I have yet to read Susana Quintanilla’s written account of the Cinvestav’s founding [Recordar hacia el mañana. Creación y primeros años del Cinvestav. 1960-1970], a nice edition published by the Center in 2002 that sits on the pile of books on my desk. So far, I have followed the story through the autobiography of Pablo Rudomín. We initiated, today, festivities for the 55 years from the creation of the Center. I returned to the lab with three thoughts to share.
Author: fanismis
I was born in Canada, grew up in Greece, where I studied Biology. My Ph.D. was at the Max-Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Goettingen, in conjuction with the University of Guelph; I worked on reactive oxygen species within cells of the little Drosophila fly. I then moved to its handling of iron at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda Maryland; added copper, zinc, manganese and molybdenum during my first independent position at Queen Mary University of London; Presently my metal biology lab at the CINVESTAV del IPN in Mexico City is extending to the study of phosphorus, sulfur, calcium, magnesium, sodium & potasium thanks to the generosity of the Conacyt that enabled us with an inductive coupled plasma optic emmission spectrometer :)
Εκρήξεις σε Βέλγιο και Τουρκία
Όταν βράζει ο χυλός στο καζάνι
Δεν αφήνουν το μωρό να πλησιάσει στη φωτιά
Να παίξει με τα χρώματα τις φλόγας, να ζεσταθεί.
Γιατί παφλάζει ο χυλός, καυτή φουσκάλα που σπάζει
Μην και κάψει το παιδί.
Πρέπει, όμως, μαγειρευτό φαγί. (more…)
Dr C Magoulas v QMUL (part I)
At the same time of my dismissal from Queen Mary on grounds of redundancy, my colleague Babis was also served notice. His case hasn’t seen any publicity so far. In what follows, I present the description of the original Employment Tribunal Judgment by the Honourable Mrs Justice Elisabeth Laing, DBE. I transcribe a few parts of her Judgment (ommitting some of the legal terminology) with an aim to make some aspects of Babis’ experience better known and the text easier to follow for the lay reader. The public document is available in full here.
Drosophila prefers red to white wine
Introduction
From a casual conversation with Dr. Carmen Vivar, we were surprised to learn of her observations that wild Drosophila flies were excellent at spotting her glass of red wine; whereas when she would serve white wine, the flies would rarely appear. We were previously under the impression that flies would be attracted to the alcohol vapor, but clearly such a pronouncement was not able to distinguish between the two types of wine. A quick search in the literature revealed studies on the adaptions carried by populations of flies grown near wineries (see a historical view [1] by the pioneer of these investigations, Stephen W. McKechnie), whose observations were repeated by Spanish colleagues [2], while more recently attention is on Drosophila suzukii [3] , a pest of the grapes themselves. But, to our surprise, given the relationship of most Drosophilists we know of, with wine, we could identify no data on whether our (also known as) vinegar flies, had preference between vin rouge ou vin blanc. (more…)
Thank you Rigas
Sometimes one has the good fortune to meet special individuals. I spent my 5 postdoctoral years in Battery Lane, right across the National Institutes of Health, in Bethesda, Maryland. This morning, I received an anticipated present from my neighbor in the same appartment complex, a Greek poet – known to the literary circles in Latin America also for his translations – Rigas Kappatos.
A dialogue with Peter Lawrence
I learned that fresh reflections of Peter Lawrence had been published from a post on twitter
Όταν δίψασε το Αιγαίο
Παρακαλώ σε Ποσειδώνα
άφησε τη Σάμο να ανακαλώ
όταν τον Πυθαγόρα δείχνω
πάνω σε τρίγωνο ορθό.
La chiquitita Murióm y el mar bueno | Stavros Koutrakis
La chiquitita Murióm, se rascó duro el codo. ¡Si que era malo el bicho que le picó! Pero, un rato después, le gustó la sensación de rascarse. Como que algo sintió su mamá y le cubrió la mano con un trapo. De repente se tambalearon y se estremeció. “No tengas miedo”, la escuchó, “el mar es bueno”.
The decline of a College
“Managing a team of Process Improvement Project Managers, the Head of Process Improvement will champion a change in behavior and culture at QMUL, placing process improvement and the value for money agenda at the heart of professional services both centrally and in academic schools.”
Τα δύο νήπια | Σταύρος Κουτράκης
Αυτό το μπαμπακένιο σύννεφο φαίνεται απίθανο, πάνω που δείχνει να χαράζει. Είναι ροζωπό κι έχει κρεμάσει μια κατακόκκινη, αιματένια δαντέλα με κρόσσια.
fanismissirlis 