Seattle

It's been exciting to see the progress in getting the Theobroma cacao genome sequenced and off to the databases. But.... I've toured the Theo chocolate factory twice now, and there's a crucial piece in the story that appears to be missing. ... Read more

This summer, Seattle's weather has been cloudy and cold. Luckily, "cloud" has another meaning. For those of you wondering, what "cloudy" means, Eric Nilsson, from Insilicos, has a great article in Xconomy on Seattle and cloud computing. A quick description of cloud computing would is to think of computer hardware, that is, the servers and data centers, as "utilities." Where other utilities like the Rocky Reach Dam produce and sell electricity, cloud utilities sell computing power. How they ... Read more

This morning I attended the Fifth Annual WBBA Governor's Life Sciences Summit. The breakfast was great; the talks were okay. 

I do enjoy the stories about people who's lives were saved because of biotechnology and I agree that the focus of the summit, research and discovery are important, but I can't help thinking about the missing piece.

For the past ten years, I've been involved in a national experiment to help build an educated workforce for biotechnology. Through that time, I've learned about one glaring area where ... Read more

We were joking about this a couple of hours ago, but I just picked up the phone and learned that two middle schools will be closed for the week. Aki Kurose and Stevens middle schools are closed from tomorrow to May 8th. Yikes!Read more

Usually, I'm kind of a hermit, but I heard there would be Bacon and so, I'm going to leave the house next Weds, night and attend a science blogging event at the University of Washington. I think it will be fun. Not only will there be Bacon, there will be pizza and other bloggers, who may or may not be entertaining. Others who will be there (besides me) are: Dave Bacon, Quantom Pontiff Maria Brumm, Green ... Read more

We saw it this morning while walking the dog.

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On a quiet corner in Seattle's Pioneer Square, in the former Cadillac Hotel, sits the Klondike Gold Rush national park. Inside the park, are photographs and exhibits to help visitors learn about the Klondike gold rush of 1987 and the role Seattle played in outfitting the stampeders.

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Two interesting events are happening, Monday night, Oct. 27th. At the UW: Josh Rosenau from the National Center for Science Education will be speaking at 6 pm about Creationist attacks on science education. (Josh is also a Science Blogger). In Ravenna, at Third Place Pub: Ted White from the Seattle Biomedical Research Institute will be talking at 7 pm about infectious disease. If you're interested hearing Josh, contact ... Read more

Okay, watching some of the other movies makes me realize that I've been very negligent in not uploading ours. Without further ado, here it is. Can you guess the age of the person who made the movie? I'll give you a hint. It wasn't me.Read more

I learned via e-mail yesterday that the biotechnology program, that I taught with for ten years during the 90's, is ending due to low enrollments. I also learned yesterday, via the Seattle Times, that a resurrected version of ICOS called CMC Icos Biologics is planning a $35M expansion of their biotech manufacturing plant in Bothell and talking about hiring lots of students with two-year degrees. The irony isn't lost on me. We struggled with variable enrollments too, when I was at Seattle Central ... Read more