Check out the list of authors for this very cool published paper-- the online version doesn't have the full list but the published paper does...
Online
http://www.nature.com/nsmb/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nsmb.2119.html
Full paper:
http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/zoran/NSMBfoldit-2011.pdf
"Crystal structure of a monomeric retroviral protease solved by protein folding game players"
Firas Khatib1, Frank DiMaio1, Foldit Contenders Group, Foldit Void Crushers Group, Seth Cooper2, Maciej Kazmierczyk3, Miroslaw Gilski3,4, Szymon Krzywda3, Helena Zabranska5, Iva Pichova5, James Thompson1, Zoran Popović2, Mariusz Jaskolski3,4 & David Baker1,6
Monday 19 September 2011
Education is not a commodity...
A week or so ago the University of Edinburgh announced, following the lead of all the major universities in the UK, that it would be charging £9,000 per year for undergraduates. This is technically a bit more complicated, because that fee applies to UK students NOT from Scotland, and there is also a special arrangement in place for EU students to attend free via an exchange arrangement, so in effect this discriminates against English and Welsh students, but all that's part of a more complex political situation I'm not going to discuss.
All I wanted to note was that students have been protesting the move, which represents a significant shift for all UK higher education institutions, which used to be free to all admitted students per national policy and funding. And at Edinburgh, in the building next to the Business School, there has been a booth set up where students are handing out flyers and trying to encourage people to protest the tuition situation.
And hanging from the front of the table was a sign that stated "Education is not a commodity," which struck me as a slightly ironic message to send, when they are trying to argue that people shouldn't have to pay for it, or that different people shouldn't have to pay different amounts for it... especially next to the Business School and across the street from the Economics Dept. But maybe it's just me....
All I wanted to note was that students have been protesting the move, which represents a significant shift for all UK higher education institutions, which used to be free to all admitted students per national policy and funding. And at Edinburgh, in the building next to the Business School, there has been a booth set up where students are handing out flyers and trying to encourage people to protest the tuition situation.
And hanging from the front of the table was a sign that stated "Education is not a commodity," which struck me as a slightly ironic message to send, when they are trying to argue that people shouldn't have to pay for it, or that different people shouldn't have to pay different amounts for it... especially next to the Business School and across the street from the Economics Dept. But maybe it's just me....
Sunday 18 September 2011
The difference between Mommies and Daddies
According to Kenna:
Kenna said: "Daddies do all the cooking. Mommies cuddle their children and never work."
After reading the Berenstain Bears "Good Better Best" book in which the Bears compete in Olympics games and the only one Papa Bear wins is sleeping longest: "Daddy isn't the best sleeper. Mommy is."
Kenna said: "Daddies do all the cooking. Mommies cuddle their children and never work."
After reading the Berenstain Bears "Good Better Best" book in which the Bears compete in Olympics games and the only one Papa Bear wins is sleeping longest: "Daddy isn't the best sleeper. Mommy is."
Sunday 11 September 2011
Corporations and colleges, and one administrator looks a bit foolish...
The full article is worth reading, but just read to the bottom to see one college administrator look very very silly...
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/11/business/at-colleges-the-marketers-are-everywhere.html
IT’S move-in day here at the University of North Carolina, and Leila Ismail, stuffed animals in tow, is feeling some freshman angst.
A few friendly upperclassmen spring into action.
But wait: there is something odd, or at least oddly corporate, about this welcome wagon. These U.N.C. students are all wearing identical T-shirts from American Eagle Outfitters.
Turns out three of them are working for that youth clothing chain on this late August morning, as what are known in the trade as “brand ambassadors” or “campus evangelists” — and they have recruited several dozen friends as a volunteer move-in crew. Even before Ms. Ismail can find her dorm or meet her roommate, they cheerily unload her family’s car. Then they lug her belongings to her dorm. Along the way, they dole out American Eagle coupons, American Eagle water canisters and American Eagle pens.
Ms. Ismail, 18, of Charlotte, welcomes the help. “I’ll probably always remember it,” she says.
American Eagle Outfitters certainly hopes so, as do a growing number of companies that are hiring college students to represent brands on campuses across the nation.
This fall, an estimated 10,000 American college students will be working on hundreds of campuses — for cash, swag, job experience or all three — marketing everything from Red Bull to Hewlett-Packard PCs. For the companies hiring them, the motivation is clear: college students spent about $36 billion on things like clothing, computers and cellphones during the 2010-11 school year alone, according to projections from Re:Fuel, a media and promotions firm specializing in the youth market. And who knows the students at, say, U.N.C., better than the students at U.N.C.?
Corporations have been pitching college students for decades on products from cars to credit cards. But what is happening on campuses today is without rival, in terms of commercializing everyday college life.
Companies from Microsoft on down are increasingly seeking out the big men and women on campus to influence their peers. The students most in demand are those who are popular — ones involved in athletics, music, fraternities or sororities. Thousands of Facebook friends help, too. What companies want are students with inside knowledge of school traditions and campus hotspots. In short, they want students with the cred to make brands seem cool, in ways that a TV or magazine ad never could.
“We are the people who understand what kinds of things the students will be open to,” says Alex Stegall, a Carolina junior who recruited about 20 members of her sorority for the American Eagle promotion. “It’s marketing for the students, by the students.”
It’s a good deal for the student marketers, who can earn several hundred to several thousand dollars a semester in salary, perks, products and services, depending on the company. But the trend poses challenges for university officials, especially at a time when many schools are themselves embracing corporate sponsorships to help stage events for students.
Just how far one big company — Target — has permeated this university was evident at freshmen welcome week in late August, at what students and administrators alike characterized as a touchstone party for the class of 2015.
As part of the official university program, Target sponsored a welcome dinner on a Friday. Then, on Saturday, for the first real social event for freshmen, it hired buses to ferry students to a Target superstore in Durham for late-night shopping, says Winston B. Crisp, the university’s vice chancellor for student affairs.
From the school’s point of view, Mr. Crisp says, the excursion is both social and practical. It’s a convenient way for freshmen to pick up last-minute items. Equally important, he says, is that shopping at midnight keeps freshmen away from alcohol-fueled parties on their first weekend. University administrators supervise the event, he says, and control the marketing messages.
But Mr. Crisp says he was unaware of the American Eagle effort on his campus. He worried aloud that students and parents might mistake such promotions as having the university’s imprimatur.
“They are not supposed to be using the opportunity to help people move in as a way of forwarding commercial ventures,” he said, standing near the cash registers at Target that evening, as upperclassmen handed out free VitaminWater, Combos and packages of macaroni and cheese. He added: “So it’s a bit of a dilemma.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/11/business/at-colleges-the-marketers-are-everywhere.html
IT’S move-in day here at the University of North Carolina, and Leila Ismail, stuffed animals in tow, is feeling some freshman angst.
A few friendly upperclassmen spring into action.
But wait: there is something odd, or at least oddly corporate, about this welcome wagon. These U.N.C. students are all wearing identical T-shirts from American Eagle Outfitters.
Turns out three of them are working for that youth clothing chain on this late August morning, as what are known in the trade as “brand ambassadors” or “campus evangelists” — and they have recruited several dozen friends as a volunteer move-in crew. Even before Ms. Ismail can find her dorm or meet her roommate, they cheerily unload her family’s car. Then they lug her belongings to her dorm. Along the way, they dole out American Eagle coupons, American Eagle water canisters and American Eagle pens.
Ms. Ismail, 18, of Charlotte, welcomes the help. “I’ll probably always remember it,” she says.
American Eagle Outfitters certainly hopes so, as do a growing number of companies that are hiring college students to represent brands on campuses across the nation.
This fall, an estimated 10,000 American college students will be working on hundreds of campuses — for cash, swag, job experience or all three — marketing everything from Red Bull to Hewlett-Packard PCs. For the companies hiring them, the motivation is clear: college students spent about $36 billion on things like clothing, computers and cellphones during the 2010-11 school year alone, according to projections from Re:Fuel, a media and promotions firm specializing in the youth market. And who knows the students at, say, U.N.C., better than the students at U.N.C.?
Corporations have been pitching college students for decades on products from cars to credit cards. But what is happening on campuses today is without rival, in terms of commercializing everyday college life.
Companies from Microsoft on down are increasingly seeking out the big men and women on campus to influence their peers. The students most in demand are those who are popular — ones involved in athletics, music, fraternities or sororities. Thousands of Facebook friends help, too. What companies want are students with inside knowledge of school traditions and campus hotspots. In short, they want students with the cred to make brands seem cool, in ways that a TV or magazine ad never could.
“We are the people who understand what kinds of things the students will be open to,” says Alex Stegall, a Carolina junior who recruited about 20 members of her sorority for the American Eagle promotion. “It’s marketing for the students, by the students.”
It’s a good deal for the student marketers, who can earn several hundred to several thousand dollars a semester in salary, perks, products and services, depending on the company. But the trend poses challenges for university officials, especially at a time when many schools are themselves embracing corporate sponsorships to help stage events for students.
Just how far one big company — Target — has permeated this university was evident at freshmen welcome week in late August, at what students and administrators alike characterized as a touchstone party for the class of 2015.
As part of the official university program, Target sponsored a welcome dinner on a Friday. Then, on Saturday, for the first real social event for freshmen, it hired buses to ferry students to a Target superstore in Durham for late-night shopping, says Winston B. Crisp, the university’s vice chancellor for student affairs.
From the school’s point of view, Mr. Crisp says, the excursion is both social and practical. It’s a convenient way for freshmen to pick up last-minute items. Equally important, he says, is that shopping at midnight keeps freshmen away from alcohol-fueled parties on their first weekend. University administrators supervise the event, he says, and control the marketing messages.
But Mr. Crisp says he was unaware of the American Eagle effort on his campus. He worried aloud that students and parents might mistake such promotions as having the university’s imprimatur.
“They are not supposed to be using the opportunity to help people move in as a way of forwarding commercial ventures,” he said, standing near the cash registers at Target that evening, as upperclassmen handed out free VitaminWater, Combos and packages of macaroni and cheese. He added: “So it’s a bit of a dilemma.”
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