Bloomberg BusinessWeek, July 4, 2016

choi

Bloomberg BusinessWeek, July 4, 2016
(1) Mary Schlangenstein and Michael Sasso, Flights Are Full. Pilot Ranks, Not So Much/
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/ar ... or-airlines-on-edge

Quote:

"Four-year flight-training costs for a commercial aviation aerospace major total about $64,500 at the University of North Dakota, home to the largest public aviation program in the US. That excludes tuition and room and board, which can add as much as $105,400 for an out-of-state student.

"First-year pay at commuter carriers averages $35,227 [in other words, ' low pay at regional carriers']. A first officer, or copilot, on the smallest aircraft at large airlines earns an average $55,054 his first year, according to [Kit (short form of Katherine)] Darby[, president of KitDarby.com Aviation Consulting]. That can increase to more than $120,000 in his fifth year, flying the largest plane [or a co-pilot]. A captain at top seniority flying the biggest planes averages $208,828.

Note:
(a) summary underneath the title in print: With recruits cool to low starting pay, airlines could face shortages
(b) The quotations above are from the print, which deviates slightly (mostly stylish) from the online version. There is no need to read the rest of the text.

(2) China's Tiny Stocks Trade Like Giants.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/ar ... w-king-of-exchanges
(The Shanghai Stock Exchange's reign as the premier venue for trading Chinese equities is coming to an end. The new volume leader is Shenzhen's Small & Medium Enterprise Board, a 12-year-old market mostly for non-state-owned companies. Daily trading on the SME Board first eclipsed that of Shanghai, the oldest of China’s four major exchanges, in mid-May")

Note: summary underneath the title in print: Volume on the Small and Medium Enterprise Board has surged

choi

(3) Robert Kolker,
How Jennifer Doudna's Gene-Editing Technique Will Change the World. Using Crispr and the Cas9 protein, this scientist made the discovery of the century. Funny you should ask: No, she's not looking to share the money or the credit.
How Feng Zhang's Gene-Editing Technique Will Change the World. Using Crispr and the Cas9 protein, this scientist made the discovery of the century. Funny you should ask: No, he's not looking to share the money or the credit.
http://www.bloomberg.com/feature ... l-change-the-world/

Quote:

"Zhang spent months testing Cas9 enzymes, and was preparing to publish his findings in 2012, when Doudna and Charpentier's paper came out. In Zhang's paper, published a few months later, he showed how he'd successfully harnessed Crispr with Cas9 to edit a gene in a [sic; should be 'an'] eukaryotic cell—that is, a cell with a nucleus. In the eyes of some, that distinction vaulted him ahead of Doudna and Charpentier. To edit a bacterial gene, the way Doudna had, was one thing; to actually monkey with the building blocks of humanity was another.

"Many were surprised that Zhang received the Crispr-Cas9 patent, given that Doudna published first and filed for her patent seven months ahead of him. The reason: Zhang had paid $70 to have his application expedited. Some have interpreted that as a slimy move; the patent lawyers and experts I spoke with say that may have been his only option to avoid his application being deemed in conflict with Doudna's. In any case, almost immediately after Zhang got his first patent on April 15, 2014, UC Berkeley amended Doudna's application to counter his claim.

"There's one more major quirk. The entire dispute, called an 'interference' case because the patent claims are said to interfere with one another, is moving forward based on a set of rules that have been changed since it was filed. Under the old rules, the scientist deemed the 'first to invent' wins. Under the new rules, the patent goes to the 'first to file,' matching the system in many other countries.

My comment
(a)
(i) monkey (vi): "TAMPER —usually used with with <don't monkey with the settings>"
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/monkey
(ii) monkey (v): " (intr; usually foll by around, with, etc) to meddle, fool, or tinker"
http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/monkey

(b) first to file and first to invent
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_to_file_and_first_to_invent
(Canada, the Philippines, and the United States had been among the only countries to use first-to-invent systems, but each switched to first-to-file in 1989, 1998, and 2013 respectively)
(c) Under first to file, Doudna will win (though this report only mention publication time, usually patent application is done before publication). What about the French (woman)?
(d) I take dim view of the vaunted discovery -- there are still too many pitfalls for it to be useful (read: unfailingly without error -- gene edicting in unwanted places will be disastrous) in eukaryotic cells.