Scientific MOOCs follower. Author of Airpocalypse, a techno-medical thriller (Out Summer 2017)


Welcome to the digital era of biology (and to this modest blog I started in early 2005).

To cure many diseases, like cancer or cystic fibrosis, we will need to target genes (mutations, for ex.), not organs! I am convinced that the future of replacement medicine (organ transplant) is genomics (the science of the human genome). In 10 years we will be replacing (modifying) genes; not organs!


Anticipating the $100 genome era and the P4™ medicine revolution. P4 Medicine (Predictive, Personalized, Preventive, & Participatory): Catalyzing a Revolution from Reactive to Proactive Medicine.


I am an early adopter of scientific MOOCs. I've earned myself four MIT digital diplomas: 7.00x, 7.28x1, 7.28.x2 and 7QBWx. Instructor of 7.00x: Eric Lander PhD.

Upcoming books: Airpocalypse, a medical thriller (action taking place in Beijing) 2017; Jesus CRISPR Superstar, a sci-fi -- French title: La Passion du CRISPR (2018).

I love Genomics. Would you rather donate your data, or... your vital organs? Imagine all the people sharing their data...

Audio files on this blog are Windows files ; if you have a Mac, you might want to use VLC (http://www.videolan.org) to read them.

Concernant les fichiers son ou audio (audio files) sur ce blog : ce sont des fichiers Windows ; pour les lire sur Mac, il faut les ouvrir avec VLC (http://www.videolan.org).


"Hollywood death" in the movie "Star Trek Into Darkness"



"Star Trek Into Darkness" is the prequel to "The Wrath of Khan". I do not intend to rewrite what has already be written regarding "Star Trek Into Darkness", let's just say that you should call this "fan service" instead of  "a movie". There's a scenario all right, but there is no story, no creativity... quite everybody agrees on that...

At the beginning of the film, Admiral Christopher Pike (young Kirk's boss) dies... Spock tries to assist him... I'm sure you've seen (at least) one of these famous "Hollywood heart attacks" in some kind of a movie... Well, cardiologists will tell you they are famous because they're made in Hollywood... So, of course you know what a heart attack looks like: the victim stops what they're doing, their eyes open wide, they clutch their chest, make some funny noises, and then they collapse to the floor. Right?
Wrong. (Don't believe everything you see on TV.) In reality, heart attacks are often much tougher to spot from a distance... Same thing goes for death. Death is a continuum, not a moment. So says science. Instant coffee, instant heart attack, instant death. Well this "Star Trek" movie makes no exception. Admiral Christopher Pike dies as if arrested by cops pointing a gun at him and yelling: "Freeze!" (real cops don't yell "freeze!" by the way, so that's just another fiction). Spock, trying his Vulcan trick called "mindfuse" on Pike says it felt like the "download" had to stop at once because Pike had died... This is one scientific inaccuracy, coming from... Spock...

Real death is a continuum... This is precisely what makes the retrieval of vital organs tricky... The organs have to be living; the person has to be dead... dead enough... So no, Mr. Spock, death is not like a push button light switch... though transplant surgeons sure thing wish it were...

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