L.E. Carmichael's Blog, page 29
February 15, 2018
Why Tech Support is Cranky
Tech Support is cranky. When we decided to move to Ontario, our primary concerns were: Being close enough to Toronto to get there if we wanted, but far enough away that the hordes of people wouldn’t make me too ragey Being close enough to Toronto to get there when we needed, while still being able to afford a house. When we researched the town we now live in, we thought we’d lucked out. Everyone we talked to told us how nice the climate is in this part of Ontario – mild winters, very little snow. After weeks of temperatures […]
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February 12, 2018
Great Big Book News!
*emerges from hiding* *checks to see whether anyone is still here* *pulls out bullhorn and confetti cannon* I’M WRITING A BOOK FOR KIDS CAN PRESS. KIDS CAN PRESS, PEOPLE. Unless you’re in the biz, you may not know that Kids Can Press was named Best Children’s Publisher in North America for 2017. You might not know that Kids Can Press publishes beautiful, wonderful, ground-breaking books by some seriously awesome Canadian authors and illustrators, including two of my favourite science writing peeps, Helaine Becker and Claire Eamer. You might not know that Kids Can Press books routinely appear on bestseller […]
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November 6, 2017
Gene Therapy: Embryonic Engineering and the Future of Human Evolution
Welcome to Part 3 of my series on gene therapy and genetic engineering. If you haven’t already, I’d suggest reading Parts 1 and 2 before you continue: Introduction to Gene Therapy: It Sounds Simple, But It’s Sure Not Easy Gene Therapy: Vectors, Viruses, and Why CRISPR Will Change Everything Today, we’re talking about the second major challenge with gene therapy – getting replacement DNA into EVERY affected cell in a patient’s body – and why that problem leads to the central ethical debate in this field. Who Are the Patients? Gene therapy is designed for patients with genetic diseases. The […]
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October 30, 2017
Gene Therapy: Vectors, Viruses, and Why CRISPR Will Change Everything
Welcome to Part 2 of my series on gene therapy! If you haven’t already, I recommend that you read Part 1, Introduction to Gene Therapy: It Sounds Simple, But It’s Sure Not Easy, before continuing with this post. Ready? Here we go. Viruses: FedEx For Genes Gene therapy involves repairing or replacing a faulty gene that has led to disease. In order to do that, one major hurdle must be overcome: getting new DNA into the patient’s cells. Cells, however, are designed to keep things out. That’s why they have wrappers, called cell membranes. Scientists needed vectors: gene delivery systems […]
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October 28, 2017
Thoughts on Finishing Season 12 of Supernatural on Netflix
NOOOOOOOOOOOO! HOW CAN YOU KILL THAT MANY KEY CHARACTERS IN A SINGLE EPISODE ARE YOU KIDDING ME WITH THIS THERE HAD BETTER BE SOME SERIOUS RESURRECTIONS COMING IN THE PREMIER OF SEASON 13 OR THERE WILL BE RAAAAAAAAGE!!! Am I overreacting here?
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October 23, 2017
Introduction to Gene Therapy: It Sounds Simple, But It’s Sure Not Easy
Muscular dystrophy, hemophilia, Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA), cancer… they all have one thing in common. They are genetic diseases, ultimately caused by missing or malfunctioning genes in the patient’s DNA. Until recently, we could treat the symptoms of many genetic diseases, but not the causes. There was no way to reach inside a person’s genes and repair the faulty code that started the whole problem. Research into gene therapy aims to change that. What is gene therapy? Genes are blueprints for proteins. A complete set of working proteins makes a working human. In contrast, missing or malfunctioning proteins sometimes lead […]
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October 19, 2017
New Province, New Adventures
So I live in Ontario now. It’s not a whole lot different yet, probably because I spend 90% of my time in the house and when I leave, it’s for Home Depot or groceries. Because new houses need curtain rods and shelving, and, well, there is only so long a person with food allergies can survive on even the most well-researched take out. Last weekend, though, Tech Support and I decided it was time to broaden our horizons a bit and go explore our new home. Mostly, we were sick of opening boxes and having no idea where to put […]
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September 22, 2017
Finding a New Normal
*looks around* *blows cyber dust off the blog* *tries to remember how to write a post* It’s been a year. In some ways a wonderful year, in some ways a really rough one. Most of all, a very full year, both schedule-wise and emotionally. A lot of things I would otherwise love to do didn’t happen, because I had to lighten my schedule or lose my mind. Other things I would otherwise love to do didn’t happen because they just seemed too overwhelming. Blogging has fallen into both of those categories. When so much is happening, it’s hard to know […]
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September 7, 2017
Six Ways to Purge Your Stuff… BEFORE You Move It
The stuff, how it does accumulate. Thanks to cupboards and closets and storage spaces, we don’t even realize how much… until we have to move it. The last time Tech Support and I moved, we had five days between completion of the sale and possession date. We called professional movers and they loaded every single item we owned, because we simply didn’t have time to do things any other way. Our new house wasn’t ready yet, so 90% of our stuff stayed in storage for six months while we rented a furnished cottage. All of which meant that when we […]
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August 28, 2017
Science Predicts Hurricanes, but People Endure Them
My grandparents lived in Texas for a long time, so I’ve spent a lot of time there over the years. Even though I’m thousands of miles away, Hurricane Harvey feels personal to me. I can’t even image how it feels to those who are living it first hand. But amidst the devastation, I find hope. In times like these, issues of politics, race, and religion fall away, and there are only people, coming together to help and comfort each other in the face of danger and loss. It helps me believe that the human race can continue to stand united, […]
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