To keep LJ happy
This is to reassure LJ that I've not been abducted by space aliens, so please don't delete my account.
I started a new job this week
After 12 years doing software development at one of the world's leading medical research institutes, I changed jobs this week.
I'm still working at the same institute, because the pay and conditions are unbeatable, and because I strongly support the mission and ethos of the place. I also have many friends here. And the science that we do is leading-edge and very exciting.
But I switched to a different team and a different role.
I am now, quite unexpectedly, a member of the database services team. We're a group of six people who manage the database systems (Oracle and MySQL, mainly) which hold the many petabytes of scientific data which our scientists generate and analyse.
Yes, petabytes. That's millions of gigabytes. Our branch of science produces unimaginable quantities of data, and it all has to be organised and stored.
I say "unexpectedly" because three months ago, I had no idea I'd be moving into the world of database management. I knew that the job vacancy existed, because I'd worked closely with the guy who had the job before me. Then in late November, I started getting subtle hints, via third parties, that I might want to consider applying for the job. I talked to the two leaders of the database services team to find out what kind of person they were looking for, and whether my lack of Oracle experience would be a problem. They said no.
So I updated my resumé, tailoring it to suit the job ad, and sent it in. I was interviewed in early December, and offered the job a few days later. It was an early Christmas present.
I'm almost at the end of my first week, and it's already turning into a very interesting experience. I'm learning a lot of new stuff about enterprise-strength data storage hardware and how it interacts with database systems. That's a complete change from writing Java applications, but I needed a new challenge after 12 years.
I'm still working at the same institute, because the pay and conditions are unbeatable, and because I strongly support the mission and ethos of the place. I also have many friends here. And the science that we do is leading-edge and very exciting.
But I switched to a different team and a different role.
I am now, quite unexpectedly, a member of the database services team. We're a group of six people who manage the database systems (Oracle and MySQL, mainly) which hold the many petabytes of scientific data which our scientists generate and analyse.
Yes, petabytes. That's millions of gigabytes. Our branch of science produces unimaginable quantities of data, and it all has to be organised and stored.
I say "unexpectedly" because three months ago, I had no idea I'd be moving into the world of database management. I knew that the job vacancy existed, because I'd worked closely with the guy who had the job before me. Then in late November, I started getting subtle hints, via third parties, that I might want to consider applying for the job. I talked to the two leaders of the database services team to find out what kind of person they were looking for, and whether my lack of Oracle experience would be a problem. They said no.
So I updated my resumé, tailoring it to suit the job ad, and sent it in. I was interviewed in early December, and offered the job a few days later. It was an early Christmas present.
I'm almost at the end of my first week, and it's already turning into a very interesting experience. I'm learning a lot of new stuff about enterprise-strength data storage hardware and how it interacts with database systems. That's a complete change from writing Java applications, but I needed a new challenge after 12 years.
16 years old, talented and good-looking ... and not Justin Bieber
It's not just Canada that can boast talented and good-looking 16-year-old boys. So can Britain.
He's Tom Daley, and he's a Olympic athlete. He came close to winning a medal in the diving events in Beijing in 2008, and he'll be aiming for gold in London in 2012.
Yesterday's Guardian newspaper carried an interview with him. He comes across as a very modest and down-to-earth kind of kid, who is coping well with the fame of being an Olympic athlete.
He's Tom Daley, and he's a Olympic athlete. He came close to winning a medal in the diving events in Beijing in 2008, and he'll be aiming for gold in London in 2012.
Yesterday's Guardian newspaper carried an interview with him. He comes across as a very modest and down-to-earth kind of kid, who is coping well with the fame of being an Olympic athlete.
The Catholic sex-abuse scandal
A cartoon from the South African Mail and Guardian newspaper.
( Not suitable for workCollapse )
Shocking, but no more so than the evil that it portrays.
( Not suitable for workCollapse )
Shocking, but no more so than the evil that it portrays.
Girls have X-ray vision
Alert readers will remember that I posted an entry back in November about the curious fact that whales and seals have lost their ability to see in colour.
I've been doing a lot more reading about colour perception, and over the Christmas holidays I discovered a fascinating paper which explores the possibility that some humans have an enhanced kind of colour vision compared to the "normal" three-colour vision that most of us enjoy.
The title of the paper is Richer color experience in observers with multiple photopigment opsin genes. You can access the full text as a PDF via the link, but here is a summary of what the authors say:
Normal colour vision in humans is produced by three distinct types of light-sensitive cells in our retinas, called cone cells. Each type of cone cell is sensitive to a particular narrow range of colours, and the brain infers colours in what we see by comparing strength of the signals that each type of cone cell generates.
The colour range of each type of cone cell is determined by a specific gene. In over-simplified terms, we have a "blue" gene, a "green" gene and a "red" gene. If an individual has a malfunctioning "red" gene, then he (it's almost always a he¹) will be unable to tell red from green -- colour-blind, in other words.
It turns out that there is a natural variation in the genetic code of the "red" and "green" genes. This variation can shift the range of colours to which the corresponding cone cells are most sensitive.
Since females have two copies of each of the "red" and "green" genes -- one on each X chromosome -- it's theoretically possible that some women may have four different types of cone cells in their retinas.
The authors of the paper decided to investigate whether this would give such women an enhanced kind of colour vision. They began by taking DNA samples from a group of volunteers, both male and female, to determine how many different "red" and "green" genes were present.
Then they showed each volunteer an artificially-produced rainbow of colours, and asked them to mark off all of the distinct colours that they could see in the rainbow.
The individuals with "normal" genes for three-colour vision were able to discern 7 distinct colours on average, but the women whose DNA contained either two different "red" genes or two different "green" genes were able to see 10 distinct colours on average, and some could see as many as fifteen distinct colours.
I'll leave you to draw your own conclusions about that, but it supports my long-held suspicion that my wife has a better sense of colour than I do. I have normal colour vision, but she can often see distinct shades when I only see a single colour.
¹ Colour blindness is predominantly a male trait because the "red" and "green" genes are on the X chromosome, and males only have one copy of that chromosome per cell. Females have two X chromosomes, so a malfunctioning gene on one X chromosome isn't normally a big deal. The other X chromosome will almost always have a working copy of the gene. Males are not so lucky. A malfunctioning gene on their one X chromosome can lead to serious genetic conditions, including muscular dystrophy.
I've been doing a lot more reading about colour perception, and over the Christmas holidays I discovered a fascinating paper which explores the possibility that some humans have an enhanced kind of colour vision compared to the "normal" three-colour vision that most of us enjoy.
The title of the paper is Richer color experience in observers with multiple photopigment opsin genes. You can access the full text as a PDF via the link, but here is a summary of what the authors say:
Normal colour vision in humans is produced by three distinct types of light-sensitive cells in our retinas, called cone cells. Each type of cone cell is sensitive to a particular narrow range of colours, and the brain infers colours in what we see by comparing strength of the signals that each type of cone cell generates.
The colour range of each type of cone cell is determined by a specific gene. In over-simplified terms, we have a "blue" gene, a "green" gene and a "red" gene. If an individual has a malfunctioning "red" gene, then he (it's almost always a he¹) will be unable to tell red from green -- colour-blind, in other words.
It turns out that there is a natural variation in the genetic code of the "red" and "green" genes. This variation can shift the range of colours to which the corresponding cone cells are most sensitive.
Since females have two copies of each of the "red" and "green" genes -- one on each X chromosome -- it's theoretically possible that some women may have four different types of cone cells in their retinas.
The authors of the paper decided to investigate whether this would give such women an enhanced kind of colour vision. They began by taking DNA samples from a group of volunteers, both male and female, to determine how many different "red" and "green" genes were present.
Then they showed each volunteer an artificially-produced rainbow of colours, and asked them to mark off all of the distinct colours that they could see in the rainbow.
The individuals with "normal" genes for three-colour vision were able to discern 7 distinct colours on average, but the women whose DNA contained either two different "red" genes or two different "green" genes were able to see 10 distinct colours on average, and some could see as many as fifteen distinct colours.
I'll leave you to draw your own conclusions about that, but it supports my long-held suspicion that my wife has a better sense of colour than I do. I have normal colour vision, but she can often see distinct shades when I only see a single colour.
¹ Colour blindness is predominantly a male trait because the "red" and "green" genes are on the X chromosome, and males only have one copy of that chromosome per cell. Females have two X chromosomes, so a malfunctioning gene on one X chromosome isn't normally a big deal. The other X chromosome will almost always have a working copy of the gene. Males are not so lucky. A malfunctioning gene on their one X chromosome can lead to serious genetic conditions, including muscular dystrophy.
When will the world end?
My wife and I run an astronomy-related web site, so we occasionally get emails from visitors. Mostly, their questions are thoughtful, and I enjoy answering them.
One recent query came from Gabriela in Houston, Texas. She wrote:
I'm guessing that Gabriela has recently seen the movie 2012. The plot summary at Wikipedia begins thus:
If there were an Academy Award for hokey science, this movie would be a cert to win. It makes Men In Black look like a Nova documentary.
However, I digress.
The world won't end in December 2012. That's the good news.
The bad news is that a real disaster-movie scenario will play out around 3.5 billion years from now, when the Sun's energy output will have increased by about 40% compared to present levels, leading to the catastrophic and irreversible loss of all of the surface water on the planet.
About 8 billion years from now, the Sun will become a red giant star, expanding to engulf Mercury and becoming 2,000 times brighter than it is now. It would be a spectacular sight from the Earth, except that the Earth's surface will be a hadean landscape of molten rock.
These are just two stages in the future history of the Sun. You can read the whole life story of our star, from its birth to its eventual death, in a fascinating article entitled The Once and Future Sun by Ohio State University astronomy professor Richard Pogge.
As always, science reveals wonders that are far beyond the imaginations of even the most talented movie writers.
One recent query came from Gabriela in Houston, Texas. She wrote:
WHEN DO U THINK the wolrd will end cuz arnt u a scientist
I'm guessing that Gabriela has recently seen the movie 2012. The plot summary at Wikipedia begins thus:
In 2009, young American geologist Adrian Helmsley learns from a colleague in India that neutrinos from a massive solar flare are acting as microwave radiation, causing the temperature of the Earth's core to increase rapidly.
If there were an Academy Award for hokey science, this movie would be a cert to win. It makes Men In Black look like a Nova documentary.
However, I digress.
The world won't end in December 2012. That's the good news.
The bad news is that a real disaster-movie scenario will play out around 3.5 billion years from now, when the Sun's energy output will have increased by about 40% compared to present levels, leading to the catastrophic and irreversible loss of all of the surface water on the planet.
About 8 billion years from now, the Sun will become a red giant star, expanding to engulf Mercury and becoming 2,000 times brighter than it is now. It would be a spectacular sight from the Earth, except that the Earth's surface will be a hadean landscape of molten rock.
These are just two stages in the future history of the Sun. You can read the whole life story of our star, from its birth to its eventual death, in a fascinating article entitled The Once and Future Sun by Ohio State University astronomy professor Richard Pogge.
As always, science reveals wonders that are far beyond the imaginations of even the most talented movie writers.
Whales cannot see blue
I was doing some reading on colour perception recently, and came across a fascinating paper¹ by a team of scientists who had examined the eyes of whales and seals.
Most mammals have two kinds of cones in their retinas. These are sensitive to green and blue light respectively, and give the animal a limited kind of colour vision.
We humans, along with our close cousins among the great apes, have evolved a third kind of cone, sensitive to yellow and red light, and this allows us to distinguish a wider range of colours. It's how we tell green from red, for example.
Whales and seals have no blue-sensitive cones. They have only green-sensitive cones, and they therefore see in monochrome.
This loss of colour vision occurred separately and independently in these two groups of marine mammals. It's not a trait inherited from a common ancestor. As such, it appears to be an example of convergent evolution: the same trait arising independently in two unrelated groups of animals which occupy similar habitats. There must be an evolutionary benefit, but the authors of the paper are at a loss to explain what it might be.
¹ Peichl, L., et al, "For whales and seals the ocean is not blue: a visual pigment loss in marine mammals", European Journal of Neuroscience, Vol. 13, pp. 1520-1528, 2001
Most mammals have two kinds of cones in their retinas. These are sensitive to green and blue light respectively, and give the animal a limited kind of colour vision.
We humans, along with our close cousins among the great apes, have evolved a third kind of cone, sensitive to yellow and red light, and this allows us to distinguish a wider range of colours. It's how we tell green from red, for example.
Whales and seals have no blue-sensitive cones. They have only green-sensitive cones, and they therefore see in monochrome.
This loss of colour vision occurred separately and independently in these two groups of marine mammals. It's not a trait inherited from a common ancestor. As such, it appears to be an example of convergent evolution: the same trait arising independently in two unrelated groups of animals which occupy similar habitats. There must be an evolutionary benefit, but the authors of the paper are at a loss to explain what it might be.
¹ Peichl, L., et al, "For whales and seals the ocean is not blue: a visual pigment loss in marine mammals", European Journal of Neuroscience, Vol. 13, pp. 1520-1528, 2001
Happy Equinox
Summer officially ends in the northern hemisphere at 21:19 Greenwich Mean Time today. That's 5:19 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time, or 2:19 p.m. for those of you on the west coast, and 1:19 p.m. for my favourite Alaskan, 
tko_ak.
The days will continue to get shorter until the solstice at 17:47 GMT on December 21st.
I was woken at 5 a.m. this morning by my tabby cat gently snorting into my nose. She knows this is guaranteed to wake me, and she wanted her breakfast. I forgave her because I love her and because, in the course of dealing with the night's activity in the litter tray, I went outside at 5:40 a.m. and saw that the sky was clear and Orion was standing high in the south.
It was a splendid sight, surrounded by all the familiar constellations of mid-winter, and the dawn glow just beginning to appear in the East, but it was also a reminder that autumn is here.
tko_ak.The days will continue to get shorter until the solstice at 17:47 GMT on December 21st.
I was woken at 5 a.m. this morning by my tabby cat gently snorting into my nose. She knows this is guaranteed to wake me, and she wanted her breakfast. I forgave her because I love her and because, in the course of dealing with the night's activity in the litter tray, I went outside at 5:40 a.m. and saw that the sky was clear and Orion was standing high in the south.
It was a splendid sight, surrounded by all the familiar constellations of mid-winter, and the dawn glow just beginning to appear in the East, but it was also a reminder that autumn is here.
Physicists in Hell
Seen at the Pharyngula science blog:
There are no physicists in the hottest parts of hell, because the existence of a "hottest part" implies a temperature difference, and any marginally competent physicist would immediately use this to run a heat engine and make some other part of hell comfortably cool. This is obviously impossible.
Richard Davisson
Spotted Dick
Spotted Dick is not a medical condition requiring a course of antibiotics. It's a very yummy suet pudding:
Unfortunately, managers at the staff canteen at Flintshire Council in Wales were so annoyed at people making jokes about the name that they changed it to Spotted Richard.
Unfortunately, managers at the staff canteen at Flintshire Council in Wales were so annoyed at people making jokes about the name that they changed it to Spotted Richard.
-
-
amused
-