Aggie Voice
Telomeres and telomerase: Keys to immortality and the Yin and Yang of life
Telomeres are repeated DNA sequences which are found at the end of the chromosomes. To explain how important telomeres are, an analogy between telomeres and the tip of a shoe laze, the aglet, can be made. If you remove the aglet, the whole shoe laze basically falls apart. The same with telomeres, as they get shorter after each cell replication, the integrity of the genetic material is in danger.
Aggie Voice
A Thankful Heart
It’s that time of year when the leaves change color, the weather becomes cooler, and society focuses more on thankfulness. Browsing store displays, there are endless expressions of thanksgiving. It wraps around decorative mugs in Instagram worthy calligraphy with phrases such as “Give Thanks”, “Grateful”, or “Blessed”. However, is giving thanks a momentary motto that we have during the seasonal change or is it something we practice regularly? Thanksgiving and thankfulness. These are words that you know, but what do they mean to you personally? Let’s start simply with definitions and this will allow us to better understand their significance and role in our lives.
Aggie Voice
The Powerful Tool - Checklist
In September, 2017, I finished reading a best seller <The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right> by Dr. Atul Gawande. Inspired by the book, I started to build my own checklists to keep projects and life on track. I experienced a painful graduation in my master program because of my procrastination. Therefore, I wanted to get ahead in my current PhD program. Checklists have helped me achieve the goal. After months of using checklists, I am very satisfied with my progress. In this post, I will share with you my experience of using checklists and how they help me.
Aggie Voice
East Hokkaido, Japan
Aggies can be found throughout the world, far and wide. We study human-animal conflict in Africa, fish evolution in the rivers of the Amazon and Indonesia, and ancient geologic structures at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.
Am I currently the only Aggie studying and researching in eastern Hokkaido, Japan? I suspect so, yet it wouldn’t surprise me at all to discover a TAMU colleague working their way through the wetlands and forests here to learn all she or he can about the wildlife and environs.