(no subject)
I woke up early to go to the first two rounds of talks. They’re something of a blur: I was getting pretty tired at that point. However, I did hear one thing that was really really cool. See, I’m interested in neurodevelopmental diseases, and one of the big fears with these diseases is that while we may eventually learn how they occur, once they are detected it will be too late to treat them. The worry is that the damage is already done by the time the symptoms show up, and that once the brain has developed abnormally, one can only at best mediate the results. Adrian Bird has results that suggest that might not be the case. She works on the protein that causes Rett syndrome, an X-linked disease that is normally fatal in boys and causes a syndrome very similar to autism in girls. She showed that if you knock back in the protein in mice, you can reverse their symptoms (mostly motor) even after the symptoms have already developed. That’s a an incredibly hopeful study.
I decided to take the morning off and went with H to see the Vasa. This ship was built in the 1600s as a symbol of Sweden’s military might. In order to compete with the large number of cannons the Danes had put on their last warship, it was built to ride very high …which caused it to tip over and sink in the first stiff breeze it encountered, with almost all hands lost. Normally warships aren’t my thing, but it had been recommended to me by so many people before going there that I figured I almost had to see it. It was fantastically well preserved, and the presentation on how they managed to raise it from the ocean in the 1950s was amazing. It was really dark in the museum so most of my pictures didn’t turn out, but I did get a few shots.
Here’s a detail shot of one of the cannon ports.
Here’s a picture of a combination lock from the 1600s: I thought a few people from game would think that was cool.
Here’s a picture of some board games from the same period recovered from the ship, which also might interest certain game people.
I left the Vasa Museum a little before H and got a chance to see J and Fs posters just before the poster session ended. I skipped out on the “industry and science” talks to go back to Gamla Stan and the Nobel Museum. I eventually found my way to Gamla Stan. (At one point I frustratedly pulled out my map, thinking that I should have passed the entrance to Gamla Stan already. I asked a hotdog seller how to get to the main pedestrian walkway that leads into Gamla Stan, and realized from his answer that I must, in fact, already be there). The Nobel Museum ended up being very small, but I’m glad I made it. They had an exhibit on the discussion between design and molecular science, with artistic depictions of things like myosin and the insulin receptor, as well as art and design inspired by molecular science.
Here's an artist's depiction of clathrin coated intracellular transport:
Here's some jewelry inspired by molecular structures
Here's what the Nobel prize looks like:
I walked around inside for about an hour and then went out and ended up finding things I liked for a few people in the shops. Chocolate was surprisingly difficult to locate. I bought some more bus tickets, and made it back to the Karolinska Institut just a little too late to see the closing remarks.
I headed back to the hostel, and met the other MD/PhDs to go out for a (very disorganized) dinner in Skeppsholmen. The first restaurant we tried to go to was too full to take walk ins for a part of nine on a Saturday night, but their was some brief confusion when they though that we must be another party (since how many foreigner-comprised parties of nine were there going to be on a single night?) that did have a reservation, and seated us even though we told them we didn’t think we were them. So we ended up at least getting free water before getting kicked out when the actual party showed up. Eventually we found a Greek place. (It’s surprisingly hard to find places that just do traditional Swedish food. Stockholm is very proud of its international food) and I had some decent calamari. We hit a bar after that and got some excessively expensive drinks at one of the local bars. The alcohol is absurdly overpriced there (20 bucks for the equivalent of a Smirnoff ice), but the bar we went to was pretty neat, with one of the bartenders spinning techno music. We chattered about popular culture and gender relations as much as possible over the din. After one drink, most of us headed home, to the disapproval of one of the MD/PhD student’s friend visiting from London. He did not approve of calling it a night at 11 pm , but a lot of us were flying home the next day. I packed my stuff while my roommate, who was staying an extra day, looked at what sites she wanted to see. I arranged to meet J and F to catch the subway to the bus station, then went to bed.
I decided to take the morning off and went with H to see the Vasa. This ship was built in the 1600s as a symbol of Sweden’s military might. In order to compete with the large number of cannons the Danes had put on their last warship, it was built to ride very high …which caused it to tip over and sink in the first stiff breeze it encountered, with almost all hands lost. Normally warships aren’t my thing, but it had been recommended to me by so many people before going there that I figured I almost had to see it. It was fantastically well preserved, and the presentation on how they managed to raise it from the ocean in the 1950s was amazing. It was really dark in the museum so most of my pictures didn’t turn out, but I did get a few shots.
Here’s a detail shot of one of the cannon ports.
Here’s a picture of a combination lock from the 1600s: I thought a few people from game would think that was cool.
Here’s a picture of some board games from the same period recovered from the ship, which also might interest certain game people.
I left the Vasa Museum a little before H and got a chance to see J and Fs posters just before the poster session ended. I skipped out on the “industry and science” talks to go back to Gamla Stan and the Nobel Museum. I eventually found my way to Gamla Stan. (At one point I frustratedly pulled out my map, thinking that I should have passed the entrance to Gamla Stan already. I asked a hotdog seller how to get to the main pedestrian walkway that leads into Gamla Stan, and realized from his answer that I must, in fact, already be there). The Nobel Museum ended up being very small, but I’m glad I made it. They had an exhibit on the discussion between design and molecular science, with artistic depictions of things like myosin and the insulin receptor, as well as art and design inspired by molecular science.
Here's an artist's depiction of clathrin coated intracellular transport:
Here's some jewelry inspired by molecular structures
Here's what the Nobel prize looks like:
I walked around inside for about an hour and then went out and ended up finding things I liked for a few people in the shops. Chocolate was surprisingly difficult to locate. I bought some more bus tickets, and made it back to the Karolinska Institut just a little too late to see the closing remarks.
I headed back to the hostel, and met the other MD/PhDs to go out for a (very disorganized) dinner in Skeppsholmen. The first restaurant we tried to go to was too full to take walk ins for a part of nine on a Saturday night, but their was some brief confusion when they though that we must be another party (since how many foreigner-comprised parties of nine were there going to be on a single night?) that did have a reservation, and seated us even though we told them we didn’t think we were them. So we ended up at least getting free water before getting kicked out when the actual party showed up. Eventually we found a Greek place. (It’s surprisingly hard to find places that just do traditional Swedish food. Stockholm is very proud of its international food) and I had some decent calamari. We hit a bar after that and got some excessively expensive drinks at one of the local bars. The alcohol is absurdly overpriced there (20 bucks for the equivalent of a Smirnoff ice), but the bar we went to was pretty neat, with one of the bartenders spinning techno music. We chattered about popular culture and gender relations as much as possible over the din. After one drink, most of us headed home, to the disapproval of one of the MD/PhD student’s friend visiting from London. He did not approve of calling it a night at 11 pm , but a lot of us were flying home the next day. I packed my stuff while my roommate, who was staying an extra day, looked at what sites she wanted to see. I arranged to meet J and F to catch the subway to the bus station, then went to bed.