Parody - House M.D.

看來 Catatonia 跟我同感比較喜歡看 Mad TV 勝過 SNL，事實上就模仿的部分 Mad TV 也是贏過 SNL 的。我很喜歡這段 House M.D. Parody，裡面講 House M.D. 劇情公式的那段，很好笑。不過裡面 Chase 是澳洲腔英文，把他演成 British 了。

之前在 Catatonia 那裡貼過連結，既然提到了 Mad TV 就再貼出來一次。

Cage Dancer

凡凡今天表演 Cage Dance，怎樣，夠辣夠撩人吧！

Parody - You're Beautiful

Mad TV 實在是很寶，我覺得比 Saturday Night Live (SNL) 來得好看，SNL 裡我覺得只有新聞那一段比較好笑。Mad TV 模仿了很多有的沒的，幾乎都很好笑，這是 James Blunt "You're Beautiful" MV 的 parody，主要還是取笑裡面脫衣服的橋段，特別找了個女生演然後玩弄觀眾的期待心理，因為大家都知道等一下就要脫光光了！

You're Beautiful

第一次聽到這歌是在實驗室裡 Aaron 放著 internet radio 的時候，播的次數很頻繁，因為距離，不是聽得很清楚，只聽得到 You're Beautiful 比較大聲的那幾句，一直以為是 Rod Stewart 又出新歌了，後來偶然回家看到六七點時娛樂八卦節目裡的 MV 才發現原來不是。

這歌是 James Blunt 寫給她前女友的，不過我實在搞不懂為啥 MV 裡面 James Blunt 一定要脫衣服啊？有人認為這歌有自殺的暗示，很怪的 MV，結果印象最深的反而不是歌曲本身而是奇怪的 MV 了。


You're Beautiful / James Blunt

My life is brilliant / My love is pure / I saw an angel / Of that I'm sure / She smiled at me on the subway / She was with another man / But I won't lose no sleep on that / 'Cause I've got a plan.

You're beautiful / You're beautiful / You're beautiful, it's true / I saw your face in a crowded place / And I don't know what to do / 'Cause I'll never be with you.

Yeah, she caught my eye / As we walked on by / She could see from my face that I was, Flying high (Fucking high, in CD version) / And I don't think that I'll see her again / But we shared a moment that will last till the end

You're beautiful / You're beautiful / You're beautiful, it's true / I saw your face in a crowded place / And I don't know what to do / 'Cause I'll never be with you.

You're beautiful / You're beautiful / You're beautiful, it's true / There must be an angel with a smile on her face / When she thought up that I should be with you / But it's time to face the truth / I will never be with you

11/27/06 島上新聞笑點

林郁方同時建議制定「公職人員特別費使用示範監獄特別條例」，「撥個十億、二十億蓋一座可容納至少六千五百人的大監獄」，「馬英九住一號，蘇貞昌住二號…，可能連典獄長都在裡面」，最好以後再定為「觀光景點」，讓大家都來看看這個世界奇觀。這番話讓全場笑成一團。
--

有好笑到‧‧‧

This Time, Standing on His Own

凡凡只有在爸爸媽媽的身邊才敢嘗試放雙手站著，也因為這樣距離太近不容易拍到他自己獨自站著的畫面，這次剛好凡凡的媽媽剛洗完頭在旁邊吹頭髮轉移了凡凡的注意力，才有機會拍到這珍貴的畫面。之前還有一次站立超過十秒鐘，可惜沒有拍到影片，只有相片。

爸爸爸爸爸

這小子實在很精，媽媽在的時候就直喊媽媽，媽媽不在身邊就改口開始喊爸爸了！

軟趴趴

說實話我有點看不懂凡凡這次到底在做甚麼，一邊學著恐龍叫一邊軟趴趴地裝沒力貼在牆壁上。你是想當貼紙嗎？

逛超市

這次凡凡好像在逛超市一樣，「嗯‧‧‧這麼多東西，要吃甚麼好呢？」

松鼠

今年的冬天似乎來得特別晚，過去兩年的感恩節新英格蘭地區都是冷到一個不行，讓人連一點點爬起來去排 early bird sale 的動機都沒有。有別於感恩節當天淒風苦雨，這幾天明顯回暖，松鼠也都跑出來覓食了，這是從家裡往窗外拍的畫面。

講到松鼠就想到去年住在 Fenway Shuttuck House 時，有一天跟老婆走去 Hay market 買菜，回到家一開門就見到家裡的東西散亂一地，想一定是遭小偷了！後來清理了一下才發現原來是被松鼠給闖空門了，最有力的證據就是那松鼠拉了幾顆屎在我們的床上，真是‧‧‧

我一直很好奇到底冬天松鼠都躲在哪裡？前幾個禮拜比較冷的時候騎車的路上常出現被壓扁的松鼠，不知是凍死還是忙著尋找囤積食物被車給撞死的，呃，這一部分就恕我不附上照片了。

Almost Standing on His Own

凡凡現在三不五時就喜歡站起來放雙手看能撐多久，目前的紀錄是在 playgroup 愛現表演給其她媽媽看的五秒鐘。不過最常見的情況還是站著手拉或扶著個東西然後開始動來動去練習平衡感。

吃風喔？

剛從 Effie 家吃完感恩節火雞大餐回來，凡凡可能在那邊看每個人都吃得津津有味嘴巴一嚼一嚼的，回來也學起吃東西的樣子，不過別人嘴裡還有吃到火雞，你是吃風也有這麼好吃喔？

到後面時就又開始巴結討他媽歡心了。

媽媽媽媽媽

凡凡相繼嘗試出怎麼發 /b/ 及 /p/ 之類的音之後，終於開始發 /m/ 的音了，聽得她媽媽樂不可支，凡凡也很配合地整天媽媽媽媽地叫個不停。

碩博士生統一發包

ETToday 這個新聞讚！應該叫美國這些學校好好學學台灣的做法才對！看我們的學術進步多快呀！

研究所擬採統一分發模式　最快97年實施
2006/11/22 13:01
記者邱瓊平／台北報導

大學學歷普及後，愈來愈多的大學生想繼續就讀研究所，為了提高錄取機率，都會多報幾間學校，導致成績較好的學生可能會錄取多所學校，必須等到「放棄」之後，名額才能遞補，為了解決這樣的情況，教育部邀集10多所大學開會，傾向採取統一分發的方式，最快97年實施。

每年4、5月是研究所考試的時間，報考部分國立大學或商學院的人數逐年創新高，且學生都會多報考幾所學校，讓自己錄取的機會增加，但對成績較好的學生而言，可能報考的學校都會錄取，但有學生可能是備取，必須要等錄取的人放棄才會辦法遞補。

由於等待的時間長，讓學生倍感煎熬。教育部高教司長陳德華指出，昨(21)日邀集10多所大學進行會議討論，多所學校同意採用統一分發的方式，也就是說，研究所考試還是由各校單獨舉行與公布錄取名單，學生排定志願序後，再統一進行分發，避免重複錄取，由台大負責規劃，最快97年開始實施。

害羞老闆

這陣子被一個 in vivo Rho inactivation 的實驗卡住三個禮拜，有點悶。這幾天終於差不多有結果出來，想說真的是該開始動手寫 manuscript 了。

從九月 DAC 之後已經過了兩個月，早該動手寫了，不過事情總是這樣想把資料弄完整一點再動手，就這麼一直擱著。Tim 剛寫完今年的 renew grant，我的 project 是其中的一個 aim。可能因為剛弄完 grant，昨天 Tim 忽然跑過來說要跟我討論一下 paper 的事，不知是不是看我一直沒動手寫還是怎樣，後來講到要投哪裡的時候 Tim 就說了堆有的沒的，說 MBC, JCB, Current Biology, NCB 對他來說都一樣，但是對有的人可能覺得有差，如果我想要投哪一個期刊他都絕對支持，資料也都夠之類的話。猜想他可能看我一直沒動作，不好意思問只好自己亂猜以為我要把 paper 做大投高一點，真是個多愁善感又害羞的老闆。

其實真的沒有，只是有時懶散了點而已。

Yatta!~

這是 08/31/1987 TIME Magazine 的封面，會不會覺得左側穿深藍色衣服的那個小男孩很眼熟？
他的名字是 Masi Oka，這樣講可能很多人還是沒印象，如果提到另一個名字 Hiro，大概很多人馬上就曉得他是誰了。打滾多年演了許多在電影或影集中插花的小角色後，就像演 House 的 Hugh Laurie 一樣，因為一部影集忽然間就大紅了起來，不同於 Hugh Laurie 的 House 是當然主角，Masi Oka 的 Hiro 能在 Heroes 大堆頭白人俊男美女間以宅男角色大受歡迎實在是件令人意外的事。

Hiro 的角色設定本來就討喜，加上(我覺得是)裡面最強大或許也是最讓人嚮往的操縱時間與空間的能力，讓這個日本宅男一下變成了最紅的角色，NBC 還給他開了個專屬的 Hiro's Blog，我開始期待 Mad TV 哪時會搞笑這個影集與角色了，反正他們剛好有個 Bobby Lee 可以演 Hiro。

Masi Oka 是 Brown 畢業的，computer science / mathmatics 雙主修，副修 theater arts，除了演些跑龍套的小角色外，還兼做一海票賣座電影的 ILM 後製，像 Star War Episode I-III, Hulk, Terminator III, War of Worlds, Pirates of the Caribbean 等等，實在很厲害。

昨晚 Masi Oka 上 Conan O'Brien 脫口秀訪問的片段。


昨早 (11/20/06) 播出的 Today Show，一開始那段 Hiro 暫停時間的片段蠻有趣的。


The View， 帥哥 Peter 有提到他還不能 (not yet) 控制自己運用複製來的超能力，搞不好最後他變成甚麼都會那就是最強的了。不過一堆女生好像還是對宅男比對帥哥有興趣，宅男的時代終於來到了啊。

Taxol-Stabilized Microtubules Can Position the Cytokinetic Furrow in Mammalian Cells

MCB (2005/09)
Ed Salmon @ University of North Carolina

This is an important paper in cytokinesis field because it suggested quality (dynamics), but not quantity, is important for cleavage furrow positioning.

In the classic JC Canman's monopolar cell division paper, it appeared there are some stabilized microtubules passing throught kinetochore to the furrow region. This paper further supports the conclusion above by employing taxol to artificially stabilized microtubules. When treat cells with taxol before microinjecting Mad2 antibody to inactivate checkpoint. The cell cortex still formed furrows although it's temporally later than usual. Besides, those furrows usually didn't progress to complete. When taxol was employed in anaphase, it delayed furrow initiation but didn't perturb furrow positioning. Authors concluded that taxol-stabilized microtubules can act to position the furrow and that loss of microtubule dynamics delay the timing of furrow onset and prevents completion.

This system is a good model for finding the stimulatory signal for furrow initiation. Authors thought stable microtubules at the cortex locally activates Rho, or it promote the delivery of a stimnulatory factor transported along the MTs.

However, INCENP was not found in those ingressing furrows. It is not surprised becasue CCP complex translocation is MT-dynamics-dependent. In cultured cells, other paper reported that Survivin depletion causes mislocalization of MKLP1 from an unstablized midzone. Withuot MKLP1, there should be no MgcRacGAP, and then on Ect2, and then Rho. It is surprised that without all those proteins those taxol-stabilized MTs induced furrows could still ingress. Further work should be done to clearify if there is any mistake in those papers.

顯微鏡與望遠鏡

這次參觀顯微鏡收藏的時候，Jeff 提出了一個十分有意思的問題，從一些畫作裡可以看到顯微鏡和望遠鏡在舊時都是有錢人家身份品味的象徵，每個 gentleman 都會想去買一台擺在家裡。到了現在大家還是願意花錢買個望遠鏡放在家裡，但已鮮少人會放台顯微鏡在家中了。顯微鏡似乎已明顯脫離了大眾日常的生活範圍，這種現象不知是何時開始發生還有為甚麼望遠鏡和顯微鏡當時一起出現的兩種光學儀器會有如此截然不同的命運？

後來討論到可能的一個原因，就是很多人願意花錢買望遠鏡可能不只為了看星星，可能還拿來偷看鄰居。館員阿姨就回答 "Ha-ha, it's probably true, if they don't mind seeing their neighbors upside-down" 後來停頓了兩秒鐘又接著講 "Well, maybe their neighbors were, but not in that way..."

Hmm...在一大群 under 面前耶，真敢講。


影片是館員阿姨在講解一台古早時教學用的顯微鏡，固定在窗戶上可以把影像投射在屋內的牆上讓大家一起看到。站在影片後方左側的是 Professor Jeff Lichtman。

Microscopy Field Trip

上個禮拜四(11/16/06)下午是 Microscopy 課的 field trip，帶了些學生參觀了哈佛科學史系 (Department of the History of Science) Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments (CHSI) 中收藏的顯微鏡。

西元 1764 年哈佛那場著名的火災把 Harvard Hall 裡的所有文物包括教學用的科學儀器都給燒了精光，Benjamin Franklin 受到哈佛校方的委託，以賓州殖民地代表前往倫敦與英方磋商稅務問題的同時，幫哈佛大學採買一些歐洲的科學儀器。Franklin 十分盡責，竭盡他的全力努力花著哈佛大學的錢，幫哈佛帶回來了不少十分精巧的科學儀器，現在這些儀器絕大部分都被哈佛妥善地收藏保管著。諷刺的是，可能有超過 99% 的哈佛人從沒看過或根本不知道學校擁有這樣的好東西，這次是因為教學需要所以特地從倉庫中搬出來展覽解說，除此之外可能根本沒有公開展出的機會。

CHSI Collection Library 展示的會場入口，並不是在一般展覽的展覽室，這門還會 auto-lock。

導覽阿姨在展覽室裡說著 Benjamin Franklin 如何努力地花著哈佛給他的錢。背後玻璃窗裡面就是 CHSI Collection Library。

哈佛共有五百多檯各個不同時期的顯微鏡，這次只挑出部分具有代表性的展示給我們看，點圖可以放大，我還照得蠻清楚的。

十八世紀的顯微鏡，做得十分迷你，可以方便攜帶至野外觀察。左下角是虎克 Hooke 發明的第一台顯微鏡的 replica。

哈佛老校長 Edward Holyoke (1689-1769) 私人的顯微鏡。

十九世紀的顯微鏡，這時大致上顯微鏡的設計已從像是加強版放大鏡的單鏡片轉成 compound microscope 了，因此無法拿在手上對著陽光看，需要鏡片反射陽光作為光源。照片裡中間的顯微鏡明顯時間較晚，因為鏡身是銅做的，冶鍊銅的技術得在十九世紀中段才算成熟。照片裡也可以看出早期的顯微鏡都很有 style，因為無法量產所以也沒有零件替換或統一規格的問題，每一件都像是藝術品般獨一無二，因此在那時候家裡擺一台顯微鏡就跟掛幅畫一樣是品味與身份的象徵，只有有錢人家或所謂的 gentleman 家裡才會有這類玩意。

更晚期的顯微鏡，擺脫陽光以蠟燭做為光源的顯微鏡，鏡身非直立而是傾斜的，一部分的原因可能是如果維持垂直的設計 sample 大概會被燒焦。

十九世紀某人的生日禮物，一整套顯微鏡，裡面還附了張小紙條說明各部分價值多少錢，總價約十英磅多。

馬克吐溫私人的顯微鏡。下面是 Mark Twain 在 The Jews 裡面提到顯微鏡的一段話。
A person who has for untold centuries maintained the imposing position of spiritual head of four-fifths of the human race, and political head of the whole of it, must be granted the possession of executive abilities of the loftiest order. In his large presence the other popes and politicians shrink to midges for the microscope. I would like to see him. I would rather see him and shake him by the tail than any other member of the European Concert.

二十世紀的顯微鏡，值得注意的是所有的顯微鏡下面都多了 condenser 負責收集不同角度的光源，這是在 Abbe illumination 被發現之後才有的設計，可以大幅增加顯微鏡的解析度 (resolution)。物鏡 (object lens)也可以更換。

雙眼用的顯微鏡。

倒立式顯微鏡，光源由上方射入，起初設計的目的是方便解剖，為一哈佛醫學院教授私人的顯微鏡。

二十世紀中德國 Zeiss 出產的顯微鏡，幾乎已具有所有現代顯微鏡的基本架構，鏡身也開始使用金屬以外的材料。

I'm Too Sexy

I'm Too Sexy 這歌很好玩，一直在不同場合聽過卻從來不知是誰唱的，電視影集中也常聽到，後來查了 wikipedia 才知道是 英國 Right Said Fred 1991 年講述一個自戀過頭男模的歌。

印象最深刻的一次是剛過來唸書時第一次的 program retreat 開場短劇裡面有一個橋段便是唱這首歌，算是短劇裡面一個很跩的 G1 student 的主題曲，每次她一出現就會播這首歌，然後就見她唱著 "I'm too sexy for you school, too sexy for your school ..." 或者 "too sexy for your program...", "too sexy for your lab..." 之類的歌詞。

不過話說回來身邊還真的有這樣的學生存在，其中不少還是亞洲學生，相處起來是有一點令人討厭。



I'm Too Sexy / Right Said Fred

I'm too sexy for my love too sexy for my love / Love's going to leave me

I'm too sexy for my shirt too sexy for my shirt / So sexy it hurts / And I'm too sexy for Milan too sexy for Milan New York and Japan / And I'm too sexy for your party / Too sexy for your party / No way I'm disco dancing / I'm a model you know what I mean / And I do my little turn on the catwalk / Yeah on the catwalk on the catwalk yeah / I do my little turn on the catwalk

I'm too sexy for my car too sexy for my car / Too sexy by far / And I'm too sexy for my hat / Too sexy for my hat what do you think about that / I'm a model you know what I mean / And I do my little turn on the catwalk / Yeah on the catwalk on the catwalk yeah / I shake my little touche on the catwalk

I'm too sexy for my too sexy for my too sexy for my / 'Cos I'm a model you know what I mean / And I do my little turn on the catwalk / Yeah on the catwalk on the catwalk yeah / I shake my little touche on the catwalk

I'm too sexy for my cat too sexy for my cat / Poor pussy poor pussy cat / I'm too sexy for my love too sexy for my love / Love's going to leave me

And I'm too sexy for this song

武松

凡凡扮武松打虎，談笑之間就解決了。我知道很輕鬆啦，但到底哪裡這麼好笑呀？

哈佛溜鳥俠

禮拜六是 The Game 的日子，Yale 今年很猛整場壓著哈佛打，所以特地讓凡凡穿上 Harvard T-Shirt 溜鳥裸奔一下看能不能逆轉。可惜還是沒用，下半場一樣被痛電，連贏五年的紀錄就這樣中斷了。

涕泗縱橫

悲傷在臉上哭成了海

這時候

再天真可愛的臉蛋也是無能為力的吧

失足

不過要看到失足可能得有點耐心，影片最後五秒才會出現。之前都是在拉扯玩耍。

那個誰誰誰

剛看了 Learning Your Students' Names 這篇文章，這學期也開始試著帶課，不過我的課還好，大部分的人都是 postdoc 不是學生，記住名字與否也就沒有甚麼太大的差別。

比較麻煩的是 paper 或領域裡其他人的名字，不知道其他人怎麼樣，但我到現在都還是覺得蠻吃力的。有時要討論一些事，常常講不出來某個名字或者人家講的名字也反應不太過來。長期以來習慣中文名字，誰誰誰叫甚麼名字只要知道是哪些字大概都很容易就記住了，而 paper 上一堆外國人的姓名，特別是姓，有時真的記得有點吃力。這種症頭是在這邊待久了就會好嗎？真苦惱。

不過上次跟 Chris 聊到這件事時她安慰我說沒關係，像 paper 上日本人的名字她看起來好像都一樣，所以她也常弄錯不同的日本人，相形之下我們中文名字對他們來講算好認的，不太會弄錯。

Dynactin Targets Pavarotti-KLP to the Central Spindle during Anaphase and Facilitates Cytokinesis in Drosophila S2 Cells

JCS 119:4431 (2006)
Regis Giet @ Universite de Rennes, France

One big problem for cytokinesis study is usually its player also participate earlier mitosis steps. Here is another example. Author used siRNA knocking down p150-Glued, a component of dynactin complex, in Drosophila S2 cells. They found that defects appeared in both mitosis and cytokinesis. Authors concluded that p150-Glued is required for the localized redistribution of the centromeric and/or kinetochore proteins MEI-S332 (homologue of mammalian Shogusin), BubR1, and Aurora B for chromatid disjunction and subsequent segregation. For the cytokinesis, p150-Glued is needed for efficient recruitment of Aurora B, Polo kinase and Pavarotti-KLP (homologue of mammalian MKLP1) to central spindle.

I want to focus on the cytokinesis part since that is what I am studying right now. Authors said p150-Glued enhances but is not essential for recruitment of Aurora B, Polo kinase, and Pavarotti-KLP is because they eventually appeared at the central spindle / MT plus-end at later cytokinesis stages. I am conserved on this conclusion. Those experiments were done by using siRNA. I ever used PRC1 siRNA in my systems. I got the result midzone-like structure is no longer properly aligned or bundled, a typical PRC1 depleted phenotype. But it is very difficult to really get rid ALL the target proteins by siRNA. For proteins like PRC1 which intends to concentrate at the MT plus end, you can always see some dim signal on plus-end since it is concentrated.

Several interesting phenotypes have been found in this paper. One of them is Glued RNAi cells lack stable microtubule bundles. Obviously It can be a secondary effect from Aurora B, Polo kinase, and/or Pavarotti-KLP. But it at least suggests possible players involved in the midzone stabilization which I very much interested recently.

Money and Me, Me, Me

我一直很好奇有多少人真的會留意我在 sidebar 放的東西。

解釋一下名詞，相對於 Blog (weB-log)，Alog 即 Article-log，就是我在網路上面看到喜歡或有興趣的文章；想法是覺得這樣比列出網站清單來得有效率些。

我比較好奇的是放在最下面的 NEWS@NATURE.COM 以及 SCIENCENOW 這兩個欄位有沒有人真的在看。我還蠻喜歡的，裡面的文章大概都是用大眾能瞭解的方式解釋一些新鮮有趣的發現。像這篇 Money and Me, Me, Me 就很不錯，以後我如果有自己的 lab ，一定每台電腦都裝個水族箱螢幕保護程式，然後設定滿滿的魚游來游去，看會不會促進合作增加效率。

東西方對於錢的觀感有很大的出入，在東方，金錢在大眾的觀念上等同慾望往往不好意思提及。資本主義根源的清教徒觀念卻大不相同，富蘭克林公然鼓吹賺大錢是一種美德，只不過清教徒比較慘的是賺了錢也不能享受，得在腰間皮帶上扎幾根釘刺提醒自己是在幫上帝保管錢，可不能亂花以確信自己仍是選民。

文章所說的實驗是在美國 midwest 做的，不知移植到台灣再做一次結果會不會一樣？我想得到相同結論的可能性很高說不定還更明顯，你看在台灣中樂透的人都往往悶不做聲，有時還一溜煙咻地一聲人間蒸發就知道可能這個金錢造成的反社會性格在台灣社會更強大吧。

Age of Innocence

牙牙學語的小嬰兒們未經世事
不知其實他們擁有了多少人的夢寐以求
童真不知覺中失去 就再也找不回來 (咳 不是童貞)

看到了臉上的純真 大人們彷彿找回了自我
無怪乎王邦雄認為 生小孩是大人們自身在無法返老還童的無奈下
另種自我再生的體現

其實
童真從來沒有想要離開我們
是我們自己放棄了她 (咳 再一次 不是童貞)
童年的純真 長大
成了人們口中的天真與無知
驅趕 逐出

Be adult, but don't grow up.
Is that really possible?

Don't Be Cruel

Cheap Trick 翻唱貓王 Elvis Presley 的名曲 Don't Be Cruel，我手上總共有 Elvis Presley 的，Cheap Trick 的，還有「牯嶺街少年殺人事件」原聲帶裡王柏森唱的三種版本的 CD，不過我覺得 Cheap Trick 的版本最好， Elvis 的時代感太老，王柏森的又太嫩了。

1988 年 Cheap Trick 修長清秀偶像版


2006 年 Cheap Trick 發福中年大叔版 - 歲月果是不饒人啊！


Don't Be Cruel / Cheap Trick

Well you know I can be found / Sitting all alone / If you can't come around / At least please telephone / But don't be cruel / To a heart that's true

Baby, if I made you mad / For something I might have said / Please forget the past / The future's bright ahead / But don't be cruel / To a heart that's true / I don't want no other love / Baby, it's just you I'm thinkin' of

Don't stop thinkin' of me / Don't make me feel this way / Come on over and love me / You know I want you to stay / But don't be cruel / To a heart thats true

Let's walk up to the preacher / Let's say hey, I do / And then I know you'll want me / And you'll know I want you too / But don't be cruel / To a heart thats true / I don't want no other love / Baby, it's just you I'm thinkin' of

Why should we be apart? / Baby, you know I love you, cross my heart

A Remarkable Talk Opening

The opening of a talk is very important. This is what I heard about how Yale's membrane trafficking big guy, Ira Mellman, giving his presentation opening in Cell Biology Department here.

"Wow! So many people here! I have been here several times during last two years. Usually very few people came on time. But today I found here are so many famous professors come early and wait for me to give a talk. I scratched my head and asked myself 'WHY?'

Usually when I visited here and went to scheduled appointments, most of time the professor didn't show up. But today, everyone showed up on-time. I scratched my head and asked myself 'WHY?'

When I was schuduled to have lunch or dinner with two professors, everytime there was only one and obviously he didn't want to be there. But today, both attended plus 10 students and 4 postdocs. I scratched my head and asked myself 'WHY?'

Then I thought about Marc was stepping down from the chair and figured out why I was treated differently this time. Because you want me to be your chair!"

That is Ira Mellman's remarkable opening for his talk two years ago.

Microscopy Midterm

下面是我做 teaching fellow 的那門 microscopy 課的 midterm 考題，看了一下出得很不錯。

總分 100 分加上 extra credit 10 分，有興趣的可以試試，我可以幫你改喔，不懂再問助教吧！


1) In class we discussed the light path between the light source and the specimen in a trans-illumination wide-field microscope. You may remember that there are two variable irises in the condenser that modify the light hitting the specimen: the aperture diaphragm and the field diaphragm.

a) What does the aperture diaphragm do to the light? To help explain your answer, draw a ray trace from the filament to the specimen.

b) What does the field diaphragm do? To help explain your answer, draw a ray trace from the filament to the specimen.

In an epi-illumination microscope such as used commonly in fluorescence microscopy, the objective serves double duty both to illuminate the specimen and to image it. In the light path from the arc-lamp to the specimen in an epi-illumination scope there is usually an aperture diaphragm and field diaphragm that serve comparable functions to those in the trans-illumination path.

Let us consider the aperture diaphragm in the epi-illumination path.

c) Draw a ray trace of the light from two different positions on the arc to the specimen plane. You can assume there is a collector lens between the aperture diaphragm and the arc and you can assume for simplicity that the objective is a single lens element. As this is an infinity corrected objective the specimen plane is at the focal distance to the objective. Be sure to show where the back focal plane of the objective is located.

Assume you are looking at a sample that is highly fluorescent with an epi-illumination microscope. For the comfort of your eyes, you decide to reduce the intensity of the fluorescent emission you are looking at. You have two choices: 1- you can close down the aperture diaphragm in the epi-illumination path to a suitable level or 2- you can place a neutral density filter in front of the arc that will remove some portion of the illuminating light. Neutral density (ND) filters are often partially transmissive mirrors that reflect or transmit light- this way they don’t get too hot. They are called neutral because they filter all wavelengths equally. You have a series of ND filters that transmit 1%, 10%, 20%, etc of the light, so you can choose the most suitable one.

d)Does it matter which one you choose? Why or why not?

You next try another sample and find to your dismay that the fluorescence is so faint that you can hardly detect it even with the aperture diaphragm completely open and/or no ND filter in place. You were complaining about the fact that your arc lamp was not bright enough to your uncle, who incidentally owns a car dealership, and he told you he had an old search light in his basement just collecting dust that he used to use to get people to come to his dealership to by shining it in the sky. He is happy to donate it to you along with the power supply and a special heat filter and is sure that it has enough power. The arc lamp you were using is a 100 W Hg with an arc that is only .1 mm in diameter. Your uncle has a Xenon arc that is 10,000W with an arc that is 2 cm in diameter. Being adventurous you decide to take him up on his offer. The area of sample (the field of view) you wish to see is 100 ums diameter.

e) Did you get a brighter image? Why or why not? Ray tracing may help.

Lastly a friend of yours who is doing research in a physics lab offers you a 5 watt green laser that has the right wavelength for exciting your dim sample. Because the beam is collimated (a plane wave) you decide to “scan” your specimen by focusing the beam to a spot on the specimen plane and then moving the stage in a raster pattern and collect the light from each spot with a light detector (a PMT). You of course use the appropriate barrier and dichroic filters to block the exciting light. You then compose an image by taking the PMT output for each spot as a brightness value. To set up the light path you first use a green laser pointer (1 mW). When you compare the results of scanning with 0.1 mW and 5 W you are surprised to find that the fluorescence is not much brighter with the big laser

f) Why?

g) Compare the intensity of a focused 1 mw laser to the intensity of a 100 w arc lamp that illuminates a field of 100 ums diameter. What I want to know is, for a fluorescent molecule at the focus of the 1 mW laser, is it receiving more or less excitation than when illuminated by a 100 W arc. Assume that 30% of the light power of the arc is of the appropriate wavelength to excite the fluorophore and reaches the specimen. The objective is a 40 X 1.3 NA oil. In both cases assume you are using a 546 nm wavelength light.

2) DIC is a powerful technique for generating amplitude contrast out of phase differences. It depends critically on special prisms that alter the light paths of light of different polarizations. Describe the principle and design of a DIC microscope. Feel free to draw but don’t hand in downloaded or Xeroxed diagrams

3) Compare the axial and lateral resolution of these two objectives: a 1.4 NA Oil 60 X and a 1.25 NA water 100X. You are using these lenses to look at a 10 um thick fluorescent sample emitting at 500 nm. Which is the better lens? Why?

4) Extra Credit: Make a pinhole camera and take a picture of some Harvard Icon. Explain why your picture is not perfect (unless it is). Provide a description of the device including relevant measurements.

Talk Too Much

今天是忙碌的一天。

Riki 是今年初從我們這兒出去 BCMP & DFCI 的新 PI，由於實驗室剛成立人不多，所以兩個禮拜才開一次 group meeting，時間在早上十點；Riki 做的方向大致與 postdoc 時相近，現專注於找出 Rho pathway 的 small molecule inhibitor，因為與 cytokinesis 相關，我和 Chris 幾個人也就捧個人場參加他們的 group meeting 討論。今天是 journal club，討論的 paper 已經被我丟到垃圾桶了，所以題目我也講不出來，大致是講 fission yeast pombe contractile ring 的建立與維持需要 coffilin 的參與。觀念其實不能說新，只是這篇 paper 提供了較明顯的實驗結果證明；沒甚麼特別的地方。

比較麻煩的是我好像越來越不喜歡 yeast system 了，光 budding & fission yeast 兩者誰比較接近 mammalian cell division 自己都吵不停了。雖然兩者在 cell cycle 上有很顯著的貢獻，但在 cytokinesis 和 mammalian system 還是差得有點遠。加上那個命名，一堆 cdc 圈外人很難瞭解它到底在指哪個蛋白質。

下午 Jennifer Waters 辦了個 Advanced Light Microscopy Symposium，請了四個人來演講，講題如下：

Jan Ellenberg, EMBL, "Microscopy-based genome-wide RNAi screening to identify mitotic human genes and define their function"

Peter Sorger, MIT, "High throughput, high content microscopic analysis of cells and tissues"

Alexey Khodjakov, Wadsworth Center, “Laser microsurgery in the GFP era: A cell biologist's perspective”

Clare Waterman-Storer, Scripps,“Integrating cytoskeletal systems in cell migration”

我對前兩個沒興趣，之前聽 peter sorger 的 talk 中間還睡著過，所以從第三個開始聽。Alexey 主要的專長就是用 laser 燒細胞，像外科手術一樣割除細胞的某些部位或胞器。Alexey 說只要看得到就打得到，甚至 centriole pairs 這種很靠近的胞器都可以專一地打掉其中一個而不傷及另外一個，實在很神奇。而 Alexey 也充分地利用這項技術研究 de novo centriole duplication，的確除了這項技術很多問題還真的不知到該怎麼回答或研究哩。話說回來，這些資料也都是 descriptive data，不能提供甚麼 insight mechanism，還是需要其它的技術來輔助才成。

Clare 的背景比 talk 有趣，她在 UMASS Amherst 念的是運動保養，大學畢業後也做了一陣子運動防護員，一陣子後因此對肌肉很感興趣，便跑去 UPenn 念 Biology PhD 了。 後來跟著 Ted Salmon 做 postdoc，專注在 cytoskeleton 的研究，現在是 Scripps 的 PI， publication 還不錯，不過據說她每年的 grant 不是被打回票就是得花很大力氣才勉強拿到經費，好像打算轉去 NIH 了。雖然這樣有經費保障，但 Tim 並不認為這是個好的選擇。回到 talk 本身，Clare 講話很急，聲音有點粗，偏偏習慣中間會嗯嗯啊啊地停頓，使得演說的部分顯得有點糟。Slides 很不錯，特別是 movie 的部分，用低濃度的 flourphore label actin 研究其 dynamics，我雖然去年就聽過相同的內容了，重看一次影片還是覺得很炫。只是別人對她主要的批評也是太 descriptive 等等。

忙碌但還算充實的一天，Riki 說我們這裡是少數幾個 seminar/talk/symposium 永遠多到爆(overloaded)的地方‧‧‧

歡鑼喜鼓

凡凡很喜歡丹麥餅乾的圓鐵盒和蓋子，常常凝視反射在表面自己的模樣；不久前凡凡發現了運用手腕的技巧，不管甚麼東西只要抓在手上都要揮舞幾下才高興，這次拿著餅乾盒蓋也就這麼敲打了起來，有那麼一瞬間我還真的以為他會拿著蓋子往自己的頭上敲下去，大概是以前志村健看太多的後遺症。

旁邊是新玩具 Dunkin' Donuts 海灘球，不過凡凡似乎還沒想到要怎麼玩。

大約在冬季

秋天的定義有兩種，節氣上是從立秋開始至立冬結束，而這個月七號凡凡滿七個月的當天就是立冬；但在天文上是秋天是指從秋分到冬至的這段時間，那得一直算到今年耶誕節的前幾天，所以現在算是甚麼季我也弄不清楚，只能說是「大約在冬季」。

天氣是逐漸涼起來了，但新英格蘭的鬼天氣就像是台灣的股市一樣總是高低大幅震盪，大方向是往下走但相隔的兩日氣溫有時也可以差到 2-30'F。這禮拜難得是個暖週末，趕緊帶凡凡出來讓他在草地上活動活動。之前去 JFK Park 時還只能杵在那扮獅身人面像，現在是真的可以爬爬走了。

現在新英格蘭四點就天黑了，所以沒有走到 JFK Park 那麼遠，改在法學院旁的草地玩耍；不過並不是法學院圖書館 Langdell Hall 前那古木參天的 yard，那片漂亮的大草皮已經被滿滿的落葉給覆蓋住而消失了，有圖有真相。



草地上只剩下松鼠穿梭其間撿拾果實準備過冬。據說 Yale 校園裡也隨處可見松鼠，不過跟我們這邊不同的是他們那兒的松鼠都是翻垃圾筒的東西來吃的樣子，嘖嘖嘖。

下禮拜六電視要轉播 THE GAME！

Sous le Sable & Memento

前天把 Catatonia 推薦的 Sous le Sable 看完了，因為外殼寫的是英文片名 Under the Sand，一開始我還以為是館員弄錯了。蠻悲傷的片子，容我引一段 Catatonia 寫道關于 Sous le Sable 的文字，
--
時間的停止是為了減少悲傷,我們之所以能夠界定永遠失蹤與暫時離開乃是考慮時間的因素,時間讓我們所有定義社會與自我的方式都有所不同了.然而在放棄時間直線進行的同時,我們也就放棄了現代所謂理性的所有參考座標,所以在這一點上,試圖停止時間的人都是瘋狂的.然而瘋狂卻是(可能唯一的)停止悲傷的方法,考慮現代性對個人自我的深遠影像,那悲傷必須強大到超越了整個現代性的招喚,讓人停留在某種非理性的空間裡面,在被標示為瘋狂的同時也凍存了悲傷,然而因為被凍存了,這悲傷也被驅除於整個符號指涉系統之外,因而成為無法描述甚至無法確定有無存在的事物.這無理性的空間於是是完全的虛空,沒有悲傷也沒有歡樂,甚至無法被稱呼---它連"沒有"這樣的形容詞都放不進去了.
--
這讓我聯想到也是不久前看過的 Memento，My List No.26。主角記不住任何發生在他身邊的事，忘記了為何變成這樣，忘記了為何要報仇，忘記了仇恨的感覺但卻也因此忘記了要忘記悲傷，永遠不停地尋覓可能與他的悲傷相關的線索就成了他永遠走不出的無間宿命。主角事實上失去的祇是獲得新記憶的能力，但正因為這樣的遺忘，時間的流動也喪失了方向性，變成瑣碎斷裂非直線性的，某種程度上看來時間確實是停止了，停在最悲傷的那一刻。

的確是部值得看的好片，不過它並不是像 Sous le Sable 這種會讓你感到心裡悶悶憂傷的歐洲電影，Memento 是部懸疑片，正因為喪失了時間的方向性使得整個倒述型式的故事能夠一直維持著張力而讓人想不透這究竟是怎麼一回事。

片中主角 Leonard 因為會遺忘，所以身邊所有的物品事情都貼上說明的紙條，隱約好似馬奎斯《一百年的孤寂》裡整村的人都得了遺忘病的場景，頗有魔幻寫實的意味。最近看了不少這種魔幻寫實的電影，如 Big Fish 還有 Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind，也因為這樣我特別喜歡這兩部片子，不過細節則是另一個故事了。

芭蕾

好久沒有角色扮演，這次凡凡要表演的是認真練舞的芭蕾舞者，動作是有做出來但似乎不是那麼標準，連鞋子都只穿了一隻，芭蕾舞變成芭樂舞。

You American!

昨天美國期中選舉剛結束，人們相見總會談論幾句選舉結果。我們實驗室也不例外，Aaron 以及 Kendra 講到美國防部長倫斯斐下台還高聲歡呼了起來。不過整個說起來並沒有很熱烈，因為實驗室裡大概有一半以上的人不是美國人，雖然大家都賭爛布希，但總是人家家裡的選舉也就不是那麼關心。

想了一下，實驗室現在除了美國以外的國籍有加拿大、德國、法國、英國、土耳其、羅馬尼亞、澳洲，還有台生港生大陸生美國生的華人，其中德國人最多，但是沒有以色列人。隔壁 Marc 家裡就有一海票的以色列人，好像沒有德國人。不過我們家的德國 postdoc 和 Marc 家的以色列 postdoc 還不錯；另一邊隔壁的Galit 是以色列人，還收了一個伊朗人學生的樣子。嗯，看來科學的確是超脫在世俗之外的啊！

我的老闆 Tim 是英國人，嚴格講是蘇格蘭人，有一口濃濃的蘇格蘭腔；來美國打滾了這麼久到現在還是拿綠卡不是公民，保有他純粹的英國人身份。他老婆 Chris 是美國人，兩人都很疼小孩，但有時對一些該不該讓小孩吃零食之類的瑣事，想法不同時 Tim 跟 Chris 講話前面就會加上 “You American blah blah blah …”，類似的事也發生在實驗室的 postdoc 身上，有一次我問半英半法的 Guillaume 有關給小朋友打 flu shot 的事，說很多媽媽和社工建議不要給小嬰兒打。Guillaume 的回應開頭便是 “They Americans blah blah blah …”，這邊就顯示出在美國做一個非美國人的好處了。

圖片是實驗室大樓樓下窗口被人由裡向外貼著的標語。看起來格外諷刺。

裝用功

唉，假裝愛看書好歹也得裝得像一點，書拿成正的還是反的都沒有在注意啊。

你又不是小布希，書拿顛倒還可以照樣看下去喔？

繼續跳躍吧 男孩！

因為長高也變重了，所以很久一段時間沒有讓凡凡坐那張可以讓他跳上跳下的椅子，不過他總是可以找到讓他練習的地方。

繼續跳躍吧，男孩！

I Want You to Want Me

另一首可能很多人都熟悉的 Cheap Trick 的歌，好像只有 Live 版的樣子，首次出現在 1978 年日本武道館演唱會的專輯中。旋律、歌詞都很簡單，卻很動聽。

Live at Budakon (1978)
1978 年日本武道館演唱會實況


Live at MSNBC's Monday (2006)
2006 年電視節目現場表現，當年清秀修長的少年們已經變成粗壯的中年歐吉桑了‧‧‧


I Want You to Want Me / Cheap Trick
Words and music by Rick Nielsen

I want you to want me / I need you to need me / I'd love you to love me / I'm beggin you to beg me / I want you to want me / I need you to need me / I'd love you to love me / I'm beggin' you to beg me / I'll shine up the old brown shoes, put on a brand-new shirt / I'll get home early from work if you say that you love me

Didn't I, didn't I, didn't I see you cryin'? / Oh, didn't I, didn't I, didn't I see you cryin'? / Feelin' all alone without a friend, you know you feel like dyin' / Oh, didnt i, didnt i, didnt I see you cryin?

What Makes You a Good Microscopist

今天上 microscopy 的時候，Jeff 提到現在很多人都認為花大錢買儀器就可以得到好的 data or pictures，他很不以為然。他說重要的是「用心」啊，現在的學生一邊聽 ipod 一邊拍照片，這樣不可能成為一個好的 microscopist，注意力分散給了兩種不同的官感，在用顯微鏡時唯一該聽到的聲音就是自己腦裡「嗯，這很有趣，是甚麼造成的？」之類的想法。要當下要完全地專心投入，這才能讓你成為一個好的 microscopist。

用鄉民的話講就是「只要有心，人人都可以是 microscopist。」

我覺得這話說得有點誇張了，時常用到 Z-axis stack 或 time-lapse 的我，用顯微鏡的時候便常上網亂逛打發等待的時間，房間裡暗暗的也不能看 paper 或寫筆記，真要我大腦一直想大概會昏倒。可能我不是個做 microscopist 的料吧，還是讓 Jeff 這種人去當好了。

Cell biologist 也是很炫的呀！

Dissecting Temporal and Spatial Control of Cytokinesis with a Myosin II Inhibitor

Science 299:1743 (2003/03)
Aaron Straight @ HMS

Microtubule associated with the mitotic apparatus plays an important role in cleavage furrow positioning has been known for a very long time since Rappaport’s elegant experiments. However, the real signals used to communicate between microtubules and cleavage furrow are largely unknown. By the help of ICCB in HMS, Aaron, then a postdoc in Tim Mitchison's lab and now a professor in Stanford, used the myosin II ATPase inhibitor Blebbistatin accompanying with other small molecules to study these questions.

This is a descriptive paper and some important findings were addressed in it. MG132 (100 uM) more than doubles the duration of C phase. It is an important finding because even till now no one really knows what determines the duration of C phase which is roughly ~50 minutes long after checkpoint inactivation.

Besides, nocodazole delocalized both myosin II and anillin. Latrunculin subtly disorganized microtubules and dislocated myosin II and anillin. Aaron concluded that communication from microtubules to the cortex is primary unidirectional. For this conclusion, I have doubt on it. In other systems, perturbation of actin cytoskeleton was reported to cause loss of midzone microtubules. And I have similar finding in my own results.

Applications of several kinase inhibitors such as staurosporine, Aurora-I, or Y27632 all delocalized myosin II but had no effect on anillin, suggesting anillin and myosin II are both actin dependent but regulated by two different mechanisms.
This paper is a old paper published on 2003. But it proved that at least for cytokinesis which happens extremely fast within a limited C phase window, small molecule is very useful of fast-acting and reversible drugs in such a dynamic cellular pathway.

Surrender

Cheap Trick, 我最喜歡的樂團之一。雖然在台灣似乎沒有太大的知名度，但 70 及 80 年代在日本可是紅透半邊天的，有一張專輯便是日本武道館演唱會的實況。知道他們的時候年紀還小，首次接觸到的歌有點芭樂但也是我最喜歡聽的歌 Can't Stop Fallin' Into Love，可惜找不到 MV 沒辦法放上來。

Surrender 則大概是他們在電影電視影集中出現次數最多的歌曲，大部分人應該多少都聽過。嗯，應景一下，點給阿扁好了，哈哈。


Surrender / CheapTrick
Words and Music by Rick Nielsen

Mother told me, yes, she told me I'd meet girls like you / She also told me, "Stay away, you'll never know what you'll catch." / Just the other day I heard a soldier falling off some Indonesian junk that's going round / Mommy's alright, Daddy's alright, they just seem a little weird / Surrender, surrender, but don't give yourself away, ay, ay, ay

Father says, "Your mother's right, she's really up on things." / "Before we married, Mommy served in the WACS in the Philippines." / Now, I had heard the WACS recruited old maids for the war / But mommy isn't one of those, I've known her all these years / Mommy's alright, Daddy's alright, they just seem a little weird / Surrender, surrender, but don't give yourself away, ay, ay, ay

Whatever happened to all this season's losers of the year? / Ev'ry time I got to thinking, where'd they disappear? / When I woke up, Mom and Dad are rolling on the couch / Rolling numbers, rock and rolling, got my Kiss records out / Mommy's alright, Daddy's alright, they just seem a little weird / Surrender, surrender, but don't give yourself away, ay, ay, ay

Away

機車寶寶

凡凡現在正是傳說中最可怕的那種組合，甚麼都好奇都要看都要摸，而且跟機車廣告裡講的一樣馬力強又不怕摔，可以說是十足的機車；就算是被圈在欄杆裡，凡也不改其志。

繼續噗

凡凡學習發出聲音是一陣子一陣子有不同的喜好，想是可能隨意嘗試發現的；也許所有的小孩子都是這樣但發音的順序卻不相同。

凡凡愛發的音大概有幾種特點，都是讓聲帶以外其它部位產生強烈感覺的音，就像早期提到的那種像動物低吼或者類似吐痰前喉頭「痾」一聲的那種音，再不然就是叭叭叭這種用氣衝開嘴唇的發音，現在則是噗噗撲這樣讓氣漏出嘴唇的方式。可能因為給特定感官帶來刺激，便直用那種方式發音。





像 叭(p) / 噗(b) 這兩種音的差別其實只在最開始的一小段平滑的轉變，後面則全部相同，研究顯示能夠聽出這兩個音不同的這種能力應該是天生而非後天習得的，因此人類已發展出的語言應該還是十分受限於我們的設計藍圖吧。前幾個禮拜提到的 Chomsky 就是以此推論絕大部分的人類知識都是天生的，做了 Descartes「天賦觀念」論的忠實信徒。

我比較好奇的是既然這種能力是生下來就有的，不知可不可以或說會不會經由後天的環境訓練失去這種能力？以前聽人說過日本成人已區分不出 l 和 r 這兩個音的不同，大腦對這兩個音的反應完全相同， 會當做同一個音來處理。感覺有點扯卻也不知道是不是真的被虎爛了。

Her Name Is Not Earl but She Has a List Too

中華民國九十五年十一月三日，很特別的一天。

在這一天，或許有一半以上台灣家庭的飯後娛樂活動是全家一起研究稍早公佈的一份消費清單。「啊！你看有 iPod 呢！」「哇賽！601/602 項兩條鮮魚要五萬塊耶，兩條海豚嗎？」‧‧‧使得這讓人不知該感到高興還是該覺得羞愧的事件裡頭竟還存有一絲荒謬的娛樂成份。

隨著起訴書內容的公開，或許這正是台灣民眾對于投射在政治人物身上「家父式幻想」除魅的一個開端。這是好事。


Original source

Building multiscale mathematical models of development in Arabidopsis and Drosophila

今天 Theory Lunch 的講者，來自 UC Irvine 的 Eric Mjolsness，講的主題是 multiscale mathemtical models。

我們的理論午餐向來都只用白版，Eric 可能沒有弄清楚，手上抱著一疊印好的 slides 一邊盯著一邊唸。想當然這給人的感覺就有點糟。Eric 主要講述他的 multiscale model；大意是說如何在 tissue -> cell -> molecule 這樣不同的 scale 上建立一個有效的 model。很明顯的一個例子就是果蠅胚胎的發育過程。果蠅胚胎發育區分體節的分子機制大致上已被研究得十分徹底，但是對生物學家來說，如何統合這些各別的分子機制成為一個穩定的系統仍是很大的挑戰。這個過程嚴格地被分子層次的 transcription factors 所調節，進而控制個別細胞再影響整個組織。

接下來就是一連串的 equations，我完全 lost 了，不過似乎並非單單只有我如此，一些做理論的人發問時也不斷提到 "I'm completely lost"，不意外又是一場失敗的 talk。

聽完也吃完之後回到 lab，Dan 先說他很喜歡這次的 talk，覺得學到很多。Sophie, Matrin, 還有我都以為他在開玩笑，Dan 必須再三強調他是說真的大家才真的相信他不是在說笑。真慘。


Building multiscale mathematical models of development in Arabidopsis and Drosophila
3 November 2006

Eric Mjolsness
Department of Information and Computer Science
UC Irvine

Abstract
I will discuss advances of various different kinds: experimental, mathematical, computational, and even mildly political, that promise to make it easier to build multiscale models of developmental processes and to greatly improve them. One example system is pattern formation in the early embryo of Drosophila melanogaster, which is especially dominated by transcriptional regulation. There are systematic approaches to building the required models of transcription complexes. A second example is provided by a model of the shoot apex of Arabidopsis thaliana. Rather than pattern formation by a Turing mechanism, what drives this system is (a) an intracellular reaction network (of course), along with essential roles for (b) intercellular signaling by spatially polarized transport of the plant hormone auxin, and (c) the mechanics of cell growth, cell division, and dynamic connectivity of cells. These experiences provide the motivation and technique for creating a new mathematical modeling language for biological development.

This is joint work with Tigran Bacarian, Marcus Heisler, Henrik Jönsson, Pawel Krupinski, Elliot Meyerowitz, Bruce Shapiro, and Guy Yosiphon.

References
The Computable Plant

Flu Shot

天氣轉涼了，凡凡現在出門得包裹得跟肉粽一樣。今早帶凡凡去 Holyoke Center 打流感疫苗，到了那邊一看，哇！滿滿的小朋友，好像是某種秘密集會，平日隱藏在人群之中的族類忽然群聚在某個神秘地點那般。騎車到學校沿路也看到不少媽媽推著推車或抱著搖籃一路向 Holyoke Center 的方向前進，大概也是要朝往那神秘的聚會吧。

整個過程很快，一分鐘，然後一個月後再來開會。

綺綺表妹

凡凡現在六個月大就已經有兩個漂亮的小表妹了，十分幸福。昨天大表妹綺綺的娘打電話來聊聊小朋友的近況，綺綺只晚了凡凡六天出生，差點兒變成綺綺表姐。兩個小朋友進度相近，很有話題聊。

話中兩邊都提到凡凡跟綺綺有些角度頗為相似，這是其中兩張我們覺得有像到的照片。