Feb 16, 2016 06:57 PM
Chemistry: Artificial molecular machines
http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/2016/0...no-walkers
EXCERPT: Victoria Richards investigates the world of artificial molecular machines – where have they come from and where are they headed? What if we lived in a world run by molecular machines, too small to see but impacting all aspects of our everyday lives? In one sense, we already do: biology uses them for absolutely everything – from harvesting energy from the sun to the way that we see, with proteins being the most complicated of the lot. Scientists have taken to calling them machines because, just like those designed by humans, they produce mechanical motion in response to an input, allowing them to perform a task. Whereas biology has perfected its machines over billions of years of evolution, chemists keen to imitate these structures are just getting started....
Physicist uses grant submissions to discover a universal law of procrastination
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriou...stination/
EXCERPT: If you know any scientists, you’ll know they are often pretty bad about procrastination. How bad? Well, according to this author, a program director at the NSF, grant submissions right before a deadline are predictable enough to be defined by a mathematical function (we wonder what dreaded task he was putting off by graphing this). It turns out that the rapid increase in submissions in the days leading up to the deadline actually follow a modified hyperbolic function (see figure below). He predicts that similar events with deadlines, like submitting tax returns and term papers, are likely to follow the same trend. He ends with a note of caution: “Bear in mind, though, that hyperbolic functions diverge to infinity at the asymptote. To procrastinating submitters, the most critical issue is that by waiting until the deadline or close to it, they eliminate the time needed for identifying and correcting errors that could make their proposal ineligible for consideration.” You’ve been warned....
http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/2016/0...no-walkers
EXCERPT: Victoria Richards investigates the world of artificial molecular machines – where have they come from and where are they headed? What if we lived in a world run by molecular machines, too small to see but impacting all aspects of our everyday lives? In one sense, we already do: biology uses them for absolutely everything – from harvesting energy from the sun to the way that we see, with proteins being the most complicated of the lot. Scientists have taken to calling them machines because, just like those designed by humans, they produce mechanical motion in response to an input, allowing them to perform a task. Whereas biology has perfected its machines over billions of years of evolution, chemists keen to imitate these structures are just getting started....
Physicist uses grant submissions to discover a universal law of procrastination
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriou...stination/
EXCERPT: If you know any scientists, you’ll know they are often pretty bad about procrastination. How bad? Well, according to this author, a program director at the NSF, grant submissions right before a deadline are predictable enough to be defined by a mathematical function (we wonder what dreaded task he was putting off by graphing this). It turns out that the rapid increase in submissions in the days leading up to the deadline actually follow a modified hyperbolic function (see figure below). He predicts that similar events with deadlines, like submitting tax returns and term papers, are likely to follow the same trend. He ends with a note of caution: “Bear in mind, though, that hyperbolic functions diverge to infinity at the asymptote. To procrastinating submitters, the most critical issue is that by waiting until the deadline or close to it, they eliminate the time needed for identifying and correcting errors that could make their proposal ineligible for consideration.” You’ve been warned....