yamad

1,878 reputation

418

bio	website	github.com/yamad
	location	Boston, MA
	age	28
visits	member for	1 year, 5 months
	seen	May 14 at 3:29
stats	profile views	36

PhD candidate in neurobiology/neuroscience. Current research focused on membrane electrophysiology.

	1,878 reputation	bio	website	github.com/yamad	visits	member for	1 year, 5 months
418 badges		location	Boston, MA		seen	May 14 at 3:29

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Jan 18	comment	Are there neurons that can sense light shining in your ears? Can you provide a reference for a case in which a TRP channel, commonly thought of as a temperature detector, is plausibly used as a light sensor?
Jan 18	answered	Are there neurons that can sense light shining in your ears?
Jan 17	comment	A good book for history of biology/biotechnology for lay people @GerganaVandova, I understand. But isn't the critical question how good this book is? I'm interested to know if any of the upvotes know more about this book and could give their thoughts.
Jan 17	comment	A good book for history of biology/biotechnology for lay people I don't think the accepted answer should be a book that no one has actually read. I appreciate the "flipping through" that was done, but can anyone who has read the full book weigh in? If not, I'm uncomfortable that the community's best recommendation is based on a skim of the first chapter on Amazon.
Jan 11	comment	Why are amino acids in biology homochiral? It's no answer, but Radiolab had a great discussion of chirality and the issue you've brought up. Worth a listen: radiolab.org/2011/apr/18/mirror-mirror
Jan 9	comment	Life without DNA? @KatieBanks, this is not my field so those interested should read the 8 critiques. One main criticism, though, is that their As+/P- medium has sufficient trace phosphorus to support the growth they attribute to arsenic incorporation. The authors argue that their As-/P- control, which shows no growth at all, indicates that it isn't just trace P supporting growth. This is a good point, but this still doesn't really require an interpretation that As is incorporated into the DNA. Their other data has also been criticized for insufficient purity in their samples/preps.
Jan 5	awarded	Commentator
Jan 5	comment	Is “exhaustion” of the Hodgkin-Huxley membrane at constant stimulation a real phenomenon? From my point of view, whether or not this phenomenon requires non-physiological input to the cell is not relevant to the question. This is not an artifact of the model. In fact, the model predicts the behavior of a real neuron.
Jan 4	comment	How do the brain and nerves create electrical pulses? In the answer above, I simplify and say that the resting membrane potential is the potassium equilibrium potential. This is generally not the case, with most resting potentials sitting somewhat more positive indicating the involvement of more ions/channels than just potassium. Yes, resting potentials do vary between cells. I take -70mV or -60mV as my "rule of thumb" resting potential because it generally holds for many primary excitatory neurons such as hippocampal and cortical pyramidal neurons.
Jan 4	answered	Is “exhaustion” of the Hodgkin-Huxley membrane at constant stimulation a real phenomenon?
Dec 22	awarded	Autobiographer
Dec 22	answered	What is causing my problem with very low yields when isolating a 42kb yeast plasmid?
Dec 22	answered	What is a good miniprep protocol for the class room?
Dec 21	awarded	Beta
Dec 19	comment	Why Does Salt Water Help Sore Throats? It is my understanding that a sore throat is sore because of inflammation. I had always thought that the analgesic effect of salt water was to reduce that inflammation by placing the inflamed tissue in a hypertonic solution. Do you have a reference that says that the salt water is actually killing the pathogenic cells or that this is the direct mechanism of action for why it "helps" the symptoms of sore throat?
Dec 19	revised	How do the brain and nerves create electrical pulses? Major edit. Changed some content errors and vocabulary (mediator-->neurotransmitter, AP initation site). Clarified some misleading (to me) statements regarding neuron anatomy and synaptic signalling.
Dec 18	awarded	Nice Answer
Dec 16	comment	Do human beings have pheromone receptors? @arcyqwerty: The major evidence against human pheromone reception is that humans anatomically lack the accessory olfactory system (vomeronasal organ, etc.) that is used by other animals to detect pheromones. Is that strong evidence? That's up for debate, but I don't think either side has much stronger evidence. For what it's worth, I am inclined to believe that there are human pheromones. But that is bald opinion. The question asked for current consensus, and I stand by the statement that there is none.
Dec 16	awarded	Quorum
Dec 16	comment	Life without DNA? I don't want to get too deep into the controversy over this study, but from reading the paper myself and talking to others, the weight of current opinion is certainly against the arsenic result.