Houston, we've had a problem!

Swigert: 'Okay, Houston, we've had a problem here.'
Duke: 'This is Houston. Say again please.' 

NASA would rather this is from astronaut Swigert of Apollo 13 moon flight.  They probably can handle it better.

The Space Shuttle lift off and landing has become such a routine that has attracted few TV viewers.  Hopefully this will spur the renewed interest to NASA.

Jo wanted to know more about this astronauts love triangle--just turn on TV or fire up your internet search engine, you can always find something that suits your taste.  People can never have enough of this stuff--shall we call it 'Right stuff'?  My imaginary People in Science would say space engineering as well.

Lisa Marie Nowak and Bill Oefelein were trained together; the heavy burden of love still can be felt in that weightless chamber.  This proves my theory that love defies gravity and all the logics and rationale that we come to know.  Nowak may be able to do two variable calculus, but she miscalculates this simple math.

Jay Leno showed a 'newly released' Astronaut Huggies diapers--I am afraid this may be what Ben will ask for.

People in Science--Who says science has to be boring?

After writing that molecular biology and quantum mechanics stuff, I know I need to be in a ‘damage control’ mode to write something to ‘soften’ the image of my blog, or to create a so-called ‘well balanced’ blog, so to speak.

I no longer need to look for People to keep track on what Lindsay (see photo), Paris, or Britney (add Nicole, if you will) are up to. They seem to be everywhere doing nothing.  Growing up I read the story of ‘Emperor wears no clothes’, growing old, I heard ‘Britney wears no underwear.’ a new fashion, I guess!  No wonder they say you learn something everyday.  If Ronald Reagan were around, he would tell me, “You ain’t seen nothing yet.”

These ‘Girls Gone Wild” graces the cover of the Feb. 12, 2007 issue of Newsweek.  Over the years, Newsweek has an educational program for ‘classroom subscription,’ hopefully this issue will spur its growth.

Janice once wrote, “What was Beethon thinking when he wrote his ‘Sonata Pathẻtique?”  With the same curiosity I read about scientists and their science; in a way to ‘humanize’ the science.  And this is why I say there is a niche market for a monthly magazine of People in Science, focusing on the human aspect of the science—covering the scientists or researchers in science of the past and present.

I am not alone when I said James Watson (see photo) would be a good contributor, in fact, I’ll let him write a monthly column on my imaginary magazine, title of which is still under consideration (imagination); “Straight talk from Honest Jim” is an vital option.

Salvador Luria (shared Nobel Prize with Max Delbruck and Alfred Hershey in 1969 for studying genetics, using bacteriophage as model organism) recruited Phillip Sharp (Nobel Prize 1993 for ‘split gene’) to MIT’s Center of Cancer Research in 1974.  Watson was Sharp’s mentor while at Cold Spring Harbor Lab.  Writing in tribute to Watson, Sharp once wrote,

“Talking with Jim was fun.  He would inject an interesting tidbit about the history of molecular biology and gossip about a colleague’s romantic interests or cultural pursuits, subjects that added color to the day-to-day conversations. . . Jim would suddenly appear at the door of my office at about 10PM, and asked me about the results, . . .”

I have said many times about Watson’s report of the affair between John Kendrew’s (Nobel Prize for myoglobin structure) wife and Hugh Huxley (sliding model of muscle contraction).  Watson has a way to describe the agony in and out of the Lab, including ‘the kiss in the garden’ scene.  Who says science has to be boring?

And this would be what the magazine (People in Science) is all about.  I would say enough real stuff (science) to persuade the more serious professors or high school science teachers to take the advantage of the  ‘classroom subscription.’  (You see I already have a ‘business plan.’) and the Newsweek cover will be an inspiration to me.

Another Nobel laureate I would recruit to contribute is Kary Mullis (see photo).  He was working at Cetus when he invented the polymerase chain reaction (PCR)—for which Cetus would get $300 million from Hoffmann-La Roche.  He had problems dealing with the company ‘safety officer’ (he called him ‘danger officer’); once the safety officer hired a beautiful young woman as his assistant, hoping she might be able to handle Mullis, who wrote, “Instead, I invited her home for dinner, and several months later she moved in with me.”  and “One afternoon a man who thought he was her boyfriend kicked open my door and started threatening me.  That was the only time in my life that I worried about my safety in a laboratory.”

Mullis was also involved in the O.J. Simpson trial; he described his encounter with O.J.

“The first thing O.J. asked me about was my refrigerator.  An article about me in Esquire had included a photograph of my kitchen.  On my refrigerator were pictures I had taken of several women who had passed through my life, some of them without clothes.  O.J. asked me about the woman who graced the upper right-hand corner. 'She's gotten married,' I told him.  He offered his condolences.”

Janice's molecular biology professor, Richard Losick, whose lecture note is the most intellectual of this sort.  Janice told me some years later that he received $1 million teaching grant.  And even Professor Losick gossiped about Kary Mullis in the classroom.  Based on Janice's hand written note about this, I took comfort in that Janice listened in classroom attentively and wrote note dilligently.

This 'playboy' Nobel laureate really earns his name and reputation.  I have honored him with my 'Flamboyant Flame', one of the best sellers among my intellectual colognes.  The profits of which will help launch People in Science.