Jeff Gore (apparently no relation) is currently a postdoc in physics at MIT. He
is currently studying the evolution of cooperation in the laboratory of MIT Prof. Alexander van Oudenaarden. The conditions required for the initiation and maintenance of cooperation is a classic problem in evolutionary biology with deep connections to game theory. Any evolutionary stable state between competing strategies must also be a Nash Equilibrium of the corresponding "game."
As a model system to explore competition and cooperation experimentally, Jeff is studying the metabolism of sucrose by yeast. The first step of the digestion of the disaccharide sucrose involves enzymatic breakdown of the molecule into its two constituent monosaccharides. This reaction is done outside the cell, making it possible for neighboring cells to "cheat" by consuming the monosaccharides created by other cells.
But that's not why he's here. It seems he's the founder of Citizens for Retiring the Penny which, well, wants to do just that. RetireThePenny.org has the details. The issue was featured on 60 Minutes recently:
Gore does research in biophysics. But away from the lab, he's a fearless crusader against the penny, arguing that if time is money, the cent is senseless. "I read somewhere that two or two and a half seconds are wasted per cash transaction as a result of the use of pennies. And I started thinking, you know, that doesn’t sound like very much, but you know, maybe it starts adding up if you do the calculation," he says.
Gore has devised an Einsteinian equation of productivity to determine how much time America wastes dealing with pennies, counting them out in stores, giving them back in change, fishing them out of the couch and putting them in penny jars.
"You come out to a wasted time of 2.4 hours per year per person which actually is quite a lot," Gore explains.
And with wages in the country averaging $17 an hour, that means pennies are costing each of us $41 a year. "And you multiply that by 250 million adults in this country, you come out to ten billion per year, which is quite a lot of money," Gore says.
FoxBusiness.com also has a recent story, which also relates:
Mark Weller, executive director of Americans for Common Cents, said the penny benefits consumers.
"The alternative is rounding to the nickel, and that's a loser for consumers who are going to pay more for everything from a gallon of milk to a gallon of gas," Weller said. "So you not only have an overall hit on the economy, but those who can least afford it."
He added that pennies fuel charitable causes, with people willing to toss a few into a bucket.
"The penny may seem small as an individual item," Weller said. "But when you gather them you reach significant sums."
60 minutes talked to Weller, too. And pointed out that Weller is a lobbyist for the company that makes the little zinc disks that become pennies. But he says that the penny market isn't tremendously significant to the zinc industry. Despite, I suppose, the fact that it costs nearly 2 cents to make a penny. You gotta think that a good chunk of that goes for the zinc. Although it occurs to me that a solution might be to get rid of the zinc, rather than the penny. But what do I know? I'm just an unemployed blogger-scientist.
But back to Dr. Jeff Gore, Ph.D. Among other "Organizations that {he is} affiliated with or support{s}" are various labs, the Hertz foundation, Freedom House, and the Brookings Institution.
I suspect this will be an entertaining segment.
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