22 Nov 99 
 
ooh, look at all those pairs of digits....  the next time we'll see that I 
guess is ... mmm... 11/11/00.... 
 
I can see why people are tired of zero sometimes. 
 
So, interesting thing I heard today in class, the Neural Science I class 
-- supposedly on Second messengers: Coupling receptors to cytoplasm & 
nucleus, according to the syllabus.  It was mainly about issues in 
cellular signalling - the pathways and the reasons why these pathways may 
be used.  Anyway, Holmes (the guy presenting the info) told me afterward 
that his lab was trying to create new, extremely specific signalling 
pathways that one could insert to a certain locality - so that one can 
create medicines specifically tuned to these pathways. 
 
The problem with many medicines is that it's not terribly local -- one 
takes a pill and the substance is spread throughout the bloodstream.  But 
that means if you want to have a local effect, say you want to relieve a 
headache, the aspirin you take will also affect your heart (in a good way) 
and your stomach (in a bad way) and many other places...  That's kind of 
the problem with Viagra - sure it improves circulation in one place you 
want it, but it also affects color vision & the heart.  That is because 
the pathways the medicine works on is found in several different systems. 
 
What if the medicine were the first part of a metabolic pathway found in 
only the area one wants treated?  Then no side effects!  Neat idea. 
Instead of engineering medicines only to fix something, instead of doing 
genetic engineering only to fix something, one could try both at the same 
time!  Add some genes to create the proteins to add as the receiving 
pathway to be activated only by (one hopes) the medicine one engineers for 
it. 
 
In other thoughts, I came up with a cute geometry problem today (I'm sure 
it's a classic) -- what is the minimal covering of a circle with n 
rectangles?  So one wants to cover the circle completely with n rectangles 
(not necessarily the same dimension) where the rectangles to not overlap, 
and their total area is minimal.  n=1 is easy, just use the circumscribing 
square.  n=2 is also easy, and may give one ideas as to how to continue 
with higher numbers.  I don't think it can be done inductively.  I haven't 
tried enough n to figure out if there's a pattern. 
 
I'm sure someone has done something about this before, but I'm not sure. 
 
Anyway, I'm doing this for an art project I have in mind, so if someone 
comes up with some sort of generalization, I would like to hear about it. 
 
 
Oh yeah, the housing situation looks promising.