874 reputation
118
bio website sites.google.com/site/rknmodn
location Halifax, Canada
age 31
visits member for 1 year, 5 months
seen 14 hours ago
stats profile views 13

I'm currently an AARMS postdoc at Dalhousie University working on, for lack of a better term, "discrete science".

During my PhD candidature, I studied the number of Latin squares/rectangles, and symmetries of Latin squares. Recently I have been expanding my interests into computer science and computational biology. One recent focal point is network motifs.

I am particularly fond of computational discrete mathematics. I often use:

  • GAP (computer algebra system),
  • R (for statistical computing),
  • Prover9 (automated theorem prover),
  • C or C++ (if speed is required).

Please visit my website for more info (e.g. a list of publications).


May
13
comment Breeding laboratory mice with cancer; how does this work?
Wow! What a great answer! Thanks for that.
Mar
16
comment Can cirrhosis be caused by physical compression of the body?
Thanks for that. I think you're right... my suspicion is it's likely that any link with cirrhosis would have been discovered along with "corset liver" etc., and would be reasonably easy to find in the literature.
Jul
22
comment What role does a protein's size have on protein-protein interactions?
I meant in 3D space, although, now that you mention it, it would also be interesting to consider mass instead.
Jul
18
comment If you had no water supply, is there enough free water in urine to sustain hydration?
This question was answered at Skeptics.SE: skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/1540
Feb
8
comment Does consuming sodium benzoate (preservative E211) cause problems during pregnancy?
Alright, so here's an edited version of it; nothing about my personal reasons for asking the question. (I'm not really sure how to add in "teratology"). As per the general rules of these sites, if you think you can improve the question (and not change the overall meaning) feel free to edit.
Feb
7
comment Does consuming sodium benzoate (preservative E211) cause problems during pregnancy?
Alright, well, thanks anyway.
Feb
5
comment Does cooking ginger reduce its anti-nausea effect?
Excellent! That certainly answers my question.
Feb
4
comment Is Behe's experiment (evolving the bacterial flagellum) plausible in the lab?
Hmm... yes, if we replayed the tape of life, we would see a lot of generations, but (I would expect that) most of them did not contribute towards the evolution of the flagellum (nor its precursors). Through artificial selection, the number of generations required in the lab should be far less than in nature. [PS. I don't mean to sound unappreciative of your answer.]
Feb
2
comment How does the immune system “learn” from a vaccine?
Thanks for the excellent answers! (There seems to be a lot I still need to learn)
Jan
22
comment How do members of cryptic species know who to mate with?
Thanks for that; I'm happy with that. That survey paper, in particular, is quite interesting.