at distances of billions of light-years, thanks to radio-telescopes. Biophysicists describe these frequencies as an essential physical characteristic of matter, but biologists do not consider that electromagnetic waves can play a role in molecular functions themselves. We cannot find the words "frequency"

Battle Ground Descriptive

Battle Ground Descriptive BY YE Luis Alberta urea was born in Tijuana to a Mexican father and American mother. He grew up In San Diego and attended the university of California. After graduation and a brief career a movie extra, Urea worked with a volunteer organization that provides food, clothing, and medical supplies to the poor of Northern Mexico. In 1982 he taught writing at Harvard. His most recent novel, Into the Beautiful North, was published In 2010. Border Story In this description of the Mexican-American border from across the wire: Life andHard Times on The Mexican Border (1 993), Urea uses the device of a second person to place his reader in the scene. By making you† the â€Å"illegal†, he seeks to dramatist and humanism the plight of the poor seeking a new life in the united States. 1. At night, the Border Patrol helicopters swoop and churn In the alarm all along the line. You can sit In the Mexican hills and watch them herd humans on the dusty slopes acros s the valley. They look like science fiction crafts, focused lights raking the ground as they fly. 2.Borderlands locals are so Jaded by the sight of nightly people-hunting that It doesn't even register In their minds. But take a stranger to the border, and she will see the spectacle: monstrous Dodge trucks speeding into and out of the landscape; uniformed men patrolling with flashlights, guns and dogs; spotlights; running figures; lines of people hurried onto buses by armed guards; and the endless clatter of the helicopters with their harsh white beams. A Dutch woman once told me It seemed altogether â€Å"UN-American†. 3.But the Mexicans keep on coming- and the Guatemalan, the Salvadoran, the Panamanian, the Columbians. The seven- mile stretch of Interstate 5 nearest the Mexican border is, at times. So congested with Latin American pedestrians that it resembles a town square. 4. They stick to the center Island. Running down the length of the Island Is a cement wall. If the à ¢â‚¬Å"illegal's† ( currently â€Å"undocumented workers†: formerly' â€Å"wetback's†) are walking north and a Border Patrol vehicle happens along, they simply hop over the wall and trot south.The officer will have to drive up to the 805 interchange, or Dairy Mart Road, swing over the overpasses, then drive south. Depending on where this pursuit egging, his detour could entail five to ten miles of driving. When the officer finally reaches the group, they hop over the wall and trot north. Furthermore, because freeways arrests would endanger traffic, the Border Patrol has effectively thrown up It's hands In surrender. 5. It seems Jolly on the page. But Imagine poverty, violence, natural disasters, or political fear driving you away from everything you know.Imagine how bad things get to make you leave behind your family, your friends, your lovers; your home, as humble as it might be; your church, say. Let's take it further- eve said good-bye to the graveyard, the dog , the goat, the mountains where you first hunted, your grade school, your state, your favorite spot on the river where you fished and took time to think. 6. Then you come hundreds- or thousands- of miles across territory utterly unknown to you. ( Chances are, you have never traveled I OFF of trucks, spent part of you precious money on bus fare.There is no AAA or Travelers Aids Society available to you. Various features of your Journey north might include police corruption; violence in the forms of beatings, rape, murder, torture, road accidents; theft; incarceration. Additionally, you might experience loneliness, fear, exhaustion, sorrow, cold, heat, diarrhea, thirst, hunger. There is no medical attention available to you. There isn't even Ext. 7. Weeks or months later, you arrive in Tijuana. Along with other immigrants, you gravitate to the bad parts of town because there is nowhere for you to go in the glittery section where the gringo's flock.You stay in a rundown little hotel in the red-light district, or behind the bus terminal. Or you can find your way to the garbage dumps, where you throw together a small roadbed nest and claim a few feet of dirt for yourself. The garbage-pickers working this dump might allow you to squat, or they might come and rob you, or burn you out for breaking some local rule you cannot know beforehand. Sometimes the dump is controlled by a syndicate, and goon squads might come to you within a day. They want money, and if you can't pay, you must leave or suffer the consequences. 8.In town, you face endless factorization if you aren't streetwise. The police come after you, street thugs come after you, petty criminals come after you; strangers try your or at night as you sleep. Many shady men offer to guide you across the border, and each one wants all of your money now, and promises to meet you at a prearranged spot. Some of your fellow travelers end their Journey right here- relieved of their savings and left to wait on a dark cor ner until they realize they are going nowhere. 9. If you are not Mexican, and can't past as tastiness, a local, the tough guys find you out.Salvadoran and Guatemalan are routinely beaten up and robbed. Sometimes they are disfigured. Indians- Chicanes, Masticates, Guavas, Capote's, Mays- are insulted and pushed around; often they are lucky- they are merely ignored. They use this to their advantage. Often they don't dream of crossing into the United States: a Mexican tribal person would never be able to blend in, and they know it. To them, the garbage dumps and street vending and begging in Tijuana are a vast opportunity over their former lives. As Dona Paula, a Chicane friend of mines who lives at the Tijuana garbage dump, told me, â€Å"This is the garbage dump.Take all you need. There's plenty here for everyone! † 10. If you are a woman, the men come after you. You lock yourself in your room, and when you must leave it to use the pestilential public bathroom at the end of yo ur floor, you hurry, and you check every corner. Sometimes the lights are out in the toilet room. Sometimes men listen at the door. They call you â€Å"good- looking† and â€Å"pitch† and â€Å"impact,† and they make kissing sounds at you when you pass. 1 1 . You're in the worst part of town, but you can comfort yourself- at least there are no death squads here.There are no tortures here, or bandit land Aaron riding into your house. This is the last barrier, you think, between you and the United States- Los Humanities Estates. 12. You still face police corruption, violence, Jail. You now also have a variety of new option available to you; drugs, prostitution, white slavery, crime. Tijuana is not easy on newcomers. It is a city that has always thrived on taking advantage of a sucker. And the innocent are the ultimate suckers in the Borderlands. This passage and this question Urea had called the border a â€Å"battlefield. † How does his description illustr ate this view?

Media and Modern Life - 2579 Words

The University of St. Cyril and Methodius in Trnava Faculty of Philosophy Department of Anglistics and Americanistics MEDIA AND MODERN LIFE ( essay for Media in communication) Bc. NINA NOCIAROVà  1st year of external studies English and culture in professional communication 2011/2012 MEDIA AND MODERN LIFE The higher date the calendar shows, the faster the development of the society is. Every era of human beings has its most significant invention or progress that represents the base for further development, further inventions, further progress – simply, for changes. As the time goes the changes are more and more frequent and†¦show more content†¦And it is not only fairy tales – the TV programme offers more and more violence, more and more pointless serials and soap operas without any meaning. We have to admit that there are many channels that are really useful, informatory and didactic, but we also have to admit that it is nearly impossible to make sure that our children watch only the proper and adequate channels, because we cannot be with them all the time. That is also one of the reasons why the rate of criminality in society increases, why young people are less sensitive, less responsible for their acts etc. In the lines above, we mentioned more long-term inf luence on children, but we can also talk about more up-to-date situation – how do our children spend their free time and what are their hobbies? Think about our childhood – we played with peers and friends in the park, we played hide-and-seek, we played with dolls, we played football, hockey, when we were younger, we played in the sandpit, in winter we built snowmen and even if the weather was not good, we played with toys at home, we played with the boxes of bricks, with teddy bears, dolls or toy-cars. Only few years ago, spending time in watching the television (or any other screens) was for children really rare. And today? Children are not interested in these things anymore, they „playâ€Å" differently – they spend whole days in front of the screens of television, computer or video games, playShow MoreRelatedSocial Media s Effect On Modern Life924 Words   |  4 PagesWith technology increasing at a rate almost too fast to comprehend, having many soc ial media accounts is becoming the norm. It is rare to find a person that does not at least have a Facebook account. These websites affect modern life in many ways including romantic relationships. 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To understand the term modern media more, Debashis Aikat(n.d.), Associate Professor and Media Futurist, has come up with a definition, â€Å"Modern media refers to mass communicationRead MoreModern Day Romance : A Feeling Of Excitement And Mystery Associated With Love1726 Words   |  7 Pagesdreams at one time or another. But does modern day romance look like this anymore? Instead, fairytales today are built from expectations from a tweet on Twitter; fancy dates are now hours of Netflix and chillin’; and ballroom dancing means swiping right on Tinder and grinding on the club dancefloor. These transitions in our modern day are taking the romance and enjoyment out of dating and overall changing our feelings and expectations. To avoid the dem ise of modern day relationships due to the negativeRead MoreAnalysis Of Ray Bradbury s Fahrenheit 451 1222 Words   |  5 PagesSocietal Similarities Which of the three novels that were read this quarter related the most to modern American society? 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Another term for this could be when â€Å"there is a flow of content across different multiple media platformsRead MoreSocial Media And Its Effect On Society917 Words   |  4 Pagesmost common reason is for the interaction with others from a long distance. Social media is often used to create these interactions with other people. We use it to stay in touch with friends and family. We also use it to keep us up to date with what is going on in the world today. The most significant driver of linguistic change in America today is social media. The English language changes rapidly in social media by usage of shortened terms and slang, imitation of others, and the amount of timeRead MoreBenchmarking1075 Words   |  5 Pagesuse to make sense of daily life and to articulate their values * Mass media – the cultural industries and channels of communication – can then be seen as the distributors of culture. * the history of mass media can be traced through five main eras: * oral * written * print * electronic * digital * Mass communication – the process of delivering cultural messages to large and diverse audiences through media channels. Oral and WrittenRead MoreThe Theory Of The Chair1282 Words   |  6 PagesPlato’s passage represents the average human being in the modern world. Modern society shares much in common with the prisoners, because throughout everyday life there are situations presented that appear as reality, but in fact are illusions. This can be found in modern media, politics and technology. In the modern world there is a constant bombardment of various forms of media. This quote from the Toronto Star, indicates that even if the media tries its best to filter bias in the articles there will