Author: Jonathan Eisen

I am an evolutionary biologist and a Professor at U. C. Davis. (see my lab site here). My research focuses on the origin of novelty (how new processes and functions originate). To study this I focus on sequencing and analyzing genomes of organisms, especially microbes and using phylogenomic analysis

$ 700 billion will buy a lot of taq, LB, submarines, and other things

I know, my research tends to be expensive as I work on deep sea organisms and do genomics and such. But for $700 billion, a lot could get done in my work areas. Here are some things one could get for that amount of money that directly relate to my work (this was inspired by a conversation with Drew Endy Friday)

  • 1,400,000 Roche 454 Sequencing Machines (for $500,000 each). If you had money for reagents, that would get you a lot of sequencing.
  • 70 million bacterial genomes (at $10,000 each for the shotgun sequencing)
  • 280,000 liters (yes that is right, liters) of Taq polymerase (at 100$/40 ul)
  • 29.16 billion liters of sterilized LB broth (from Sigma at 12$/500 ml). That is one big vat of LB. It is also about 11,666 olympic swimmings pools worth of LB.
  • 7 billion copies of my Evolution textbook
  • 7 million people years of computational biologists to analyze data (at $100,000 per person year)
  • 538 million open access fees for publishing in PLoS One (at $1300 each)
  • 116.67 years of the National Science Foundation’s Budget (at current costs of $6 billion per year)
  • A fleet of 32,407 Alvin submarine replacements (at 21.6 million a pop). Think of all of the deep sea work that could be done
  • Registration fees for 350 million people to go to the AGBT meeting in Marco Island
  • 28 million special guest appearances by Craig Venter (assuming he charges a 25,000 speaking fee, which is probably a bit high)
So it goes. I was always thinking of writing this type of blog about the money spent on the Iraq War. But this “bailout” $$$ got me thinking again.
And please post your own lists of what else this $$$ could buy.
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This is from the “Tree of Life Blog”
of Jonathan Eisen, an evolutionary biologist and Open Access advocate
at the University of California, Davis. For short updates, follow me on Twitter.

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Humorous sciency signs #1: Please do not molest the spawning salmon

I am starting yet another thread here — my favorite humorous science related signs.  This one is from Alaska.  Not sure what Sarah Palin would think of this one, but that is another topic.

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This is from the “Tree of Life Blog”
of Jonathan Eisen, an evolutionary biologist and Open Access advocate
at the University of California, Davis. For short updates, follow me on Twitter.

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Davis Outdoor Art



I am planning to keep posting pics of Davis outdoor art whenever I can. Here are some pictures from the UC Davis Vet Hospital in an art display in honor of companion animals

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This is from the “Tree of Life Blog”
of Jonathan Eisen, an evolutionary biologist and Open Access advocate
at the University of California, Davis. For short updates, follow me on Twitter.

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Drew Endy talking at Davis tomorrow ….

For those from UC Davis or the area who read the blog and have an interest in genetic engineering or synthetic biology or open science, you should come to this talk.

Genome Center Colloquium
Storer Life Sciences Endowment Presents

Drew Endy, PhD
Stanford University

“Post-Synthesis Genetics & Engineering Biological Simplicity”

Friday, September 26, 2008

10:00 a.m., 1005 GBSF Auditorium

For more on Drew Endy, well, use google of course or go here:

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This is from the “Tree of Life Blog”
of Jonathan Eisen, an evolutionary biologist and Open Access advocate
at the University of California, Davis. For short updates, follow me on Twitter.

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Science Faux Pas #3: Editirs in Chief

The pictire seys it all.  Note – we think this was the restaurant’s fault.

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This is from the “Tree of Life Blog”
of Jonathan Eisen, an evolutionary biologist and Open Access advocate
at the University of California, Davis. For short updates, follow me on Twitter.

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Funny Davis Signs #1

Going to start a new section here … posting pictures of funny Davis
signs. This is one of my favorites.

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This is from the “Tree of Life Blog”
of Jonathan Eisen, an evolutionary biologist and Open Access advocate
at the University of California, Davis. For short updates, follow me on Twitter.

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MapMyRun for Davis is a nice way to find new places to explore in town

I meant to post this a while ago but was in over my head with other things.  I found this cool site while googling for Davis MAPS and thought I would share —MapMyRun.com | Find Runs and Running Routes in Davis, CA
It has a diversity of routes for biking, walking and running in and around town.
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This is from the “Tree of Life Blog”
of Jonathan Eisen, an evolutionary biologist and Open Access advocate
at the University of California, Davis. For short updates, follow me on Twitter.

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Lance Armstrong Coming to Davis for the Tour of California

Get ready Davis.  Not only will Davis host a stage of the Tour of California this year, but new reports are today confirming the rumors – Lance Armstrong will apparently race in the Tour of California for the Astana team.  See for example

So Stage 2, February 15th, will be a big big Day for Davis.
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This is from the “Tree of Life Blog”
of Jonathan Eisen, an evolutionary biologist and Open Access advocate
at the University of California, Davis. For short updates, follow me on Twitter.

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Much ado about plants and blogs in PLoS Biology

Some good new articles in PLoS Biology in the last few weeks worth checking out.  There is definitely a theme there if you want to look for it.  So here are some of the papers connected to that theme and even one that covers both.

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This is from the “Tree of Life Blog”
of Jonathan Eisen, an evolutionary biologist and Open Access advocate
at the University of California, Davis. For short updates, follow me on Twitter.

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What does privacy mean to you? Please complete this survey

ThePrivacyPlace.Org Privacy Survey is Underway!

Researchers at ThePrivacyPlace.Org are conducting an online survey about privacy policies and user values. The survey is supported by an NSF ITR grant (National Science Foundation Information Technology Research) and was first offered in 2002. We are offering the survey again in 2008 to reveal how user values have changed over the intervening years. The survey results will help organizations ensure their website privacy practices are aligned with current consumer values.

The URL is: http://theprivacyplace.org/currentsurvey

We need to attract several thousand respondents, and would be most appreciative if you would consider helping us get the word out about the survey, which takes about 5 to 10 minutes to complete. The results will be made available via our project website (http://www.theprivacyplace.org/).

Prizes include
$100 Amazon.com gift certificates sponsored by Intel Co.
and
IBM gifts

On behalf of the research staff at ThePrivacyPlace.Org, thank you!

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This is from the “Tree of Life Blog”
of Jonathan Eisen, an evolutionary biologist and Open Access advocate
at the University of California, Davis. For short updates, follow me on Twitter.

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