blog

Wow.

I created a twitter storm yesterday, as people leapt on the #sci140 meme like kangaroos. Thanks to everyone who picked up on it, RTed and entered. Some of you made me laugh out loud. Below the fold you’ll find all the entries as at 10.24 UTC today (I’ve spent much of the morning stripping out extraneous links, styling, RTs and dupes).

Meantime, David Bradley has extended the meme, using the hashtag #histsci140. That looks like fun too. He’s offering a book prize. I can’t compete with that I’m afraid, but I’m thinking of offering two swag bags for entries tagged with #sci140: one for the best ‘own research’ paper and one for the best summary of someone else’s, whether ‘historical’ or recent. The bag contains an F1000 mug, mints, light saber pen, magnifying glass, compass and the amazing F1000 combo laser pointer/pen/torch/stylus. And yes, enter in your native tongue, too. If I can translate it, it’ll be considered a valid entry!

There’ll be more updates during the week, and I’ll announce a winner on Monday. Good luck!

1. 
   lablit Cells change shape when you knock down genes: we can learn a lot about basic rules of architecture via RNAi visual screening ^jlr
   
   less than 20 seconds ago
2. 
   sciencebase Brother Gregor, purple and white pea flowers are so boring, why can we not grow pink ones?
   
   less than a minute ago
3. 
   sciencebase Ernie, either I’m a very bad shot with these alpha particles, or atomic nuclei in this gold foil are a lot smaller than we thought
   
   4 minutes ago
4. 
   sciencebase Astronauts came back nanoseconds younger than their stay-at-home peers; Einstein was right…again
   
   6 minutes ago
5. 
   lifeaquatic Aerosols, particles and small organisms can be collected more easily than we thought. Simple (no really!) fluid properties explain
   about 2 hours ago
6. 
   aeporreca If you have more time at your disposal, you can do more things. Also works with space. https://bit.ly/cX6nBC
   about 2 hours ago

7. 
   jujurama When using FeCl3 to precipitate nano-Fe onto GAC lower concentration/longer reaction time gives best results. High conc. clogs pores
   about 4 hours ago

8. 
   jujurama Impregnating GAC w/nanozirconium results in hybrid media that can remove organic & inorganic contaminants from H2O via adsorption
   about 4 hours ago
9. 
   jujurama Type of base GAC affects hybrid Fe nanoparticle-GAC media’s ability to remove As & TCE from water. Lignite-based works best.
   about 7 hours ago

10. 
    scimomof2 Get X-ray photoelectron images @ diff.depth from polymer blend . Register quantify & fuse images. Visualize phase separation in 3D.
    about 8 hours ago
11. 
    scimomof2 Capture separation of dyes in nanofluidic channels. Apply MCR to temporal image series. Get velocity of dyes. https://bit.ly/aOJ9sl
    about 8 hours ago

12. 
    JLVernonPhD 2006: Junk DNA in the form of Group II introns can be targeted to disrupt plasmid DNA containing therapeutically relevant sequences
    about 8 hours ago
    
13. 
    murmur55 Men with personality disorders act in extremely dangerous ways against their female counterparts at work, at play,& in family #psych
    about 9 hours ago
14. 
    jefferickson For any convex polyhedron,V-E+F=2 [Euler]. For any genus g polyhedron, V-E+F=2-2g [L’Huillier]. And so on [Poincaré].
    about 10 hours ago
    
15. 
    SelectAgent RNAP R1.1 acts as gatekeeper, modulates trxn initiation. ftprint & trxn assays show RPc to RPo rate varies w/ Promoter spacer.
    about 10 hours ago
16. 
    jefferickson For any plane graph, V-E+F=2. Proof: The complement of a spanning tree of G is a spanning tree of G*. [Whitney]
    about 10 hours ago
17. 
    SelectAgent Salt of DNA structure= double helix. Strands anti-parallel; has implications. (PS Rosie didn’t help)
    about 11 hours ago
18. 
    aeporreca It’s impossible to determine whether a guy with an infinite piece of paper will ever stop doing maths. https://bit.ly/9qKV5E
    about 11 hours ago
19. 
    pssalgado Active site of single-unit RNAi polymerase = multi-subunit transcriptional enz -> evolution at structural level https://bit.ly/cSLB38
    about 12 hours ago
    
20. 
    pssalgado Fact: Ca2+ inhibits prot. Exp: X-ray prot xtal +/- Ca2+. Obs: Ca2+ coordinates PP, alters geom, rx stopped. https://bit.ly/cdY7Hi
    about 12 hours ago
21. 
    yokofakun Fig. 1: ▇ ▂ figure 1: “kissing couples: about 80% turned their heads to the right to kiss” DOI:10.1080/13576500600886614
    about 12 hours ago
22. 
    orthostichy Little circles of DNA change adipose stem cells into pluripotent stem cells: https://bit.ly/aMmB06
    about 12 hours ago
23. 
    johnlogsdon A Phylogenomic Inventory of Meiotic Genes: Evidence for Sex in Giardia and an Early Eukaryotic Origin of Meiosis (original title)
    about 12 hours ago
24. 
    pssalgado coherent light through 2 parallel slits: light-dark interference pattern + discrete pattern observed. concl: particle-wave duality
    about 12 hours ago

25. 
    2020science Short and tangled carbon nanotubes behave like particles in the body; long straight ones behave like fibers. https://bit.ly/9uSaCP
    about 12 hours ago
    
26. 
    axiomsofchoice p,q∈ℕ;p²=2q²⊧p∈2ℤ;gcd(p,q)=1⊧q∈2ℤ+1;∵4∣a²,a∈2ℤ⊧q∈2ℤ⊧⊥;∴√2∉ℚ;QED https://ff.im/fFJeG
    about 13 hours ago
27. 
    pssalgado cat in box + decay triggered poison. box closed: cat alive & dead. when box opened: cat live or dead #Schrodinger
    about 13 hours ago

28. 
    johnlogsdon Meiosis genes found in Giardia indicate they are capable of undercover sex and that meiosis arose early https://tinyurl.com/y882saw
    about 13 hours ago
    
29. 
    aemonten Mouse embryonic and adult fibroblasts can be made pluripotent by introducing 4 transcript.factors (Takahashi & Yamanaka, Cell, 2006)
    about 13 hours ago
30. 
    geomblog > 1/2 edges adj. to vert. of d-polytope point up/down -> v is unique bot/top vert. of face of dim d/2 CH has size n^d/2 Seidel
    about 13 hours ago
31. 
    pssalgado green + yellow peas -> all yellow peas -> 3:1 yellow:green peas. concl: inhereted charact from 2 info containing particles #Mendel
    about 13 hours ago
32. 
    BoraZ How many eggs does a bird lay? Clock determines, was domesticated to make more. Works the same in the wild: https://bit.ly/bqHxCe
    about 13 hours ago
33. 
    BoraZ Two quail eyes REALLY want to be synchronized and don’t need optic nerves to do so: https://bit.ly/ZJSst
    about 13 hours ago
34. 
    la_science_nue . #Cloning:Take a mammal egg. Remove nucleus. Insert the nucleus of a somatic cell into this empty egg. Pulse. (Wilmut et al.1996)
    about 13 hours ago
35. 
    lifeatblandings Ar. ramidus lacks characters re: knuckle-walking, suspension. Ancestor last shared differed substantially from extant African apes.
    about 13 hours ago
36. 
    BoraZ Many tried and failed, but persistence pays: quail eyes work in a dish: https://bit.ly/c7uJUi
    about 13 hours ago
37. 
    lifeatblandings White, T. et al. 2009. ‘Ardipithecus ramidus and the Paleobiology of Early Hominids.’ Science. Vol. 326. no. 5949, pp. 64, 75-86.
    about 13 hours ago
38. 
    BoraZ Very hungry? Clock keeps ticking and saving your energy at night: https://bit.ly/al7uVd
    about 13 hours ago
39. 
    mcshanahan News commenters don’t question others who say they’re scientists. Writing posts like a scientist helps citizens get voices heard.
    about 13 hours ago
40. 
    BoraZ Clocks, how many? At least two in quail – no need for eyes or light, either: https://bit.ly/99Dbep
    about 13 hours ago

41. 
    BoraZ Everyone uses clocks to measure daylength. Quail, too? Close, but no cigar: https://bit.ly/bmW3FI
    about 13 hours ago
    
42. 
    yokofakun ζ(s)=∑[n:1→∞]( 1/n^s)=1/1^s+1/2^s+1/3^s+…for Re(s) > 1 (Riemann B., 1859)
    about 14 hours ago
43. 
    rweba Vast majority of interesting problems are NP-Complete (Karp)
    about 14 hours ago

44. 
    razZ0r With just a short duplication, RNA sequences of MDMV are better, stronger, nicer!
    about 14 hours ago
45. 
    geomblog Random projection into log n dimensions preserves distances among n points to within eps relative error. JL lemma
    about 14 hours ago
46. 
    bonebraking Rel8ed parrot productivity 2 habitat. 2 avoid predation (+ risk infanticide): -trees, +H2O. Satsfys IFD assump. https://bit.ly/cL0zgC
    about 14 hours ago
47. 
    bparsia All your theorems are belong to us (Euclid, 300BC)
    about 14 hours ago

48. 
    yokofakun (gene:704923 mesh:Protein_Binding gene:705847)+ gene:7011355 = (gene:704923 mesh:Protein_Binding gene:7011355)+ gene:705847
    about 14 hours ago
49. 
    michiexile Vertex degrees easily predict existence of paths visiting each edge exactly once: At most two of odd degree allowed. – Euler 1735
    about 14 hours ago

50. 
    michiexile It is impossible to give a closed formula for exact solution of polynomial equations in a single var. of degree > 4. – Galois & Abel
    about 14 hours ago
51. 
    EvoMRI Take larva. Put in magnet. Repeat (Add radio. Get 3D image & spectrum) until -40ºC. Thaw. Still crawls. https://bit.ly/aZ3keq
    about 14 hours ago

52. 
    EvoMRI Prey survives attack. Wait some million years. Dig out. Put in magnet. Add radio. Get 3D image. Diagnose. https://bit.ly/RHNXP
    about 14 hours ago
53. 
    EvoMRI Ask people whether musical chords you play are regular or not. Take EEG. The latter answers more correctly. https://bit.ly/c833xc
    about 14 hours ago
54. 
    EvoMRI Let people fill in questionnaire. Take their ECG. The latter hints at their emotionality. https://bit.ly/c833xc
    about 14 hours ago
55. 
    bparsia The computer told us: “Four colors suffice. ” (Calculators *were* allowed, right?) – Appel and Haken, 1976
    about 14 hours ago
56. 
    misskher Meet Ida, missing link. Just kidding – we wanted to be on TV!
    about 14 hours ago
57. 
    EvoMRI Fertilize egg. Put in magnet. Repeat (Add radio. Get 3D image.) until hatching. https://bit.ly/afl8Js
    about 14 hours ago
58. 
    CameronNeylon De novo sequencing of genomes>10Mb no good with next gen sequencing https://bit.ly/clZcYw [paired end reads later solved this prob]
    about 14 hours ago
59. 
    EvoMRI Trap cell in light. Repeat (Spin it in electric field. Change frequency.) for 5min. Deduce temperature in cell. https://bit.ly/bO8kDv
    about 14 hours ago
60. 
    lovysinghal primality of a no. can b decided in polynomial time – Agarwal, Kayal & Saxena
    about 14 hours ago

61. 
    MitchKeller Four colors suffice – Appel and Haken, 1976
    about 14 hours ago

62. 
    lovysinghal Primes is in P. – Agarwal, Kayal & Saxena
    about 14 hours ago
63. 
    michiexile Complete. Concise. Consistent. Pick two. – Gödel 1931
    about 14 hours ago
64. 
    michiexile Take 3×3 pixel patches from a photo databank. Normalize them twice. The result looks like a Klein bottle. Kinda – Carlsson et.al.
    about 14 hours ago
65. 
    geomblog All minor-closed graph properties can be tested in polynomial time. Robertson/Seymour
    about 15 hours ago
66. 
    michiexile We can do PCA, but with coordinates on a hypertorus, using cohomology and least squares optimization. – de Silva-Morozov-@michiexile
    about 15 hours ago
67. 
    michiexile The homology of a differential graded algebra is a Stasheff A-infinity algebra. – Kadeishvilli 1982.
    about 15 hours ago

68. 
    rpg7twit @grace_baynes You might be right! It’s a monster out of control. (ooh, this *is* the paper. Very meta)
    about 15 hours ago
    

69. 
    CameronNeylon Take bacterial cell wall chemistry. Replace proteins + wall with any prot + beads. Easy protein labelled beads! https://bit.ly/9Fk8X6
    about 15 hours ago
70. 
    Miss__Tina (Almost) everyone grew, nobody died. J Clin Endocrinol Metab Feb 2008; 93(2):352-357
    about 15 hours ago
71. 
    bparsia “it is not easy to determine whether a given propositional formula is a tautology, even if the formula is in normal disjunctive form”
    about 15 hours ago
72. 
    dullhunk We wish to suggest a structure 4 the salt of DNA. This structure has novel features which are of considerable biological interest
    about 15 hours ago
    
73. 
    Etche_homo Islet-1 transcription factor is a major orchestrator of morphogenetic signalling pathways in the embryonic human heart.
    about 16 hours ago
74. 
    marymulv Peas for tea. Again! (Damn that gardener.) Smooth, wrinkly, smooth… Is that a pattern? Hm. Should I tell that Darwin fellow??
    about 16 hours ago
    
75. 
    labgrrl Rat and Al are all, like, cool, then Rat+Al+BANG! Now, rat, and Al’s like “WAHHHHH!!!” @ rat. (Watson, 1920)
    about 16 hours ago
76. 
    mauro_fantini No one knows what B1 cells do. Let’s use skin allografts to find out. Skin died faster in WT mice than in mice lacking B1.B1 are bad
    about 16 hours ago
77. 
    tomroud Lorentz transfo. implies kinetic energy of a body diminishes after emission of a radiation, therefore mass is energy (Einstein1905b)
    about 16 hours ago
78. 
    labgrrl Hors d’œuvre + electricity= jump. It’s latently obvious. Helmholtz, 1850
    about 16 hours ago

79. 
    modelpractice NP = ESO. Fagin, 1974.
    about 16 hours ago
80. 
    silentypewriter Healthy stomach + H. pylori = peptic ulcer… + penicillin = healthy stomach. ∴ Peptic ulcer = bacterial!
    about 16 hours ago

81. 
    labgrrl E pur si muove!! (Nonetheless, it moves!) Galilei, 1633; Brown, 1821 Hubble, 1929; McClintock,1950; et al.
    about 16 hours ago
82. 
    tomroud c is independent from referential, therefore Lorentz beats Galileo (Einstein 1905a)
    about 16 hours ago

83. 
    labgrrl Oops, Who would’ve thought that absolute power corrupts absolutely? (Zimbardo,1971)
    about 16 hours ago
    
84. 
    labgrrl Gave half the scurvy lot fruit, now have half a scurvy lot, Limey! (Lind, 1753)
    about 16 hours ago
85. 
    michaelgrr Structure function paradigm is wrong. Unfolded proteins can have biological function – check FlgM, regulation of flagella synthesis
    about 16 hours ago
86. 
    Browntideguy Nutrients/grazing/physical parameters change. Aureococcus anophagefferens experiences excessive growth. Ecosystem is devastated.
    about 16 hours ago
87. 
    tomroud Selected for bacterial resistance. Got non poissonian distrib. of mutants with huge variance, ergo mutations preexisted selection.
    about 16 hours ago
88. 
    rgcjk guaranteed enumeration of all topologically distinct membrane protein tunnels. https://dx.doi.org/10.1529/biophysj.108.135970
    about 16 hours ago
89. 
    jsnsndr Neurogenesis literature is conflicted so we compared rats & mice. New neurons in rats: more, faster, better. https://bit.ly/awBIFl
    about 17 hours ago
90. 
    SFriedScientist Empty beer bottles better for smashing heads #cit: https://bit.ly/drbHTE
    about 17 hours ago

91. 
    simon_frantz Water can remember a molecule diluted out of existence. Oh hang on, no it can’t
    about 17 hours ago

92. 
    michaelgrr We did some messing about with wire and stuff, found double helix fits the Xray patterns of DNA. Rest is obvious. Suck that, Linus!
    about 17 hours ago

93. 
    jamie5on Speed of light same for all; laws of physics constant in all un-accelerated frames. Hence length contraction + time dilation.
    about 17 hours ago
94. 
    2020science Mdlng hist data sgsts causal rship btwn inhaled PM surface area & increased risk of dth https://bit.ly/8YWKh3
    about 17 hours ago
95. 
    jamie5on Medium-range structure of very-high-density amorphous ice a lot like disordered crystalline ice at same pressure
    about 17 hours ago
96. 
    SFriedScientist Null alleles don’t affect assignment tests, probably #cit: https://bit.ly/by5tYF #notmine
    about 17 hours ago
97. 
    rgcjk searching proteins for drugable binding sites finds known sites and potential allosteric sites https://dx.doi.org/10.1021/ci600229z
    about 17 hours ago

98. 
    2020science Modeling historic data suggests a causal relationship between inhaled particulate matter surface area and increased risk of death
    about 17 hours ago

99. 
    kzelnio Dive in deep sea, ID vent shrimp, 1 yr ltr look agn new species! describe it, COI phylo, key to family – taxonomy & biodiversity FTW
    about 17 hours ago
100. 
     sciencebase Dropped heavy and light ball at Pisa; saw landed at same time. Peer review problems now, especially after telescope incident.
     about 17 hours ago
101. 
     JLVernonPhD 1865: 28,000 Pisum plants reveal: 2 factors from parents (1 dominant, 1 recessive) sort separately when passing only 1 to offspring
     about 17 hours ago

102. 
     jeffsayre @2020science: Example –> 2x+ colas/week = ~2x risk of pancreatic cancer #cit: https://bit.ly/9Sosde #notmine
     about 17 hours ago

103. 
     DrMathochist Witten: path-integral heuristics give invariants of knots embedded in 3-folds, incl. Alexander, Jones, Bracket, etc. Quantize!
     about 17 hours ago
     
104. 
     alphalo BZ is dissipative autocatalytic process where chemicals catalyse each other to create self-organizing spirals https://bit.ly/76a6Nt
     about 17 hours ago
105. 
     sc_k For a pair of non-commuting operators, knowing one precludes knowing the other. ∴ QM gives an incomplete reality. EPR, 1935.
     about 17 hours ago
106. 
     AlvFdezFdez I pick one of your hairs and… Voilá! I transform it in stem cell 😀 OK, it does not describe iPS cells 100%, but… hehe
     about 17 hours ago
107. 
     sc_k Quantum correction added to the prob. of a configuration for the low temp. range. Thermo-equilibrium now right with QM. Wigner, 1932
     about 17 hours ago

108. 
     drmsrosenberg e = mc^2
     about 17 hours ago
     
109. 
     rgcjk quantitative depth measure of proteins-binding sites are deep-little effect on affinity https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jmb.2006.07.022
     about 17 hours ago

110. 
     brembs The Drosophila mutant ‘radish’ exhibits hyperactivity and deficits in attention-like processing. Ritalin rescues most deficits.
     about 17 hours ago
111. 
     dabaum77 Human genome busted up, pieces sequenced by many people, put back into order, and published in Nature. 1st draft book of life.
     about 17 hours ago
112. 
     ralphmercer shit happens, and if left undisturbed will continue to happen
     about 17 hours ago

113. 
     aemonten DNA is structured as a double helix; Nature 1953; 171: 737 😉
     about 17 hours ago
     
114. 
     Luxegen Cummings,Kalf,Moore,Miller,Jirik,Wilson.SOD-1 influences timing & post-hypoxic stability neonatal breathing. Adv Exp Med Biol 2008
     about 18 hours ago
115. 
     rgcjk hyperthermostable proteins are more spherical; fewer pockets, more buried atoms. https://dx.doi.org/10.1002/prot.22558
     about 18 hours ago

116. 
     rgcjk model for ligand affinity based on receptor desolvation predicts target druggability and HTS hits https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nbt1273
     about 18 hours ago
     
117. 
     silentypewriter https://twitpic.com/128q1v Left: Ag beam X-section, no B-field. Right: Ag beam X-section, inhomogeneous B-field. ∴ spin is quantized.
     about 18 hours ago

118. 
     CameronNeylon 2 interwound helices, with handedness right, and a 3.4 pitch, and hydration just right + keto not enol or they don’t zip up right
     about 18 hours ago
119. 
     Luxegen Weljie,Miller,Vogel,Jirik.An inflamm arthritis-assoc. metabolite biomarker pattern by 1H NMR spectroscopy J Proteome Res 2007 .
     about 18 hours ago
120. 
     rpg7twit Used density clustering to estimate genomic copy number. Acceptable FDR on simulated data. Worked like a charm on real cohort data.
     about 18 hours ago
121. 
     IanMulvany Mikelson + Morley looked at light crosswise, damn, it didn’t interfere. No worries, just means no ether.
     about 18 hours ago
122. 
     LouWoodley The eureka moment of deep-sea squid shows that team working between your (symbiotic) partners can be illuminating
     about 18 hours ago
     
123. 
     IanMulvany dog + bell + food = saliva. Repeat. Eventually dog + bell = saliva, where’s my nobel prize?
     about 18 hours ago

124. 
     NeilWithers ‘Venus flytrap’ sulfide compound selectively hoovers up nasty caesium ions and holds on to them. doi:10.1038/nchem.519
     about 18 hours ago

125. 
     IanMulvany from giants’ shoulders saw apple fall to earth, gravity is inverse squared, oh and geometry with fluxions too. #principia
     about 18 hours ago

126. 
     brianclegg EPR: Two particles from one, measure position/momentum. Either no locality or hidden variables. Must be locality, so there.
     about 18 hours ago
     
127. 
     doctorzen Giant neurons for escape tailflips in slipper lobsters? The behaviour and the backfills say no! Original: https://bit.ly/9KYOn0
     about 18 hours ago
128. 
     IanMulvany geodesics locally flat, globally it’s complicated
     about 18 hours ago
129. 
     razZ0r We collected a large number of animal and plant promoters, determined the conserved regions, and made a web search interface for it.
     about 18 hours ago