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The International Conference on Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology (ISMB) has become an important communication hub for bioinformaticians, and the core element of the Conference—presentations of peer-reviewed papers—is now only one of many activities. Presentation of timely journal publications (the Highlights sessions), Special Sessions organized by experts in the respective fields, Tutorials, and Special Interest Group meetings should attract attendees who might otherwise prefer smaller, more focused meetings. In addition to these formal activities, an important aspect is the informal communication between participants. This year, about 1,600 participants attended the meeting in the conference center under the CN Tower in Toronto…

PLoS Computational Biology: Microblogging the ISMB: A New Approach to Conference Reporting

For the full announcement, go here.

High school biology teacher Stacy Baker was sick of waiting by the photocopier to make handouts for her students. So in 2006, she launched a website, missbakersbiologyclass.com, to serve as central repository for class notes, pictures, and extra credit assignments…

The Scientist: Blogging Biology

My plan was a little bit more ambitious than theirs since I wanted to walk at my best pace as much as possible, I was more focused on training than on simply getting to the summit. So it was straightforward, I hiked the fastest possible to the next reunion point then ran down the trail till reaching the slowest of my friends, then hiked up again to the reunion point. The same exercise over and over for each of the reunion points.

This worked out really well until we got to Ayoloco hut, where Gil decided to get back to the car since he was getting altitude sickness. Luis was coming up with me but I had to guide him through the glacier since this was his 1st time climbing this route. That meant no more laps for the day.

We found wet snow all the way through the glacier, which became really exhausting since we had to stop every couple of steps to yank it out from under the crampons. After almost 2 hours of struggle, we arrived to Arista del Sol, which is an arete that connects to the base of the summit. Luis decided to stay there, he was really exhausted from fighting with the snow that no matter what words of encouragement I told him, he wasn’t going to move up any further.

So I followed my way to the summit while he started the descent via the normal route. I arrived there quickly and shot a couple of pictures, I was happy of all the training I was getting with both the laps done around my friends as well as walking up the nasty wet snow in the glacier.

Rest of the pictures are here.

I suggested Sergio to go down via Cañada de Alcalican since he had never walked that trail and it’s a very beautiful one. Once we passed Cruz de Rosas and entered the gorge, the hike started to get exhausting for the dogs. Temperature was really high for being above 4,000 meters, the sun was hitting directly on us due to the absence of clouds and the trail was so dry that it became a suffocating trap for them.

We got to a point almost at the bottom of the gorge where we had to leash the dogs to make them walk to the river since they didn’t want to continue moving, they were on the verge of a heatstroke. Fortunately we were able to walk them down quickly enough to the river, where they enjoyed the cold and clean water from the melting snow above.

We rested there for about 20 minutes before continuing our way back to the car. The dogs were completely renewed after such a bath, they were happily jumping around and willing to continue the walk. We got to the car 40 minutes after that, we enjoyed some quesadillas then drove our way back home. It was a really hot day in the mountain…

Rest of the pictures are here.

opeth – under the weeping moon

once again I’ve cried
unto the moon
that burning flame
that has guided me
through all these years

the lake from which you flow

with eyes of fire
once unlit but now alive
this enery, sparkling
like a morning star

the morning star

riding the fires of
the northern gold
i’ve searched the eye
i laugh under the weeping moon

i am the watcher in the skies
nor the emeralds know my mark
glisten to mark their presence
set the enigma ablaze
searching…
finding…

burn the winter landmarks
that said i was there
burn the spirit of cold
that travel through my soul…

For some time I had been with the idea of going to Peña Ñadó, near Aculco, where we have had great adventures running, hiking and climbing. I also wanted to invite Olena and Elena who are visiting México and who wanted to know some of the outdoors and countryside. So the outing went something like this:

We hiked down the mountain in the afternoon and headed towards Aculco canyon, where he did a short hike around. Our Russian visitors loved the place, as well as the dogs, who weren’t scared of running and playing along the canyon borders.

Rest of the pictures can be seen here.