Sheila Prakash Staffwriter

Class of 2007

Articles

  • Protein Structure Initiative spends misguided money on research

    The process of understanding protein folding in cells is arguably one of the most well-studied, yet elusive problems in biology. It stems from a fundamental inability to predict a protein’s structure given an instruction manual (DNA) and parts (amino acids). Such a complicated process is leading scientists to pursue expensive, and sometimes fruitless, methods of studying them.

    Forum | April 7, 2008
  • Findings: Exoplanets

    To the untrained eye, Gliese 581 c is an inconspicuous body circling an inconspicuous star. The star, Gliese 581, is 20.5 light years away from Earth. It has an orbital eccentricity of 0.16 (the parameter of the conic section of the orbit), an orbital period of 12.932 sidereal days (that is, it takes roughly 13 days to complete a revolution about its star), and a mass of 0.0158 J (Jupiter masses)....

    SciTech | March 31, 2008
  • Findings: Remembering Indricothere

    Sixty-five million years ago, an asteroid slammed into the Yucatan Peninsula, decimating the planet and wiping out all of the dinosaurs of the Cretaceous period. But that is not the end of story. There were survivors of this catastrophe, and over tens of millions of years, they went to form one of the most impressive and spectacular displays of wildlife the Earth has ever known.

    SciTech | March 24, 2008
  • MBIC scientists develop novel method of cell imaging

    Experimentalists are often faced with the task of staining cells for visualization under a microscope.

    SciTech | February 25, 2008
  • Findings: Rethinking synthetic cells

    There is a basic tenet in cell biology and it goes something like this: All cells come from pre-existing cells.

    SciTech | February 25, 2008