cascadian telegrams

toward artificial life

… not the virtual or computer-kind, but the real, protein-based kind, from my Copenhagen friend (and Danish sprog skole classmate Michael):

Some press on my recent work:
"Harvard scientists have cleared a key hurdle in the creation of synthetic life, assembling a cell’s critical protein-making machinery in an advance with both practical, industrial applications and that advances the basic understanding of life’s workings.
...
Using the bacteria E. coli, Church and Research Fellow Michael Jewett extracted the bacteria’s natural ribosomes, broke them down into their constituent parts, removed the key ribosomal RNA and then synthesized the ribosomal RNA anew from molecules. "

family and bicycle rides

we’re trying to make a Sunday tradition of taking a family bicycle ride together.  Today we went out along the Burke-Gilman to the Chittenden Locks to watch the boats go through for a while.

I love going down to the Locks.  It smells of the sea, there’s stuff to engage kids there and in summer you can watch salmon climbing the fish ladder on their way back to Lake Washington.  Also it’s an easy ride along the Burke-Gilman to the Locks (the missing link from 24th Ave to the Locks is planned for the near future).  We pass both the Fremont Sunday Market and the Ballard Sunday Farmers Market along the way, and crossing the locks is a much better way to reach Magnolia and Discovery Park on a bike versus the Ballard Bridge.

Malcolm has one of those trailer-bike thingies so I tow him on these rides.  I want him to appreciate the sense of freedom you have on a bicycle… he loves it so far.

On an unrelated-family note:  It was a week/weekend for my brothers too.  My brother Matt and his wife Colleen popped into town from L.A. for some things they had going on up here this weekend so we got to see them briefly which was nice, and my brother Dave just returned safely to Oregon from a 5,000 mile motorcycle trip.  I’m glad/relieved he’s back!