<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?><oembed><version><![CDATA[1.0]]></version><provider_name><![CDATA[A Blog Around The Clock]]></provider_name><provider_url><![CDATA[http://blog.coturnix.org]]></provider_url><author_name><![CDATA[Bora Zivkovic]]></author_name><author_url><![CDATA[https://blog.coturnix.org/author/coturnix/]]></author_url><title><![CDATA[Rube-Goldberg Cascades of Molecular&nbsp;Reactions]]></title><type><![CDATA[link]]></type><html><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://scienceblogs.com/evolgen/2007/04/a_rube_goldberg_machine.php" target="_blank" title="">RPM</a> found this on <a href="http://thedisgruntled.blogspot.com/2007/04/awesome-rube-goldberg-machine.html" target="_blank" title="">The Disgruntled Chemist&#8217;s</a> blog: the most awesome Rube-Goldberg machine I have ever seen.  Much better than the one built by the Mythbusters guys.  Just follow <a href="http://www.chilloutzone.de/files/07022502.html" target="_blank" title="">this link</a> and watch the movie!<br />
RPM complains that it does not appear to actually do anything, but, who cares?  The thing is so intricate!  Think of it this way &#8211; this is a metaphor for a cell: the (circadian) clock sounds an alarm and as a result a large number of molecular interactions occur resulting, in the end, in the opening of <strike>the curtain</strike> an ion channel.<br />
I have already mentioned <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/clock/2006/08/the_clock_metaphor.php" target="_blank" title="">here</a>, <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/clock/2006/07/deceptive_metaphor_of_the_biol.php" target="_blank" title="">here</a> and <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/clock/2006/11/reverend_william_paleys_circad.php" target="_blank" title="">here</a> that a Rube-Goldberg machine is a better metaphor for the circadian mechanism than the Clock, but it is also a better metaphor for all things intracellular as well: one biochemical reaction leading to another, to another, to another&#8230;.</p>
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