Hey folks,
Yesterday's show was fun for 2 reasons: 1) We were back in the IMU, so the sound board / CD arrangement / mics / environment was much more like a radio studio than a closet (though we very much appreciate the Quad for their hospitality during the flood refractory period), and 2) I was able to chat about the implications of an Obama presidency on science and research. I had mentioned that some 60+ Nobel laureates had publicly endorsed Obama, McCain receiving few (if any?) of this caliber support. What does this really say? After all, even Nobel toters only have one vote each. And even the Nobellers will acknowledge that the Prize doesn't recognize the smartest people in the field. The Prize is awarded to people who make discoveries that have a profound impact on the scientific community (not so for the Peace/Literature prizes, read here for interest). These people are then usually granted tenure (if they didn't already achieve it), and thought of as genuinely bright people. And for the most part, it takes a genuinely bright, slightly crazy person to discover something such as the the structure of DNA. Granted, these people may know squat about anything other than their specific micro-field of interest, but these people represent all for which the scientific community strives: Truth. Truth is pretty hard to achieve if you don't know the answers to the questions you are asking. Fortunately, if you find a pretty good answer to a pretty good question, you can come with the University-brand Academy Award. Nobel winners know what is takes for discovery: time and money. And people. And infrastructure. These are things that Obama has pledged to support (don't ask me about the economy either, I'm a science guy), and these are things that lend themselves to the truths of nature as we know it. Those who make big discoveries know the long road required to arrive one small nudge closer to truth. The majority of this crowd supported Obama, and that might just be saying something.
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2 comments:
Erik, of the Nylen persuasion;
Your blog is of interest to me, not just because of its scientific content, but also because you're one hell of a writer. Good to see your putting it to good use. Referring to your blog, I believe I saw a documentary (actually, I don't 'believe' I saw it, I definitely did see said documentary) called "The Drug Years" on VH1 where they discussed, among other things, LSD. I forgot who it was who discovered the structure of DNA, but I think they said it was either during an LSD trip or shortly after such an episode. What's funny is that its driving me crazy thinking of the name of that guy. You've probably had conversations like, "Ohh, what's the name of that dude in that one movie?" Except this time it's, "Oh man, I can't BELIEVE I forgot the man who visualized the structure of DNA while taking LSD!" or something like that. Happy blogging!
Paul,
The name you´re searching for is Kary Mullis, the most public member of the research team that pioneered the use of Theromphilus aquaticus DNA polymerase in the polymerase chain reaction process for DNA amplification. A bit of a colorful figure, Mr. Mullis is also credited with publicly denying the link between HIV and AIDS. Although he has not been an active participant in the denialist movement, he exemplifies gap between genius and knowing when to shut the hell up.
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