Decaflon

On today's mostly unstructured web (links being the structure), Google or some other mechanism which indexes those links is pretty much the only way to go. Any other service can only be built on top of it. And they can never scale quite like Google.

Of course Digg is very limited. Try searching for good science there.

I still like coding in a simple text editor, but am increasingly using Eclipse now, esp with the Aptana plugins

23andme is only one of three companies in this space, so you do have options.

The info you get from genotyping (not yet sequencing) is still not good enough to make serious health decisions yet. And for now, there is no regulation, since all you are doing is getting a mapping of your genotype against something like the HapMap and whether you have some well characterized disease-related SNPs.

Anyway, as for the future, it's going to be fairly typical to get yourself tested before being prescribed a drug. Even the best drugs only act on a portion of the population, so why take something that doesn't work for you (think Herceptin). More long term, you will be able to tell early on what your risk factors are and act accordingly, i.e. diet, lifestyle, etc.

Question is still there. Let's say you carry additional risk for diabetes, but follow a lifestyle that increases your risk. Is this something insurers can use? Should they? etc etc

Eclipse with the Aptana plugin

mndoci

Thanks a ton :)

Portability is a huge huge plus. Something I can drop into my carry on for shorter trips or run around with at a conference. I presume you meant HDR models (couldn't find any HDVxxx models)

Thanks

Wikis are one option. I know people who use Backpack from 37signals. I personally use a combination of del.icio.us and Google Notebook to capture research. I also know several people who are using Zotero.

Good question. I can think of a bunch. The nominees are

- The structure of Lysozyme
- The double helix
- PCR
- The splitting of the atom
- Pauling's theory of bonding

and the winner is ... Pauling. No understanding of bonding, most of the rest doesn't matter.

Little things. Carpool (actually we own only one car, a 7 year old civic). Take the bus when possible. Recycle. That kind of stuff.

Damn Pac Northwest weather. No moon to be soon. Hopefully the eclipse in August will be better.

Lily

My experience in the US is similar to yours. In India, it's not quite as obvious.

Curiosity and creativity should exist in all disciplines. Unfortunately stereotypes and pigeonholing are all too common.

Lilly

I actually believe that its the curiosity makes it more easy to suspend disbelief. There is a reason so many scientists love writers like Terry Pratchett and Tolkien.

When I was really young 4/5, my dad took me to the library and introduced me to a series of books by two kids, Tony and Anne. In each book (thin ones), one of the kids asked their dad a simple question (e.g. why is the sky blue?). The rest of the book was about the dad answering the question and clarifying any confusion. I was hooked!!! I can't find the book series anywhere, not even using a search engine, but I still give the series a lot of credit for teaching me that it is OK to be curious about things and it is OK to ask all kinds of questions.

So I guess I am with Kamigoroshi. Learning the answer to a question made me ask more questions and then more and here I am, some three decades later, still asking questions.

Just as a clarification .. I've been applying physical/chemical principles to biological systems, which tend to be the most complex and interesting, at least to me.

All. Most of the boundaries are blurred anyway. I am a physicist/chemist by training and have been doing biology for the past decade plus. Remember, biology is now a digital science in many ways.

Crimson editor mostly :)

I use Techmeme every now and then. Saves me from following a bunch of blogs. I do prefer it to Tailrank for example. It is a big echo-chamber thats for sure (and for some reason they started picking me up, so I shouldn't complain :-) )

One doesn't have to study science to become a scientist.
It's not about getting PhDs (and in my experience foreign PhDs don't work for less, but it is possible), but about appreciating and understanding science. At least in my book, a sound scientific education teaches you how to analyze problems of all kinds. My favorite subjects in middle school were physics and history, so its not like one precludes the other.

Maybe I am old and cranky, but I do think that kids today don't want to work hard, and no one said science was easy. So given that, I think there is a huge challenge in front of our educators. The secret lies in catching them young. If you learn to appreciate science when you are six or seven, chances are you will appreciate it later.

I have the book in the mail already. I didn't make it, but many of the bloggers I read regularly did make it. I hope this becomes an annual thing. 50 posts a year is easy. Maybe in time the anthology could become a print repository of the best in science blogging.

Google Reader. Ever since the last update, its by far my favorite. Stopped using Bloglines completely

The 2.01 might explain the stability, since I am set up for auto update. What I don't recall was how soon after 2.0 did 2.01 come out.

My 2.0 is very stable, no issues at all (one crash since I installed it the day it was released). Pretty much everyone I know (and judging by my blog traffic 80% of those who visit my blog) uses firefox 2.0 now.

I use Gtalk all the time. However, I tend to use it within Meebo or the Gmail embedded client. Most of the people I care about are on it, so no problems here.

anodyne ... that brings back a lot of memories :)

Looks beautiful, and I will probably buy it the day it gets 3G. I am not sure what the target market is though :)

phone (samsung blackjack)
computer (made it myself)
sharp Aquos LCD

Lol ... he actually said that. I hope he was being funny

I text heavily (and receive alerts on it). Since I have a Blackjack, internet, emails, MMS, chat

I use meebo mostly these days (with google talk my preferred client before that) and Skype.

Too many, but I particularly enjoyed doing anything that involved uv-vis spectroscopy. Others I loved - anything to do with a conductance measurement, NMR, and a bunch of inorganic chemistry experiments which involved changes in color (usually related to changes in oxidation state).