Gene Expression

Convergent evolution in skin color - part n  permlink

Category: Genetics

Genetic Evidence for the Convergent Evolution of Light Skin in Europeans and East Asians: ...these results point to the importance of several genes in shaping the pigmentation phenotype and a complex evolutionary history involving strong selection. Polymorphisms in two genes,...

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Posted by Razib at 4:43 PM • 0 Comments •

Kat  permlink

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Posted by Razib at 12:01 PM • 1 Comments •

The reality of epistasis  permlink

Category: Genetics

Earlier this week I sketched out the general theoretical basis for not denying unexpected deviations from expectation, so to speak, when it comes to quantitatve traits. The main issue is that varying genetic backgrounds leave unaccounted for gene-gene interactions, and...

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Posted by Razib at 11:31 AM • 3 Comments •

Evolutionary genetics going down  permlink

Category: Genetics

Life has been occupying me, why, between good wine (I prefer mild Chardonnay), work, books and beautiful women who detest science fiction I haven't been able to resume my survey of Evolutionary Genetics: Concepts & Case Studies. Nevertheless, I'd like...

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Posted by Razib at 10:44 PM • 5 Comments •

Yahoo Mail "Beta" sucks  permlink

Category: Blog

I work on two machines in the mid-to-high 2 Ghz range with 1 gig of RAM on a regular basis. And yet the new YAHOO MAIL "Beta" has consistently crashed and throttled Firefox multiple times within the last few days....

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Posted by Razib at 2:12 AM • 11 Comments •

Dawkins & theological sophistication  permlink

Category: Religion

John Lynch has a post up about Richard Dawkins' lack of theological sophistication in The God Delusion. John is basically reiterating the point that Dawkins did not truly engage theological arguments for theism on a very high or sophisticated level....

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Posted by Razib at 1:25 AM • 23 Comments •

More complex than simple addition  permlink

Category: Genetics

A few months ago I posted Discrete continuity in genetics to show how the granular nature of genetic inheritance may still manifest to our perception as continuous variation (i.e., quantitative traits). I used skin color as a model trait because...

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Posted by Razib at 11:29 AM • 1 Comments •

The season needs no reason  permlink

Category: Psychology

Below I spoke of historical perspective, while earlier I referred to Christmas as "universal pagan wine poured into a particular Christian chalice." I thought I might elaborate upon this. First, the cultural and historical origins of Christmas are multi-textured. Though...

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Posted by Razib at 4:29 PM • 16 Comments •

Historical perspective  permlink

Category: History

I'm reading The Fall of the Roman Empire by Peter Heather. Most people know I'm a classical history buff (e.g., I've read a fair number of the late Michael Grant's works). Now, one thing that always strikes is this: 2,000...

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Posted by Razib at 12:57 PM • 14 Comments •

And a Merry Christmas to you!  permlink

Category: Blog

Steinn Sigurðsson has an has an amusing post up about his multicultural Christmas. Here is the "American Infidel," Robert Ingersoll, on Christmas (1892): This is the festival of the sun-god, and as such let its observance be universal. This is...

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Posted by Razib at 10:58 PM • 2 Comments •