[csail-related] GSB Tonight: Life!

[jamoozy at csail.mit.edu (Andrew "Jamoozy" Correa)]

So ... arsenic, eh?

A biologist overheard my friend talking about the arsenic-based life 
that was discovered (created in the lab?) in CA.  I saw the look in her 
eyes and realized that this must be something major.

Some background:
I suck at biology.  I don't suck as much as I do at chemistry, but 
still, I suck at bio.

The other day I watched the full 3-part Nova series "Becoming Human."  
It was incredibly interesting.  It details (as best we know) how Homo 
sapiens evolved into what they (we) are.  It included theories on the 
purposes/origins of speech, and the theories on why our bodies are 
shaped as they are and have the strengths and weaknesses (especially the 
weaknesses) that they have.  It was incredible!

The thing that still trips me out, is when they compared the skulls of 
various species, some being members of our genus but not our species 
(e.g., Homo neanderthalensis).  The shape of a skull can tell a lot 
about an individual's species, as it turns out.  For example, did you 
know you could whether an animal is bipedal or quadrupedal[1] based on 
the skull alone?

Of particular interest in the skull section was the relative cranial 
capacities of different species and how it affects their look.  The 
punchline I've been getting to with all this is the answer to the 
following question: "What is the purpose of the human forehead?"

Capacity!  We look like we do (and have foreheads) because we need room 
for our huge brains!  This never occurred to me before, so I've been 
staring at peoples' foreheads a lot ever since.

I'm sure you don't understand my fascination, so think of it this way: 
Look at a cat's face and tell me what you see[2].  Notice anything?  No 
forehead!  Notice anything else?  It doesn't look weird!  It just is 
what it is: a cat with sufficient cranial capacity.

Now comes the part that is a bit of a leap.  Imagine a human with the 
relative cranial capacity of a cat.  Funny-looking, no?  Or not?  I 
don't really think it would look all that odd, especially if that person 
had a hat on.  I'll let you decide.

Okay, so the point was this: arsenic is poisonous.  That's as much "wow" 
as I can get from the new life form, internally.  Externally, however, I 
can understand that this is major.  It was funny, too, because the 
conversation I had with my friend was this:

Me: "Hey, did you hear about the arsenic-based life?"
Him: "Shut. Upareyouserious?"
Me: "Yeah, I think they discovered it on Mars, or something."
Him: "No way ... I'm looking this up."
[ and then after a brief pause ]
Him: "No, it's from CA."
[ joke here that I can't think of because both my friend and I are from CA ]

As always, this and many other interesting topics will come up in 
conversation at this week's:

           +-                                                  -+
              girl scout benefit -+-  5:30 pm  -+- 32-G9 lounge
           +-                                                  -+

               For those coming from elsewhere: Building 32 is
<http://whereis.mit.edu/map-jpg?selection=32>
           Once you are in 32, just take the G-elevator to the 9th
       floor and we will be in the lounge that you will be looking at
<http://projects.csail.mit.edu/gsb>

[1] I had to look up how to spell this word.  Who the hell came up with 
quadr*u*pedal?  I thought quadr*a*- or quadr*e*- or maybe even 
quadr*i*pedial, but quadr*u*pedal?  WTF?

[2] http://radio.weblogs.com/0107064/MyImages/stressed.jpg
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