This is the third post in a series reviewing basic concepts in genomics. The first one was titled “How Many Genes Does a Person Have?” and the second was “How do Genomes Vary, Person to Person?” This is a breezy summary of the Sanger method…
This is the second post in a series where I review and explore some basic concepts and confounders in genomics. The first one was titled “How Many Genes Does a Person Have?” Until quite recently, genetic variation was described in terms of difference from a…
Somebody recently asked me, innocently enough, “how many genes are there in the human genome?” As one does in these situations, I answered a slightly different question: We are made up of about 20,000 unique proteins. This sufficed to move the conversation along, but I…
If Somerville’s city council tries to make moderate cuts to the police budget this year, the Mayor will respond by defunding the crossing guards. He’ll blame the council for making him do it. It’s classic bullying and budgetary hostage taking and it sucks. In order…
My mother used to tell stories about the 1967 race riots in Detroit. She was 17 years old, living with her parents at 7 mile and Woodward. She told me how the National Guard rolled tanks down the street while her grandfather hid in the…
Please remember, as you decide how to act in the coming days and weeks: We are not re-opening because we beat the virus. There is not adequate testing. There is no vaccine. There is no demonstrated treatment or cure. From a medical perspective, we are…
I’ll be honest, I don’t want to go back to the “normal” we had in February. I was killing myself with business travel. It was a slow sort of killing … but killing nonetheless. I was on a train most weeks and a plane most…
The thing that really frustrates me about the crises I’ve seen in my life is that, by and large, the financial devastation is 100% avoidable. Absolutely, 100% avoidable. Covid-19 has killed hundreds of thousands of people. That’s real and it’s not up for debate. I…
Getting serious for a moment: It’s time to stop pretending that, if we can only hold out long enough, everything is going to go back to exactly how it was before this pandemic. It is not. Please ignore what our so-called leaders are saying about…
The epidemic has really put a dent in my blogging. I’m amazed at the people who have been able to maintain their usual steady, productive output. For my part, I feel like I’m running on about half my usual emotional / mental capacity. I make…