May 9, 2008
The theory of evolution permlink
Category: Genetics
Over at The Scientist Neil S. Greenspan has an article up, Darwin and deduction:
One of the most remarkable but insufficiently noted features of Charles Darwin's conception of evolution is that its logical implications are still being worked out. I am not merely claiming that experimental and observation studies continue to make use of and bear on Darwinian ideas and principles. I am calling attention to the fact that after almost a century and a half, new deductions are still being teased out of his very fertile axioms of descent with modification and natural selection.
One of the primary criterion which scientists use to judge the utility of a theory is its inferential power. It is one thing to describe; but another to predict. This is one reason I recommend all my friends to read The Genetical Theory of Natural Selection; R. A. Fisher's attempt to create a mathematical framework in which to conceptualize the action of natural selection within evolutionary process. To a great extent I think Fisher fails in his grandest objectives, but fundamentally I think the exposition clarifies one's thinking fruitfully.
Posted by Razib at 1:58 PM•0 Comments
Microcosm: E. coli and the New Science of Life permlink
Category: Biology
I notice that the Moon-man is flogging Carl Zimmer's new book. So I feel it's time to pile-on, buy Microcosm! Carl is of course giving a series of talks at fine bookstores near you....
Posted by Razib at 12:23 AM•1 Comments
Sewall Wright & genetic drift permlink
Category: Genetics
Notes on Sewall Wright: Genetic Drift:
Continuing my series of notes on the work of Sewall Wright, this one deals with the subject of genetic drift. I had originally planned to call this note 'Inbreeding and the decline of genetic variance', but anyone interested in the matters covered here, and searching for them on the internet, is far more likely to search for 'genetic drift'. This is one of the subjects most closely associated with Wright, to the extent that genetic drift was formerly often known as the 'Sewall Wright Effect'. My main aim is to help people follow Wright's own derivation of his key results, and to clarify the relationship between genetic drift and inbreeding.
Also, you might be interested in Will Provine's seminal work, Sewall Wright and Evolutionary Biology. Provine synthesizes science, biography and history in such a manner so as to extract more than the sum of the parts.
Posted by Razib at 12:18 AM•0 Comments
May 7, 2008
Our Enemy, The State permlink
Category: Politics
Last fall I argued that the relatively light death toll of hurricane Sidr was due to improvements in the institutional framework of the Bangladeshi polity. More recently, I suggested that Burma's social & economic deficits vis-a-vis Bangladesh were due to negative government action. Now Chris Mooney has an article up on the reverberations of hurricane Nargis. Here's what caught my attention:
Read on »
Posted by Razib at 2:07 AM•5 Comments
May 5, 2008
Jim Manzi on Expelled permlink
Category: Creationism
Show Me the Science.
Posted by Razib at 11:27 AM•17 Comments
May 3, 2008
Iron Man permlink
Category:
Saw Iron Man with that genderist SOB Jake Young. All I can say is that it is nice that G. K. Paltrow finally has a hit on her hands after all these years....
Posted by Razib at 3:58 AM•9 Comments
May 2, 2008
Katz permlink
Category: Blog
Read on »
Posted by Razib at 9:33 AM•0 Comments
April 30, 2008
Potential for Vitamin D synthesis permlink
Category: Genetics
From The evolution of human skin coloration, page 12:
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Posted by Razib at 11:27 AM•23 Comments
April 29, 2008
Ben Stein is a barbarian? permlink
Category: Creationism
John Derbyshire has a long column excoriating Ben Stein and the Discovery Institute titled A Blood Libel on Our Civilization:
Read on »
Posted by Razib at 1:36 PM•22 Comments
April 28, 2008
Why it was best to be white permlink
Category: Genetics
Posted by Razib at 10:32 AM•27 Comments
Margaret Sanger: anti-abortionist? permlink
Category: Culture
Over @ Stranger Fruit John Lynch points a section from a paper which recounts the Christian assocation with eugenics:
On the whole the evangelical mainstream in the decades following the turn of the century appeared apathetic, acquiescent, or at times downright supportive of the eugenics movement. In this article, I argue that the evangelicals often accepted eugenics as a part of a progressive, reformist vision that uncritically fused the Kingdom of God with modern civilization.
In Better for All the World: The Secret History of Forced Sterilization and America's Quest for Racial Purity the author makes the case that to a large extent this was an issue of class; the higher orders, generally professing Christians of a sort, favored eugenics, while the lower class victims and their preachers naturally objected. The more progressive churches also often aggressively got behind race-betterment. This is not to deny that secularists such as H. L. Mencken were enthusiastic eugenicists on scientistic grounds; rather, it is to offer that the social realities of the day suggested that a eugenical inclination was the dominant position, one which many of the Christian churches acceded to reinforce their relevance to contemporary society and its ills (it is notable that the Roman Catholic church in Europe was more successful in blocking eugenics in the nations in which it was powerful than the Protestant churches of northern Europe were, assuming the latter were so inclined).1
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Posted by Razib at 7:57 AM•6 Comments
April 27, 2008
Gene Genie #30 permlink
Category: Genetics
Welcome to the 30th Gene Genie!
Indulge in the fascinating world of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine has a "genetics lifestyle" post, Home Improvement For Geneticists. Not quite Tim Allen. Fellow ScienceBlogger Sandra illustrates Mapping polymorphisms in 16S ribosomal RNA. Definitely worth checking out, anyone interested in biology should be down with ribosomes, and rRNA has also been critical in taxonomy. Biotech Weblog notes that Gene Therapy May Treat Cocaine Addiction. 'nuf said. Migraines affect about 1 out of 6 people in the world; so pay attention when Genetics and Health suggest the possibility for a Genetic breakthrough for migraine sufferers. KQED's Quest offers a podcast which illuminates the light shed upon Human Genetics through Dogs. Have you read The History and Geography of Human Genes? Then you must read Yann Klimentidis, p-ter and G; beware of how PCA is displayed! We live in a world where hundreds of thousands of Americans are currently stationed in Iraq. So it is probably important to wonder about A Genetic Susceptibility to PTSD?, as Brain Blogger does. Think Gene engages in a little heresy from the Central Dogma, blogging the revolution as Scientists clarify a mechanism of epigenetic inheritance. Are you going to be well aged? Ouroboros asks Is there anything SIRT1 can't do? It might be part of the answer, along with a helping hand from our friends at Big Pharma. You hear a lot about Hox genes, especially with the rise of evo-devo, DNA and You makes it a bit personal. A HOXA2 mutation is responsible for one type of autosomal recessive microtia (congenital deformity of the outer ear), a mouthful that remains relevant.
Speaking of which, let's move specifically into the domain of Personalized Genetics:
Read on »
Posted by Razib at 1:49 AM•1 Comments
April 26, 2008
Talk Islam permlink
Category: Religion
Just a heads up, I've been posting now and then to the quasi-Twitteresque site Talk Islam run by my friend Aziz Poonawalla. I also have a sub-weblog where I'll be posting some of my longer form ruminations...but it might be best to just sign up for the RSS so you're notified when I start posting there regularly. I've been reading God's Rule - Government and Islam: Six Centuries of Medieval Islamic Political Thought on & off for weeks now, and I think I'll put up a review over there after I'm done....
Posted by Razib at 3:56 AM•0 Comments
April 25, 2008
The Inner Asian gap: the Afanasievo breakthrough permlink
Category: History
If you read this weblog you are aware that I have a fascination with the intersection of human history and human evolutionary genetics. There are many questions I have about the finding from evolutionary genomic studies that light skin evolved at least twice independently in Eurasia within the last 20,000 years or so at the extremities. The selection coefficients are large, so I am confused as to why even minimal gene flow did not result in equilibration and homogenization of the allelic profiles of the populations. I have posited that the answer has to do with very low population densities verging upon nil in Central Asia. From The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World (a book I can not recommend enough!):
Read on »
Posted by Razib at 11:02 PM•7 Comments
Katz permlink
Category: Blog
Read on »
Posted by Razib at 4:17 AM•7 Comments
Behavior genetics + neuroscience + genomics = ? permlink
Category: Genetics
Genetic variation in human NPY expression affects stress response and emotion:
Understanding inter-individual differences in stress response requires the explanation of genetic influences at multiple phenotypic levels, including complex behaviours and the metabolic responses of brain regions to emotional stimuli. Neuropeptide Y (NPY) is anxiolytic...and its release is induced by stress...NPY is abundantly expressed in regions of the limbic system that are implicated in arousal and in the assignment of emotional valences to stimuli and memories...Here we show that haplotype-driven NPY expression predicts brain responses to emotional and stress challenges and also inversely correlates with trait anxiety. NPY haplotypes predicted levels of NPY messenger RNA in post-mortem brain and lymphoblasts, and levels of plasma NPY. Lower haplotype-driven NPY expression predicted higher emotion-induced activation of the amygdala, as well as diminished resiliency as assessed by pain/stress-induced activations of endogenous opioid neurotransmission in various brain regions. A single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP rs16147) located in the promoter region alters NPY expression in vitro and seems to account for more than half of the variation in expression in vivo. These convergent findings are consistent with the function of NPY as an anxiolytic peptide and help to explain inter-individual variation in resiliency to stress, a risk factor for many diseases.
Read on »
Posted by Razib at 3:36 AM•1 Comments
