Directed Panspermia Doesn't Belong In Schools (and Probably Never Will)

Opening to the Ideas section of the Boston Globe this past Sunday, I was immediately faced with a grotesque site.  Nothing to do with the appalling terrorism of fifteen years ago, but instead the Globe putting front-and-center in the section a truly awful idea, which the subhead trumpeted "Creationism can have a basis in science - if aliens are involved".

Portrait Of A Genomics Instrumentation Impresario

Veteran biotech reporter Luke Timmerman's new book, Hood: A Trailblazer of the Genomics Age, is a valuable exploration of one of the leading figures in the early development of genomics and proteomics.  This in depth look at a key scientist covers not only his achievements and glories, but also his less than stellar moments and tendencies. Timmerman has combined his own interviews and research with nuggets pulled from prior news articles and oral histories of scientists who crossed paths (and sometimes figurative swords) with Hood.  While the book has issues, I would recommend it to anyone interested in the history of biotechnology.  For the full review, including numerous spoilers, read on.

Four Things You Might Be Surprised Can't Be Done On An iPhone or iPad

In well under a year, I've been sucked into Apple's mobile ecosystem.  Partly this was due to lobbying from TNG (he fervently denies receiving any commissions, but I'm still suspicious).  Partly it was due to the Android world not really locking me in; there were just too many things that weren't quite right.  First, the family caught me ogling an iPad Pro and talked me into getting one.  Once I had that, there was confusion over which text channel messages had been sent and getting an iPhone to consolidate them (since iMessage would go to both devices) started making sense.  Plus my Samsung phone was chewing through batteries; that is one area where Apple seems to have a huge lead.  Also the problem of periodically forgetting which device I was on and using a gesture from the wrong operating system.