Danny @danwchan@scholar.social

WHO says there is no evidence microplastics in drinking water are dangerous to human health. Of course more studies are needed! And we should be limiting how much we're making

via NPR: https://www.npr.org/2019/08/22/753324757/who-study-finds-no-evidence-of-health-concerns-from-microplastics-in-drinking-wa

linked WHO report with detailed disucssion: https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/326499/9789241516198-eng.pdf?ua=1

Luckily a new member has expressed interest in the project which has reignited my motivation. We tried to salvage some gemma from dried adults onto new plates and I tried to thaw gemma I had previously stored in liquid N2. I think the incubator might be broken and that might have impacted the success of the thaw. Once the incubator fully operational again I may ask the genspace group for more gemma.

Just wanted to share a photo of myself and the sign I painted at the march in NYC this weekend because I'm proud of my efforts. It was so great to see how many people wanted to support and amplify the messages of Reclaim Pride NYC. I was happy to celebrate #pride in a space where corporate power was in question and people stood together to proclaim "none are free until all are free"

https://reclaimpridenyc.org/

Have you heard about Greta Thurnberg and #FridaysForFuture ?

I struggle with the feeling like I am not doing enough to personally limit emissions, but I believe those personal limits are only drops in a bucket. While it is worthwhile to directly influence emissions through habits, it's also just a small part of a whole. Humans are more than just emissions machines. We're social creatures that span the globe so we should organize like it.

https://globalclimatestrike.net

Oh I forgot the link:
https://arxiv.org/abs/1904.09828

Never have I had to reference the halting problem and Scryfall (former magiccards.info) to understand a preprint.

From the discussion: the set up with a legacy legal deck

"Once everything is set up, Steely Resolve is cast, and then Karn Liberated and Capsize are used to exile all setup permanents and all cards from Bob’s hand, eventually exiling Capsize and Karn Liberated themselves. Now no player has any remaining choices except to let the Turing machine execute."

😂

Via the birbsite RT of @MicrobeWorld by @microbe_man

https://schaechter.asmblog.org/schaechter/2019/05/the-story-of-free-use-gfp-fugfp.html

Stories like this help demonstrate that it is possible to win support for free culture practices in capitalism. I am inspired by the willingness to dive into the patent and then engage the industry partner with an alternative scientific plan.

A radical re-imagining of our "innovation" economy is still the end goal, but battles can be fought to liberate intellectual resources for unfettered reuse!

Browsing toots and investigated this one a bit further:

https://mastodon.social/@openscience/102009798021604179

Beautiful resource but elsewhere on the site they have a super cool tool to predict cell features with just a transmitted light image

https://github.com/AllenCellModeling/pytorch_fnet

"Labels" using machine learning! I feel like there must be some DIY person who can make a TL-Z-stack. I wonder what the limitations of this method are? Guess I better read the paper... or just add it to the stack...

I knew very little (if any) of the story covered by the 2012 film: Free Angela and All Political Prisoners. It's a very inspiring story which demonstrates the "power of the people". I am astounded by the bravery and resolve that Dr. Davis exemplified in her fight against exercises of power used to suppress and intimidate radical political thought. It makes me think of my role in supporting high profile resistance.

It has been amazing to watch this guys research process over the past years . I'm inspired by the dedication to the project which contributes to scientific advancement.The impact is facinating as its format broadens the potential audience and its concerns are tied to a social environment which is not academic research. Those who watched as it developed did not have to pass an entrance exam, they only had to be interested in the subject. Wow.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsNoiFj3wlw

At an upcoming event the speakers are scientists who I have read a fair but of their work. I haven't thought much about them in a while and I feel I'm moving forward with a different part of my life now. At one point I had deep technical/philosophical Qs I wanted their opinions on. I thoguht knowing where their ideas came from would help me plan where I would try to drive my own ideas. Now, I'm unsure how their thoughts lie in my life.

Lab skills: 1/2-night beginners #classes in #NYC

Heya! I'm helping out with a community lab called Biotech without Borders. Part of this help will be teaching adult #science classes there to further the mission to "enable the #hands-on #practice of #biotechnology by communities, groups and countries hitherto underrepresented in the #biotech landscape"

I'm gonna start with two 1-night classes

On gel #electrophoresis:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/lab-skills-night-how-to-cut-and-measure-dna-tickets-55879592365?aff=ebdssbdestsearch

On #spectrophotometry:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/lab-skills-night-learn-spectrophotometry-tickets-55879673608?aff=ebdssbdestsearch

Oh man here's a long due update about the Open Plant project I has started to work on at Genspace: I moved to Biotech without Borders (BwoB) because I wanted a more flexible space near my home. I ordered a bunch of reagents, but then I realized that BwoB doesn't have heat and the incubator only cools. So a few weeks later and I revised the code to used the millis() timer and 2 relays (OLED display needs more memory). Still fixing up the documentation: https://github.com/danwchan/openplant_incubator