Computational Biology and Pseudoscience?

"If I were starting today" as a scientist in high school or college, “I’d be in computational biology” - Francis Collins
This has been my favorite quotation for sometimes now. I sometimes hear people talking about Bioinformatics as pseudoscience and now I begin to wonder is that really so? I am working from home, and thus raising very many eyebrows about the "quality of science" I many be doing. For records, I was de-selected for a job that once I thought I was selected just because I work from home. Well, this types of prejudices do exist and is certain to be there, but we may need to learn to live through it and fight it when possible.

I was examining what a wet lab scientist does vis a vis a computational scientist. Remember computational scientist does not have to step outside of the comfort of her home to do her job.
A wet lab scientist reads paper, plans experiment and goes to the lab. Prepares solutions, buffers, and sets up an experiment. It may be running a PCR, or making a strain grow or checking the gels etc.. The computational scientist also reads a paper (often hard hitting papers with complex mathematical formulae and algorithms), plans to work on the data and run them. Running experiments for a computational scientist would mean running some applications(mostly freewares that comes without any warranty or without any documentation). This process may take anytime between hours to days. In the end, the computational scientist sits with the output and checks if anything worthwhile has come out of it. Often this is a very laborious process. It may so happen that your desirable output is not there after you run it for days!! Then you may need to switch to another algorithm or change parameters(like repeating experiment with changed growth condition or a changed buffer). If things work the way you wanted, you may call the experiment was successful. After some "Successfully" run experiments, the scientist sits back and stitches all the outputs together to form a story. If publishable - hurray you got a paper. And the same happens with the wet lab researcher albeit the process may be slightly more manual intensive and slow. So, both the processes are quite comparable and parallel to each other. So, why call computational science as pseudoscience??

Growing Fenugreek and getting rid of black aphids!!

Fenugreek can be grown during fall to early winter season. They grow best during october-December months. One of the problems with this could be the growth of black small creepy aphids. These insects not only arrest the healthy growth of the plant but also transmit a virus that causes leaves to yellow and stunt growth. Now there are several ways to get rid of these insects, and one effective way is to spray hose of water. This generally dislodges the insect and once they are dislodged, there is a very less likelihood that they will be back! The other way is to spray them with mild soap water. Soap water washes off Aphids waxy coating and causes it to dehydrate and die.

You may like to cook your otherwise healthy looking fenugreek leaves even though you are disgusted by the site of these nasty little bugs. Just pluck the healthy looking leaves and stems and soak them in mild dishwashing solution(2-3 drops of detergent in 4-5 cups of water) detergent for 15-20 minutes. If you soak it longer, then the leaves may retain water by osmosis. Then wash the leaves and stems for atleast 5 times, to get rid of the residual soap solution. Then you may notice all these black bugs dead sedimenting at the bottom of the container. You can now safely cook methi leaves(fenugreek leaves)

Greatest Musicians of our times

Today - 26th Dec 2010, I am sitting and idling with some old hindi songs and suddenly an awareness passed through me revealing I am one of biggest fans of Ravindra Jain's music sung by one of the greatest singers Yesudas. Both Ravindra Jain and Yesudas were very active during later part of 70s, but nevertheless the song they have created together is timeless, divine and captivating. Nothing can be comparable to their music...

One of the very interesting facts is Ravindra Jain is born blind yet; he composes, writes and directs music that no one ever can!!! Yesudas, on the other hand is a great singer and he does justice to Ravindra Jains music that anyone can. Ravindra Jain was so fascinated by Yesudas's singing that, he always wished if he could see, he would like to see Yesudas's face.

Here are some of my favorite yesudas/Hemlata songs composed by Ravindra Jain and other composers:

Meaning of name Sucheta

Sucheta Name
Origin: Sanskrit
Meaning: A beautiful mind

Positive:
Endowed with the wonderful characteristic of multi-talents and versatility.
Sucheta can do so many things well. The tone of the number 5 is constructive 
freedom, and in her drive to attain this freedom, Sucheta will likely be the 
master of adaptability and change. Sucheta is good at presenting ideas and knowing 
how to approach people to get what Sucheta wants. Naturally, this gives Sucheta an  edge in any sort of selling game and spells easy success when it comes to working with people in most jobs. Her popularity may lead Sucheta toward some form of  entertainment or amusement. Whatever Sucheta does, Sucheta is clever, analytical,
and a very quick thinker

Negative:
Her restless and impatient attitude may keep Sucheta from staying with any project
for too long. Sometimes Sucheta can be rather erratic and scatter herself and her  energies. Sucheta has a hard time keeping regular office hours and maintaining any sort of a routine. Sucheta tends to react strongly if Sucheta senses that her freedom of speech or action is being impaired or restricted in any way.  As clever as they are, Sucheta may have a tendency to make the same mistakes  over and over again because much of her response is glib reaction rather that  thoughtful application. Sucheta is in a continuous state of flux brought by  constantly changing interests. 



Desire Generosity - Soul Urge Number 9.
Sucheta wants to give to others, usually in a humanitarian or philanthropic manner.
Sucheta is highly motivated to give friendship, affection and love. And Sucheta is  generous in giving of her knowledge and experience. Sucheta has very sharing urges, and Sucheta is likely to have a great deal to share. Her concern for others makes  Sucheta a very sympathetic and generous person with a sensitive and compassionate nature.

Positive:
Sucheta is able to view life in very broad and intuitive terms. Sucheta often  expresses high ideals and an inspirational approach to life. If Sucheta is able to  fully realize the potential of her motivation, Sucheta will be a very self-sacrificing  person who is able to give freely without being concerned about any return or  reward.
Negative:
Sucheta may become too sensitive and tends to express emotions strongly at times. 
There can be significant conflict between higher aims and personal ambitions. Sucheta may resent the idea of giving all of the time and, in fact, if there is 
too much 9 energy in her nature Sucheta may reject the idea. Sucheta may often be  disappointed in the lack of perfection in yourself and others.

Live life abundantly

[I copied this item from the internet - Hope you guys out there enjoy reading it]
Hat tip to George Boyden
Written by Regina Brett, now 90 years old, of the Plain Dealer, Cleveland, Ohio
“To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me. It is the most-requested column I’ve ever written. My odometer rolled over to 90 in August, so here is the column once more:”
1. Life isn’t fair, but it’s still good.
2. when in doubt, just take the next small step.
3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
4. Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch.
5. Pay off your credit cards every month.
6. You don’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
7. Cry with someone. It’s more healing than crying alone.
8. Its OK to get angry with God. He can take it.
9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.
10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
11. Make peace with your past so it won’t screw up the present.
12. Its OK to let your children see you cry.
13. Don’t compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn’t be in it.
15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don’t worry; God never blinks.
16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.
17. Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful.
18. Whatever doesn’t kill you really does make you stronger.
19. it’s never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.
20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don’t take no for an answer.
21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don’t save it for a special occasion. Today is special.
22. over prepare, then go with the flow.
23. be eccentric now. Don’t wait for old age to wear purple.
24. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.
25. Frame every so-called disaster with these words ”In five years, will this matter?”
26. Always choose life.
27. Forgive everyone everything.
28. What other people think of you is none of your business.
29. Time heals almost everything. Give time, time.
30. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
31. Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
32. Believe in miracles.
33. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn’t do.
34. Don’t audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.
35. growing old beats the alternative — dying young.
36. Your children get only one childhood.
37. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.
38. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.
39. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else’s, we’d grab ours back.
40. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
41. The best is yet to come.
42. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
43. Yield.
44. Life isn’t tied with a bow, but it’s still a gift.