Molecular Biology:
In last week's edition of Phylogeny Fridays, I mentioned an essay that argued that biologists should refrain from using the term "prokaryote" because its definition is entirely negative. The author, Norman Pace, writes, "no one can define what is a...
Posted on August 24, 2006 11:00 AM • 3 Comments
According to this press release, cancer cells can be kept from dividing by preventing them from making cell walls. Cell walls? Yeah, cell walls. Like plants or bacteria. Last time I checked, animal cells ain't got no walls. Ordinarily, I'd...
Posted on August 1, 2006 08:00 AM • 1 Comments
Via Genetics and Health comes this cartoon movie of DNA replication. If you've never taken a molecular genetics course, this may be new to you....
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Posted on July 16, 2006 12:00 PM • 1 Comments
Ten years ago, I was in between my sophomore and junior years of high school. At that point, I had taken an introductory biology course my freshman year and would be taking AP Biology in the coming fall. I was hardly in a position to make any predictions regarding the future of cloning. Sure, I understood the basic concepts at work, but the ethical and technical implications were beyond me.
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Posted on July 10, 2006 12:00 PM • 3 Comments
Humans have been genetically engineering agricultural crops ever since plants were domesticated. Notice the difference between maize and teosinte. Or how about what we have done to create modern wheat. By either imposing an artificial selection pressure on a few...
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Posted on June 19, 2006 12:00 PM • 5 Comments
...or how a learned to stop worrying and love evo-devo. As my mind gets a chance to process some of the stuff I heard and talked about at the meeting I just returned from, I'll post some thoughts that will...
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Posted on May 31, 2006 08:15 AM • 3 Comments
My advisor once told me that the best way to get your paper into a high profile journal like Science or Nature is to find the biggest of something, the smallest of something, or something that fucks funny. It turns...
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Posted on May 19, 2006 10:00 AM • 1 Comments
I remember watching this movie (WARNING: link to a large file) during my sophomore year of college. It now appears that some folks at Kenyon College plan to do a remake. For those of you too lazy to follow the...
Posted on May 16, 2006 11:57 AM • 6 Comments
Via EurekAlert comes this news release on research into error checking during DNA polymerization. I'm not judging the science; I'm judging the reporting, which includes the following statement: Everyone knows mutations - genetic mistakes in DNA, the material of heredity...
Posted on May 4, 2006 01:49 PM • 6 Comments
I'm trying to emerge from hibernation, and I'll hopefully have some good blogging material up in the next few days. In lieu of my own ideas, I'm going to link to what other people have written. Read them, because I...
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Posted on May 2, 2006 09:57 PM • 0 Comments
Bora has been pushing the idea of publishing original research (hypotheses, data, etc) on science blogs. This post is part of a series exploring the evolution of a duplicated gene in the genus Drosophila. Links to the previous posts can...
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Posted on April 25, 2006 05:44 PM • 0 Comments
Pharyngula has a good summary of the new Sean Carroll Drosophila wing dot paper. Eventually Sean's gonna try to mess around with a hawaiin species and blow the roof off this mother....
Posted on April 21, 2006 08:03 PM • 0 Comments
This week's evolgen Double Entendre Friday is brief. It's also not my own idea, and I can't seem to remember where I stole it from (if I stole it from you, drop a note in the comments). Sorry. Here it...
Posted on April 7, 2006 02:24 PM • 0 Comments
My little screed on junk DNA elicited some good feedback, including a comment from Dan Graur. In a somewhat ill-thought out rant, I implied that anyone who uses the term 'junk DNA' should be ostracized from the scientific community (or...
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Posted on March 27, 2006 01:36 PM • 3 Comments
The term "Junk DNA" is bullshit. There, I said it. The moment I hear someone utter that phrase, I immediately lose respect for him or her. No one whose opinion is worth anything will refer to non-coding DNA as junk....
Posted on March 23, 2006 02:43 PM • 22 Comments • 1 TrackBacks
The human Y, that is. The Science Creative Quarterly has a very thorough (ie, make sure you have some time to spare) review of the mammalian Y chromosome (focusing on the human Y). The article covers the origin and evolution...
Posted on March 19, 2006 08:32 AM • 4 Comments • 1 TrackBacks
We talk about molecular population and evolutionary GENETICS and GENOMICS. You know, the caliper measurement of a gene's evolvability in moles.
