Bill Arnold: Scientist, philosopher, friend

Bill Arnold is a great scientist in whose laboratory I was privileged to work during the years he discovered the thermoluminescence and the electroluminescence of green plants. I reminisce about Bill's influences on me, scientific and otherwise, during those years.     

Jon Widom,the Scientist

Abstract

The structure of base non-specific ribonuclease Ms from Aspergillus saitoi was predicted by sequence similarity to guanine-specific RNase T1 of known structure. In this paper the interaction pattern of binding site of RNase Ms with differnt nucleic acids bases is analysed using model building and energy minimisation techniques. It is shown that unspecificity of this protein can be explained only when taking into account flexibility of the base recognition loop.     

Artist and Educator

Policy can be a useful tool for effecting change, but policy analysis, which shapes policy development, has been underused in music education research. This paper demonstrates how Bardach's (2000) Eightfold Path can be used to develop solutions to problems in music education. Some have argued that school music programs do not prepare students to engage musically in today's society. To develop alternative solutions and project their outcomes, I analyze several current and past efforts to redefine music education and secure its place in the curriculum. Several alternatives, which include revising the National Standards, developing a national curriculum, improving professional development, and reconceiving advocacy, are evaluated, and policy recommendations are made that will enable the profession to redefine music education to better serve today's students.     

Brain plasticity and mental processes: Cajal again

The year 2006 marks the 100th anniversary of the first Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for studies in the field of the Neurosciences jointly awarded to Camillo Golgi and Santiago Ramón y Cajal for their key contributions to the study of the nervous system. This award represented the beginning of the modern era of neuroscience. Using the Golgi method, Cajal made fundamental, but often unappreciated, contributions to the study of the relationship between brain plasticity and mental processes. Here, I focus on some of these early experiments and how they continue to influence studies of brain plasticity.