big teddy
  • Jun
    23
    Fun with Science
    by mike at 1:09pm

    Today I was listening to Science Friday on NPR and they were having a discussion about embryonics and restoring neural pathways to cure paralysis. Suddenly the guest was talking about proteins and growth agents needed and one was called “Sonic Hedgehog”

    SonicSonic Hedgehog??? what is that?

    I was utterly convinced that I either misheard or the guest was pulling one over the unsuspecting audience. But apparently not.   There seems to be a class of genes called “hedgehog” genes found in fruit fly embryoes, which are covered in pointy bumps.   In mammals there are three equivalents the desert hedgehog, the indian hedgehog and the sonic hedgehog.

    Who knew geneticists were so silly?

    BTW there’s also the tiggywingkle hedgehog in zebrafish.

  • Jun
    16
    I love the smell of sawdust in the morning.
    by mike at 10:09am

    Pinewood
    So I still remember as a kid going to the pinewood derby workshops where we would build our cars for the upcoming race. Ah the smell of sawdust as we cut out the shapes on the band saw, the bubbling lead used to get back to regulation weight .

    And the victory of winning. That’s right I had the joy of being the winner of our pack’s Pinewood derby one year. Unfortunately I had to send a proxy to run my car at the regional competition because I had to be somewhere else.

    But sweet memories to be relived. Apparently there’s going to be a pinewood derby fundraiser in early August. Time to bust out the bandsaw and paint