1039: "RuBisCO"

[NoOutlet]

Title Text: "Bruce Schneier believes safewords are fundamentally insecure and recommends that you ask your partner to stop via public key signature."

My wife (who is 37 weeks pregnant) and I were just talking about safe words to use for when you *REALLY* want the epidural. We decided safe words do not really work in that scenario.

[Djehutynakht]

The sad thing is that with any chemist (or scientist in general) that I know, this is pretty much true.

I'm now trying to think of other fields that could match this...

Thai experts could probably match this with the full romanized name of Bangkok;

"Krung-dēvamahānagara amararatanakosindra mahindrāyudhyā mahātilakabhava navaratanarājadhānī purīramya uttamarājanivēsana mahāsthāna amaravimāna avatārasthitya shakrasdattiya vishnukarmaprasiddhi"

"Oh, sorry!"

[rhomboidal]

Mary Poppins was a pretty bad picker, too.

[NoOutlet]

The sad thing is that with any chemist (or scientist in general) that I know, this is pretty much true.

I'm now trying to think of other fields that could match this...

What about xkcd forum goers? Their safeword could be your username.

[Djehutynakht]

The sad thing is that with any chemist (or scientist in general) that I know, this is pretty much true.

I'm now trying to think of other fields that could match this...

What about xkcd forum goers? Their safeword could be your username.

Djehutynakht? That's only four syllables. Much too easy ("Dje-huty-nakht"). Some of the long ceremonial Pharaonic names though.... they get long.

The full name of Bangkok (see above edit) would be a good alternative to RuBisCo.

[MichiK]

I had a molecular cell biology class a few semesters ago, but honestly I have to say, until today I have never heard of Ribulosebisphosphatecarboxylaseoxygenase. I don't know, how that could happen.

Anyway, so when reading the title, I first thought of a Rubick's Cube. Then, the next thing was a high-temperature superconductor (RuBisCO sounds much like YBaCuO and stuff like that). Then, I started reading the comic...

Regarding geographic safewords, my first idea would definitely have been Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch!

[ijuin]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubisco

For those who care, RuBisCO is the most abundant protein in most plants, as it is a key enzyme in photosynthesis.

Do not mistake RuBisCO for meaning "Russian Biscuit Company" in analogy to NaBisCo, the National Biscuit Company of America.

[Djehutynakht]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubisco

For those who care, RuBisCO is the most abundant protein in most plants, as it is a key enzyme in photosynthesis.

Do not mistake RuBisCO for meaning "Russian Biscuit Company" in analogy to NaBisCo, the National Biscuit Company of America.

Or NEBisCo, the New England Biscuit Company

[littledman]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubisco

For those who care, RuBisCO is the most abundant protein in most plants, as it is a key enzyme in photosynthesis.

Do not mistake RuBisCO for meaning "Russian Biscuit Company" in analogy to NaBisCo, the National Biscuit Company of America.

Or NEBisCo, the New England Biscuit Company

That would be NeBisCo, and it would be pretty obviously suspect since it would be a compound including neon... O_O

[Diadem]

Chemists? Really? What does RuBisCO have to do with chemistry? It's straight up biology. Even the name is biological, a description of its function, instead of a systematic chemical name.


I really loved this comic though. One of my new favorites. Together with a number of friends we actually recently started a biology Olympiad alumni foundation, which we named Rubisco. So this is pretty awesome.

[everycredit]

Chemists? Really? What does RuBisCO have to do with chemistry? It's straight up biology. Even the name is biological, a description of its function, instead of a systematic chemical name.


I really loved this comic though. One of my new favorites. Together with a number of friends we actually recently started a biology Olympiad alumni foundation, which we named Rubisco. So this is pretty awesome.

Biology is just applied chemistry.

[Diadem]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubisco

For those who care, RuBisCO is the most abundant protein in most plants, as it is a key enzyme in photosynthesis.

It's actually the most abundant protein in the world.

The reason for that is that it is fundamentally flawed. That O at the end of the name shouldn't be there. Rubisco facilitates the first step of carbon fixation. It binds atmospheric CO2 so that plants can use it in their photosynthesis. Hence the "carboxylase" part of the name. However it also binds to 02, sending the entire photosynthesis cycle hurling off a cliff. Plants compensate for this by making ridiculous amounts of rubisco, so they'll always have enough.

[ahammel]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubisco

For those who care, RuBisCO is the most abundant protein in most plants, as it is a key enzyme in photosynthesis.

It's actually the most abundant protein in the world.

The reason for that is that it is fundamentally flawed. That O at the end of the name shouldn't be there. Rubisco facilitates the first step of carbon fixation. It binds atmospheric CO2 so that plants can use it in their photosynthesis. Hence the "carboxylase" part of the name. However it also binds to 02, sending the entire photosynthesis cycle hurling off a cliff. Plants compensate for this by making ridiculous amounts of rubisco, so they'll always have enough.

How does that work? Surely, given constant oxygen, more RuBisCO just means more photorespiration? I can't say I've ever heard of increased RuBisCO expression as an anti-photorespiration measure.

[Linux0s]

Do not mistake RuBisCO for meaning "Russian Biscuit Company"

In (former) Soviet Russia, RuBisCo puts you in soup.

[dalcde]

Ribulose-1,5-bisphosphatecarboxylaseoxygenase

[StClair]

Chemists? Really? What does RuBisCO have to do with chemistry? It's straight up biology.

Biology is just applied chemistry.

Chemistry is just applied physics.

[Louis XIV]

I bet Randall has been watching the Youtube channel "Crashcourse Biology". In the last-but-second episode, they talk a lot about RuBisCo.

See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQK3Yr4Sc_k&list=UUX6b17PVsYBQ0ip5gyeme-Q&index=6&feature=plcp, min 9:13.

[WillParry]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubisco

For those who care, RuBisCO is the most abundant protein in most plants, as it is a key enzyme in photosynthesis.

It's actually the most abundant protein in the world.

The reason for that is that it is fundamentally flawed. That O at the end of the name shouldn't be there. Rubisco facilitates the first step of carbon fixation. It binds atmospheric CO2 so that plants can use it in their photosynthesis. Hence the "carboxylase" part of the name. However it also binds to 02, sending the entire photosynthesis cycle hurling off a cliff. Plants compensate for this by making ridiculous amounts of rubisco, so they'll always have enough.

How does that work? Surely, given constant oxygen, more RuBisCO just means more photorespiration? I can't say I've ever heard of increased RuBisCO expression as an anti-photorespiration measure.

The way I understand it, is that there's an other flaw: it's really slow. It only catalyzes about three reactions per second. So to get any significant amount of product, a lot of the enzyme is needed. Rubisco was explained to me as being a leaky old steam machine.

Also, something to think about: every organic molecule in your body was orginally created by Rubisco!

Oh, and biology might be applied chemistry, but in my experience chemists are kind of scared by biochemical reactions. Doesn't really stand to reason they'd use it as a safeword.

[mric]

Chemists? Really? What does RuBisCO have to do with chemistry? It's straight up biology.

Biology is just applied chemistry.

Chemistry is just applied physics.

I think you are both a little confused. Neither reduction actually works (yet), and the 'biology is just applied chemistry' reduction isn't even close.

It would be fairer to say that chemistry in this domain is just explanatorily-deficient biology.

Indeed, you could also argue that the inability of chemistry to describe biological processes with the appropriate natural types of biological explanations combined with the reality of multiple realisability ensure that any epistemic reduction to chemistry is necessarily disjunctive. Though that isn't, in my view, a knockout blow for reductionism, it does point out the false assumption behind the word 'just'.

[Ulc]

Chemists? Really? What does RuBisCO have to do with chemistry?

As a protein chemist, I really have to beg to differ.

Proteins role in cells might be a biological field of study, but the study of protein behavior and characteristics very much falls under chemistry - the methods, and what we're looking for has nothing in common with the field of biology, even if our subject might be part of a biological system.

[Alltat]

That would be NeBisCo, and it would be pretty obviously suspect since it would be a compound including neon... O_O

I've encountered plenty of abbreviations in chemistry that cared little for such things. So long as it's reasonably obvious (in context) what you mean, it's not really a problem. As an example, neither of the S:es in "SDS" stands for sulphur, although it does contain one sulphur atom. Sometimes "S" means sulphur, sometimes sulphate, sometimes sodium, sometimes something else entirely.

Chemists? Really? What does RuBisCO have to do with chemistry? It's straight up biology.

Biology is just applied chemistry.

Chemistry is just applied physics.

The line between the fields is rather blurry these days. At my home university, there's both a "chemical physics" institute and a "physical chemistry" institute, along with the obvious institutes for chemistry and physics (and their numerous sub-institutes).

[Diadem]

Chemists? Really? What does RuBisCO have to do with chemistry?

As a protein chemist, I really have to beg to differ.

Proteins role in cells might be a biological field of study, but the study of protein behavior and characteristics very much falls under chemistry - the methods, and what we're looking for has nothing in common with the field of biology, even if our subject might be part of a biological system.

Well, perhaps. But you're only studying Rubisco as a chemist because of its importance in biology. I mean multiplication is the domain of mathematics, but that doesn't mean that any time you perform a multiplication you're no longer doing physics, or biology, or chemistry, or whatever other field you were working in while performing that multiplication.

If you're studying Rubisco as a chemist, you're a chemist working on a biological problem.

I'm also pretty sure Rubisco is more familiar to the average biologist than the average chemist. Most people using RibuloseBisphosphtecarboxylaseoxygenase as a safe word are probably biologists. And not just because real chemists would insist on using Ribulose-1,5-Bisphosphtecarboxylaseoxygenase

[TheKrikkitWars]

Regarding geographic safewords, my first idea would definitely have been Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch!

You mean Llanfair PG?

[jozwa]

Just reminded me of this quote:

Rex: "We’re going to be doing psychological role playing here, Bree, and a funny word like Boise would ruin the mood. We need something that sounds serious."
Bree: "Hmm. How about Palestine?"
Rex: "Boise will be just fine."

[da Doctah]

I've encountered plenty of abbreviations in chemistry that cared little for such things. So long as it's reasonably obvious (in context) what you mean, it's not really a problem. As an example, neither of the S:es in "SDS" stands for sulphur, although it does contain one sulphur atom. Sometimes "S" means sulphur, sometimes sulphate, sometimes sodium, sometimes something else entirely.

I suppose I'm showing my age that the only thing SDS suggests to me is Students for a Democratic Society.

(And even more so that I didn't know until checking Wikipedia that the name got reused almost forty years later.)

[jonas]

I find it hard to read that word. Let me try to add hyphens (correct me if I've put them in the wrong places).

Ribulose-bis-phosphate-carboxylase-oxygenase.

[pɔʞx]

Biology is just applied chemistry.

Chemistry is just applied physics.

Almost there, almost there...
Wait for it...

[UrielZyx]

I might prefer using MOSFET...

[BlitzGirl]

How about:
Tikki Tikki Tembo-no Sa Rembo-chari Bari Ruchi-pip Peri Pembo

--Can be spoken very quickly
--Is rhythmic
--Ingrained into memory from childhood

[907Code-G]

How about:
Tikki Tikki Tembo-no Sa Rembo-chari Bari Ruchi-pip Peri Pembo

--Can be spoken very quickly
--Is rhythmic
--Ingrained into memory from childhood

HAS FALLEN DOWN THE WELL.
I give you one childhood credit, my good man

[VanI]

Biology is just applied chemistry.

Chemistry is just applied physics.

Almost there, almost there...
Wait for it...

Oh, sorry. Didn't see you guys all the way over there.

[Metazoan]

Why do chemists need safewords?

Does it help when your polymerization gets out of hand?

The only context I have heard of the term being used in is sadomasochistic sex games.

Did I miss that lecture?



Mathematics is applied xkcd - There is no further explanation required for existence.

[roderik]

(5α,6α)-7,8-didehydro-4,5-epoxy-17-methylmorphinan-3,6-diol
(morphine)

seems like a much better safe-word for chemists.

though I don't know about you biologists.




and yes, we need safe-words for polymerization, how else can it tell us that we're hurting it too much.

[ThoughtsAblaze]

I tried a few times to pronounce the full safe word, but my brain kept returning to Raxacoricofallapatorius.

[anrieff]

This comic made me recall Eurotrip, the Amsterdam scene. Was very surprised that this hasn't been mentioned in the thread yet.

[Kyreles]

Biology is just applied chemistry.

Chemistry is just applied physics.

Physics is just applied math.

[radtea]

I think you are both a little confused. Neither reduction actually works (yet), and the 'biology is just applied chemistry' reduction isn't even close.

It would be fairer to say that chemistry in this domain is just explanatorily-deficient biology.

Indeed, you could also argue that the inability of chemistry to describe biological processes with the appropriate natural types of biological explanations combined with the reality of multiple realisability ensure that any epistemic reduction to chemistry is necessarily disjunctive. Though that isn't, in my view, a knockout blow for reductionism, it does point out the false assumption behind the word 'just'.

This. Kids today and their reductionism.

"Just" in ordinary English is a marker of falsehood or impossibility. "X is just Y" is what you say when you know damned well that "X is Y" is clearly and obviously false... so false it would make you sound like a moron to say it.

It follows from this that any question of the form "Can't you just do XYZ?" has the same answer: "No." [On the rare occasions when I've foregone self-employment for that weird alternative lifestyle known as "having a job" I've had to explain this to my boss so they stop asking me to "just" do stuff and restrict their requests to things that are actually possible.]

[radtea]

Biology is just applied chemistry.

Chemistry is just applied physics.

Physics is just applied math.

A lot of experimental physicists are laughing at you pretty hard right now.

[kargoth]

Biology is just applied chemistry.

Chemistry is just applied physics.

Physics is just applied math.

A lot of experimental physicists are laughing at you pretty hard right now.

So much *woosh* going on in this thread.

I'll break up the fun:
http://xkcd.com/435/

[FarmerJoe]

This comic made me recall Eurotrip, the Amsterdam scene. Was very surprised that this hasn't been mentioned in the thread yet.

This one? "FLÜGGÅƎNK∂€ČHIŒβØL∫ÊN"

I have no clue how to pronounce that.