www.arareko.net

J. Craig Venter, maverick biologist, wants to cure our addiction to oil. To do so, he proposes creating a designer microbe — the heart of a biological engine — from scratch, then adding genes culled from the sea to turn crops such as switch grass and cornstalks into ethanol.

While he’s at it, he’d like to modify or devise microorganisms to produce a steady stream of hydrogen…

Washington Post: J. Craig Venter’s Next Little Thing

Lloyd M. Smith joined Lee Hood’s CalTech laboratory in 1982 with the idea that he would finally get to do “real biology”. Having come from a chemistry background, people suggested that he learn DNA sequencing to get a handle on molecular biology. “Although it was really interesting to learn because there were so many new techniques that one had to master … it turns out once you get those techniques down it was a pretty laborious, repetitive process”, Smith says. Handling huge sequencing gels in the wee hours of the morning indicated a need for automation…

The Scientist: The First Automated DNA Sequencer

The base code is just getting better and better… I specially like the new RSS feeds. Great work!

The first large-scale analysis of how proteins interact inside our cells may help biologists identify novel gene mutations involved in human disease, researchers say.

The laborious analysis, which has so far reviewed 25,000 protein interactions, suggests that important proteins do not necessarily interact with many others…

New Scientist: Huge protein-interaction database could save lives

One analyst refers to bioinformatics having become a “base technology.” Others say it has evolved into a commodity. But whatever it’s called, that evolution — a natural process in a maturing industry — has led increasing numbers of biopharmas and biotechs to slash in-house bioinformatics or to shutter such departments entirely…

ITworld.com: Bioinformatics brain drain helps consultancies

The day was quite enjoyable despite the lack of snow in the mountain. It was great to be there again, away from the crowds…

Nature has long been linking to Wikipedia – “the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit” – from its online news stories. On Aug. 25, 2005, Nature cited the Web site in a print editorial. So there was perhaps a collective sigh of relief in the journal’s offices when an in-house investigation, published on December 15, found that the site’s scientific content is not much less trustworthy than that found in tried-and-tested print encyclopedias…

The Scientist: Nature has Wikipedia in its cites

By the afternoon Cova and I went bouldering to Chiluca. The whole gang was there: Gilman, Grillo, Darío, etc. We had lots of fun creating new training circuits.