I've recently been catching up on podcasts, especially in the areas of my biochemical interests. There was an interesting episode from Nature's Neuropod podcast in October 2011.
Now that we have sequenced the human genome, we can now map the genes. It turns out that there are about 24,000 genes, but there are 100,000 proteins in the brain. This means that gene expression, how a gene is translated to a relevant protein can and does change in both location and time. In other words one gene can code for at least 4 different proteins which can change over time.
Studies have shown that there are huge changes in gene expression in the brain pre-natally, and post- natally, decreasing until we are about 40, then increasing again as we get older. This is an element of switching genes on and off, but far wider in implication. It kinda dents the gene expression mechanism outlined by Crick and Watson and although the podcast didn't mention it, I can imagine one mechanism whereby the transfer DNA, which codes for specific amino acids to build proteins from triplets in the coding of the bases in the DNA, somehow vary with time.
However, this is just the brain – other cells and organs have their specific proteins too, so an individual gene may code for far more than just 4 proteins. Since most of our genetic code is identical to not just other primates and mammals but birds, insects and even bacteria, and hence similar and often identical biochemical pathways, it follows that most of life will have a similar array of different gene expression in both location and time.
Thus when we play around with genetically modified organisms, including transgenic species, we are modifying only one of many possible gene expressions within that GMO cell, organ and species, which can also change with time, and hence we have no idea of the full effects of modifying or splicing an individual gene over time, or what effects those other gene expressions may have on the organism, the food chain, or humans. What we are changing is only perhaps one of a dozen or more effects, and we have zero idea of the effects of the majority of effects those expressions that a gene codes for.
Unfortunately, we have now released myriads of GMOs into the environment and it is too late if they turn out to have adverse effects in the future. But it means that until we fully understand all of the gene expressions for a particular gene and species, we are at risk of releasing something dangerous in the environment that we are not only unaware of, but also not looking for the effects of, so further GMO releases should not be undertaken until this understanding is further developed.
Of course GM is driven by big business and pharma for profits, but we need to rein them in until this research is done. It is never good to play around with nature when you don't fully understand it, and human experience shows that we always mess up: DDT, pesticides, drug resistance, MRSA, releasing non-native species to areas and others are huge reminders of our weakness in messing with our environment.
Science today is moving far faster than our ethical and moral considerations are advancing or being debated. Partly it is due to a lack of scientific and technical education amongst politicians and business leaders, both groups not well known for their high moral and ethical standards in the first place!
Releasing GMOs in to the environment is not something that can be reversed and has the potential to change natural selection and evolution in ways we can't imagine, and this release should not be governed by profit motives, but informed scientific debate and ethical considerations.
Nature Podcasts
http://www.nature.com/podcast/index.html
October 2011 Extra
http://www.nature.com/neurosci/neuropod/archive.html
Showing posts with label technology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label technology. Show all posts
Sunday, September 02, 2012
Monday, July 24, 2006
Online Fraud
These days there are so many stories and reports about online fraud, and whilst some is hyped, a lot of the stories are true. However most of these types of fraud existed before the internet, the benefit of the internet being that it's quicker, easier and more anonymous, and usually conducted via spamming.
So how can you protect yourself?
Well rule number one is to use common sense, and not leave it at home when you get online. If something appears to be too good to be true, then it probably is.
Reputable people and companies rarely ask for personal details such as social security numbers or driving licence numbers, so don't give these details out.
Again, reputable companies and sites such as ISPs, banks, eBay and other auctions sites, will never ask you for your password, so don't give it out. Ever.
Just think for a second. You wouldn't give this info out to a stranger you met in the street, so why give it to a stranger online?
Always make sure any site you do give info to is secure, and using SSL. You can tell this by the padlock logo that appears in your browser. There are new technologies arriving to tell you whether you are logged on to a real site or a fake one - use them.
If you are using wireless connections, particularly in free hotspots, those servers and connections may not be secure.
An awful lot of people who fall for internet fraud and scams do so because of their own greed, so I don't have a lot of sympathy there. And if the guys are up front about the dodgy legality of their operation, you only have yourself to blame.
Types of online fraud
There are many types of online fraud.
One of the most common is the advanced fee scam, of which the most commonly known is the Nigerian scam, or 419 fraud (named after the paragraph in the Nigerian legal code which forbids it). This often leads on to a wish wash scam.
How this works: you receive a spam email saying that there are any one of: undeclared funds, hidden funds, oil profits, smuggled money, an estate with no beneficiary etc etc, usually for a huge sum, in the millions, and you will get a substantial chunk of this, between 10 and 40%, for help in getting the money out of the country, using your bank etc. They usually make no bones about the fact that their action is illegal, so anyone falling for this is doing it for greed, knowing that they are helping to break the law.
Once you make contact, they usually want to contact you by fax and phone, and string you out over months by asking for money upfront for various fees, taxes and bribes that have to be paid. Excuse after excuse, sob story after sob story, is used to ask for more money, and people hooked at this stage often continue because they feel they have "invested" so much already they can't afford to lose it. The money is usually sent by Western Union, so it's impossible to trace or get back, as the guys never use their real names.
Eventually you may be invited to Nigeria, or Europe (often Amsterdam or London), to meet the people or collect the money, where they may then engage in a wish wash (black money) scam on top of the money the victim has lost. On occasions the victim of the fraud has been murdered. Victims have been known to lose $5 million in this type of fraud. Since you are in a foreign country, you are at a disadvantage, and the global nature of this fraud, where you are often passed on from handler to handler make it difficult for law enforcement agencies to act due to the jurisdiction problems.
Variations on this fraud include:
dating/romance
bogus lottery wins (how can you win a lottery you've never entered?)
loan scams
escort scams
accomodation rental scams
au pair and nanny scams
immigration, green card and visa scams
employment scams
quickie divorce scams
and all sorts of auction scams including ones where there are overpayment for items especially for online auctions.
In this latter there are various excuses as to why they are sending you more money than requested. You send the balance back to them (less a "fee" for your trouble of course), along with the goods, but the cheque they send is counterfeit, so you lose money and the goods...
Often in conjuction with this fraud, there is the use of fake escrow services, fake courier companies or fake banks.
The advance fee scam is probably the most common fraud on the internet, so be wary of anybody who wants fees, processing charges, taxes or any other payment upfront, especially where they want that payment by Western Union. Western Union of course is a legitimate way to transfer money around the globe, but is also preferred by the scammers as there is no trace to a bank account.
There are many other types of scam, fraud and cyber crime.
These include auction and retail scams, where a product, often of supposed high quality or value, eg Cartier watches, laptops, cars etc is for sale. Once you've paid your money, you receive either poor quality goods, or a counterfeit. If you receive nothing, then that is a form of advance fee fraud.
Then there are employment and work-at-home scams, where the "employment" is often limited to just posting an ad similar to the one you responded to, or legitimate work you do which is never paid for because your products never quite meet the company's "quality standards". There is more info here, here and here.
Investment scams are quite popular and make encompass everything from:
fake investments using fake banks
"pump and dump" stock market manipulations
Ponzi schemes
pyramid selling
foreign currency scams.
You can find tips on how to avoid investment scams.
In the US, the legal code allows for prosecutions for wire fraud and mail fraud. The latter covers frauds carried out using the US Postal Service. Since modern email frauds are often reinventions of traditional postal frauds, these are covered by the wire fraud legislation.
The other main online fraud is Identity Theft and Fraud. This refers to all types of crime in which someone wrongfully obtains and uses another person's personal data in some way that involves fraud or deception, typically for economic gain. This has moved identity theft often physically carried out by dumpster diving and information diving online.
Sometimes this involves hacking into a company database and stealing customer data, but more commonly these days the data is given unwittingly by the person themselves in what is termed phishing, and sometimes pharming.
Phishing is where you receive an email looking like it came from a genuine enterprise, such as your bank, PayPal or eBay, Amazon or even MySpace account, and asking you to confirm your account details, often including credit card or bank account details, including your password. There are often threats behind the email, such as your account will be terminated or suspended if you don't comply. You are then taken to a fake site which looks very much like the official site, where you enter your details.
Once the phisher has your details, they can access your account and empty it, or commit other frauds with it. Other phishing attempts are not aimed at directly accessing your accounts, but may use the data you provide eg social security numbers, driving licence numbers to set up false accounts and loans, which may leave you liable to debts, and certainly ruin your credit rating. There is also carding, which is essentially credit card fraud.
But not all phishing attempts are from spoof emails and web sites. Instant Messaging is also used.
Data can also be stolen by viruses, worms, Trojan Horses (an example), spyware, adware, root kits and other malware.
Last, but perhaps not least, online fraud is not the only type of cybercrime or computer crime, which can include:
unauthorized access
malicious code
Denial-of-service attack
Hacking
Writing and releasing a virus or trojan horses
Cyberterrorism
Information warfare
Cyberstalking and online harassment
Fraud and identity theft, including phishing
Virtual crime, such as the theft of virtual property
money laundering
and of course copyright infringement which can include:
music and movie theft or piracy
Bootlegs
software piracy including:
video game or computer game piracy
font piracy (this is not a joke)
as well as "normal" software or application piracy.
So how can you protect yourself?
Well rule number one is to use common sense, and not leave it at home when you get online. If something appears to be too good to be true, then it probably is.
Reputable people and companies rarely ask for personal details such as social security numbers or driving licence numbers, so don't give these details out.
Again, reputable companies and sites such as ISPs, banks, eBay and other auctions sites, will never ask you for your password, so don't give it out. Ever.
Just think for a second. You wouldn't give this info out to a stranger you met in the street, so why give it to a stranger online?
Always make sure any site you do give info to is secure, and using SSL. You can tell this by the padlock logo that appears in your browser. There are new technologies arriving to tell you whether you are logged on to a real site or a fake one - use them.
If you are using wireless connections, particularly in free hotspots, those servers and connections may not be secure.
An awful lot of people who fall for internet fraud and scams do so because of their own greed, so I don't have a lot of sympathy there. And if the guys are up front about the dodgy legality of their operation, you only have yourself to blame.
Types of online fraud
There are many types of online fraud.
One of the most common is the advanced fee scam, of which the most commonly known is the Nigerian scam, or 419 fraud (named after the paragraph in the Nigerian legal code which forbids it). This often leads on to a wish wash scam.
How this works: you receive a spam email saying that there are any one of: undeclared funds, hidden funds, oil profits, smuggled money, an estate with no beneficiary etc etc, usually for a huge sum, in the millions, and you will get a substantial chunk of this, between 10 and 40%, for help in getting the money out of the country, using your bank etc. They usually make no bones about the fact that their action is illegal, so anyone falling for this is doing it for greed, knowing that they are helping to break the law.
Once you make contact, they usually want to contact you by fax and phone, and string you out over months by asking for money upfront for various fees, taxes and bribes that have to be paid. Excuse after excuse, sob story after sob story, is used to ask for more money, and people hooked at this stage often continue because they feel they have "invested" so much already they can't afford to lose it. The money is usually sent by Western Union, so it's impossible to trace or get back, as the guys never use their real names.
Eventually you may be invited to Nigeria, or Europe (often Amsterdam or London), to meet the people or collect the money, where they may then engage in a wish wash (black money) scam on top of the money the victim has lost. On occasions the victim of the fraud has been murdered. Victims have been known to lose $5 million in this type of fraud. Since you are in a foreign country, you are at a disadvantage, and the global nature of this fraud, where you are often passed on from handler to handler make it difficult for law enforcement agencies to act due to the jurisdiction problems.
Variations on this fraud include:
dating/romance
bogus lottery wins (how can you win a lottery you've never entered?)
loan scams
escort scams
accomodation rental scams
au pair and nanny scams
immigration, green card and visa scams
employment scams
quickie divorce scams
and all sorts of auction scams including ones where there are overpayment for items especially for online auctions.
In this latter there are various excuses as to why they are sending you more money than requested. You send the balance back to them (less a "fee" for your trouble of course), along with the goods, but the cheque they send is counterfeit, so you lose money and the goods...
Often in conjuction with this fraud, there is the use of fake escrow services, fake courier companies or fake banks.
The advance fee scam is probably the most common fraud on the internet, so be wary of anybody who wants fees, processing charges, taxes or any other payment upfront, especially where they want that payment by Western Union. Western Union of course is a legitimate way to transfer money around the globe, but is also preferred by the scammers as there is no trace to a bank account.
There are many other types of scam, fraud and cyber crime.
These include auction and retail scams, where a product, often of supposed high quality or value, eg Cartier watches, laptops, cars etc is for sale. Once you've paid your money, you receive either poor quality goods, or a counterfeit. If you receive nothing, then that is a form of advance fee fraud.
Then there are employment and work-at-home scams, where the "employment" is often limited to just posting an ad similar to the one you responded to, or legitimate work you do which is never paid for because your products never quite meet the company's "quality standards". There is more info here, here and here.
Investment scams are quite popular and make encompass everything from:
fake investments using fake banks
"pump and dump" stock market manipulations
Ponzi schemes
pyramid selling
foreign currency scams.
You can find tips on how to avoid investment scams.
In the US, the legal code allows for prosecutions for wire fraud and mail fraud. The latter covers frauds carried out using the US Postal Service. Since modern email frauds are often reinventions of traditional postal frauds, these are covered by the wire fraud legislation.
The other main online fraud is Identity Theft and Fraud. This refers to all types of crime in which someone wrongfully obtains and uses another person's personal data in some way that involves fraud or deception, typically for economic gain. This has moved identity theft often physically carried out by dumpster diving and information diving online.
Sometimes this involves hacking into a company database and stealing customer data, but more commonly these days the data is given unwittingly by the person themselves in what is termed phishing, and sometimes pharming.
Phishing is where you receive an email looking like it came from a genuine enterprise, such as your bank, PayPal or eBay, Amazon or even MySpace account, and asking you to confirm your account details, often including credit card or bank account details, including your password. There are often threats behind the email, such as your account will be terminated or suspended if you don't comply. You are then taken to a fake site which looks very much like the official site, where you enter your details.
Once the phisher has your details, they can access your account and empty it, or commit other frauds with it. Other phishing attempts are not aimed at directly accessing your accounts, but may use the data you provide eg social security numbers, driving licence numbers to set up false accounts and loans, which may leave you liable to debts, and certainly ruin your credit rating. There is also carding, which is essentially credit card fraud.
But not all phishing attempts are from spoof emails and web sites. Instant Messaging is also used.
Data can also be stolen by viruses, worms, Trojan Horses (an example), spyware, adware, root kits and other malware.
Last, but perhaps not least, online fraud is not the only type of cybercrime or computer crime, which can include:
unauthorized access
malicious code
Denial-of-service attack
Hacking
Writing and releasing a virus or trojan horses
Cyberterrorism
Information warfare
Cyberstalking and online harassment
Fraud and identity theft, including phishing
Virtual crime, such as the theft of virtual property
money laundering
and of course copyright infringement which can include:
music and movie theft or piracy
Bootlegs
software piracy including:
video game or computer game piracy
font piracy (this is not a joke)
as well as "normal" software or application piracy.
Monday, June 05, 2006
British study: Don't legislate DRM
A new report by a British Parilamentary group has advised the government not to make DRM systems mandatory.
You can check it out here.
Interestingly, they cite that Apple should be investigated, because they check addresses of credit cards and prevent you from buying cheaper music from a different iTunes store. So much for the free market philosophy that we're all sold on...
You can check it out here.
Interestingly, they cite that Apple should be investigated, because they check addresses of credit cards and prevent you from buying cheaper music from a different iTunes store. So much for the free market philosophy that we're all sold on...
Thursday, March 23, 2006
10 Emerging Technologies
Epigenetics, Cognitive Radio, Nuclear Reprogramming, Diffusion Tensor Imaging, Universal Authentication, Nanobiomechanics, Pervasive Wireless, Stretchable Silicon, Comparative Interactomics, Nanomedicine.
So how many of these will come to fruition? I suppose it will depend on how many bucks the big corporations can make...
read more | digg story
So how many of these will come to fruition? I suppose it will depend on how many bucks the big corporations can make...
read more | digg story
How To: Re-Surfacing CDs So They Work Again
With a few things that might be in your house, here is a simple way to remove scratches from a cd so you can get your data back off the disc again.
Well this uses Brasso, and I'd already successfully tried T-Cut polish on one of mine.
The site itself, instructables, has tons of step by step how to's with pictures, so any time you want to know how to do something, this would be a good place to start. Has full search and explore option.
read more | digg story
Well this uses Brasso, and I'd already successfully tried T-Cut polish on one of mine.
The site itself, instructables, has tons of step by step how to's with pictures, so any time you want to know how to do something, this would be a good place to start. Has full search and explore option.
read more | digg story
Monday, March 20, 2006
A Guitar that tunes itself
The worlds first practically invisible automated guitar tuner,
An automated guitar tuner system, that not only automatically tunes your guitar fully automatically, but can do it almost hands free!
Video here.
Info here.
This looks really neat.
read more | digg story
An automated guitar tuner system, that not only automatically tunes your guitar fully automatically, but can do it almost hands free!
Video here.
Info here.
This looks really neat.
read more | digg story
The tech behind fake debit cards
How does someone in Moscow step up to a cash machine and withdraw money from an account holder half a world away? Even when the debit card is still in the victim's wallet? To show me how easy it was, two executives from MagTek Inc., one of the largest makers of credit card stripe readers, visited MSNBC.com and gave a demonstration.
Interesting article, though hardly new. Of course this is much more difficult to do with chip based cards, but then they're slightly more expensive and cut into company profits, shock horror!
read more | digg story
Interesting article, though hardly new. Of course this is much more difficult to do with chip based cards, but then they're slightly more expensive and cut into company profits, shock horror!
read more | digg story
A Moore's law for razor blades?
Shavers are going to get more blades whether they need them or not. However, just like Moore's law - the observation that computer chips double in power every 18 months or so - it seems that technology as well as marketing determines the rate at which new blades are introduced.
Well I've wondered about this too, how many blades will we eventually get, and are they effective? Or is this just another way to pump up the profit?
read more | digg story
Well I've wondered about this too, how many blades will we eventually get, and are they effective? Or is this just another way to pump up the profit?
read more | digg story
How Apple ate the world
Great article discussing Apple's position in the world of Tech and the world of Art on its 30th Birthday. Well written.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
RIAA p2p file share defeat
The RIAA licks its wounds after losing a bid for unfettered access to the hard drive of an Oregon mother it's victimizing in a p2p file sharing case.
So are these guys over the top or what?
I hate this corporate mentality of you're guilty, and we won't let you prove your innocence.
read more | digg story
So are these guys over the top or what?
I hate this corporate mentality of you're guilty, and we won't let you prove your innocence.
read more | digg story
Why DRM is Doomed
The problem is that digital rights management relies on locking content away, and as long as we have general purpose computers capable of running whatever code someone cares to write then there will always be ways around those content locks.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Saturday, March 18, 2006
Windows arrives on the Mac at last
Well, it's pretty much here now: Windows on the Mac.
So the drivers will probably need a couple of weeks of tweaking, but dual boot Windows XP/Mac is now feasible, meaning there is now no point in ever buying another beige box.
So, MacIntel laptops look like the best hardware solution for my next machine, and all the little teething problems should be sorted out by the time I'm ready for one!
The only problem I can see here is that there will be even more strain on Apple's supply chain than there already is, but I suppose they can crank up the Chinese factories a bit.
With the 60Gb iPod being put on the "at risk" list, perhaps in time for an announcement for a new big screen/PDA version for Apple's 30th anniversary on 1st April, this may be the most momentous time in Apple's history.
So the drivers will probably need a couple of weeks of tweaking, but dual boot Windows XP/Mac is now feasible, meaning there is now no point in ever buying another beige box.
So, MacIntel laptops look like the best hardware solution for my next machine, and all the little teething problems should be sorted out by the time I'm ready for one!
The only problem I can see here is that there will be even more strain on Apple's supply chain than there already is, but I suppose they can crank up the Chinese factories a bit.
With the 60Gb iPod being put on the "at risk" list, perhaps in time for an announcement for a new big screen/PDA version for Apple's 30th anniversary on 1st April, this may be the most momentous time in Apple's history.
If you're having shoelace problems...
...then Ian is at the ready. Well I tend to have intermittent problems with shoelaces coming undone, perhaps because one's feet expand or contract, but I usually only do the one knot, the same one we all learn as a kid, and sometimes double it. But you will probably be astounded to discover that there are 16 different shoelace knots you can try.
Ian's Shoelace Site explains all...
Ian's Shoelace Site explains all...
Monday, March 13, 2006
Ever wonder how movies are played at the theatre?
If you are into tech, like me, you are cursed [or blessed, depending on how you look at it] with wondering how everything works... Well today I plan on answering one of your questions [if you didn't already know] how movies are played in the movie theatre.
Well I've always wondered about this, and what sort of cool technology they'd use to change over the reels without skipping a frame. Answer? Yes, it's manual. Line up the reels and rely on a human thumb to press the switch...
read more | digg story
Well I've always wondered about this, and what sort of cool technology they'd use to change over the reels without skipping a frame. Answer? Yes, it's manual. Line up the reels and rely on a human thumb to press the switch...
read more | digg story
Sunday, March 12, 2006
Cool input devices
Well I came across the Optimus keyboard a few weeks back, which I thought was way cool.
This will be available towards the end of the year. Basically all the keys are small coloured LEDs, so if you change keyboard layout, the correct key is displayed. And as you can see, it is customisable for favourite apps too. Here is a set up for Quake:
I certainly want one of these!
But this is way cooler...
Multi-touch interaction. This is a big touch screen that interprets the movements of your fingers. The stills show some of the sort of applications you can do.
On the Digg post there are many discussions as to how much Apple is involved with this. They have recently submitted a slew of patents for such GUI gestures.
Patent link 1
Patent link 2
This looks like it could be the next generation iPod, or put another way, the reincarnation of Newton...
It's Apple's 30th anniversary on April 1st, so they are bound to be working on and wanting to announce something really cool.
The pictures don't do it much justice, but there is a really good video on the site that's a must watch. You'll never use a mouse and keyboard again...
read more | digg story
This will be available towards the end of the year. Basically all the keys are small coloured LEDs, so if you change keyboard layout, the correct key is displayed. And as you can see, it is customisable for favourite apps too. Here is a set up for Quake:
I certainly want one of these!
But this is way cooler...
Multi-touch interaction. This is a big touch screen that interprets the movements of your fingers. The stills show some of the sort of applications you can do.
On the Digg post there are many discussions as to how much Apple is involved with this. They have recently submitted a slew of patents for such GUI gestures.
Patent link 1
Patent link 2
This looks like it could be the next generation iPod, or put another way, the reincarnation of Newton...
It's Apple's 30th anniversary on April 1st, so they are bound to be working on and wanting to announce something really cool.
The pictures don't do it much justice, but there is a really good video on the site that's a must watch. You'll never use a mouse and keyboard again...
read more | digg story
Sunday, March 05, 2006
New Blogger.com Widget for Mac OS X
There is a new widget available for Mac OS X that lets you post to your blog at blogger.com.
Saturday, March 04, 2006
Make any link a "No-Click" Link
A web technology that allows any link on any page to be clicked without the click.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Big Bang for this Blog...
Not much for this one. People have been complaining about javascripts that will trigger a link by hovering over it rather than clicking (see above). No one seems to see any use for this, but I think it might help disabled people...
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