MITx Biology courses

Once, while working in a biology lab, I had problems with a Polymerase chain reaction (PCR). No matter what I did, I never got a PCR product. When I asked someone else for help in troubleshooting my reaction, they suggested preparing the PCR on ice. I was irritated, because performing PCR on ice is something you do when you get an unspecific product, but I got no product at all. Correctly troubleshooting an assay shows that one really understood what is going on. These three MITx courses make use of that fact by introducing assays along with the various molecular machinery that perform cellular replication, transcription and translation. Then, in the exercises, you are asked to troubleshoot these assays, thereby testing your understanding. In my opinion, this is the best way to teach and test. There is also an integrated spaced repetition element in the way of an integrated widget, that periodically asks you to answer questions about topics that were already covered a while ago.
Molecular Biology – Part 1: DNA Replication and Repair
Molecular Biology – Part 2: Transcription and Transposition
Molecular Biology – Part 3: RNA Processing and Translation

Blindsight and Echopraxia

I love the ideas presented in these books. Blindsight is about a crew of augmented astronauts making first contact with an alien entity that appears to be highly intelligent without possessing consciousness or self-awareness. While this alien is unburdened by thinking of its existence, humans have a constant stream of consciousness slowing them down. Since human intelligence has coevolved with intelligence, there is no way to lose ourconsciousness without sacrificing intelligence: We are stuck in a local maximum. The crew of astronauts each have different augmentations that explore the idea of consciousness. There is a scientist who is part of the spaceship, a linguist with five different personalities in their head, a soldier acting as an intermediary for autonomous drones, a hominid revived from earth’s distant past with a massively parallel thought process and the protagonist who lacks the ability to emphasize, instead understanding other people solely using outside analysis.
Echopraxia takes place in the same universe, but its focus is on epistemology. Both books contain many more ideas, all of them stimulating. While not an easy read, they are well-worth it.
Blindsight
Echopraxia

Columbus

This is my favorite movie. Jin and Casey are meeting by chance in Columbus, Indiana, a city known for its modern architecture. Casey is held in the city by her love for modern architecture and for her mother, who is addicted to meth and needs her help. Jin does not care about architecture. He is grudgingly visiting the city because father, who he dislikes, is dying. Over the course of the movie both examine the relationship to their home-city and their parents with the help of architecture. Scenery, cinematography and soundtrack are beautiful. If you liked “Lost in Translation” or “Paterson”, you might like this movie.
Columbus – Trailer