Engineering A Biological Pulse Generator

I've got my issues with synthetic biology. Either synthetic biologists do something trivial dressed up in elaborate engineering language, or they achieve something impressive and complex the old fashioned way (the way molecular biologists have been doing it for decades) - genetic engineering through trial and error, with very little principles-based engineering involved.

What I want to see is a result that falls somewhere in between these two extremes: genetic engineering that's non-trivial, but not so complex that it's impossible to use simulation and the rudimentary quantitative design principles that are useful in biology.

With hot, new technologies, biologists are taking higher-resolution snapshots of what's going on inside the cell, but the results are stirring up controversy. One of the most interesting recent discoveries is that transcription is everywhere: DNA is transcribed into RNA all over the genome, even DNA that has long been thought to have a non-functional role. What is all of this transcription for? Does the 'dark matter' of the genome have some cryptic, undiscovered function?

Have we really stopped evolving? In Cosmos magazine, Steve Jones argues that human evolution is coming to an end:

The question I have is: will human evolution really continue? I think the evidence shows that human evolution has largely come to a halt.

He lists three components necessary for human evolution:

First of all there's variation, which comes from mutation. Second, natural selection, which comes from inherited differences between individuals and their ability to reproduce.

Graduate education in the humanities may have its problems, but don't try to tar science with the same brush. In a NY Times Op-Ed, by Dr. Mark Taylor, the chairman of Columbia's religion department, we're told that graduate education in general is in need of a major overhaul.

Graduate programs train students for jobs that most of them won't get: