Stephen Quake is the Lee Otterson Professor of Bioengineering and Applied Physics at Stanford University. Here he reviews the early history of microfluidics and discusses more recent developments, with a focus on applications in biology and biochemistry.

Toward the end of the 20th century, clinical guidelines proliferated that had the laudable aim of bringing best practices to bear on the unnecessary variability of medical care. New guidelines have continued to appear that span the entire spectrum of medical and surgical practice. Meanwhile, older guidelines have been continually updated. Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP), one of the most comm...

This article presents a reinterpretation of ‘‘internalized oppression’’ and ‘‘internalized domination,’’ not as internal, psychological qualities or characteristics, but rather as sociocultural phenomena—that is, as forms of ‘‘mediated action.’’ Mediated action entails two central elements: (1) an agent, the person who is doing the acting, and (2) cultural tools (or ‘‘mediational means’’), the ...

This paper deals with computer supported cooperative work in the context of untethered scenarios typical of mobile environments. The scenario envisions a number of homogeneous peers that are able to provide the same services, disconnect frequently from the net, and perform part of their work while disconnected. The application we choose is Configuration Management (CM), a critical cooperative a...

This paper sets the archetypal relationship between the tyrannical, devouring father and his sons in the context of a disjunction in the parental couple (syzygy) whereby the role of the maternal feminine is eclipsed and excluded. This is shown to originate in an omnipotent defence against infantile dependence on the mother. Successful liberation from the father's tyranny requires the restoratio...