Jez's Blog

The resent winners of the Nobel Prize, for studies of the structure and function of the ribosome in 2009, are Venkatraman Ramakrishnan of the M.R.C. Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, England; Tmas A. Steitz of Yale University; and Ada E. Yonath of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot. These scientists showed how the information encoded on strands of DNA is translated into the thousands of proteins that make up living matter. Dr. Yonath set out to understand the detailed structure of the ribosome by growing crystals of the ribosome material from deserted bacteria known as Grobacillus stearothemophilus and then irradiate it with X-rays. Meanwhile, she has drawn others into the field, including Dr. Steitz. Dr. Steitz solved a key problem on how to explain the dots in the diagram of the large sub unit, aided by electron microscope images of the ribosome. Meanwhile, Dr.Ramakrishnan decoded the structure of the other half of the ribosome, which was the so-called small sub unit.



http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/08/science/08nobel.html?hpw
[Picture of the Noble Prize winners. Copied by Jez. 11th Oct. 2009]
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/2009/
[The Nobel Prize in Chemistry. 11th Oct. 2009]

'At least 529 people are now known to have died in a powerful quake that struck the Indonesian island of Sumatra on Wednesday, the government says.' -- BBC

A 7.6-magnitude quake struck close to the city of Padang, the capital of West Sumatra province in of Indonesia. The earthquake has brought down hospitals, schools and shopping malls, cut power lines and triggered landslides. More than 400 people have been seriously injured, and the death toll is expected to rise.

The first earthquake of 7.6 struck at 5:16PM local time (10:16AM GMT) on the 30th of September, Wednesday. One of the biggest damage was a collapse of school in Padang. Police said that nine children had been found alive, yet that eight bodies had also been pulled from the rubble so far. And even moreover, David Lange, a doctor with Surfaid International, told the BBC one that of the hospitals was 'completely destroyed'. Then, on the next day, the 1st of October, Thursday, the second earthquake of 6.8 struck close to Padang at 8:52AM local time (1:52AM GMT). However, there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.

People were trapped in destroyed towns with no food nor money. The rescuers struggled to find survivors in rubble of hundreds of collapsed buildings; and health ministry teams and Indonesian soldiers have arrived in Padang to aid the search for survivors.

In addition, the earthquake struck nearly 12 hours after a powerful quake in the South Pacific that triggered a devastating tsunami but experts said the two events were unrelated.

I felt a deep sense of pity after reading this news report. It reminded me about the Morakot Typhoon in southern Taiwan, August. The typhoon, just like the earthquake, has ruined thousands of people's houses and families. The typhoon has caused bridges and buildings to collapse, and a flood that whipped out an entire town. People were trapped, and the power lines were cut so that there was no way for the trapped victims to contact the outside.

However, these are the horrible things that we do not have the power to control. Like many other natural disasters that has caused certain changes in either environments, or humanities throughout the history.


- http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-indonesia-quake-pg,0,3901580.photogallery [Picture of the Indonesian Quake. Copied by Jez. 1st of Oct. 2009]