I always thought it was “I had to much to DRINK last night”

Friday Freak-Out: The Electric Prunes’ “I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night)” (1967)
[Via Boing Boing]

[video link]

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Mondegreens dealing with lyrics are so much fun. I have really spent the last 40 years or so sure that the word was drink, rather than dream. I mean, all of us have had too much to drink. How many have had too much to dream?

“All mimsy was RNA, and protein chain outgrabe”

A molecular fossil of the RNA world
[Via Ars Technica]

For many years, the evolution of protein production (called translation) seemed like a bit of a chicken-and-egg problem. The complex that catalyzes translation, the ribosome, contains both RNA and proteins, which causes a bit of a paradox: how did the first proteins get made if their production required the ribosome’s proteins? Decades ago, Francis Crick had suggested a simple solution, where the chemical reactions that link a chain of amino acids into a protein were catalyzed by RNA. But, for many years, this suggestion was largely ignored, as many assumed that the ribosomal RNA did little more than act as scaffolding for the complex’s proteins.

But, over time, bits of biochemical evidence suggested Crick might have been on to something, as they hinted that the ribosomal RNA might be a bit more than inert scaffolding. Ultimately, the conclusive evidence came when researchers finally determined the structure of an intact ribosome, and located the active site. There were no proteins at the site, simply RNA.

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Watch the embedded video in the article. What a wonderful symphony of movement the computer can show us. The details are just fascinating.

I wrote about how this process looked to researchers 40 years ago. We knew a lot about proteins but the actual details of protein synthesis were still very dim. Take a look at the state of knowledge in 1971 – with some basic biology presented by another Nobel Prize winning scientist, Paul Berg:

I saw that video in High School and it is one of the main motivators for me to study protein structure. Science as interpreted by the cast of Hair. “50S Ribosome!” Initiator Factor  and Termination Factor were hot! And Jazz flute in a science presentation! With more cow bell.

But in large part, the science still holds up.

While we knew a lot in 1971, the details of the actual process made about as much sense as the Jabberwocky-like poem read in voiceover.

Compare that to just how much more detail we have today from the video in the Ars Technica article. I admit, I have a soft spot for protein translation as an interpretive dance but the computer generated animation tells us so much more. Both have great use of relevant music. It shows that the connection between the arts and science are still intertwined.

I am a structure-function junkie, having spent much of my adult on that research. The ribosome – perhaps the most basic yet most complex biological structure that exists in all living things – helps us see how life started on the planet.

Google on the outside looking in

Apple, Microsoft, RIM group bid wins Nortel patent auction for $4.5B
[Via AppleInsider]

Canadian telecommunications equipment maker Nortel announced late Thursday that a consortium of companies, including Apple, EMC, Ericsson, Microsoft, Research in Motion and Sony, placed the winning bid in a high-profile auction for a collection of more than 6,000 patents.

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They offered $900 million. The consortium pad $4.5 billion, with EMC paying $340 million and RIM – which seems to be on the downhill side – paying $770 million.

It will be interesting to see how these patents are used. I wonder if any of them could be applicable to white-fi technology?

Less than 500 Android apps for tablets?

Just How Many Android Tablet Apps Are There?
[Via Pogue's Posts]

Google just won’t say how many apps there are for Android tablets. It is a low number and it shows the glaring downside of Android’s openness: a splintered mishmash of different versions.

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And over 100,000 for the iPad. And some apps for Android tablets only work on specific hardware not on all Android tablets.

The fascinating thing is how difficult Google makes it to find out the answer compared to how easy Apple makes it.

Hardware makes no sense without software.