It's about time for the departmental retreat. By turns, it will be in Maine, a beautiful state.
Usually it is an event that everyone wants to go. For our lab, it's just not the case. Last year, only one person voluntarily registered for the retreat in Rhode Island, and Tim was asked to name some for that.
This year, the retreat will be at a beautiful harbor in Maine. Things got better this time; five people registered, with only one poster though. The office people were kind of mad, and went to talk to Tim, again.
Tim said he doesn't want to force anyone in the lab doing anything s/he doesn't want to. So once again, our lab has the fewest people (also fewest posters) in the sysbio retreat.
What an anti-social lab we are.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Sunday, April 27, 2008
叩到頭頭
凡凡現在常來這招，想撒嬌要人抱的時候，就找個東西往自己頭上或腳上敲一下，然後轉身找爸爸媽媽哭訴「叩到頭頭」或「叩到腳腳」，不然就是「手手痛痛」，等人抱起來呼呼一下，立刻就沒事了。
這次就是，彩色筆打不開大概心裡不高興，就往自己頭上敲一下，開始找人「惜惜」。
想想至少凡凡還算老實，會真的敲一下再開始喊疼，而不是直接假裝叫痛。
這次就是，彩色筆打不開大概心裡不高興，就往自己頭上敲一下，開始找人「惜惜」。
想想至少凡凡還算老實，會真的敲一下再開始喊疼，而不是直接假裝叫痛。
Friday, April 25, 2008
Network in Social Sciences
Today we had a very great theory lunch. Everybody loves it. The speaker, Nicholas Christakis, an MD, is excellent.
It is about the network study in social sciences. Geez, now I know medical social sciences are so interesting. No wonder there are many MDs jumping on this wagon.
Network is a hot term in Systems Biology. Indeed, in biology, numerous methods and modeling was invented for solving biological network questions. Social scientists take advantage on these tools and apply them on their own network study in social sciences. Nick had many famous publications by this approach. Actually, one of them was mentioned by me here in a jerky way, yes, the paper finding that fat people make friends fat.
Nick tracked the records of a small town named Framingham for over 32 years, and employed network modeling technique to monitor the changes of the network structure and individual person (node). He found fat people were clustered non-randomly. And surprisingly obesity could actually spread in the network. The "spread of obesity" is not limited to geographical distance, but only works within same gender, some very interesting findings.
Similar approach was applied on smoking/quit-smoking studies. Smokers are usually clustered together in the network but surprisingly it showed usually all nodes in a clusters are gone at the same time. It might suggest it is more efficient to quit smoking by groups, but not individual.
Most interestingly, same approach was used on happiness studies. This is a very hot topic now. Above all, the goal of a government is to make people happier. The primary results indicated money does play certain role on it, but not very significantly (surprisingly?)
The networks in social sciences and in biology are very different. It could be cool if someday same ideas in social science network studies get burrowed again by biologists, although I cannot see it will happen in a near future...
Related reports can be found at
http://www.hcp.med.harvard.edu/node/1378 and
http://harvardscience.harvard.edu/directory/researchers/nicholas-christakis
http://www.wjh.harvard.edu/soc/faculty/christakis/
--
THEORY LUNCH
FRIDAY, APRIL 25
WAB 563 12PM
Nicholas Christakis
Department of Health Care Policy
Harvard Medical School & Department of Sociology
Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences
The spread of health phenomena in complex, longitudinally resolved social networks
Abstract
Our work has involved the quantitative investigation of whether and how various health-related phenomena might spread from person to person in complex networks. We have developed various data sets to support these investigations, including a densely interconnected, longitudinally resolved network of 12,067 people assessed repeatedly from 1971 to the present. Each node in this network has an average of 11 ties of various kinds, including friends, siblings, spouses, offspring, coworkers, and neighbors. We observe discernible clusters of individuals with various traits, including obesity, smoking, eating, medication taking, and happiness, and we document that these clusters are not solely due to selective formation of social ties between nodes. Rather, processes of social contagion are also apparent within the network. Various aspects of our findings suggest that the spread of social norms is a key mechanism underlying these inter-personal health effects. In other work, we have examined the genetic basis for social network formation and have developed a novel model for the social processes involved (the "attract and introduce" model). The recognition of the role of supra-individual, network effects on individual health lays a further foundation for public health by providing a rationale for the claim that health is not just an individual, but also a collective, phenomenon
It is about the network study in social sciences. Geez, now I know medical social sciences are so interesting. No wonder there are many MDs jumping on this wagon.
Network is a hot term in Systems Biology. Indeed, in biology, numerous methods and modeling was invented for solving biological network questions. Social scientists take advantage on these tools and apply them on their own network study in social sciences. Nick had many famous publications by this approach. Actually, one of them was mentioned by me here in a jerky way, yes, the paper finding that fat people make friends fat.
Nick tracked the records of a small town named Framingham for over 32 years, and employed network modeling technique to monitor the changes of the network structure and individual person (node). He found fat people were clustered non-randomly. And surprisingly obesity could actually spread in the network. The "spread of obesity" is not limited to geographical distance, but only works within same gender, some very interesting findings.
Similar approach was applied on smoking/quit-smoking studies. Smokers are usually clustered together in the network but surprisingly it showed usually all nodes in a clusters are gone at the same time. It might suggest it is more efficient to quit smoking by groups, but not individual.
Most interestingly, same approach was used on happiness studies. This is a very hot topic now. Above all, the goal of a government is to make people happier. The primary results indicated money does play certain role on it, but not very significantly (surprisingly?)
The networks in social sciences and in biology are very different. It could be cool if someday same ideas in social science network studies get burrowed again by biologists, although I cannot see it will happen in a near future...
Related reports can be found at
http://www.hcp.med.harvard.edu/node/1378 and
http://harvardscience.harvard.edu/directory/researchers/nicholas-christakis
http://www.wjh.harvard.edu/soc/faculty/christakis/
--
THEORY LUNCH
FRIDAY, APRIL 25
WAB 563 12PM
Nicholas Christakis
Department of Health Care Policy
Harvard Medical School & Department of Sociology
Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences
The spread of health phenomena in complex, longitudinally resolved social networks
Abstract
Our work has involved the quantitative investigation of whether and how various health-related phenomena might spread from person to person in complex networks. We have developed various data sets to support these investigations, including a densely interconnected, longitudinally resolved network of 12,067 people assessed repeatedly from 1971 to the present. Each node in this network has an average of 11 ties of various kinds, including friends, siblings, spouses, offspring, coworkers, and neighbors. We observe discernible clusters of individuals with various traits, including obesity, smoking, eating, medication taking, and happiness, and we document that these clusters are not solely due to selective formation of social ties between nodes. Rather, processes of social contagion are also apparent within the network. Various aspects of our findings suggest that the spread of social norms is a key mechanism underlying these inter-personal health effects. In other work, we have examined the genetic basis for social network formation and have developed a novel model for the social processes involved (the "attract and introduce" model). The recognition of the role of supra-individual, network effects on individual health lays a further foundation for public health by providing a rationale for the claim that health is not just an individual, but also a collective, phenomenon
TGIF Poster of MicroBeer
MicroBeer is the TGIF happy hour of our neighbor - microbiology department. They always have good ideas for posters.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Days After Days
這陣子天氣好，今天還有 80'F，不過我的腳踏車壞了，每天還是搭 shuttle 往返 Longwood 和 Cambridge 之間。
每天的生活就好像重覆著一定的循環。
還沒放棄那個 microscopy blog 的想法，每天早上搭車就想著該怎麼弄或寫些甚麼，然後樂觀地覺得應該可以開始真正動手了。
到了實驗室之後，面對成堆想做還沒做的實驗，該分析卻還沒分析的資料，就開始覺得應該還是得先把手上的實驗忙完。
到了傍晚，該回家了，被手上實驗拖住又漏了一班車，趕緊印幾篇 paper 想說在車上或帶回家晚上看。
回家後，看到凡凡，全家人一起吃晚餐，花整晚陪凡凡洗澡玩耍睡覺。通常自己也就睡著了。
起床後，如果還早，把 paper 拿出來念一念，如果不早，就直接背著原封不動的書包出門。
然後在搭車到 longwood 途中，又開始想其實 microscopy blog 差不多可以動手了‧‧‧‧
日復一日。
每天的生活就好像重覆著一定的循環。
還沒放棄那個 microscopy blog 的想法，每天早上搭車就想著該怎麼弄或寫些甚麼，然後樂觀地覺得應該可以開始真正動手了。
到了實驗室之後，面對成堆想做還沒做的實驗，該分析卻還沒分析的資料，就開始覺得應該還是得先把手上的實驗忙完。
到了傍晚，該回家了，被手上實驗拖住又漏了一班車，趕緊印幾篇 paper 想說在車上或帶回家晚上看。
回家後，看到凡凡，全家人一起吃晚餐，花整晚陪凡凡洗澡玩耍睡覺。通常自己也就睡著了。
起床後，如果還早，把 paper 拿出來念一念，如果不早，就直接背著原封不動的書包出門。
然後在搭車到 longwood 途中，又開始想其實 microscopy blog 差不多可以動手了‧‧‧‧
日復一日。
Sunday, April 20, 2008
爬樓梯
天氣不錯帶凡凡到公園玩，原來凡凡已經很會爬樓梯了，連垂直爬的都難不倒他。
小孩子之間的互動真的很神奇，凡凡聽到別的小孩跟他說英語，也會學著用英語回達，還會跟其他小孩打招呼。
果然小孩子還是該跟小孩子一起玩才好。
小孩子之間的互動真的很神奇，凡凡聽到別的小孩跟他說英語，也會學著用英語回達，還會跟其他小孩打招呼。
果然小孩子還是該跟小孩子一起玩才好。
Finally, New GeoTrax
上禮拜發現 Cambridge 的 ToysRus 倒了之後，拍顯微鏡時上網亂逛發現剛好網路上 ToysRus 裡的 GeoTrax 都是 free shipping，真是剛好，就買了一堆擴充的組件回來。
兩天後 UPS 玩具送到家裡，東西多了之後果然凡凡又更愛玩了，一起床就吵著要玩。
下午睡完午覺，又想到，繼續玩。東西多了之後排列組合也多樣了起來，凡凡很喜歡這種自己拼湊的玩具。
兩天後 UPS 玩具送到家裡，東西多了之後果然凡凡又更愛玩了，一起床就吵著要玩。
下午睡完午覺，又想到，繼續玩。東西多了之後排列組合也多樣了起來，凡凡很喜歡這種自己拼湊的玩具。
Friday, April 18, 2008
Uri Alon Is Coming To Town
Years ago, when my department just got founded, Marc tried really hard to recruit Uri Alon from Weizmann institute, to our department. After few visits, Uri decided to stay in Israel, and our department, recruit one of his postdoc, Galit Lahav, instead.
Today, Uri gives a spontaneous theory lunch, and officially begins his "TWO-YEAR-LONG" sabbatical studies in our department. It is really a great news. Aaron joked that the impact factors of our department is going to be sky-high! When others ask who is in our department, now we can say loudly that we have Uri Alon! Ha-ha.
Uri have a very good talk this noon. He is interested in the "scientific part" and "non-scientific part" in sciences, that is, objective v.s. subjective, rational v.s. emotional, and mind v.s. body. Usually people focus on the former way more than the latter, but Uri addressed that the non-scientific part could be even more important than the scientific part, for instance, being a mentor guiding a mentee. Uri speaks in a slowly softly way, with his Hebrew accent, completely showing his strong charisma.
In Galit's introduction, she mentioned when she begun her project in Uri's lab, there is no microscopy facility for her study, so she went to Rockefeller University for 4 weeks doing all the imaging work. The whole thing was a disaster. Everything went wrong in every possible way. After three weeks, Galit called Uri and promised that she would work very very hard to figure it our and have some data. Uri then asked Galit that had she been to any Broadway show in New York?
"No"
"How about those famous museums?"
"No"
"Any good restaurant?"
"No~, Uri, listen, you don't understand. I was working extremely hard and almost living in the lab for last three weeks..."
"Okay, now do what I say. Take out all your cells from the incubator, and bleach it." interrupted bu Uri on the phone, "Go out. Take a look of the city and enjoy it. When you come back fresh, we can solve the problems. Everything will be alright."
Then you can see the watery eyes on Uri's face.
We will see what Uri can bring to the department in next two years.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Uhh~ Those Scientists
The official in-print day of my paper is 4/21. The journal made it release early online yesterday. I didn't realize it until I got few emails asking for PDF file (I am the corresponding author).
This morning, more emails came, most of them asking for information about specific experimental details. There is one, surprisingly, writing to express their astonishment that we didn't reference his paper in our work.
I was shocked. His paper came out at about the same time with my submission. I haven't read it until he attached his paper with the email. Tim came and told me I shouldn't feel bad about this. It happens all the time.
However, even though you know it, when it really happens on you, it still make you upset a bit.
Tim said miss-reference is very common nowadays since it is impossible to read every paper in the field, but it is stupid really writing a letter to argue this.
Aaron is proofreading his paper this afternoon. We were joking, said we can reference that paper in Aaron's paper to make the citation-count even. It doesn't matter in what way the paper is cited when it goes to number counting.
Geez~ it is all abuot ego.
This morning, more emails came, most of them asking for information about specific experimental details. There is one, surprisingly, writing to express their astonishment that we didn't reference his paper in our work.
I was shocked. His paper came out at about the same time with my submission. I haven't read it until he attached his paper with the email. Tim came and told me I shouldn't feel bad about this. It happens all the time.
However, even though you know it, when it really happens on you, it still make you upset a bit.
Tim said miss-reference is very common nowadays since it is impossible to read every paper in the field, but it is stupid really writing a letter to argue this.
Aaron is proofreading his paper this afternoon. We were joking, said we can reference that paper in Aaron's paper to make the citation-count even. It doesn't matter in what way the paper is cited when it goes to number counting.
Geez~ it is all abuot ego.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
FanFan Rush
凡凡每次一聽到 August Rush 裡面音樂天才 Evan 第一次接觸吉它以自己的方式即興演奏的片段，就會興奮起來，屢試不爽，還會跳舞跟著搖擺或打拍子。
電影裡的音樂片段
還有 La Bamba！凡凡正在「學舌」階段，會一路 Bam Bam Bam~~ Whoo~~ Yeah~~ 地跟著歌唱。
電影片段，這歌就是電影裡長髮的小男孩唱的，他的名字叫 Leon Thomas III，聲音真的很好，讓人想起「小時候」的 Michael Jackson。
電影裡的音樂片段
還有 La Bamba！凡凡正在「學舌」階段，會一路 Bam Bam Bam~~ Whoo~~ Yeah~~ 地跟著歌唱。
電影片段，這歌就是電影裡長髮的小男孩唱的，他的名字叫 Leon Thomas III，聲音真的很好，讓人想起「小時候」的 Michael Jackson。
Another Try For GeoTrax
自從別人送了凡凡 GeoTrax 火車玩具後，上網看了下其它的附件，發現還有一堆不同軌道，火車，橋樑之類的擴充組件。看起來真的很好玩啊，看得大人都想買來玩。
想說凡凡生日給他多買一些讓他玩得更高興，結果上禮拜下雨沒法外出，這禮拜日總算天氣還不錯，想說帶凡凡去 ToysRus 親自挑來玩。騎車騎到 north Cambridge fresh pond mall，找不到 ToysRus，問了人才知道原來已經收起來了。結果又沒買成。
凡凡也無聊到睡著了。
Friday, April 11, 2008
Prodigy Movie 1 - August Rush
最近很湊巧地看了幾部都是關於天才兒童的電影，其中有純屬虛構的商業片，有全然真實的紀錄片，也有半真半假的歐洲劇情片，這三部電影分別是 "August Rush", "My Kid Could Paint That", and "Vitus"。
先講 August Rush。
不可否認地，August Rush 大概是三部影片裡最具娛樂性的一片。
狗血的劇情大概是這個樣子，茱麗亞的美麗女提琴家在父親的嚴控管教下偷偷參加 party，遇上深具才華的樂團帥哥主唱，一夜情後懷孕了。出車禍，昏迷中小孩被送到孤兒院，父親騙說小孩死了。小孩長大後逃離孤兒院，結果那小孩是個天才，可以聽到風中的樂聲，甚麼樂器都一上手就厲害得不得了。神父認為他是天使，帶去茱麗亞學院，儘管才十一歲，沒有身份沒有錢，因為是天才，所以院長就收下來了。六個月後被發現上課不專心在寫譜，然後就被推上做中央公園春天演奏會的壓軸，指揮演奏自己創作的曲子。因為曲子是天才寫的，所以把失散的爸爸媽媽都吸引到中央公園，然後一家團聚，happy ending。 The End。
片子的重點並不是放在天才小孩的困擾或遭遇上，劇情像是童話故事般，如果硬要講，那可能就是學院派與非學院派的差異上面吧。或許切合了參與了片尾 C 大調狂想曲的作曲家 Hans Zimmer 的情況，現正當紅的 Zimmer 其實沒受過甚麼正統的學院派訓練，個人的風格與天份還是讓他在 Hollywood 出人頭地。
裡面小孩子如何天才的情節是有點誇張過頭了，不過女主角加上大小男主角都十分賞心悅目，音樂更是十分動聽，可說是部讓人整部都看得很舒服的片子。不過看完之後，就是看完了。
先講 August Rush。
不可否認地，August Rush 大概是三部影片裡最具娛樂性的一片。
狗血的劇情大概是這個樣子，茱麗亞的美麗女提琴家在父親的嚴控管教下偷偷參加 party，遇上深具才華的樂團帥哥主唱，一夜情後懷孕了。出車禍，昏迷中小孩被送到孤兒院，父親騙說小孩死了。小孩長大後逃離孤兒院，結果那小孩是個天才，可以聽到風中的樂聲，甚麼樂器都一上手就厲害得不得了。神父認為他是天使，帶去茱麗亞學院，儘管才十一歲，沒有身份沒有錢，因為是天才，所以院長就收下來了。六個月後被發現上課不專心在寫譜，然後就被推上做中央公園春天演奏會的壓軸，指揮演奏自己創作的曲子。因為曲子是天才寫的，所以把失散的爸爸媽媽都吸引到中央公園，然後一家團聚，happy ending。 The End。
片子的重點並不是放在天才小孩的困擾或遭遇上，劇情像是童話故事般，如果硬要講，那可能就是學院派與非學院派的差異上面吧。或許切合了參與了片尾 C 大調狂想曲的作曲家 Hans Zimmer 的情況，現正當紅的 Zimmer 其實沒受過甚麼正統的學院派訓練，個人的風格與天份還是讓他在 Hollywood 出人頭地。
裡面小孩子如何天才的情節是有點誇張過頭了，不過女主角加上大小男主角都十分賞心悅目，音樂更是十分動聽，可說是部讓人整部都看得很舒服的片子。不過看完之後，就是看完了。
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Another Due
April 15th, the due of tax, is coming. Finally I made the filing done, and luckly, I can still take all my money back from the state tax (thanks God that I have a family size in 3).
I still cannot figure out why my Federal tax refund decreases so significantly this year. I actually earned a little bit more money than last year; the only difference is it was given under the name of working incoming instead of fellowship.
The change was made in July so half of my money is on 1042-S and the other half is on W2 form. It means I won't be so lucky to get all my withheld state tax back next year, unless I will have a bigger family size then...
(and it at least has to be twins to make it family of 5, ha-ha).
I still cannot figure out why my Federal tax refund decreases so significantly this year. I actually earned a little bit more money than last year; the only difference is it was given under the name of working incoming instead of fellowship.
The change was made in July so half of my money is on 1042-S and the other half is on W2 form. It means I won't be so lucky to get all my withheld state tax back next year, unless I will have a bigger family size then...
(and it at least has to be twins to make it family of 5, ha-ha).
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
忙
原以為之前的工作大致到了個段落，應該時間會充裕些，不知怎地，這陣子反而更忙。
兩個月的 imaging 整理起來竟花了兩個禮拜，一直拖到今天早上才終於跟 Tim 和 Chris 一起看了看結果討論。
microscopy blog 的想法仍然在規劃，現是在大致規劃內容跟順序的階段，只是真要這樣忙起來，microscopy articles 大概也會拖延得很嚴重。
兩個月的 imaging 整理起來竟花了兩個禮拜，一直拖到今天早上才終於跟 Tim 和 Chris 一起看了看結果討論。
microscopy blog 的想法仍然在規劃，現是在大致規劃內容跟順序的階段，只是真要這樣忙起來，microscopy articles 大概也會拖延得很嚴重。
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Nature Methods for FREE
Yesterday I got an Email from Nature said they are willing to give away free Nature Methods. Interested?
I did apply. But have no idea if it will be granted or not. In the case of Cell, everyone I know gets free jornals.
--
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Cordially,
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Nature Methods
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For information on institutional print subscriptions and site license access contact institutions@nature.com.
I did apply. But have no idea if it will be granted or not. In the case of Cell, everyone I know gets free jornals.
--
You may qualify for a free subscription to Nature Methods. A limited number of subscriptions are now available. Request your subscription today by clicking on the button below.
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Sunday, April 6, 2008
燕尾服
凡凡有一套兩個表哥都穿過的燕尾服，奶奶交待生日要拿出來穿，昨天帶凡凡出去餐廳吃飯時特地幫他穿上，獲得在場眾人一致的好評，可惜忘了帶相機沒有留下照片。
想說晚上幫他穿上補拍幾張照片，結果正在玩興上的凡凡，也不管穿的是不是禮服，一樣趴在地上玩，甚麼也照不到。不過意外的是，最後凡凡竟然還知道怎麼把衣服給脫下來，把爸媽都嚇了一跳。
雨天備案
凡凡禮拜一就滿兩歲了，本想趕在生日前騎車去 ToysRus 買些新玩具給凡凡當生日禮物，沒想到一切穿戴整齊下樓才發現開始下雨了，凡凡滿心期待出去玩，最後只好到地下室把凡凡的腳踏車搬出來騎一騎過癮。
凡凡越長越高，自己下車早已不是問題，除此之外還是個孝順的好孩子，曉得要給爸爸坐，讓爸爸也玩一下。
凡凡個性有點雞婆，只要看到沒有整理好的東西，特別是沒有關好的門，都會堅持要歸位，把門關好。
凡凡騎了一陣子大概有點膩了，下來走路倒退嚕。
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