Sandwalk: Monday's Molecule #246

Monday, November 18, 2024

Monday's Molecule #246

Today's molecule is complicated and you may not recognize it right away from the 3D structure. It was discovered in the middle of the last century and has proven to be very useful.

You can use whatever tricks you want to identify today's molecule. Regular readers will know that it's related to at least one Nobel Prize Laureate who will be revealed on Wednesday. I don't think that's going to help you very much.

Email your answer to me at: Monday's Molecule #246. The first one with the correct answer wins. I will only post the names of winners to avoid embarrassment. The winner will be treated to a free coffee and donut at Tim Hortons if you are ever in Toronto or Mississauga (Ontario, Canada).

There could be two winners. If the first correct answer isn't from an undergraduate student then I'll select a second winner from those undergraduates who post the correct answer. You will need to identify yourself as an undergraduate in order to win. (Put "undergraduate" at the bottom of your email message.)

In order to win you must give your correct name. Anonymous and pseudoanonymous players can't win.

Comments are closed for at least 24 hours.

Winners

#145, Oct. 17, 2011: Bill Chaney, Roger Fan
#146, Oct. 24, 2011: DK
#147, Oct. 31, 2011: Joseph C. Somody
#148, Nov. 7, 2011: Jason Oakley
#149, Nov. 15, 2011: Thomas Ferraro, Vipulan Vigneswaran
#150, Nov. 21, 2011: Vipulan Vigneswaran (honorary mention to Raul A. Félix de Sousa)
#151, Nov. 28, 2011: Philip Rodger

#152, Dec. 5, 2011: 凌嘉誠 (Alex Ling)
#153, Dec. 12, 2011: Bill Chaney
#154, Dec. 19, 2011: Joseph C. Somody
#155, Jan. 9, 2012: Dima Klenchin
#156, Jan. 23, 2012: David Schuller
#157, Jan. 30, 2012: Peter Monaghan
#158, Feb. 7, 2012: Thomas Ferraro, Charles Motraghi
#159, Feb. 13, 2012: Joseph C. Somody
#160, March 5, 2012: Albi Celaj
#161, March 12, 2012: Bill Chaney, Raul A. Félix de Sousa

#162, March 19, 2012: no winner
#163, March 26, 2012: John Runnels, Raul A. Félix de Sousa
#164, April 2, 2012: Sean Ridout
#165, April 9, 2012: no winner
#166, April 16, 2012: Raul A. Félix de Sousa
#167, April 23, 2012: Dima Klenchin, Deena Allan
#168, April 30, 2012: Sean Ridout
#169, May 7, 2012: Matt McFarlane
#170, May 14, 2012: no winner
#171, May 21, 2012: no winner

#172, May 29, 2012: Mike Hamilton, Dmitri Tchigvintsev
#173, June 4, 2012: Bill Chaney, Matt McFarlane
#174, June 18, 2012: Raul A. Félix de Sousa
#175, June 25, 2012: Raul A. Félix de Sousa
#176, July 2, 2012: Raul A. Félix de Sousa
#177, July 16, 2012: Sean Ridout, William Grecia
#178, July 23, 2012: Raul A. Félix de Sousa
#179, July 30, 2012: Bill Chaney and Raul A. Félix de Sousa
#180, Aug. 7, 2012: Raul A. Félix de Sousa
#181, Aug. 13, 2012: Matt McFarlane

#182, Aug. 20, 2012: Stephen Spiro
#183, Aug. 27, 2012: Raul A. Félix de Sousa
#184, Sept. 3, 2012: Matt McFarlane
#185, Sept. 10, 2012: Matt Talarico
#186, Sept. 17, 2012: no winner
#187, Sept. 24, 2012: Mikkel Rasmussen
#188, Oct. 1, 2012: John Runnels
#189, Oct. 8, 2012: Raúl Mancera

#190, Oct. 15, 2012: Raul A. Félix de Sousa
#191, Oct. 22, 2012: Mikkel Rasmussen
#192, Nov. 12, 2012: Seth Kasowitz, Bill Gunn
#193, Nov. 19, 2012: Michael Rasmussen
#194, Dec. 4, 2012: Paul Clapham, Jacob Toth
#195, Dec. 10, 2012: Jacob Toth
#196, Dec. 17, 2012: Bill Chaney, Dima Klenchin, Bill Gunn
#197, Jan. 14, 2013: Evey Salara
#198, Jan. 21, 2013: Piotr Gasiorowski
#199, March 11, 2013: Bill Gunn, River Jiang

#200, March 18, 2013: Bill Gunn
#201, April 8, 2013: Michael Florea
#202, April 15, 2013: no winner
#203, April 29, 2013: Anders Ernberg
#204, May 6, 2013: Alex Ling, Michael Florea
#205, May 13, 2013: Bill Chaney
#206, June 24, 2013: Michael Florea
#207, July 2, 2013: Matt McFarlane
#208, July 8, 2013: no winner
#209, July 15, 2013: Rosie Redfield, Thuc Quyen Huynh
#210, July 22, 2013: Jacob Toth
#211, July 29, 2013: Alex Ling, Matt McFarlane
#212, August 5, 2013: Brian Shewchuk
#213, Sept. 2, 2013: no winner
#214, Sept. 9, 2013: Bill Chaney
#215, Sept. 16, 2013: Zhimeng Yu
#216, Sept. 23, 2013: Mark Sturtevant, Jacob Toth

#217, Sept. 30, 2013: Susan Heaphy
#218, Oct. 7, 2013: Piotr Gasiorowski, Jacob Troth
#219, Oct. 14, 2013: Jean-Marc Neuhaus
#220, Oct. 21, 2013: Jean-Marc Neuhaus
#221, Oct. 28, 2013: Zhimeng Yu
#222, Nov. 10, 2013: Caroline Josefsson, Andrew Wallace
#223, Nov. 18, 2013: Dean Bruce, Ariel Gershon
#224, Nov. 25, 2013: Jon Nuelle, Ariel Gershon

#225, Dec. 2, 2013: Jean-Marc Neuhaus
#226, Dec. 9, 2013: Bill Gunn
#227, Dec. 16, 2013: Piotr Gasiorowski
#228, Jan. 13, 2014: Tom Mueller
#229, Jan. 20, 2014: Tommy Stuleanu
#230, Jan. 27, 2014: Bill Gunn, Ariel Gershon

#231; March 3, 2014: Keith Conover, Nevraj Kejiou
#232, March 10, 2014: Philip Johnson
#233, March 17, 2014: Jean-Marc Neuhaus
#234, March 24, 2014: Frank Schmidt, Raul Félix de Sousa
#235, March 31, 2014: Jon Binkley
#236, April 7, 2014: no winner
#237, April 21, 2014: Dean Bruce
#238, April 28, 2014: Dean Bruce
#239, May 5, 2014: Piotr Gąsiorowski
#240, May 12, 2014: James Wagstaff
#241, May 19, 2014: no winner
#242, Oct. 7, 2024: Elie Huvier
#243, Oct. 14, 2024: Mikkel Rasmussen
#244, Oct. 21, 2024: Santi Garcia-Vallve
#245, Nov. 12, 2024: no winner

Quotations

The old argument of design in nature, as given by Paley, which formerly seemed to me to be so conclusive, fails, now that the law of natural selection has been discovered. We can no longer argue that, for instance, the beautiful hinge of a bivalve shell must have been made by an intelligent being, like the hinge of a door by man. There seems to be no more design in the variability of organic beings and in the action of natural selection, than in the course which the wind blows.Charles Darwin (c1880)

Although I am fully convinced of the truth of the views given in this volume, I by no means expect to convince experienced naturalists whose minds are stocked with a multitude of facts all viewed, during a long course of years, from a point of view directly opposite to mine. It is so easy to hide our ignorance under such expressions as "plan of creation," "unity of design," etc., and to think that we give an explanation when we only restate a fact. Any one whose disposition leads him to attach more weight to unexplained difficulties than to the explanation of a certain number of facts will certainly reject the theory.

Charles Darwin (1859)

Science reveals where religion conceals. Where religion purports to explain, it actually resorts to tautology. To assert that "God did it" is no more than an admission of ignorance dressed deceitfully as an explanation...

Peter Atkins

Quotations

The world is not inhabited exclusively by fools, and when a subject arouses intense interest, as this one has, something other than semantics is usually at stake. Stephen Jay Gould (1982)
I have championed contingency, and will continue to do so, because its large realm and legitimate claims have been so poorly attended by evolutionary scientists who cannot discern the beat of this different drummer while their brains and ears remain tuned to only the sounds of general theory. Stephen Jay Gould (2002) p.1339
The essence of Darwinism lies in its claim that natural selection creates the fit. Variation is ubiquitous and random in direction. It supplies raw material only. Natural selection directs the course of evolutionary change. Stephen Jay Gould (1977)
Rudyard Kipling asked how the leopard got its spots, the rhino its wrinkled skin. He called his answers "just-so stories." When evolutionists try to explain form and behavior, they also tell just-so stories—and the agent is natural selection. Virtuosity in invention replaces testability as the criterion for acceptance. Stephen Jay Gould (1980)
Since 'change of gene frequencies in populations' is the 'official' definition of evolution, randomness has transgressed Darwin's border and asserted itself as an agent of evolutionary change. Stephen Jay Gould (1983) p.335
The first commandment for all versions of NOMA might be summarized by stating: "Thou shalt not mix the magisteria by claiming that God directly ordains important events in the history of nature by special interference knowable only through revelation and not accessible to science." In common parlance, we refer to such special interference as "miracle"—operationally defined as a unique and temporary suspension of natural law to reorder the facts of nature by divine fiat. Stephen Jay Gould (1999) p.84

Quotations

My own view is that conclusions about the evolution of human behavior should be based on research at least as rigorous as that used in studying nonhuman animals. And if you read the animal behavior journals, you'll see that this requirement sets the bar pretty high, so that many assertions about evolutionary psychology sink without a trace.

Jerry Coyne
Why Evolution Is True

I once made the remark that two things disappeared in 1990: one was communism, the other was biochemistry and that only one of them should be allowed to come back.

Sydney Brenner
TIBS Dec. 2000

It is naïve to think that if a species' environment changes the species must adapt or else become extinct.... Just as a changed environment need not set in motion selection for new adaptations, new adaptations may evolve in an unchanging environment if new mutations arise that are superior to any pre-existing variations

Douglas Futuyma

One of the most frightening things in the Western world, and in this country in particular, is the number of people who believe in things that are scientifically false. If someone tells me that the earth is less than 10,000 years old, in my opinion he should see a psychiatrist.

Francis Crick

There will be no difficulty in computers being adapted to biology. There will be luddites. But they will be buried.

Sydney Brenner

An atheist before Darwin could have said, following Hume: 'I have no explanation for complex biological design. All I know is that God isn't a good explanation, so we must wait and hope that somebody comes up with a better one.' I can't help feeling that such a position, though logically sound, would have left one feeling pretty unsatisfied, and that although atheism might have been logically tenable before Darwin, Darwin made it possible to be an intellectually fulfilled atheist

Richard Dawkins

Another curious aspect of the theory of evolution is that everybody thinks he understand it. I mean philosophers, social scientists, and so on. While in fact very few people understand it, actually as it stands, even as it stood when Darwin expressed it, and even less as we now may be able to understand it in biology.

Jacques Monod

The false view of evolution as a process of global optimizing has been applied literally by engineers who, taken in by a mistaken metaphor, have attempted to find globally optimal solutions to design problems by writing programs that model evolution by natural selection.

Richard Lewontin

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Monday, November 18, 2024

Monday's Molecule #246

Winners