In the news of recent weeks is a sudden upsurge of interest in RNA. The Economist had a lengthy article on it. My reaction to the whole surge is "At last they have found it". Since they sequenced the Human Genome, and found only 30,000 genes, or possibly even before then, I have felt that there was something missing in the basic story of how cells ( Read more... )

In the US, the Bush Administration is pushing Congress to renew the Patriot Act, which it is reluctant to do. Amongst other things, the Patriot Act allows a much greater level of snooping than would otherwise be so. New Scientist has an article about new lie detection technology which, it is claimed, detect your truthfulness without you knowing it ( Read more... )

I spent last all Friday trying to find a fault in my software. It was quite a difficult problem, involving five different computers and special software to set up the condition in which it failed. Progress was slow, and by the end of Friday I hadn't found the fault. So I left work on Friday evening with a definite feeling that I had had enough for ( Read more... )

Warning: this is quite likely to offend those of a religious viewpoint. I don't intend it to be offensive, but if I am to express thoughts clearly, I will have to say things which may be regarded as belittling religious believers. If you are likely to be thus offended, please read no further. To seek out offence where none is actually intended is, ( Read more... )

Once we run out of, or reject, fossil fuels, there are only two sources for energy: nuclear reactors and the sun ( Read more... )

There are two concepts tied up in the words Price and Value which I think should be more clearly separated. Unfortunately, the English language is not as I would wish it to be, so the tangle will remain, whatever I might desire. But I think that it is worth trying to clarify the difference between the two concepts. To me, the clarification makes ( Read more... )