Word: shapely
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Parents like to hear their political candidates talk about whipping schools into shape and making them accountable. Easy to say. But not many parents have a clue how really hard it is to take on an entrenched, self-preserving education establishment...
What a protein does is largely determined by its shape. Proteins are stippled with pockets and grooves into which molecules fit as precisely as a key fits a lock. To fully understand how a protein works, you have to be familiar with every nook and cranny on its surface, which is why the National Institute of General Medical Sciences will spend $20 million this fall to establish a series of research centers dedicated to a branch of proteomics known as structural genomics. The centers will detail, over the next 10 years, the shapes of 10,000 proteins. That...
...millions of proteins are just variations on a handful of themes. Proteins with similar functions--be they in insect, worm or man--often share structural characteristics that are reflected in the genes that encode them. Structural biologist Stephen Burley of Rockefeller University estimates that the maximum number of distinct shapes may be as few as 5,000. The NIGMS hopes to construct a lexicon of shapes--barrels, doughnuts, globular spheres, molecular zippers and so on--that when mixed and matched will spell the shape of any gene's product. About 1,000 of these structures--and the genes that code...
...myriad references in pop culture, means wind and water in Chinese. The 3,500-year-old system, once used only by China's Emperor, is based on the idea that landscapes, buildings and even whole cities have hidden zones of energy (qi), which can be manipulated by the shape, size and color of a structure as well as its entrances. A building that allows qi to flow freely is said to have good feng shui, which brings prosperity and success...
...doing himself. We have all sorts of stunt people, of course, but he did most of the stuff himself. He was swinging on the top of this outrigger on the soundstage back and forth when that bird smashes a window. He's good. He's in great shape physically and loves that kind of stuff. Today, he's OK. Last time when we were out at sea, he was green. Maybe the lab will have to digitally take the green out of his face. (Laughs.) But we can do anything today, so that shouldn't be a problem...