Periodic Tabloid

Whenever a new drug molecule comes along, industrious biochemists set to work figuring out its mechanism of action. The path of least resistance is for every specialized lab to toss some of the drug molecule into their favorite bioassay and see if anything happens. Usually something does, thereby making it hard to know what the critical target is leading to desired pharmacology.

In one corner, we have Moore’s law. In the other corner, there is Carlson’s curve. Moore’s law— named after Gordon Moore, cofounder of Intel—famously predicted over 40 years ago that the transistor density of integrated circuits would double about every two years. So far, it’s been right. Carlson’s curve—named after biologist Rob Carlson—refers to a graph showing the diminishing cost per base of sequencing DNA over time. Like transistor density, DNA sequencing prowess is similarly exponential, and showing no signs of slowing down.

Nobody thought we could ever see the individual atoms and bonds of a molecule because the necessary light would be so energetic as to destroy the very molecule under observation. Luckily, intractable problems attract smart scientists.

Anyone familiar with the synthesis of complex organic molecules knows that it requires a clever combination of art, guile, dumb luck, and smart science. Wouldn’t it be nice if everything needed to produce a molecule could be plopped into a single pot, stirred, and voila, out pops the finished product? Impossible, you say.

We all experience fret now and then, that is, worried, distressed, vexed, or troubled feelings and emotions. Not good. FRET, by contrast, is not so bad when it stands for fluorescence resonance energy transfer.

Moore’s law states that the number of transistors in integrated circuits doubles about every two years. This is why computers keep on getting smaller, why memory chips keep increasing in storage capacity, and why digital cameras keep having more megapixels.But can Moore’s law hold forever?

There are two fundamental ways that a healthy normal cell can traverse the pathway to becoming a cancer cell: Activation of an oncogene; inactivation of a tumor suppressor gene. It is easy to comprehend how inhibiting an overly active oncogene would throttle back cancer growth. In fact, it’s being done already with drugs like gleevec and rituxan. Harder to conceive is how to restore the function of a missing tumor suppressor gene.

What foul chemistry lies behind bad breath? The villainous reaction is perpetrated by Gram negative bacteria, which break proteins down to amino acids. The sulfur-containing ones can then form stinky chemicals called volatile sulfide compounds (VSCs to the aficionado).

The mainstream media regularly barrages us with the fact that citizens of developed countries tend to being overweight, even obese. So we diet, we exercise, we pop pills, and sometimes we even resort to surgery to shed the unwanted poundage.

Most of us give little thought to the countless batteries we encounter every day. They power cell phones, iPods, cameras, computers, watches, and myriad other electronic devices, without which life would be ever so less pleasant.