openwetware

Some have said that an image is worth a thousand words, or at least a dozen or two data points. Taking measurements is a given in any lab, working in any field of science.

Therefore, we have set up an extension on OWW that allows one to easily generate some simple line, bar or pie charts by simply introducing some wiki code and comma separated values.

The charts are generated automatically via the Google Charts API and therefore any changes made to the values within the wiki code values, will generate a new chart, on-the-fly.

We have set up a page with some very simple examples on how to produce such charts. There is more info at the official extension’s page at Google Code.

If you happen to be looking for something more complex that can handle not only data points but also equations, then you are looking for another feature we also support via gnuplot. You can find more info on this feature/extension here.

The Do-It-Yourself (DIY) movement has been growing quite significantly recently. I should say regrowing, given the fact that I recall reading Popular Mechanics do-it-yourself encyclopedias at least 15 years ago!

Anyhow, enter the Forbes DIY e-gang. Forbes has put together a short list of prominent names in the newly revived DIY movement like Dale Dougherty & Tim O’Reilly (Make Magazine), Neil Gershenfeld (Fab Labs), Jim Newton (TechShop), just to name a few.

Among the group spotlighted in Forbes is Reshma Shetty (Ginkgo BioWorks), a PhD graduate from MIT and also co-founder of OpenWetWare.

Shetty and colleagues (also MIT PhD graduates and co-founders of OpenWetWare) recently demonstrated how microorganisms can be manipulated quite easily to produce interesting results. In this case, they genetically transformed bacteria (E. coli) to produce a red glow. All this was done in a few simple steps as illustrated.

On a side note, I found it interesting that there was no mention of DIYbio, a group recently founded by Mackenzie Cowell and Jason Bobe in Cambridge, MA. Although not yet quite as grand as the DIYers mentioned in Forbes, but still noteworthy.