Some deep thoughts.

1) Eric proposed this thought experiment recently. Is there any condition under which you would assent to 50% of the population dying? That means that you personally have a 50% chance of dying. I say no. But then he proposed, what if the person becomes transmogrified into another living thing, like a tree or a blade of grass or a marmoset or some other endangered organism? Then I think I would say yes. a) overpopulation is the cause of most of the world's problems. b) everything would still be alive! C) I don't think either me or Eric or any of my family would be the ones affected. Even though statistically that's not true.

2) We got the tandem bike back! Dani is moving back to Spain, for real, for good (unless his grant application in Minnesota or whatever comes through) so we bought it from him. Unfortunately for me Chantal took back the seat she bought so it is no longer nearly as squishy and suspensionable as it was. Bumps are quite painful. Eric doesn't know my pain at all, he is no Bill Clinton.

3) I have made great scientific progress this week. I discovered that our SDS solution (sodium dodecyl sulfate, a common ionic detergent found in toothpaste and shampoos and also useful for dissociating ionically bonded proteins) is bad. How does it go bad? I have no idea. Instead of making the solution more basic, as it should, it made the solution acidic. This may be why I have not seen the results I expected when I treated my fluorescent proteins with this SDS. I got some today from Eric's lab and it did not precipitate out and it made the solution (slightly) more basic. So maybe everything will work out just fine. When it does I will let you know and there will be pictures galore on here don't you fear.

4) Kirsten let me have some of her alpaca+gold glitter roving to spin tonight. It spins so much nicer than Dennis hair + wool! I feel like a real good spinner now, even though my spinning wheel is old and I don't take care of it properly.

5) My preliminary exams are on Monday November 7th. This is very important because it is before Thanksgiving i.e. I can enjoy my Thanksgiving break for the first time in three years. Also it is important because it means I will be freaking out more and more before then. Fortunately I have siblings I can visit afterwards so I have something to look forward to. Namely, southwest has cheap flights through tomorrow so I will go visit Annie in San Francisco immediately afterwards and greatly enjoy myself. Also, I am about to learn more about esoteric subjects than I ever knew before, so get ready world! I will lay it on you with abandon!

6) Listeria virus has recently been found in Colorado-grown canteloupe. No canteloupe is now available in Colorado. I know the mechanism by which Listeria operates: normally the virulence genes are not expressed, because the RNA forms a stem-loop structure which the ribosome cannot bypass, so no protein gets transcribed. However, at body temperatures, the RNA stem-loop structure is melted, which is to say the hydrogen bonds between base-pairs are no longer maintained, so the RNA becomes straight and the ribosome can transcribe the virulence genes. This is the first fact I learned in the RNA biology class I took last fall and I still think it is super-cool. The Listeria virus does not become virulent until it is inside an endotherm. And RNA structure is responsible!

7) I think about the fact that I have MS every single day. I don't like it. I can't tell whether I'm tired or my myelin sheathing isn't conducting properly and it makes a difference in how I act which one is responsible. But I go swimming. The pool is cool, it is impossible to get overheated, and I get nice and excercised. Yay goggles! Then I get in the hot tub, it does feel good on my muscles, but when I get out I can't see straight! Am I tired or is are the electrons not moving properly? I cannot trust my body any more! Instead I assume the most helpful hypothesis: my brain IS tired, I MUST take a nap, and then I DO feel better. I recommend that everyone, healthy or not, take naps regularly. It definitely mitigates decision fatigue. Do you love naps or hate them?