Mycology is better than yours

This may be science-geek overload, but I can't resist. My former PI forwarded this time lapse fungi video to me and it is pretty cool (although the slime mold part kind of grosses me out a little). Check it out.

Orientation in a nutshell

Orientation is over! (Well, aside from one more meeting Sunday afternoon.) What a loooooong week. Here are the highlights:

1. Research
I have my first lab rotation set up and I'll begin that on Tuesday in the Hardy lab. I'm really excited about it. For the first few weeks I'll be doing some odds and ends because the post doc that I'll mainly be learning from is out of town. Then looking at viral pathogenesis using fruit flies. The virus (Sindbis) the Hardy lab works with is transmitted by mosquitoes and the natural reservoir is birds. Occasionally it gets transmitted to horses or humans when the mosquitoes decide to feed on something else. A mild form of disease presents itself as polyarthritis and fever while the more serious form causes encephalitis. The interesting thing is that the virus causes disease in large mammals and birds (infected cells go through apoptosis) but the mosquitoes are not affected (no apoptosis in infected cells). The difference is the host, not the virus. So what viral factors are inhibiting apoptotic pathway in mosquitoes and/or what host factors in the apoptotic pathway are the object of this inhibition? That's what I'll be working on. My second rotation is set up as well, so all systems are go on the research front.

2. AI
A good portion of the week has also been spent going through AI training (some of which has been helpful, and some not). I'm really excited now about teaching my class. I'm going to be teaching the Introductory Biology Lab. It's going to take a large amount of time, but I think it will be fun. I'll have a lot of freedom and control over the way I handle my class which will be nice. The professor who is in charge of all the intro labs just set up our oncourse pages and now I have a roster. How weird is that?! I was taking this class 4 years ago and now I have a roster of students who I'll be teaching. Crazy.

3. New friends
Last but not least I've met a lot of new people who I'll be spending a fair amount of time with. I like them so far, and I look forward getting to know them better!

Grad school orientation: Quote of the day II

"Megan! You're here! Great! You can be the other homologue!"
-Mimi (my former PI), recruiting me to be a chromosome in her meiosis presentation

Grad school orientation: Quote of the day

"Common sense in our society is decreasing unfortunately. Now they have those warning tags that remind you not to use your hair dryer in the shower. If you're dumb enough to try that, you really shouldn't be here anyway. I'm all for removing the warnings, thin out the herd."
-A medical doctor, discussing common sense in the real world and laboratory first aid with us today


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Book Review: The Language of God

I finally finished "The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief" by Francis S. Collins. I was really anxious to read this book... there's a chapter entitled 'Life on Earth: Of Microbes and Man' --right up my alley. :) Collins was the head scientist working on the Human Genome Project. Through the HGP (working draft completed in 2000, and final in 2003), scientists now have access to the instruction manual to the human body. Your genome contains every bit of DNA you have: genes, non-coding regions, and regulatory sequences; it's all there, the instructions that make your body run. But not only is Collins a scientist, he is a Christian.

Collins opens and closes the book with his testimony. He begins by briefly explaining his journey from atheism to belief in God. The last chapter (and possibly my favorite) focuses on how he progressed from belief in God to embracing Christ as Savior. In between Collins contemplates how faith in God and faith in science can harmoniously exist in one person without compromising either. He spends much of the book looking at scientific evidence for creation of the universe, possibility of miraculous events that surpass the laws of nature, and evolution of living things on earth. This doesn't surprise me at all considering that this seems to be where most scientists balk when considering belief in a supernatural being. Collins pulls information from Scripture (obviously), prominent believers from St. Augustine to CS Lewis, and scientists from Galileo to Newton. He presents his evidence well and in a manner that is reader-friendly to those without a scientific background. He is writing to scientists and believers alike, asking them to pause their protests long enough to listen to what the other side has to say before claiming irreconcilable differences.

One point that is quite necessarily made is that science can only go so far. Collins calls on Stephen Jay Gould's words for this one:

To say it for all my colleagues and for the umteenth millionth time: Science simply cannot by its legitimate methods adjudicate the issue of God's possible superintendence of nature. We neither affirm it nor deny it; we simply can't comment on it as scientists.

You tell 'em, Stephen. Take that, Richard Dawkins. Science has limits (1). It cannot test the existence of God or His role in creation. Therefore, you cannot legitimately say that evolution demands atheism, as Dawkins so prominently does. Science only goes so far before faith must step in, and rightly so.

I must admit that my thoughts on the relationship between God and evolution are muddy to say the least. I have been a Christian several years longer than I have been a scientist. But what I have found as a scientist has only strengthened my faith and trust in God. I study God's creation and see firsthand the intricacies of nature, but again, science can only go so far. I can look at all the data I want, but really my faith in God comes from the way I've seen Him work in my life. It's that kind of observation that shows me the God I worship, not scientific experimentation. I am not the same person I was 10 years ago when I accepted Christ. Obviously part of that stemming from the huge difference between 12 and 22, but there is a BIG difference in how I view the world, the way I treat others around me, and what I view as important that has nothing to do with my age. These things can only be explained by Christ's work on my heart. I won't delve further into it now, but if you have questions feel free to ask.

I have other thoughts on the book, but I won't bore you with them. If you want to discuss though, I'd be happy to. I would suggest reading it, but keep in mind that this is one guy's thoughts. Make your own decisions. I'll leave you with this quote from Collins:

Science cannot be used to justify discounting the great monotheistic religions of the world, which rest upon centuries of history, moral philosophy, and the powerful evidence provided by human altruism. It is the height of scientific hubris to claim otherwise. But that leaves us with a challenge: if the existence of God is true (not just tradition, but actually true), and if certain scientific conclusions about the natural world are also true (not just in fashion, but objectively true), then they cannot contradict each other. A fully harmonious synthesis must be possible.

[(1) In order for something to be tested scientifically there must be: a hypothesis, an experiment to test the hypothesis, and the experiment must be repeatable for the data to be considered reliable. The hypothesis must be able to be falsified. In general, a hypothesis can be rejected or supported by the results, not proven. More info on the scientific method here.]

Playing with colors

Inspired by Sarah's new blog style update and savvy html skills, I decided to play around with my colors this morning. I really only changed the background color. The lime-ish green that was on there before was a little much for me to look at first thing in the morning... almost needed to break out the sunglasses. (Needless to say, not a morning person) I settled on this khaki color after playing with it for a few minutes... I can't decide if I like it or not. Does it look like I'm joining the army? Give me your two cents? Suggestions are welcome... especially if you've got the hex code too. :)

Sidenote: the current background color is called "gangrene". I'm amused and disgusted all at the same time.

EDIT: I ditched "gangrene" and I'm going with "seaweed roll". Need to revamp the label cloud colors too.

3/4, not too shabby

When I was applying to grad schools in the spring, I sent my application to 4 schools. After getting my acceptance to IU in February, I kind of put the others on the back burner in my mind. Months came and went and I received another acceptance and a rejection, completely forgetting about the 4th and final school. On Saturday (Aug 16th) I received my last letter of acceptance from Rutgers in NJ. Seriously? Aug 16th? I'm beginning grad school on the 25th and they're just now sending out their acceptance letters?! Not only have people already accepted offers, but roommates have been picked and apartments have been leased. I thought it might have been stuck in the mail, but the postmark said Aug 13. I think they may need to revamp their application deadline and process.

Anyway, it made me laugh. I'm still completely confident that IU is where I'm supposed to be. Sorry, Rutgers.

Seriously?

Good job, Olympic officials. Way to ruin two little girls' self esteem before they even reach double digits:

Not cute enough for the Olympics


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Dear God, Thank you for butterflies and dolphins...

It's Sunday morning in the 4 & 5 year old room and we're getting ready for snack time. Abby, a sweet little girl with blond hair and blue eyes, volunteers to say grace:

"Dear God, Thank you for the butterflies and thank you for the dolphins and uh...thank you for grace. Amen."

I loved this prayer. How precious. Abby thanked God for butterflies and dolphins. Why? Because they make her happy. She sees these creatures and she smiles and laughs. It makes sense to thank the Giver of these gifts. I've told probably half a dozen people this story and even went as far as to put it on my favorite quotes because I enjoyed it so much, but it took on even more meaning after Doug's talk at Connexion Sunday night.

Doug spoke about joy, using Scripture from Philippians 3. One of the points involved the joyful nature of God. I have to admit that I don't often think of Him that way. I think of Him as experiencing happiness, but I guess I leave out the aspects of wonder, excitement, and surprise that I often find in joy. Doug described it as God making one daisy and then being so overjoyed with it that he just kept making them... why only have one daisy when you can have many? Or God making one blade of grass and then continuing to create blades of grass because he was delighted by the color green. I love this illustration of God's delight in His own creation and it sent me back to Genesis:

And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated light from the darkness. (1:3-4)

The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their own kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. (1:12)

God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. (1:25)

God saw all that he had made and it was very good. (1:31)

I could keep going, those are just a few examples. The phrase "And God saw that it was good" took on new meaning for me. I don't think God is just seeing the practicality and productivity of His creation. I think He's really filled with joy over it. He is delighting in it, like a painter gazing at the portrait he just finished, admiring his work and feeling wonder and excitement over what has been made by his hands. What a beautiful characteristic of God to think on. I thought about that this morning as I walked to work. I made sure to take notice of the sun and the trees and the robins that were hopping around trying to catch worms for their breakfast. Just knowing that God delights in His creation made it so much more meaningful to me today. It's like your best friend's birthday party when they get a really cool toy and are excited to share it with you. Their delight becomes your delight. God's joy becomes our joy.