Houston's Comicpalooza is a big geek draw. Photo by Sean Bellinger

Houston geeks, unite. Bayou City has been ranked the sixth-geekiest big city in the U.S.

In honor of Embrace Your Geekness Day (July 13), Lawn Love ranked the 200 largest cities in the U.S. to determine their geekiness level. It relied on factors such as number of stores selling comics and video games, number of geek Meetup groups, and number of costume shops to develop the ranking.

Houston ranked:

  • Fifth for number of comic book stores
  • Fifth for number of “fan-cons”
  • Sixth for number of cosplay/costume stores
  • Tenth for number of geek Meetup groups

“Read your favorite comics from Third Planet before finding the perfect pieces at Four Quarters Costumes for your next cosplay,” Lawn Love recommends to Houston geeks.

One other city in Texas actually outdid Houston in terms of geekiness. San Antonio ranks fifth, one spot above Bayou City. The remainder of Texas’ mega-cities appear in the top 50: Austin at No. 9, Dallas at No. 21, and Fort Worth at No. 48.

Here’s how the rest of Texas’ big cities fared in the study:

  • Plano, No. 58
  • Irving, No. 60
  • El Paso, No. 73
  • Arlington, No. 76
  • Lubbock, No. 87
  • Killeen, No. 108
  • Corpus Christi, No. 110
  • McAllen, No. 121
  • Denton, No. 127
  • Midland, No. 148
  • Garland, No. 162
  • Frisco, No. 164
  • Mesquite, No. 169
  • Pasadena, No. 174
  • Grand Prairie, No. 177
  • Laredo, No. 181
  • Brownsville, No. 186 (tie)
  • McKinney, No. 186 (tie)

Now, you might be wondering what the difference is between a geek and a nerd. Although the terms often are used interchangeably these days, there technically is a difference, according to Rob Weiner, popular culture and humanities librarian at Texas Tech University in Lubbock.

“A geek is one who is obsessed with collecting materials and following trends about their subject of interest, while a nerd is one who is educated and intellectual about a certain topic or subject area,” Weiner tells Lawn Love. “Nerds focus more on a wider breath of knowledge (and usually have a more technical or scientific knowledge base), while geeks focus on collecting and trends that go with pop culture.”

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This article originally ran on CultureMap.

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Axiom Space-tested cancer drug advances to clinical trials

mission critical

A cancer-fighting drug tested aboard several Axiom Space missions is moving forward to clinical trials.

Rebecsinib, which targets a cancer cloning and immune evasion gene, ADAR1, has received FDA approval to enter clinical trials under active Investigational New Drug (IND) status, according to a news release. The drug was tested aboard Axiom Mission 2 (Ax-2) and Axiom Mission 3 (Ax-3). It was developed by Aspera Biomedicine, led by Dr. Catriona Jamieson, director of the UC San Diego Sanford Stem Cell Institute (SSCI).

The San Diego-based Aspera team and Houston-based Axiom partnered to allow Rebecsinib to be tested in microgravity. Tumors have been shown to grow more rapidly in microgravity and even mimic how aggressive cancers can develop in patients.

“In terms of tumor growth, we see a doubling in growth of these little mini-tumors in just 10 days,” Jamieson explained in the release.

Rebecsinib took part in the patient-derived tumor organoid testing aboard the International Space Station. Similar testing is planned to continue on Axiom Station, the company's commercial space station that's currently under development.

Additionally, the drug will be tested aboard Ax-4 under its active IND status, which was targeted to launch June 25.

“We anticipate that this monumental mission will inform the expanded development of the first ADAR1 inhibitory cancer stem cell targeting drug for a broad array of cancers," Jamieson added.

According to Axiom, the milestone represents the potential for commercial space collaborations.

“We’re proud to work with Aspera Biomedicines and the UC San Diego Sanford Stem Cell Institute, as together we have achieved a historic milestone, and we’re even more excited for what’s to come,” Tejpaul Bhatia, the new CEO of Axiom Space, said in the release. “This is how we crack the code of the space economy – uniting public and private partners to turn microgravity into a launchpad for breakthroughs.”