Listening to CS people talk about biology is maddening.
"CRISPR... is to genomics what vi (Unix’s visual text editor) is to software. "
This terrible comparison between DNA and code has been happening for years. In 2012, Thiel did the same thing in CS 183. We get to look back and see that he was wrong, but we'll have to wait a while before the 'DNA is code' group will admit this essay is bad. At least its not a TED talk and at least its better than Aubrey De Grey.
"Each VC on the panel made 2 predictions about technology in the next 5 years. The audience voted on whether they agreed with each prediction. One of my predictions was that biology would become an information science." -PT
uBiome (YCS14) unveils its new CLIA and CAP certified medical test. They claim it tests for a variety of conditions, including 'leaky gut syndrome.' Wikipedia describes leaky gut as 'a hypothetical, medically unrecognized condition.' How is it possible to have CLIA and CAP certification for this? I haven't seen any peer reviewed data from them period. Can anybody point me to a paper?
The clinical work they're doing is great, but the code is problematic. Its a bunch of Perl and Python duct taped together with shell scripts.
From the github repo:
The resolution from uBiome data is also 16s, and (likely) too low to yield good information.
There is no definition of a good microbiome. The research is still in its infancy. Attempting to 'improve' your microbiome would likely be a mistake. The upside is that you may have contributed by paying uBiome.
"CRISPR... is to genomics what vi (Unix’s visual text editor) is to software. "
This terrible comparison between DNA and code has been happening for years. In 2012, Thiel did the same thing in CS 183. We get to look back and see that he was wrong, but we'll have to wait a while before the 'DNA is code' group will admit this essay is bad. At least its not a TED talk and at least its better than Aubrey De Grey.
"Each VC on the panel made 2 predictions about technology in the next 5 years. The audience voted on whether they agreed with each prediction. One of my predictions was that biology would become an information science." -PT