Summary of Section 6
This unit helps you understand the properties of nucleotides and how they contribute to secondary and tertiary structures of nucleic acids at the molecular level. You will learn about the different composition and roles of nucleic acids in the cell, their interactions with each other and the use of ribozymes, aptamers, antisense and hybridization as tools in molecular research. The unit covers the function of DNA packaging within the cell, the interactions between the DNA double helix and the nu
6.5 Conformational changes upon protein–DNA interactions
This unit helps you understand the properties of nucleotides and how they contribute to secondary and tertiary structures of nucleic acids at the molecular level. You will learn about the different composition and roles of nucleic acids in the cell, their interactions with each other and the use of ribozymes, aptamers, antisense and hybridization as tools in molecular research. The unit covers the function of DNA packaging within the cell, the interactions between the DNA double helix and the nu
Modeling Human Mobility
Researchers who wish to study mobility patterns might be reaching for your phone. Increasingly, cell phones are equipped with locational receivers (Global Positioning Systems or GPS) and their bread crumb trails are opening up entirely new ways to study and predict the dynamics of travel. “We are in the GPS revolution because
6.2 Catalytic mechanisms
In this unit we explore how proteins are the 'doers' of the cell. They are huge in number and variety and diverse in structure and function, serving both the structural building blocks and the functional machinery of the cell. Just about every process in every cell requires specific proteins. The basic principles of protein structure and function which are reviewed in this unit are crucial to understanding how proteins perform their various roles.
Lunch with a Laureate: Robert Horvitz
As an undergraduate at MIT, Robert Horvitz did not take a biology course until his senior year. But after only six weeks into his first class with professor Cy Leventhal, he realized this was the field for him. He boldly asked for a recommendation as part of his application to grad school—in biology. “Is it too late?” he
How to Read 1,000,000 Manga Pages: Visualizing Patterns in Games, Comics, Art, Cinema, Animation, TV
In his introduction, moderator Ian Condry advocates utilizing the expertise and innovation of all disciplines in order to best explore new directions in the humanities. He suggests that the challenge of discovery may ultimately be useful as theoretical exploration, which incorporates the transformative power of art as well.
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New Media, Civic Media
As old media die, new forms are emerging, but it’s not clear they will serve such vital civic functions as “helping people form publics,” as Pat Aufderheide puts it. These panelists point to promising experiments in “Public Media 2.0,” but caution that new media are not guaranteed to shore up democracy or invigorate
Automotive Lightweighting as a Strategic Opportunity for India’s Automotive Industry
Suppose you could leapfrog 100 years of experience in the automotive industry and begin a new manufacturing epoch. The strategic change you would make is to lightweight the vehicle, observes Charles Fine. Although steel has been the material of choice for many automotive components since the dawn of the automotive age, th
Acknowledgements
Health, safety and risk assessment are of paramount importance both in the laboratory and the field. This unit will help make you more aware of the hazards and risks involved in laboratory and field-based research work, as well as giving you an overview of the legal requirements attached to this work. The unit discusses issues involved in the handling chemical and biological agents, basic safety procedures and common field-work hazards.
9.2 Other hazards
Health, safety and risk assessment are of paramount importance both in the laboratory and the field. This unit will help make you more aware of the hazards and risks involved in laboratory and field-based research work, as well as giving you an overview of the legal requirements attached to this work. The unit discusses issues involved in the handling chemical and biological agents, basic safety procedures and common field-work hazards.
Airline Security: Where are We?
The events of 9/11 unleashed a flood of security measures across all dimensions of daily life, many of them aimed at averting repeat attacks on aircraft. So you might imagine that the risks of flying have been much reduced. You’d be wrong, says Arnold Barnett, who has scrutinized the changes in air security regulations, and
The Future of Nuclear Energy
Nuclear energy will emerge either as a solution to the twin crises of global warming and a secure energy supply, or global catastrophe. Within this panel at least, there doesn’t seem to be a comfortable middle ground.
MIT’s Andrew Kadak, one of the two speakers arguing the necessity of nuclear energy, advance
The Next Catastrophe: Reducing Our Vulnerabilities to Natural, Industrial, and Terrorist Disasters
It’s time to trade in the Department of Homeland Security for a Department of Homeland Vulnerabilities, says Charles Perrow. At its peril, our nation “privileges terrorism over natural and industrial disasters.”
From Perrow’s perspective, the U.S. landscape is riddled with “weapons of mass destruction:
Human Rights and Politics in Israel-Palestine
Human rights are central to the fraught politics between Israelis and Palestinians, these two panelists argue. Any conceivable solution to such an endless conflict must begin by acknowledging the current bleak realities of Palestinian life under Israeli rule, they say.
Anat Biletzki and the group B'T
Bill Porter in Conversation with Howard Anderson
Some of the lessons Bill Porter picked up as a 13-year-old ranch hand in Colorado seem to have lasted a lifetime. When his boss told him to drive over a treacherous mountain pass into town for some chicken feed, Porter said he could not yet drive. He was told, “Just do it.” And when he faced taking a team of horses out to pas
U.S. Planning and Realities of Post-War Iraq
Judging from these panelists, the more intimate your experience of Iraq, the more optimistic you are likely to be. David J. Nash was fully immersed. He organized the multi-billion dollar reconstruction effort of Iraq’s infrastructure in 45 days. His 2800 projects ran the gamut from new power plants and water compani
Pursuing The Endless Frontier: Essays on MIT and the Role of Research Universities
At the conclusion of 14 years at the helm of the Institute, Chuck Vest discusses the challenges and opportunities involved in guiding a major research university through tumultuous times. Vest’s new book, outlined in his remarks, provides a detailed and intimate view of his MIT “adventure.” Some key chapters: At the start of hi
Sustainable Building Design @ MIT: Walking the Talk
There’s “just exactly enough time, with no time to lose” to address the massive challenge of climate change and renewable energy, says moderator John Sterman. With this sense of urgency, MIT faculty, administration and students have taken to heart the mission of rendering their campus and the larger world more sustainable.
Luminescent Solar Concentrators Explained
Researchers are well along in designing a highly efficient, inexpensive solar cell, but the big barrier to the dissemination of solar power in society remains the problem of installation, says Marc Baldo.
As an engineer, Baldo expresses confidence that “we’re going to mow down” the problem of producing a g
Acknowledgements
This Unit looks at how units if inheritance are transmitted from one generation to the next. First you will look at what happens to the chromosones of animals and plants during the process of sexual reproduciton. Then you will examine how genes are transmitted in particular patterns from generation to generation. These two approaches combine to illustrate how the patterns of inheritance can be explained by the behaviour of chromosomes during sexual reproduction.
