I started learning Genomics recently. I am enthralled by how millions of base pairs define the recipes that make us. As an information process, the translation of nucleobases in a DNA to convey genetic information seems straightforward enough. Each triplet of nucleobases corresponds to an amino acid. The messenger RNA conveys this sequence to the Ribosome which then links the amino acids together.

An educational style we employ in class is to look up a table of combinations to find the amino acid. My script makes it easier to find the corresponding amino acid for any combination of nucleobases by searching through the sequences. Heads up, works best on the desktop in Chrome, Firefox, and browsers supporting WebGL. Read more

For the past three months I have been capturing how fast my heart beats. It’s been fascinating to see how my body responds to the changes in the environment I am in. And while, I don’t have strong conclusions to draw yet, this experiment has allowed me to develop a baseline on what is normal for me. Read more

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Well crafted products have a way of standing out. Building them, however, takes time and money—costs that the market isn’t always ready to shoulder, especially at the beginning. Markets mature to value different product attributes over time, and the role design plays evolves with it. Knowing what stage the product is at gives perspective on what to expect coming in. Sometimes this means that the best design isn’t the right solution. And attempting to build the optimal instead of the essential hurts the product’s growth.

A traditional product lifecycle roughly follows the structure of a three act play, beginning with a raw implementation of technology that then builds up to a comprehensive feature set, before shrinking down through iterative refinement. The stages aren’t always linear, and frequently loop back, but they make for rough guide posts. Read more

We compare cities on the space they occupy, we rave about how exotic the food is, we lament the outlandishness of the public transportation, and take joy in the activities the city makes possible. All of which remain artefacts of trade and politics. For me, a city is defined by the dream it inspires.

Visiting New York for the first time is inspiring, for in that moment you are surrounded by a million dreams. Dreams of people who believe they can go higher, do better, and go further than all those who have come before them. Every building is a testament to the outsized ambitions of those who wanted to leave a mark. Every jostling square feet of the city is alive with potential waiting to burst onto stage. Perhaps, its because the opulence of the rich is so intimately on display, perhaps its a last stand against our own larger than life dreams, but in New York impossible only feels like a matter of time.

San Francisco carries the dream of the valley. A defiant finger to authority and a belief that there is no problem so big, that a solution can’t be built for it. It is a city founded on pursuits worth abandoning the very ships you came on. Everyone is at least a part time entrepreneur, limited only by how big they can think and the smarts they bring to the table. San Francisco is raw, its relation with its surroundings far more personal. It skips pretension for action, and takes a beta over perfection to stay ahead of the curve. There are no demagogues to hold on to, no one so high as to not be brought down. In San Francisco, you come to believe that you can take on empires and come out ahead.

Writing is hard. Finding your voice, knowing how to start, and knowing when you are done are all fair challenges. I expect to fumble, I anticipate my first forays at an issue to be naive and misplaced, however well intentioned they may be. But more than all of that, I hope to grow. Instead of trying to write the perfect piece on the first go, I am going to try something different.

Each post will be somewhat of a work in progress. I will write the last updated date, but the article itself will continue to evolve over time. There is no space for comments, no buttons for kudos, and no recommends. Instead, embedded in each article is a tweet about it. I would love to hear what you think— let’s just use Twitter for it.