Science Analogies

What: "He predicted that black holes should not actually be black. Instead, because of the quirks of quantum mechanics, they should glow ever so faintly, like smouldering embers in a dying fire." There is also a nice image of black holes drying up like a puddle of water in summer time.

Writer: Anonymous Economist

LCC: QC

Where:

Date: Sep 30 2010 9:48 AM

What: "The Cell wall is similar to the bricks that make up the outside of a prison. It protects and supports the inside of the building, just like a cell wall does for the inside of a cell." The link is to a whole discussion of how a cell is like a prison. I'm not too sure, which student population this will resonate with. Definitely not ones from good neighborhoods.

Writer: Mr. Overlin

LCC: QP

Where:

Date: Nov 27 2011 4:34 PM

What: "A cell membrane is like a cookie, an Oreo. It has two layers of lipids (the cookie wafers) separated by a center (the white cream). Antioxidants reside either outside the first cookie layer or inside the fatty cream layer." A discussion of skin products and how antioxidant molecules are positioned within the cells that make up skin.

Writer: Not Known

LCC: QP

Where: Reference Link Has Evaporated

Date: Mar 20 2011 3:08 AM

What: Complex carbohydrates are polymers of sugars, often glucose. They digest much more slowly than pure glucose because of their large size and composition. Visually, a complex carbohydrate is like a string of pearls and a glucose is like a single pearl earring. To get a sense of how this size difference affects blood glucose levels; Image dropping a 30 pearl necklace on the floor; the necklace stays in one piece. Now imagine dropping 30 pearl earrings on the floor. The 30 earrings will explode over a wide area. This is what is occurring in your blood when you are constantly eating high-glycemic index foods; it is a constant explosion of glucose into your blood that stresses your pancreas to produce insulin to lower your glucose levels.

Writer: mattyflynn

LCC: QD

Where:

Date: Jun 19 2010 12:35 AM

What: "The functional groups are like the arms and legs on the molecule's body and therefore tend to interact more with the environment and noses". I would include other parts of the human body in this analogy. Including, the sexual organs, the mouth and the other interactive parts of the body. Even deeper, ones heart, ones emotional being and interacting with other people is of course a very important functional group.

Writer: Not known

LCC: QD

Where:

Date: Oct 3 2010 5:01 AM

What: This occurrence bugs me. If the news reports are accurate, weeds are now becoming resistant to the herbicide Round up. This is similar to antibiotic resistance bacteria. In both situations you have selective poisons that work VERY well in the short term. But, over time, nature being what it is, a mutation pops up that causes these poisons to become ineffective. What you now have developed, unintentionally are super bugs and super weeds.

Writer: mattyflynn

LCC: QR

Where:

Date: May 1 2010 10:06 AM

What: "A human being contemplating magnetism is like a fish contemplating water. The fish is in water, water is in the fish ( and surrounding every cell). The fish gets its oxygen, thus its energy source from the water. Comparing this image to the fish swimming joyously in a clear, clean, beautiful mountain stream. Now picture the fish struggling for life, gasping for air, sick and sluggish in a scummy, toxic, stagnant pond."

Writer: Not Stated

LCC: QC

Where:

Date: Nov 24 2011 1:08 PM

What: "A cell (in a multicellular organism) is an identifiable unit that is part of a larger organism just as a factory is an identifiable unit that is part of society. A cell uses material and energy resources and produces products just as a factory does." The link expands this discussion.

Writer: Norm Herr CSUN

LCC: QP

Where:

Date: Jul 14 2010 12:15 AM

What: A Neuron is Like Toilet 1: Both have a resting potential: Waterstored in the tank has potential energy due togravity. 2: Both have an action potential: When you flush, an "impulse" is sent down the sewer pipe. 3: Both have a threshold: A minimum quantity of water is required to create a siphon. 4: Both have a refractory period: A toilet cannot be flushed while its tank is filling up

Writer: Gidi Shemer, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

LCC: QP351-495

Where: Reference Link Has Evaporated

Date: May 12 2013 9:26 PM

What: "A phase diagram is like a map, except that instead of the NS and EW directions, we have a pressure 'direction' and a temperature 'direction' (of course, axis is a better word)."

Writer: G Venkataraman

LCC: QD

Where:

Date: Jun 5 2010 8:10 AM

What: "In a digital image, a pixel translates to a tiny square that makes up the image. If you look at an image very closely, a pixel is like a piece of tile in a mosaic."

Writer: Not Stated

LCC: QA

Where:

Date: Jul 19 2010 2:12 AM

What: "A primary-key is like the license plate on a car. It uniquely identifies a record."

Writer: Not Stated

LCC: QA

Where:

Date: Dec 16 2011 7:28 PM

What: A ribosome provides a location within a cell with the spacial orientation to facilitate the conversion of individual amino acids into peptides. The correct peptide sequence is derived from mRNA. The energy for the addition of each amino acid is contained in an activated peptide attached to a tRNA molecule. The large scale mechanical analogy of this would be a vice holding pieces of pipe together so that they can be fused together with a welding torch.

Writer: mattyflynn

LCC: QP

Where:

Date: Jul 20 2010 6:28 AM

What: "Every table in your database should have a primary key. A table without the primary key is like an orphan child without the support of parents or a youth without a spouse. You never know what you are missing!"

Writer: Shantanu

LCC: QA

Where:

Date: Dec 16 2011 7:11 PM

What: "It's like those moving walkways at airports, a tectonic plate is like a moving walkway, appearing at one end and disappearing at the other, transporting whatever is on the surface."

Writer: EmmettBrown

LCC: QE

Where: Reference Link Has Evaporated

Date: Sep 11 2010 3:18 AM

What: "A tectonic plate is like the hard shell on a boiled egg that has been cracked into pieces or plates!" The link has a nice discussion of tectonic plates. This file is large, so be prepared to wait if you have a slow connection.

Writer: Not Stated

LCC: QE

Where: Reference Link Has Evaporated

Date: Sep 11 2010 3:24 AM

What: "A tectonic plate is like a patch of lithosphere. The lithosphere is like a cold crusty layer on the warm mooshy asthenosphere. It is crusty because it is cooler, mostly". A very clear explanation of the earth follows in the link.

Writer: DV (Avatar) ---> ?

LCC: QE

Where:

Date: Oct 5 2010 6:40 AM

What: "The trio found that chromosome-capping telomeres -which Blackburn has compared to the plastic ends of shoe laces - and the enzyme telomerase protect chromosomes as cells divide."

Writer: Ron Leuty

LCC: QP

Where:

Date: Oct 6 2009 12:37 AM

What:

because it holds water and other materials/products if you want it to.

Writer: SS

LCC: QH

Where: Reference Link Has Evaporated

Date: Jun 18 2018 7:02 PM

What: "Analogy: Alanine is like vanilla flavor - happy anywhere it goes in polypeptide chain. Whereas other residues, such as basic or acidic residues are picky with the places it resides, therefore the frequency of change in amino acids varies depending on the type of amino acid."

Writer: Amanda

LCC: QD

Where:

Date: Jul 10 2013 3:50 PM

What: The real number is more like 800-1000 cells, per alpha particle impact. Because the alpha particle is like a "an out of Control Mack Tuck Careening through the Farmers Market with a confused and inept driver" A discussion of how high energy particles can damage tissue.

Writer: fossilfreedom

LCC: QC

Where: Reference Link Has Evaporated

Date: Jul 15 2013 6:46 PM

What: Once upon a time, I worked on an novel assay format that involved an antibody binding that changed the electrical current through a well. It looked great at time 0. However, the chemistry was so unstable that the linearity of the assay dropped after it sat around for about 30 minutes. An electronic device measured the change in several electoral parameters every 5 seconds for 16 wells. At the end of a 5 minute assay, about 3000 data points were generated for a single linear curve. People trying to make sense of the numbers saw what they wanted in the data. Some saw a line, some didn't. Once, I think I saw a picture of the Virgin Mary Riding a donkey to Bethlehem. But mostly it was an ambiguous mess.

Writer: mattyflynn

LCC: QA

Where:

Date: May 21 2010 12:31 AM

What: "If an ammeter is like the meter that measures your water use, a voltmeter is like a measuring stick that tells you how high a waterfall is, so that you can determine how much energy will be released by each kilogram of falling water."

Writer: Not Stated

LCC: QC

Where:

Date: Sep 30 2013 8:53 PM

What: On page 73 of this book, there is a comparison between artificial limbs and antidepressants. As noted in the book, both of these technologies allow people to function after injury, either physical or mental.

Writer: Andrea Andreadis, Ph.D

LCC: QD

Where:

Date: Mar 14 2011 3:52 AM

What: "An antioxidant is like the screen in front of your fireplace. It quenches the sparks as they form. If the fire in the fireplace is out of control, the screen is useless. Another analogy: antioxidant/free radical metabolism is that of the automobile engine and its cooling system. The engine runs on the burning (or oxidation) of fuel, creating energy and heat, giving your car power to move. If the process is uncontrolled the engine destroys itself because of the heat it has generated. The cooling system keeps the temperature within a normal operating range. The oxidative reaction is the burning of the fuel; the antioxidant is the cooling system. Balance between these two functions is the critical factor, both for your car and for you."

Writer: Not Stated

LCC: QP

Where: Reference Link Has Evaporated

Date: Jul 15 2013 7:05 PM

What: An atom is like a tiny solar system.

Writer: Not Stated

LCC: QD

Where:

Date: Jun 15 2010 11:11 PM

What: "An atom is like a football.The electron in an atoms is like the skin of the football."

Writer: Not Stated

LCC: QD

Where:

Date: Jun 15 2010 11:11 PM

What: "An atom is like a very small, round cloud, by itself too small to see. This cloud is tough enough to join many other atoms of different round shapes to make things that we can feel - like animals, plants, rocks, air and water."

Writer: Loren Booda

LCC: QD

Where:

Date: Jun 15 2010 11:11 PM

What: This is a very good discussion of diet and the characteristics of different types of food. The key point about fats: "Essential fatty acids can act like antifreeze, they are liquid at very low temperatures. For example, flax is a cold weather grain, so it has a lot of healthy fats". This is a good comparison. Another stark comparison is the physical state of butter and any poly unsaturated fat at room temperature. Butter is solid and most if not all unsaturated oils are liquid. The general assumption is that eating unsaturated fatty acids increases the fluidity of membranes in the body

Writer: James Biddle MD

LCC: QP

Where: Reference Link Has Evaporated

Date: Sep 22 2010 10:57 AM

What: "Functional groups are like a prefix/suffix ('un' being the example) - always cause the same change in chemical behavior/meaning." This page also has some very good analogies for water, DNA and other things biochemical.

Writer: TS RICH

LCC: QD

Where:

Date: Oct 3 2010 5:09 AM

What: "How phage and antibody works is that the antibody is like the search dog of a cop, it binds itself to infectious particles.".....This is a novel analogy and appropriate. The specificity of a dog's nose is analogous to the specificity of an antibody.

Writer: evanthebouncy!

LCC: QP

Where:

Date: Dec 2 2010 1:49 AM

What: ATP Cycle is Like a Turnstile Through which Energy Passes During Transfers from high energy pathways to lower energy pathways.

Writer: Not stated

LCC: QP

Where: Reference Link Has Evaporated

Date: Apr 23 2012 3:46 PM

What: "Pat Bailey, from the University of Keele, explains why he thinks boron is like a middle-aged accountant who participates in skydiving and partner swapping parties in his spare time" A metaphorical podcast about this element....

Writer: Pat Bailey

LCC: QD

Where:

Date: Jul 17 2013 6:44 PM

What: This is an interesting idea. Vacuum cleaners have long swivel necks and suck up large amount of material. This makes for effecient cleaning. The Brachiosaurus had a long swivel neck to grasp as much vegatation as possible and it didn't stop to chew, it swallowed the food whole.

Writer: Michael Balter

LCC: QH

Where:

Date: Aug 2 2011 1:18 PM

What: "An acid-base buffer is like a shock absorber-something to prevent a disturbance while retaining the original conditions or structure" This is from page 196 of the linked book.

Writer: Melvin D. Joesten et al.

LCC: QD

Where:

Date: Jul 17 2013 7:46 PM

What: The bridge was built from both sides. They didn't start on the San Francisco side and start building. First, engineers determined that an anchorage could be built on both sides. Once each side had a strong foundation construction could begin. Point of care devices should follow a similar pattern; bridge the chemistry and the manufacturing process BEFORE the chemistry and manufacturing are set. Build the device from both sides. This insures that such devises can be built consistently and well.

Writer: mattyflynn

LCC: QD

Where: Reference Link Has Evaporated

Date: Jul 20 2010 9:13 AM

What: " The capacitor stores a charge. If we use the same analogy of the circuit and road, a capacitor will be a parking lot. The same number of charges are always stored at the plus and minus sides in an electronic circuit."

Writer: Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd.

LCC: QC

Where:

Date: Jul 22 2013 6:25 PM

What: "A catalyst is like a minister at a wedding ceremony because the minister causes the ceremony to take place, has a key role in determining how quickly the ceremony takes place, and is not himself permanently changed as a result of the ceremony. This is unlike the couple getting married, who are permanently changed as a result of the ceremony!"

Writer: E. Ridgley

LCC: QD

Where: Reference Link Has Evaporated

Date: Dec 13 2012 12:35 PM

What:

"Cellular respiration is like a change machine: you're turning sugars into ATP so it will be a usable form of energy. If you go to a coin operated laundromat, they all seem to run on quarters for some reason. So you might say, "I don't have any quarters but I want to wash my clothes and I have a $10 bill." You put your $10 bill into the change machine and you get 40 quarters and now you could use the coin operated washers and dryers. All the chemical reactions in living things run off of these quarters (ATP). They don't run off $10 bills (sugars/fats/proteins)."

Writer: Antranik

LCC: QP

Where:

Date: Aug 12 2014 7:10 PM

What: "Imagine, he says, a happy couple who stop and talk to well-wishers standing on the church steps before leaving for their honeymoon. One of the newlyweds encounters an old flame--the true love--and then parts from his or her beloved.....Alas, where there once was togetherness is now a separation."

Writer: William Pirkle

LCC: QD

Where:

Date: May 2 2013 1:11 PM

What: Think of a standard light switch; the circuit can have two states. It's either closed with electricity flowing trough it or open so no charge can flow. Each byte that makes up a number stored in a computer is ultimately nothing more than a series of tiny electrical switches, with on (closed) and off (open) values. The computer interprets a series of other consecutive on/off values into something interesting for us humans, such as a letter or a number. If the tiny little switch=0, it's off If the tiny little switch=1, it's on

Writer: Timothy Boronczyk

LCC: QA

Where:

Date: Nov 30 2009 3:01 PM

What: A conducting electron in a metal is like a racing dog fenced in a pasture. They are free to roam around as much as they want and can run the entire length, width, and depth of the metal on a whim.

Writer: Glenn Elert

LCC: QC

Where:

Date: Aug 1 2013 3:10 PM

What: "To make a simple analogy, crude oil is like a bowl of alphabet soup, with each letter a different compound," says Maxwell. We may only need three letters [for a particular application], but it's hard to pick them out of the soup. It's almost impossible to get all the wax refined out of crude, for example. But with polyalphaolefin we can create a product without lighter or heavier components than we need."

Writer: Bill Maxwell

LCC: QD

Where:

Date: Jun 5 2010 8:10 AM

What:

"A chemical battery is like one full bucket and one empty bucket. Pour the water from the full bucket through the tube into the empty bucket, and you have current until the full bucket runs out.

Electromagnetic induction is like a closed loop of tube filled with water, with a motor-driven propeller inside. Turn on the propeller, and the water will flow around and around as long as you can supply power to the propeller."

Writer: Not Stated

LCC: QC

Where:

Date: Sep 30 2017 12:10 PM

What:

"However, the crystal structure is like a frozen image of the enzyme and it does not show how it actually operates; in the same way it is difficult to see today how King Charles II was a successful womanizer from his formal portraits."

From:
Human Drug Metabolism: An Introduction
page

Writer: Michael D. Coleman

LCC: QD

Where:

Date: Mar 8 2014 1:07 PM

What: "Dark matter can not be seen. Dark matter is like a man in a black tux and a women in a white dress dancing in a dim lighted room. We can not see dark matter (hents the name) But we can see the Bright matter. We know there is dark matter because we see the lighted matter and know that their in balance with each other."

Writer: Not Stated

LCC: QC

Where:

Date: Jun 8 2010 9:40 AM

What: "He who despises Euclidean Geometry is like a man who, reutrning from foreign parts, disparages his home." I think this guy is one to something. Euclidean Geometry, more specifically geometric proofs, are the basis for logical English ,mathematical logic and spacial reasoning.

Writer: - H.G. Forder

LCC: QA

Where: Reference Link Has Evaporated

Date: Aug 13 2010 4:07 AM

What: "Describing a nucleophile is like describing a ball, but the question about what is substitution is like what is playing ball. I prefer to discuss nucleophiles after showing examples (including the bond making and breaking processes or mechanism) of substitution reactions. Then the nucleophile is the group that donated electrons in forming a bond. If you were accustomed to substitution reactions, then you would intuitively what a nucleophile was. What you would learn would be the term nucleophile. "

Writer: orgopete

LCC: QD

Where:

Date: Jun 16 2010 5:31 AM

What:

There will be loads of potassium on the inside and tons of sodium on the outside therefore things will like to go from a high to a low concentration. So potassium will always leave the cell and sodium will always enter the cell.

Writer: Lisa Huynh

LCC: Q

Where: Reference Link Has Evaporated

Date: Feb 17 2017 9:44 PM

What: "The DNA is like a train track that gets pulled apart by the train."

Writer: Dr. Barry Starr

LCC: QD

Where:

Date: Sep 21 2011 9:01 PM

What:

"The thing that makes cosmology different from stamp collecting is that we have a hope that there's a simple underlying theory that actually explains everything," Primack says. The current incarnation of that theory says that more than 90 percent of the universe is made up of mysterious "dark matter,"a fundamentally different kind of stuff than the protons, neutrons and electrons that make up Earth and everything on it. Dark matter is invisible (thus the name), and it interacts with ordinary matter only through the force of gravity. In a very loose way, the dark matter is like the water in the chunky noodle soup: we can't see it directly, but it must be there because the soup wouldn't look the same without it.

Writer: Joel Primack

LCC: QB

Where:

Date: Oct 7 2014 11:00 AM

What:

"A double bond is like a double handshake between atoms and has two practical implications: first, the bond is less stable, since one hand can be freed up at any ..."

Writer: Nina Teicholz

LCC: QD

Where:

Date: Jan 12 2017 10:03 AM

What:

"A double bond is like a double handshake between atoms and has two practical implications: first, the bond is less stable, since one hand can be freed up at any ..."

Writer: Nina Teicholz

LCC: QD

Where:

Date: Jan 12 2017 9:56 AM

What: "Dr. Gordon: EDTA is essentially four molecules of vinegar, and chelation is a natural process. The word 'chelation came' from the Greek word 'claw.' Somebody suggested the metaphor that EDTA is like using a hamburger to give your dog a pill-it's an easy way because you hide the pill in the protein. EDTA is essentially a man-made synthetic amino acid, which hides the lead, mercury, cadmium, or other metal inside of it-so that it is finally able to exit the body with a higher efficiency."

Writer: David Jay Brown

LCC: QD

Where:

Date: Jul 10 2013 4:14 PM

What:

"A chemical battery is like one full bucket and one empty bucket. Pour the water from the full bucket through the tube into the empty bucket, and you have current until the full bucket runs out.

Electromagnetic induction is like a closed loop of tube filled with water, with a motor-driven propeller inside. Turn on the propeller, and the water will flow around and around as long as you can supply power to the propeller."

Writer: Not Stated

LCC: QC

Where:

Date: Sep 30 2017 12:08 PM

What:

The 100m is fast but short like gamma rays, the 200m is like xrays, 400m like ultraviolet, 800m like visible light, 1500m like infrared, 5000m like microwaves and the 10,000 (or marathon if you like), is like radio waves, they travel the furthest and take the longest amount of time.

Writer: Alison Stuart

LCC: QC

Where: Reference Link Has Evaporated

Date: Sep 18 2016 11:14 PM

What: "We can see how an electron orbiting the nucleus of an atom is like an electric current flowing around a loop of wire."

Writer: Bruce Harvey 1997

LCC: QD

Where:

Date: Jun 15 2010 11:11 PM

What:

"Here's the deal. Electron shells are like nesting dolls, one tucked inside the other. The first shell, closest to the nucleus, can only hold two electrons. The second shell can hold eight, the third 18 and so on. Now imagine that each shell is a layer of emotional intimacy. The people you hold closest, tell the most to, inhabit the inner shell. Next is the layer of good friends, then acquaintances."

Writer: Emily McMason

LCC: QD

Where:

Date: Sep 14 2014 10:20 AM

What: "the source of gravity is not mass. Mass is inert, passive and subject to force from the energy density of free space. Energy density is like pressure under water on a rock. The pressure is equal and opposite to energy it has displaced. Matter is constantly seeking it's own level just like water. That is the level where all gravitational potential is equal throughout all of space. Matter displaces energy just like water. Two bodies gravitate because energy field equilibrium is upset by neighbor body. As bodies get closer, the force increases because energy field displaced is inversely proportional to distance squared. and they accelerate according to Newton's law. I call it the "energy displacement theory". Matter displaces energy. Matter has no physical meaning. It is merely "energy not" to use a boolean term."

Writer: rich-cliff-han

LCC: QB

Where:

Date: Jul 30 2013 3:34 PM

What: "Also the prokaryote flagella are very different in structure from the eukaryotic flagella! Here's a good way to think about bacterial vs eukaryotic flagella. Imagine clamping a rope to a drill bit and turning the drill on. As the drill bit rotates the rope flops around as mechanical energy is transferred from the rotating drill bit. The rope itself is passive, only moving because it is getting energy from the drill bit. That is like the prokaryote flagellum. The eukaryotic flagellum is like holding a snake in your hand. The snake is moving on its own not because of mechanical energy from your hand. The snake is active."

Writer: Paul Decelles

LCC: QP

Where:

Date: Sep 18 2014 5:17 PM

What: "Eating food with a low glycemic index is like putting a log of hard wood in the fire, it burns for hours, instead of paper and cardboard (refined sugar) where you have to keep on feeding and feeding the fire to keep warm unless it dies." >-------->> This is a great analogy for those who don't have any background in chemistry.

Writer: LAGREBE

LCC: QP

Where:

Date: Nov 27 2010 5:32 AM

What: "In the language of life, each of the ~23,000 genes/proteins encoded by the human genome is like a noun with its own special meaning. The possible interactions and functions of these proteins are akin to verbs. If we want to make real progress in understanding how cells work, a lot more researchers will need to markedly expand their biomolecular vocabularies. Otherwise, we will have a lot of data, but little knowledge."

Writer: s_pelech_kinexus

LCC: QR

Where:

Date: Jul 31 2011 12:50 PM

What: "If the polypeptide chains of a fibrous protein are thought of as string twisted into a rope, then a globular protein is like the same string rolled into a ball."

Writer: Glenn Toole, Susan Toole

LCC: QH506

Where:

Date: Feb 20 2014 3:40 PM

What: Glycogen, polymeric glucose, is like a roll of quarters and glucose is like an individual quarter. The body binds glucose molecules together to form glycogen. The analogy to coins is kinda like stacking quarters together to they can be put in a role of quarters for storage. There is an off/ on dynamics with glycogen/glucose. If there is excess glucose, some of it is bound to other glucose molecules to form glycogen. If glucose is need, as during exercise, glycogen is broken down to make glucose. This is sorta like taking from individual quarters from a role as you need to do laundry or make change.

Writer: LucretiaGemanica

LCC: QD

Where:

Date: Oct 30 2011 12:49 PM

What:

A pendrive contains data in ICs about any programe.similiarly a gene also contains information of any trait to be express in dna sequences coded for a particular trait.

Writer: vilas gupta

LCC: QH506

Where: Reference Link Has Evaporated

Date: Sep 13 2014 10:06 AM

What: "A handwriting analyst is like a wine connoisseur. A wine expert who really knows what he's talking about is a highly valuable person with lots of experience and knowledge. However, it's hard to be sure which wine connoisseurs are actually experts and which are faking it" .... The unifying idea is sensory evaluation.

Writer: Alison Bradley

LCC: Q

Where:

Date: Jan 26 2011 2:16 AM

What: See the video for a clear explanation. It the salt in the rim of a sombrero. When a lime roles around the inner rim of the sombrero it hits the salt which creates matter; I think.

Writer: Richard Gray

LCC: QC

Where:

Date: Oct 11 2013 1:10 PM

What: "Look up glycemic index and understand high glycemic index is like burning paper in a furnace with a high peak and a low crash, while low glycemic index is like burning firewood which will keep you body going for the long haul."

Writer: Akshun

LCC: QP

Where:

Date: Nov 27 2010 5:35 AM

What: "People who believe that the mind can be replicated on a computer tend to explain the mind in terms of a computer. When theorizing about the mind, especially to outsiders but also to one another, defenders of artificial intelligence (AI) often rely on computational concepts." --

Writer: Ari N. Schulman

LCC: Q

Where:

Date: Apr 11 2010 7:17 AM

What:

"A high signal-to-noise ratio is like the smooth ocean on a windless day, it's easy to see small objects in the water. COSY is a quite sensitive experiment, similar in ..."

and

a low signal to noise ration is like a duck on a sea with large swells. The swells are very large and make difficult to see the duck.

Writer: Neil E. Jacobsen

LCC: Q

Where:

Date: Nov 4 2017 10:58 AM

What:

"As an analogy, charged or electrostatic interactions are like those between a man and a woman--opposites attract. Non-polar or hydrophobic interactions are like those between two Americans of either gender in a third world country. Their dissimilarities from people of a very different cultural background act as a bond between them. Notice that the interaction is dependent on context, i.e., a surrounding environment that is very."

Writer: Merckx index

LCC: QD

Where:

Date: Sep 18 2014 1:35 PM

What: "Like DNA, inheritance goes in one direction, from parent to child." This analogy is on page 814 of the 4th edition.

Writer: Ellie Quigley

LCC: QA

Where:

Date: May 19 2010 7:20 AM

What: "Insulin is like a bouncer at the door - maybe he lets the prettier young women in, and maybe he tosses some obnoxious drunks. Maybe he is neutral when not many patrons are in the bar, maybe he turns you away if the joint is at capacity. But the door is not ever locked, and people come and go even as the number of drinkers grows and shrinks throughout the evening."

Writer: Kurt G. Harris MD

LCC: QP

Where: Reference Link Has Evaporated

Date: Jul 26 2010 8:09 AM

What: So Ionic bonding is like the hard core punk rock music..*sings* all your electrons are mine, we will own you. And Covalent bonds are like hippie folk music..."ok, lets all get together and be one with the electrons. And Nuclear bonding is like rap music. "Yo yo. We's nuklee-R don't make us go critical on y'all.

Writer: Chris Petrie

LCC: QD

Where:

Date: Jun 19 2010 12:35 AM

What: "Polar bonding relates to toddlers not sharing their toys." "Ionic bonding is like someone who gives a gift but doesn't get one back." Look under: "Bonding with Mrs. Relis and 6th grade Falcons in Advanced Science" in the link.

Writer: Mrs. Relis's 6th grade class

LCC: Q

Where: Reference Link Has Evaporated

Date: Jun 19 2010 12:35 AM

What:

Ionization energy is like taking candy from a baby. If a baby REALLY wants that candy, it will hold on tight and it will take someone else a lot of energy to take it away. If the baby doesn't want the candy that much, it won't take much energy for someone to take it away.

Lets say the BABY=ATOM and the CANDY=ELECTRON

An atom has a HIGH ionization energy if it takes a lot of energy to remove an electron. An atom has a LOW ionization energy if its easy to take an electron away.

Writer: Miranda Teats

LCC: QD

Where: Reference Link Has Evaporated

Date: Feb 21 2018 6:38 PM

What: 'Outlining this behaviour earned two scientists a Nobel prize in 1965. "The lac operon is like the hydrogen atom of molecular biology, it's the first system that describes gene regulation," Xie says.'

Writer: Sunney Xie

LCC: QR

Where:

Date: Jun 9 2010 7:01 AM

What: "Premise: Learning logic is like learning statistics. Premise: You can't learn statistics by cramming; you have to study it consistently. Conclusion: You probably can't learn logic by cramming; you have to study it consistently." Maybe. This page is a discussion of reasoning by analogy.

Writer: Vickie Christensen

LCC: QA

Where:

Date: Oct 30 2011 10:44 AM

What: "The leukotriene inflammatory cascade is like a nuclear strike to both the cardiovascular and central nervous system"

Writer: Kerry Friesen, M.D.

LCC: QP

Where: Reference Link Has Evaporated

Date: Aug 13 2010 2:23 AM

What: A mammalian cell is somewhat similar to a water balloon, in that, by weight it's mostly water and it's fluid and malleable. The outer rubber portion of the balloon is like the thin outer membrane found in a mammalian cell. And like a water balloon, mammalian cells are sensitive to mechanical shock. They will fall apart very easily if not handled gently.

Writer: LucretiaGermanica

LCC: QP

Where:

Date: Mar 27 2012 5:17 PM

What: DNA structure is like a twisted pearl necklace. Of course this analogy can only be taken so far. Pearls are generally homogenous in term of size and shape. The base pair sequence in DNA will vary considerably. The picture in the link is good visual initiation.

Writer: mattyflynn

LCC: QD

Where:

Date: Jul 10 2010 2:05 AM

What: As note just about every where, mammals, human beings can trace their maternal lineage by having their mitochondrial DNA sequenced. This DNA does not cross-over with male DNA and therefore its sequence shows much lower variability than nuclear DNA that has been recombined with paternal DNA. So a comparison of an individuals DNA to other's DNA can give a hint about how closely they may be related, on the mother's lineage.

Writer: LucyG

LCC: QH

Where: Reference Link Has Evaporated

Date: Dec 16 2011 1:15 AM

What: "Different models reflect different thinking on the part of the designer/analyst. What's really important is the analyst - not the model. A smart analyst with a simple model can work wonders. A powerful model in the hands of an inept analyst is like a toddler with a machine gun."...This page has a nice list of the limits of computer modeling, in this case it's about forest management, but the listed rules are applicable to any kind of computer modeling.

Writer: Not Stated

LCC: QA

Where:

Date: Jan 26 2011 2:01 AM

What: Or something. This analogy refers to a single point mutation, that is a single change in a DNA base that gives rise to a single amino acid change in a protein. The classic example is that taught in basic biochemistry, Sickle Cell Anemia. A single mutation in a gene leads to a change in an amino acid in Hemoglobin, which deforms the shape of these cells within human blood. Think of that change, that mutation , as a black pearl in a string of white pearls. That ones change can cause many physiological problems. This of course is the text book case. Many diseases are MUCH more complicated than this, but this example helps to realistically prime the mind.

Writer: Lucretia

LCC: QP

Where: Reference Link Has Evaporated

Date: May 13 2013 11:41 AM

What:

"Almost everywhere you look, when you start to analyze a mathematical concept, it's as if there's this tightly woven Oriental rug covered by dried leaves. You sweep away the leaves, and you start finding out about it, and everywhere you look the beautiful tapestry is there to be uncovered. You can sweep anywhere and find it underneath, with all sorts of fantastic structure. "

Writer: Dennis P. Sullivan

LCC: QA

Where:

Date: Aug 18 2014 8:04 PM

What:

"My hair is like a weather hygrometer (humidity) too "

Writer: Katrina Wynne, MA

LCC: QC

Where:

Date: May 29 2015 9:07 PM

What: "Remember that the nervous system is like the body's wiring system, and when you have a bunch of wires, it is easier and neater to bundle them. So, neurons are arranged like a bouquet of daisies."

Writer: Not Stated

LCC: QP351-495

Where:

Date: Mar 9 2014 1:41 PM

What: "Since the nucleus of an atom is like a ball inside a stadium, and since practically all the matter of an atom is in its nucleus, an atom is mostly empty space. "

Writer: David M. Schwartz

LCC: QD

Where:

Date: Jun 15 2010 11:11 PM

What: Some are close some are far. The ones furthest away will have slower interactions because of distance. See the link for further explanation.

Writer: Jeff Squyres

LCC: QA

Where:

Date: May 14 2013 6:03 PM

What: "Regarding the case in Australia, if the compositions of matter being patented consisted only in Open Reading Frames (ORFs), then it would not be appropriate to characterize them as "genes." Genes contain regulatory sequences, such as promoters, methyl groups, enhancers, and introns. If the ORFs were substantially lacking in these things, or if the ORFs were completely lacking in these things, then it would be the case that the compositions of matter were far removed and distant from what occurs in nature. I am not sure why journalists insist on using the term "genes" to refer to Open Reading Frames. An Open Reading Frame is like a boat that is missing a hull. Because an Open Reading Frame, almost by definition lacks regulatory sequences, the Open Reading Frame would not be able to function properly in its natural environment"

Writer: Not Stated

LCC: QR

Where: Reference Link Has Evaporated

Date: May 13 2013 7:39 PM

What: I studied cell biology/chemistry in college. Mammalian cells are complicated systems with many sub components and many ,many detailed sub-systems. I was reminded of this when learning the Oracle 10g and 11G. This database is a complicated, highly evolved system, with many subsystems that insure the survival of information the way a cell assures the survival of the DNA in the nucleus.

Writer: mattyflynn

LCC: QA

Where: Reference Link Has Evaporated

Date: Oct 7 2009 3:35 AM

What: "hybridization is like mixing orbitals of different 'color'. If the s orbital is 'black' and the p orbital is 'white', then one can get any shade of 'gray' (the hybrid orbital) by mixing various amounts of the two types."

Writer: jmontchamp

LCC: QD

Where: Reference Link Has Evaporated

Date: May 9 2013 6:18 PM

What: "Organic synthesis is like building with LEGOs"

Writer: Mary Virginia Orna

LCC: QD

Where: Reference Link Has Evaporated

Date: Jun 16 2010 5:31 AM

What: "Oxidation is named after oxygen,which is good at stripping electrons from molecules; to help you remember, think of oxygen as being caustic or destructive, like a paint-stripper. Oxidation strips off the electron paint, whereas reduction has the blanketing effect of a fresh coat of paint." That is blanketing with a coat of new molecules coated on another molecule.

Writer: Nick Lane

LCC: QD

Where:

Date: Nov 17 2012 10:23 AM

What: "Good up high, bad nearby--In some ways, ozone is like real estate: What's important is location, location, location."

Writer: Daniel Jacob

LCC: QD

Where: Reference Link Has Evaporated

Date: Dec 13 2012 11:11 AM

What: "Photosynthesis is like the Big Bang in evolution", defends James Barber, one of the greatest worldwide experts in this matter. "Thanks to it we have evolution of life on Earth as we know it today".

Writer: James Barber

LCC: QH

Where:

Date: Dec 13 2012 1:03 PM

What: A typical scenario for both processes goes like this; A variables' magnitude is picked, 1 short, 1 long and 1 in the middle. The study space is defined by the edges and a middle. A good way to test an assay is to determine the values at the extremes. Likewise with an artillery shot. In theory, the math should get you on the target with one shot. But due to variations in wind speed, humidity and other factors, a little empirical range finding is often required. Hopefully, in both cases, you can hit the target. For some reason, 3 is the magic number.

Writer: mattyflynn

LCC: Q

Where:

Date: Jul 20 2010 8:46 AM

What: "From a technological view, the pituitary gland is like the CPU of a computer; it directs the various processes required during a response from the environment. It produces the largest number of different hormones and therefore has the most effects on the body's functions, such as blood pressure, thirst, contractions during childbirth, milk production, sexual behavior and interest, body growth, the amount of water retained by cells, and other functions as well"

Writer: Not Stated

LCC: QP

Where:

Date: Jun 10 2013 1:27 PM

What: "POPPING BUBBLE WRAP IS LIKE PROZAC AND GASX IN ONE HANDY SHEET!"

Writer: Not Stated

LCC: Q

Where: Reference Link Has Evaporated

Date: Jul 1 2010 7:54 AM

What: "The basic rule of thumb is that Primary and Foreign keys are like a Parent - Child relationship. The Child stores the Parent's id. This way each Parent can have multiple Children. It can get a WHOLE lot more complicated, but this will give you a very good starting approach to most of your database solutions."

Writer: Michael Rodrigues

LCC: QA

Where:

Date: Dec 16 2011 7:36 PM

What: "a primary key is like a father in house, like only one but there may be a lot of childs just like columns." This is good. If there are children in a house, there must be a father. If there are rows in a table they must have a primary key, otherwise they are orphan rows.

Writer: Ashis Kumar Jena

LCC: QA

Where:

Date: Dec 16 2011 7:15 PM

What: In fact, the social security number is a primary key. By definition a primary key uniquely identifies a record in a database. This idea was necessary before electronic databases so as to keep track of individuals and their personal information. There are many unique identifiers that most people should be familiar with: license plates, finger prints and retinal scans all convey uniqueness.

Writer: LucretiaGermanica

LCC: QA

Where: Reference Link Has Evaporated

Date: Dec 16 2011 7:53 PM

What: "Primary Keys are like fingerprints: there are no two human beings with identical fingerprints."

Writer: Not Stated

LCC: QA

Where: Reference Link Has Evaporated

Date: Dec 16 2011 7:32 PM

What: What is a protease? A protease, also called proteinase or proteolytic enzyme, is a protein molecule that can cleave the peptide bonds linking adjacent amino acids in a protein or peptide. Consequently, proteases are sometimes referred to as "molecular scissors." Like other enzymes, proteases are catalysts - a single protease molecule can cleave hundreds to thousands of peptide bonds per minute.

Writer: moocow300

LCC: QD

Where: Reference Link Has Evaporated

Date: Oct 6 2009 3:50 AM

What: This change is more physical than chemical. Proteins in their native natural active state are not really solid, but kinda globular gelatinous in nature. When they are heated, in the 35 to 45 degree range, they ,in essence, melt. Melting is a phase transformation not a chemical reaction. The melting changes the 3-d structure of the protein usually rendering it inactive. This would be the result with an enzyme such as a protease.

Writer: Lucretia

LCC: QD

Where: Reference Link Has Evaporated

Date: May 6 2013 10:29 AM

What: "First of all, there is a proton transfer to the hydroxyl group. This should look familiar: protonation is like serving a deportation notice to the hydroxyl group, telling it that expulsion is imminent. "

Writer: James ...

LCC: QD

Where:

Date: Jun 16 2010 5:31 AM

What:

"A particle accelerator is like throwing two apples at each other. As they collide they form a watermelon which immediately decays into raisins. The detectors pick up the raisins and it is the researchers' jobs to put the raisins back together to the form of the watermelon again."

Writer: Jeremy Jones

LCC: QC

Where:

Date: Dec 17 2014 11:32 AM

What:

"..Seattle biochemist David Baker explains it, a protein's structure is like a ball on a sloping floor: It will find its lowest energy state just as the ball will naturally roll to the surface's lowest point. Figuring out the "correct" shape of a given protein, then means finding the shape with the lowest energy level."

Writer: David Baker

LCC: QD

Where:

Date: Sep 4 2014 11:49 AM

What: "The recessive gene is like a white sheet of paper and the dominant is like a colored dye. The color will always show up, but the white cannot over power the color. If there are two whites however then the offspring will be white." Or maybe the dominant gene is like a bossy person.....see the link for the rest.

Writer: andrea c

LCC: QR

Where:

Date: Dec 13 2012 11:50 AM

What: "UC San Diego biologist Ajit Varki doesn't want to debate evolution. Doing that, he said, would make people think there's something to debate. For him, rejecting evolution is like trying to understand chemistry without the Periodic Table of the Elements or arguing that Earth is flat. "

Writer: Ajit Varki

LCC: QH

Where: Reference Link Has Evaporated

Date: Aug 7 2011 11:27 AM

What:

Ribosomes are like ladders because they connect together to create proteins.

Writer: RT

LCC: QH

Where: Reference Link Has Evaporated

Date: Dec 4 2014 9:51 PM

What: "DNA is the archival record of our being. It's carried in every cell of our body. RNA is the working copy of that record. DNA is like the American constitution buried in a Washington vault. RNA is like the working law. It's fractional and varied, but it always reflects that document in the vault. "

Writer: John H. Lienhard

LCC: QD

Where:

Date: May 14 2013 2:56 PM

What: "Simple diffusion is like a random walk, Banavar explains. In such a walk, the direction of each successive step is governed by chance. If a crowd of random walkers starts from the same point, the pattern of dispersal of the crowd is predictable." The link is a study of comparing people and molecules. The assumption seems to be that people can modeled as molecules. This of course assumes that people have no free will,this is a BIG assumption.

Writer: Jayanth R. Banavar

LCC: QD

Where:

Date: May 13 2013 4:41 PM

What: "We should give the solar guys a bit of a break here, we seem happy to taunt when someone's estimate falls flat. I don't get that. An analogy I read somewhere is that understanding the solar cycle is like a doctor trying to understand how the human heart works on the basis of 23 heartbeats, and only having a decent stethoscope for the last 4 or 5."

Writer: Dan

LCC: QB

Where:

Date: Jun 12 2010 7:41 AM

What: "Our geology is like a craggy old sun-etched Wild West gunslinger in Hollywood - it would be impossible to cram more evidence of character and age into one face, that's us - and it makes our wines different. We call it the energy of memory. And when you can capture that spirit of place in a wine you strike something that resonates with authentic brilliance."

Writer: Bruce Jack

LCC: QE

Where:

Date: Apr 14 2013 2:53 PM

What: and the big objects, some say a bowling ball can distort the sheet and push it around and stuff................

Writer: Randall Munroe

LCC: QB

Where:

Date: Dec 9 2012 12:49 PM

What: Space-time is like a questionable sausage: nobody knows who or what made it, or where it came from, or what it's made of, and if you eat it all you'll probably die. Moral: don't eat space-time.

Writer: iconmaster

LCC: QB

Where: Reference Link Has Evaporated

Date: Dec 9 2012 12:57 PM

What: "A long-distance space voyage is like a road trip over "a substantial number of hills and valleys," explains Olds, now a project engineer at Analytical Mechanics Associates, Inc., in Hampton, Va. The differential evolution algorithm takes advantage of those ups and downs by helping the spacecraft make use of gravity's peaks and valleys."

Writer: Aaron Olds

LCC: QB

Where:

Date: May 15 2013 9:42 PM

What: The active entities in many biotech drugs are antibodies, enzymes or peptides. These are molecules that are made by living organisms; most of the time it's either a mammalian cell or bacteria. These drugs are made of the same molecules that make up beef; that is proteins which are polymers made up of amino acids. As such raw beef and unformulated drugs can behave in a similar way. That is, if you leave a fresh piece of beef on a warm counter for an extended period of time it will rot. If you dry it out, the shelf life is expanded by many months. Likewise with biotech drugs. One means of stabilizing these products is lyophilization or better know as freeze drying. This removes the water which inhibits oxidation as well as bacterial contamination. There is much more to this process, but drying can stabilize beef as well as drugs.

Writer: mattyflynn

LCC: QP

Where: Reference Link Has Evaporated

Date: Dec 24 2009 11:19 AM

What: "But what makes them really special is that their spectral lines show *little or no hydrogen*. Since most of the universe is made of hydrogen, a star without hydrogen is like a dry fish. How can this be?"

Writer: John Baez

LCC: QB

Where:

Date: Nov 12 2012 4:15 PM

What:

"The small intestine is like a long, coiled tube. The center of that tube, the lumen, is filled with food material and bacteria that normally don't cause disease. It's protected from harmful pathogens by a layer of mucus secreted from goblet cells. "

Writer: Jim Dryden

LCC: QP

Where:

Date: Jan 26 2015 7:24 PM

What: The device "is like a cardiac pacemaker," said Mahlon R. DeLong, a professor of neurology at Emory who first identified the problem regions. A thin wire (the electrode) is inserted through the skull and into that region, then connected to a controller and battery implanted under a patient's skin. The results can be "dramatic and transformative,"

Writer: Josh Fischman

LCC: QP

Where:

Date: Jul 31 2011 1:09 PM

What: "Think of cartilage as a house - collagen is like the frame of a house, glucosamine/chondroitin are like the sheetrock. In cartilage, collagen is the framework that holds everything in place, including chondroitin and glucosamine. If collagen is degraded, there is no framework to hold chondroitin and glucosamine."

Writer: Not Stated

LCC: QP

Where:

Date: Aug 12 2011 10:09 AM

What: I set up a database website and made it searchable by the major search engine bots. All the ip hits and page calls were recorded in MySQL. There are several bots that searched the whole database. The Google-bot is very thorough. It pokes its nose into every nook and cranny and page call possible in the database. It even started searching the database beyond what I wanted indexed. Sorta like a Yenta, getting into all the parts of my site even through I didn't want it to, a Yenta-bot if you will. Compared to the Google-bot, the Yahoo bot is like an alcoholic father who shows up every other week and falls asleep on the couch.

Writer: LucretiaGermanica

LCC: QA

Where:

Date: Aug 10 2010 6:46 AM

What: "Your analogies for visualizing the interaction are nice: The classical interaction of a charged object in a changing electric field (like the water molecule dipole in the microwave) is like the sea lifting and dropping a ship. The interactions of quantum photons with other quantum particles are better thought of as 'impacts.'"........see the link for the rest..

Writer: Flip Tanedo

LCC: QC

Where:

Date: Jan 28 2011 3:31 AM

What: "The last thing that can be doubted is matter: hard solid world we live in. But is it? Is matter really what we think it is?! The answer is No. We live in - what Richard Dawkins calls - "the middle world". Matter is for the most part emptiness. There is way more emptiness in a seemingly solid matter than there is stuff. If we were small enough, we would see that the nucleus of an atom is like a fly hovering in the middle of a football stadium, the outer walls of the stadium being the electrons encircling the nucleus."

Writer: Roxilius

LCC: QD

Where: Reference Link Has Evaporated

Date: Jun 15 2010 11:11 PM

What: An aggregation pheromone signals both male and female weevils to congregate in the same area with good feeding conditions. The pheromone is like a chemical text message that tells the nearby weevils that "The party is here, come on over."

Writer: Not Stated

LCC: QP

Where:

Date: May 13 2013 5:08 PM

What: "They have most of their genes on a chromosome that is passed just to the descendents of each bacterium. But some genes are on a tiny loop of DNA called a plasmid that can leave one bacterium and enter another. If a chromosome is like a hard drive of genetic information, a plasmid is like a flash drive-tiny and portable."

Writer: Albert Fuchs

LCC: QR

Where:

Date: May 13 2013 5:44 PM

What: "I usually compare protein biosynthesis to the construction of a building. The mRNA contains information comparable to the plan of a building while the ribosome is like the construction site. The amino acids are the equivalents of blocks used for the building while the tRNAs are like the workmen bringing up these amino acids for the construction"

Writer: Godwin I Adoga

LCC: QP

Where:

Date: Oct 18 2011 10:52 AM

What: Within the Oracle instance, the database files have the complexity and order of a beehive. The tablespace is like The Queen Bee of the Oracle Hive. The tablespace is the Queen Bee and the *.dbf files are her DNA. The worker bees in the instance, the background processes and memory structures have but one purpose; they provide for the access, maintenance and preservation of the *.dbf files. The DNA of the database.

Writer: mattyflynn

LCC: QA

Where:

Date: Oct 11 2010 1:17 AM

What: "The telomere is like a cellular clock, because every time a cell divides, the telomere shortens. After a cell has grown and divided a few dozen times, the telomeres turn on an alarm system that prevents further division. If this clock doesn't function right, cells either end up with damaged chromosomes or they become "immortal" and continue dividing endlessly -- either way it's bad news and leads to cancer or disease."

Writer: Not Stated

LCC: QP

Where:

Date: May 14 2013 6:22 PM

What: "Functions of the thyroid hormones. My mentor, Dr. Paul Eck, used to say that the thyroid hormone is like the spark plugs of the body. They ignite the fuel in the mitochondria of the cell to produce energy with which the body performs all of its functions. For this reason, any problem with the thyroid gland causes energy problems and usually fatigue."

Writer: Dr. Paul Eck

LCC: QP

Where:

Date: May 9 2013 5:47 PM

What: "Transcription factors are like a light switch. They turn genes on and off. ELF5 makes breast cancer cells ignore estrogen. That means estrogen-blocking drugs don't work anymore."

Writer: Joseph V. Madia, MD

LCC: QP

Where: Reference Link Has Evaporated

Date: May 15 2013 2:29 PM

What: There sure is a lot of jargon in this field. Here' my summary of converting data from an operational database to a data warehouse. It goes something like this: Operational data are stored in OLTP software which consists of typical 2 dimensional relational tables. These work well for rapid and constant transactions: updates, insertions and deletions. To build a data warehouse, it's best to have data in a form in which it can be queried and displayed in a multitude of dimensions, which is the objective of having a data warehouse. Thus the conceptual model of the Rubiks cubes. But this is a conceptual model that helps humans visualize several dimensions, the data itself never "exists" in 3 dimensions. Data for a data warehouse are converted into and stored in a form which an OLAP tool can analyze it in a multitude of dimensions. This is the function of the star schema. It is a particular type of relational table structure in which 2 dimensional tables can be analyzed as if they were related to each other in a multitude of dimensions. A visualization crutch for this process might be the conversion that occurs with Origami, in which a 2-d object, a piece of paper, is converted into a 3-d object by systematic folding.

Writer: mattyflynn

LCC: QA

Where: Reference Link Has Evaporated

Date: May 15 2010 2:16 AM

What: "Trif is a signal transducer-an adaptor molecule that helps turn these positive detections into immune reactions. Significantly, Trif is the topmost protein shared by the pathway that detects gram-negative bacteria and the pathway that detects most viruses. It is like a waiter who brings orders from two different customers into the same kitchen."

Writer: Jason Socrates Bardi

LCC: QP

Where:

Date: Jun 19 2010 12:35 AM

What: "Insulin is essential to the metabolic process. Trying to burn glucose without insulin is like trying to set fire to a pile of logs without a match. It can't be done."

Writer: Not Stated

LCC: QP

Where:

Date: Jul 26 2010 8:14 AM

What:

"The ring structure of testosterone makes it a molecule that, in three-dimensions, has a zig-zag shape. The three-dimensional shape of testosterone is like a three-piece foldable lawn chair that has been unfolded but not to the point where it is straight."

Writer: David H. Nguyen

LCC: QD

Where:

Date: Aug 20 2015 4:53 PM

What: "To this end, the body makes another protein - the famous ubiquitin - adhere to the protein carrying out the task. The UPV/EHU chemist, Fernando Cossio, stated at a conference that ubiquitin is like the kiss of Judas. It marks the destiny of the protein on the path to destruction. "

Writer: Fernando Cossio

LCC: QD

Where:

Date: May 15 2013 9:27 PM

What: "The truth is that UNIX is like a mirror, it reflects without distortion the personality of the people who write applications for it. Because UNIX has been around for almost 16 years now, its no surprise that a lot of variety has shown up in the way the user interface is handled by applications programmers. "

Writer: M. David Rook

LCC: QA

Where: Reference Link Has Evaporated

Date: Jun 12 2010 7:41 AM

What: "UNIX is like driving clutch instead of automatic...very fast, very powerful, stable on the curves... but the learning curve is steep."

Writer: Not Stated

LCC: QA

Where:

Date: Jun 12 2010 7:41 AM

What: " Using insulin is like ploughing the land before planting seeds. Insulin helps achieve good glycemic control, and helps the antibiotics, antitubercular drugs and pain suppressants produce their effect in an efficient and time saving manner."----The linked article describes using analogies to explain how insulin works.......

Writer: Sanjay Kalra DM

LCC: QP

Where:

Date: Jan 11 2011 2:32 AM

What: "Group called mica often occurs in rocks in sheet form. (some sheets held together by van de Waals bonds--very weak. These bonds can be peeled apart. Van der Waals bonds are like post-it notes)"

Writer: Not Stated

LCC: QE

Where:

Date: May 15 2013 9:58 PM

What: "You know, I'm glad you said something, because I've given this a lot of thought since my comment. Ionic bonds are the only bonds where anything is "exchanged," i.e., an electron or two. So maybe covalent and hydrogen bonding is really only friendship. Metallic bonds are like office friendships and van der Waals bonds are like friendly acquaintanceships where you're always happy to "play catch-up" every once in a while. I think I may have been a little hasty in my judgment of the chemical community."

Writer: Curmudgeonliness

LCC: QD

Where:

Date: May 15 2013 10:01 PM

What: "Vectors are like taxicabs that drive healthy DNA into cells; viruses, whose sole purpose is to get inside cells and infect them, make useful vectors." It's sorted like using a car to crash through a fence. ehh?

Writer: Sheryl Gay Stolberg

LCC: QR

Where:

Date: May 15 2013 9:51 PM

What: Good association. Violence is like shivering, a biological response to a change in environment. The comment in the discussion , was that most people have analogized violence as thirst, a basic human function. Pinker is trying to re-frame the discussion around human nature.

Writer: Steven Pinker

LCC: QH

Where: Reference Link Has Evaporated

Date: Oct 9 2012 1:00 PM

What:

vectors are like a trojan horse, where the foreign DNA is the foreign people inside, and the host cell is the city of Troy where the vectors are allowed entry.

Writer: Patrik Kurt Schmidt

LCC: QH506

Where: Reference Link Has Evaporated

Date: Jul 21 2017 1:09 PM

What: Very nice association stated here. Large trees sequester carbon, a lot of carbon, and hold it for a long time since they live so long. The writer applies the same idea to whales. They are large, made of carbon and live a long time. They would be very efficient carbon banks.

Writer: Andy Pershing

LCC: QH

Where:

Date: Jan 21 2012 11:53 AM

What: "Word Press is like a popular sports car: It is by far the most-often used installed blogging platform on the planet. A huge community helps support you if you decide to use it, but it's not intended for the Web novice. You need to either gain expertise or hire someone with that expertise. Otherwise, you end up in a ditch."

Writer: Not Stated

LCC: QA

Where: Reference Link Has Evaporated

Date: Feb 29 2012 2:18 PM

What: "XML is like a Euro for the Internet. If users (people) don't have to spend time and effort converting their data (money) from one format (currency) to another when they move between computer systems (countries), everything will move faster and easier. The Internet economy will heat up, and the cost of doing business on the Internet will go down."

Writer: LucretiaGermanica

LCC: QA

Where:

Date: Jun 8 2010 9:30 AM

What: "Self Describing - Cardboard like XML can have information printed on is. "Contains one TV and cables. Made in Japan". Likewise XML has element and attribute names to describe the contents of the package, the data. Cardboard like XML is a self describing material." The article has more.

Writer: LucretiaGermanica

LCC: QA

Where:

Date: Jun 8 2010 9:34 AM

What: An xsl template can be compared to a programming function. It is a way of organizing XML styling code so that it is readable and easy to understand. The pharase "" means call the template called type and do the formatting that this templates contains. Once this is understood, and you have experience with using functions in other languages, this part of xsl become easier to work with and apply.

Writer: LucretiaMia

LCC: QA

Where:

Date: Jun 3 2012 11:17 PM

What: "The researchers used the way Japanese Pachinko machines operate as a model to explain the interactions of our genes with drugs, the environment and microbial metabolism. Their theory states that metabolic interactions are often highly probabilistic and the flows of molecules through the machine are dependent on combinations of genetic variations with factors such as diet and the composition of the gut microflora."

Writer: Professor Jeremy Nic

LCC: QP

Where: Reference Link Has Evaporated

Date: May 10 2013 4:40 PM

What: "In any case, I have an argument for why the zygote would possess a functional equivalent. To use an analogy, the equivalent in a zygote is like a swiss army knife. It has to be unfolded first before use, but contains the same functionality. It is like a zipped file. It doesn't matter whether you send a file zipped or not, if I only care about what the unzipped file does, especially if it's self extracting. "

Writer: keda

LCC: QP

Where:

Date: May 15 2013 10:47 PM