Molecular biology of umbraviruses: phantom warriors

Warriors all.

One feature of warfare, or perhaps the psychology of conquerors, is that the victors often endow their enemies with unusual military strengths. The enemy has to be crafty, vigorous, determined, tenacious, as well as brave and brutal. If the enemy were otherwise, the courageous actions of the victorious army would be meaningless. In a colonial context, economics might dictate why a given nation ...

The Consciences of Robot Warriors

This past November, I attended chipmaker Nvidia’s GPU Technology Conference, which was held in Washington, DC. Its focus was artificial intelligence. You might be wondering, as I did, what AI has to do with graphical processing units and, by extension, video games. Here’s your answer: The calculations needed to track, say, the stream of ignited fuel that shoots from Master Chief’s flamethrower ...

Systems biology versus molecular biology

Systems biology and molecular biology can answer the same question in quite different ways, and frequently the answers given by one sub-discipline seem no answer at all to the other. For many molecular biologists, a systemslevel explanation leaves them feeling that, until the underlying molecular mechanisms are known, the approach is hopelessly superficial. For systems biologists, on the other ...

Behavior: Warriors Shaking Hands

A basic precondition of social life is that conflicts must be resolved when you need each other. A new study shows that men affiliate more after one-on-one conflicts than women. This reflects the deep evolutionary history of male bonding.

The 15th Iranian National Congress of Biochemistry & 6th International Congress of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology