Amino Acid Etymology

Students are often required to know something about each of twenty amino acids. There are various mnemonic devices to remember which name goes with each structure. Valine, for example, has an isopropyl side chain which resembles the letter "V".

Sometimes etymology is a better mnemonic device. "Valine", for example, has something to do with valeric acid, which doesn't help me much, but it might help someone who knows more than I do about organic chemistry. Maybe some reader can offer a comment about this. "Valeric", in turn, is derived from the name of a Roman emperor.

"Proline" is interesting. It's short for pyrrolidine-2-carbolylic acid. This amino acid is unique in that its side chain is attached, not only to the alpha carbon, but also to the nitrogen that is attached to the alpha carbon. Pyrrolidine is hydrogenated pyrrole. This is a helpful mnemonic device for someone who already knows what pyrrole is.

Threonine has a four carbon backbone which is slightly reminiscent of threose, which is an isomer (and not quite an anagram) of erythrose, which is derived from the Greek word for "red" as in "erythrocyte".

The etymology of an amino acid may not be a useful mnemonic device for everyone, but it has a certain charm and is always related to the history of that compound. Besides, by studying etymology, you are learning something worthwhile, not just cramming for a test.

I invite readers to leave comments about other amino acids. You don't need to be registered to leave a comment here.

A Textbook Example

Here is an example of a typically bloated, overpriced science textbook. It illustrates some of the problems alluded to in my previous post on college textbook prices.

Biology, 7th ed., by Neil A. Campbell, Jane B. Reece, and 7 others.

It weighs over seven pounds. A real back breaker.

The campus bookstore sells only a shink-wrapped package containing not only the required book, but also a CD and a biological dictionary, neither of which is required or even mentioned by the instructor. The price of the shink wrapped package at the bookstore is $153.05. The textbook plus CD sells for $128.40 (plus shipping) at Amazon.com. This is the hardcover (American) edition. The "international" edition (same content with soft cover) can be had for $72.80 (plus shipping) at Yello Textbook in Seattle. The publishers don't want students to know about these "international" editions. AFAIK it is impossible to buy just the book without the goddamn CD. I have never heard an instructor even mention the CDs that are bundled with textbooks. Some publishers have the gall to claim that they supply CDs because instructors want them. Sure. Somewhere, there probably is an instructor who likes the CDs (or was paid to say he likes them).

I will comment separately on the 40 pages of front matter, the 1231 pages of main text, and the back matter (appendices, credits, glossary, and index).

Front Matter
Besides the endpaper, there is an extra heavy duty cardboard insert titled "your steps to success" which invites clueless students to "register" with the publisher. After the title page and description of authors is a "Preface" which reads like an advertisement for the text, including lots of crap about how extensively the current edition has been "restructured" to bring "key concepts into sharpter focus". That's to cool out the mark. Ten pages wasted so far. There follow six pages of acknowledgments, including completely unnecessary acknowledgments of reviewers of previous editions. Next, there are advertisements for "supplements" for the student and the teacher. Then a useless list of "featured figures". Then useless summaries of what is "new to the seventh edition" and of the "interviews" (described below). Finally there are two (!) tables of contents. That's forty bloated pages so far.

Main Text
The useless page 1 is blank except for the single word "biology". The rest of chapter 1 contains nothing of value that won't be covered in greater detail in later chapters. Thus pages 2 through 29 are completely wasted.

The remaining chapters are grouped into eight "units", each of which contains a pointless interview with a distinguished scientist to waste a couple more pages. There are 55 chapters. The chapters are all alike in format. The same techniques are used in every chapter to waste as much space as possible.

Chapter 2 will do as an example. It starts with an unnecessary list of four "key concepts" to be presented. Then there is an unnecessary "overview". The bulk of Chapter 2 consists of subsections labelled "Concept 2.1", "Concept 2.2", etc. Each subsection contains numerous figures, including photographs and drawings, which are well done and quite useful. But each subsection also contains a "Concept Check", which is a list of questions, ostensibly for the student to ponder, but really just a way of taking up space. At the end of the chapter are two useless pages filled with a "review" (yet more summarizing), a "self-quiz", and other drivel labelled "testing your knowledge".

I will refrain from making similar comments about the other 53 chapters. To paraphrase Ronald Reagan: if you've seen one chapter, you've seen them all (as far as the format is concerned).

Appendices
Appendix A consists of answers to the stupid "concept checks" and "self-quizes" and fills 24 pages.
Appendices B,C, and D are useful and brief. They describe the metric system, microscopy, and taxonomy, respectively.

Credits
These are necessary; at least they are in small print.

Glossary and Index
These are extensive and useful.

Thus endeth the textbook example. It's really not a bad book, but it could be thinner, lighter, and less expensive, with no real loss in content. And there is no need for such frequent new editions.

Prices of College Textbooks

Textbook publishers are screwing students in ways that have been widely reported. I assume most readers are familiar with this scandal, so I won't go into the details. Suffice it to say that while the publishers are the chief bad guys, they are aided and abetted by teachers, most of whom don't know and don't care what students have to pay for textbooks.

The publishers couldn't get away with it if a reasonable fraction of college teachers accepted the responsibility that logically comes with their authority to choose textbooks. The most remarkable part of the scandal is how cheaply college teachers, as a group, have been bought off. A free book here, a kickback there, and it's open season on students.

To be fair, I should mention that I know of a few cases where a teacher chose an inexpensive textbook, or no textbook, because the commonly used textbooks for that course were ridiculously expensive. This proves that not all of the teachers with the authority to select textbooks are whores.

Anyone interested in the textbook price scandal should be aware of a report by the California Public Interest Research Groups (PIRGs): "Ripoff 101: 2nd Edition". The last time I checked, this report could be downloaded from the web site http://www.pirg.org/highered/. This report has been cited in many newspaper stories. Some papers, including the CSULB 49er (a student newspaper) have done additional reporting for stories based on the CalPIRG report. I suspect that additional muck remains to be raked by investigative reporters.

Of course, for journalistic balance and entertainment, one should also read what the bad guys (for example, the publishers) have to say about textbook prices.

Who ordered all those astrological signs?

Why are so many bloggers described in astrological terms like "Virgo", "Scorpio", etc.? Are all these people stupid, or did the software automatically add those stupid "sun signs" by looking at their birthdays?