Summer Assignment 7.26

Another great week of comments, thank you all. Just a reminder, if your comment does not show up, please make sure you have allowed your username to show up on the blog. 

• Should we be embracing the awkward silences in conversations? 

• Early risers vs night owls. Knowing your chronotype can be very useful in terms of planning when to accomplish tasks. It is not quite as simple as morning or night people. There are at least 4; I have found a few online tests to determine your type, but most of them are sponsored by mattress companies, so I am not sure how accurate they are. Best bet is probably to find descriptions of each and think about which you fit into. 

• Protein structure prediction closer to a possibility. Protein structure determination is one of the areas of biology that must be done by hand, rather than AI-based predictive methods. This database is a big step towards predictive protein structure determination, which would mark a huge shift in biological research. 

Summer Assignment 7.19

Great job with your comments last week. If your comment did not show up, please check the settings on your Google account and make sure you have allowed your name to show up on the blog. Any comments that come through as unknown will not be published.

Also, please do not post your comment multiple times. Since the comments are moderated, they will not publish until I have read them and recorded your name. I try to check comments in the morning and evening Monday - Friday. If you post late on Friday, or over the weekend, your comment may not show up until Monday. As long as the time stamp is within the week, you will receive full credit regardless of when I get to the moderation queue.

This week's links:

• Why planting tons of trees isn’t enough to solve climate change.
• Saving our soil: 4 new microbial technologies that keep soil healthy and us fed.

Summer Assignment 7.12

This is the first official post of the 2021 Summer Assignment. The rules are simple:

1. Look at the list of links provided.
2. Pick a few (or all) to read.
3. Make an intelligent comment here that shows you read and thought about at least one. Remember, please DO NOT just write a summary of the article. We have already read them, and we are looking for your opinions and perspectives.
4. Gain points. Comments that are made within the week receive maximum points. 

Comments are moderated, so they will not show up immediately. If it has been a few days and you don't see yours, there is probably an issue. The most common issue is your username not displaying. Please check your Google settings so that your username shows up in the comment section. If your post comes up as "unknown" or "anonymous" it will not be posted and you will not receive credit. 

I highly recommend you keep a record of your comments, in case any get lost. 

Please remember to complete the form to let us know about any extended vacation plans.

The Links

• Leaky mitochondria in sea otters Sea otters do more interesting stuff than just hold hands while sleeping. By the way, if anyone uses the terms "house" or "power" in class while referring to mitochondria, that is an automatic failure for the marking period. 
• Professional tree climber teaches inspiration and conservation First off, I had no idea "tree climber" was a profession. I imagine there is no better way to teach about the importance of forest conservation than from the top of a tree.
• Not a vaping dinosaur Sort of reminds me of this cartoon, that was all over the place when I was in high school. Sometimes it is easy to forget that paleontology is an active area of research, and new information is being discovered about dinosaurs all the time. Pretty sure this will not be the last dinosaur article I post this summer.