evolution
evolvingthoughts | May 9, 2008
So much has been happening in the world while I was giving a talk on the adaptiveness of religion in Sydney. The Platypus thing was one item I'd have blogged on if the rest of the blogosphere hadn't beaten me to it. All I can say is that no matter how many bloggers write on the mosaic nature of the platypus genome, at least I got to hold one. And I would never have used the meaningless term "reptile".
And although I have only been to NYC twice, I can say I have a favourite store there, and I saw it on CSI: NY recently (although they obviously tidied up the counter for the shoot).
And…
mikethemadbiologist | May 9, 2008As I've mentioned before, one of the things that always mystifies me about creationists (most, anyway) is that they seem to be stuck in a scientific time warp: there's no recognition that any new progress has been made since 1859.
Of course, if creationists did recognize the progress that's been made since 1859, then they might not be creationists anymore. The reason I raise this is that John Timmer, at Ars Technica, summarizes what he learned about natural selection at a Rockfeller symposium about evolution:
Natural Selection: Explore Evolution [the Discovery Institute's 'biology' textbook…
mikethemadbiologist | May 8, 2008
Over at Shakespeare's Sister, I came across this link to an announcement of a new Chlorox disinfectant that is "a one-step, labor-saving solution for killing both strains of MRSA."
There seems to be some confusion here.
Let's start with the basics. MRSA is the bacterium methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Traditionally, MRSA has been classified into two kinds: CA-MRSA, community-acquired MRSA, and HA-MRSA, hospital-acquired MRSA*. A CA-MRSA infection is defined as an infection that occurs in a patient who has been in the hospital for less than 48 hours; in other words, they…
loom | May 8, 2008In case you missed it, there's a great article in Smithsonian about hyena intelligence, focusing on the work of Kay Holekamp, the subject of my recent piece in the New York Times. The author, Steve Kemper, spent time with Holekamp in hyena country in Kenya, seeing just how brutal (and fascinating) life as a spotted hyena can be.
Smithsonian Magazine | Science & Nature | Who's Laughing Now?
update: link fixed.
oracknows | May 7, 2008...and suddenly he reveals his true stripes.
Oh, well, at least the Hitler Zombie hasn't eaten Jason's brain, as he has so many of the others who complain about being Expelled!
Yet.
Thanks, Jason. I needed the laugh after the events of yesterday and today. Oh, and congratulations on getting tenure!
esiegel | May 7, 2008The American Association of Physics Teachers just published a study of 1,000 likely U.S. voters about science, religion, evolution, and creationism. The results are frightening. Here are some of the "highlights" of their study:
38% of Americans are in favor of the teaching of religion in public school science classrooms.
65% of Americans do not think that it is an important science goal to understand the origin and diversity of biological life on Earth.
47% of Americans believe that the earliest humans lived at the same time as the dinosaurs.
21% of Americans do not believe that the…
loom | May 7, 2008by the old man of the blogs, Andrew Sullivan, and even the editorial page of the New York Times. Who knew a few clever flies could win so many friends?
pharyngula | May 6, 2008As part of the Expelled Exposed site, there are a series of educational videos to counter creationist claims. They're short, simple, and easy to understand.
gregladen | May 6, 2008A recent study of dog genetics, published in PLoS, seeks to improve the quality of genetic research by better understanding the underlying patterns of genetic variation at the level of specific dog breeds.
Sometimes we are interested in the evolutionary relationship between two "species" or populations, and genetics can be helpful. The more different the genetic sequence between two populations, the more distantly related they are (on average) and thus we can construct phylogenies ("family trees" of species or groups).
Sometimes we are interested in finding genes that are linked to…
loom | May 5, 2008In tomorrow's New York Times, I take a look at the evolution of intelligence. Or rather, I look at its flip side. Scientists and the rest of us are obsessed with intelligence--not just the intelligence of our own species, but any glimmer of intelligence in other animals. I've written plenty of stories myself on this research, from the social brilliance of hyenas to the foresight of birds. But if these faculties are so great, then why aren't more animals smart? The answer, experiments suggest, is that learning and memory have nasty side-effects. They can even shorten your life (at least if you…
evolvingthoughts | May 5, 2008
In a piece reported on in New Scientist, Maurice Bloch has proposed another basis for religion: imagination. Because we can project ourselves and imagine the "transcendental" relation in social and personal relationships, we can imagine that there are agents not visible or present, he claims. The paper is also a good historical review of theories of religion, and makes the point that "religion" is not well defined as a topic of investigation of explanation.
Like many others, Bloch infers that religion is a byproduct of things that were evolutionarily adaptive, such as cognitive skills. His…
gregladen | May 5, 2008I'm talking about the May 4th Podcast of Atheist Talk, from the Minnesota Atheists. The first half was an interview of Lois Schadewald, editor of her brother's posthumous work "Worlds of their Own" ... a book of essays on pseudoscience.
The second half was an interview of Yours Truly by Mike Haubrich on "Academic Freedom" and stuff.
You have to understand that I did this interview against the advice of medical professionals, with a severe case of near-laryngitis. ... so no, that is not actually my voice .... plus I had a fever and was heavily drugged. And not enough coffee. And I was…
zooillogix | May 5, 2008Documentary on "new obscure insects" by Floris Kaayk. Was first shown at Paradise by the Laptop Light in 2005. While fascinating, a world infested with these guys would pretty much suck.
Thanks to Maria Haanpaa for forwarding along.
clock | May 5, 2008You really think I am going to put this above the fold? No way - you have to click (First posted on July 7, 2006):
Today's lesson is on the reproductive anatomy of the domestic pig (Sus scrofa domestica), which probably applies to the wild species in the pig family as well. Although we may reflexively think about invertebrates when pondering diversity of copulatory organs, mammals are not too bad in that department either. After all, the sperm is delivered in some species into the vagina (e.g., dog), in others into the cervix (e.g., pig) and in yet others into the uterus (e.g., horse), so…
mikethemadbiologist | May 4, 2008Several of my fellow ScienceBloglings have noted that the increase in measles cases is due to idiots who refuse to get vaccinated. Beyond the obvious health threat this represents, there is a more subtle, yet equally murderous effect of all of this anti-vax woo.
It distracts us from other vaccination programs that we need to institute. Every year, roughly 36,000 U.S. residents die from influenza--the 'boring' kind. Why this isn't viewed as a major health crisis, while breast cancer, which kills approximately the same number annually, is escapes me. Not because breast cancer isn't an awful…
evolvingthoughts | May 3, 2008
John Hawks has a very nice post for people with basic math, explaining why a recent press release announced that 70,000 years ago the human species encountered a population bottleneck of 2000 individuals, and why it's most likely wrong. In the process he explains effective population size. It's a tad too complex even for an Intermediate Concepts post, but still worth the effort. Larry Moran at his blog has opened a comments thread, as the Hawks blog is comment free (I am unsure if I should be censorial or jealous), and John promises to come back and answer them.
edyong | May 3, 2008I'm away for the weekend so I thought that I'd repost an article from the old Wordpress blog. This is actually the first ever article I wrote for Not Exactly Rocket Science and I've updated it slightly to take more recent findings into account. I'm considering doing these reposts every Saturday, but let me know whether you're keen on the idea.
Cancer cells are, for all intents and purposes, immortal. Having broken free of the rules and strictures that govern other cells, they are free to grow and divide as they please. In a short space of time, a lone cancer cell can form a mass of…
sa smith | May 3, 2008This is a repost from the old ERV. A retrotransposed ERV :P I dont trust them staying up at Blogger, and the SEED overlords are letting me have 4 reposts a week, so Im gonna take advantage of that!
I am going to try to add more comments to these posts for the old readers-- Think of these as 'directors cut' posts ;)
Several new readers have asked for more information on ERVs, and what exactly my blog subtitle 'joke' means. After finals next week I plan on writing more detailed posts, but until then, there are a few in the archives to tide you over :)
'Mobile Elements' was my third post…