Haven’t watch any Indiana Jones movies… I know, I know… what you’re thinking. I am not really a big fan of movies anyway. Well, not now. Now, that I have membership for unlimited movies. So I gave the latest Indiana Jones a try.
And boy, it must be the ‘1950’s-feel’, which makes me don’t like the movie. I’m just no fan of that kind. Nevertheless, the movie was able to sustain my interest. I didn’t fall asleep. lol.
What makes Iron Man a good film? Simple - visual effect. Other than that, it is not really a super-special film. In fact, without the visual effect, it is dull as hell and would bore you instantly. Or, perhaps, it was just me?
But I have to say that everybody can enjoy this film from little kids to adults. The thing is the story is not complicated. Story is straightforward, no suprises, no tricks, no twists - which I guess, for me, is boring.
The worst feeling is over.
I managed to survive the insane Biology in Society, the 454-shit-Genomics, Proteomics and Bioinformatics, the Bacterial Genetics and the almost-into-the-grave module: Genetic Models of Disease.
I’m glad that it is ALMOST over. ALMOST, because I got another exam coming up in less than 5 hours.
And the title of the module is: Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology.
3 hours from now is my second exam. The title of the module: Genomics, Proteomics and Bioinformatics.
I know it’s freaky. I find myself getting insane memorizing and blabbing scientific jargons in front of my room’s wall.
Oh god. Why did I choose this kind of life?
Genome Sequencer FLX system.
Transcriptomics. Microarrays.
Proteomics. 2D Gel Electrophoresis. MALDI-TOF.
Metabolomics. GC-MS. LC-MS. NMR.
RNA interference. Dicer. RISC. RITS. miRNP. Heterochromatin. DNA elimination.
Bioinformatics. NCBI. BLAST. HMM.
Freaky, isn’t it?
Ugh. After this, I got three more 
Time is ticking. It’s only a matter of hours before I take my first exam in my final year. And it may sound funny but my first exam is ‘Biology in Society’ which deals on philosophical ideas of science, history of science and bioethics. I find it absurd to have such module in the final year. I find it awkward to take note on the most pressing issue of science in the final year when in fact, you have to actually go through this in the first year, in my own opinion, as it creates a foundation of knowledge and understanding of what is science. And in fact, it is in the first year, you have to realize that you are stepping on the ground or a world of knowledge or ideas that you must prepared to face. And it is in the first year, you have to decide if you want to take the challenge or not.
Somehow, the wise people in the ‘educational government’ place such module in the final year. Making sure that the guinea pig of such new module will experience the hardship or the irony of it. And again, I am subjected in such experimentation.
In DLSU, my batch experienced the ridiculous ID system, the change in the CWTS/NSTP system, the RELS system and other things that I just plainly forgot. And in my second undergraduate degree, the curse is still with me. I experienced the experimentation on modules - Biology in Society and Genetic Models of Disease. I encountered the change of BIOSI system - pushing us to do more stuff, ie the final year project.
Thank God I am still existing. Thank God that this experiment do not dissect me alive just like how many students dissect frogs, cats and other animals.
Ok. Since Biology in Society is my exam tomorrow, I’ll just highlight some ironies in science.
Days from now, the bill for the revised Human Fertilisation and Embryology act will be finally get its verdict whether to permit or ban the controversial human/animal embryo. But that’s not all, the revised Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill also contains issue such as allowing ’savior siblings’, the need for fatherless figure and as a sidenote to cut down the abortion decision from 24 weeks to 20 weeks.
What is legal and what is not
Currently, all people who are in UK is bound by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act (1990). This provide a strict guidelines on areas such as in-vitro fertilization, abortion and most importantly - research!
Basically in the act, it prohibits the storage of any embryo longer than 14 days and it also prohibits the implantation of animal embryo to human and vice versa. Granting of a license (and thereby, allowing you to carry out the research) is governed by the Human Fertilisation and Embryo Authority. They are tasked to assess research proposals and making sure that those granted with licensed will be strictly follow the guidelines.
This hullabaloo started when a proposal was given to HFEA, dealing with usage of animal egg cell and human genetic material mixed together to create a hybrid stem cell. Certainly, the act do not cover such act but it raises many questions, which provoke the bill to be passed.
Hybrids and chimera
Before we proceed, it is important to make a clear cut of using the word - hybrid and chimera.
Hybrids are the result of breeding of two species of different taxa. This can be done between species of different sub-species, which is known as intra-species hybridization or between species within the same genera, which is known as interspecies hybridization. It is also possible to get a cross between two species of different genera, which is known as intergeneric hybridization. In rare occasion, we can also interfamilial hybrids. Basically, a hybrid requires a male and a female in order to be created. In most occasion, the resulting organism from hybridization is sterile due to failure to create a viable gametes.
Chimera, on the other hand, is a mixture of two genetically distinct zygote. Clearly, this is different from hybrids as it can happen between species of the same taxa. For instance, when a woman is destined to born twins but at rare occasion, these two zygotes can fused together and producing only one offspring. In the process of fusion, there could be a problem. If the zygotes have different sexes, the fusion could lead to form an individual with two sets of genes, a male-specific and female-specific; thus forming a hermaphrodite. If the zygotes have the same sex, then that should be alright.
I would not really quantify the animal/human mixed together to form an embryo as hybrid. Since it doesn’t really entail the use of a male of different taxa to create an offspring from a female of another taxa. Read the rest of this entry »
I made a blog like 3 years ago and ended up throwing the site out due to lack of time and interest. But now, amidst the revision time for upcoming exams, I find that interest again as I wanted to share some of my ideas about things in life. Anyhow, let’s start off with something very interesting.
The advent of genome sequencing revealed a lot of information on the organism in question. Genome sequencing is used as a tool to assess the global nucleotide sequence of an organism and with such knowledge, comparison of different sequences can reveal phylogeny or relatedness of one organism to another. And extending it further, this would also make us aware how did a certain organism evolve and what makes it special.
The first bacterial genome to be sequenced was the Haemophilus influenzae (Fleischmann, 1995). Using a technique called random shotgun sequencing. Basically the technique requires fragmentation of genomic DNA of an organism, then clone it in a bacteria and sequence it using Dye terminator technique. Until now this technique is widely used. In fact, that is how the first human genome sequence was completed in 2003. And now, the genome sequencing had been extended to a lot of organisms.
xer·o·phyte (zîr’ə-fīt’)
n. A plant adapted to living in a dry arid habitat; a desert plant.
Xerophytes are extremely highly adaptable plants. They can exist in desert such as cactus and in moist biota such as bromeliads. Xerophytic characteristic is also required when plants had to survive in extremely cold places.
Xerophytes are just one of the examples of amazing organisms in the planet. There are a lot of things out there that could be regarded as truly amazing and extraordinary. I regarded myself as a unique individual, extraordinary if you want to call it. Not because of any achievement but because I believe in myself much like how a xerophyte believe in itself that it can survive in the harshest environment.
I open this blog to everyone to comment. I would post up what my thoughts are in some issues that I would raise and some exciting and amazing things in science.
