Gene Expression
Archives for July, 2007
Mastodon genetics paper in PLOS
Posted by Razib Khan on July 23, 2007 The Mastodon paleogenomics paper is out on PLOS: We obtained the sequence from a tooth dated to 50,000-130,000 years ago, increasing the specimen age for which such palaeogenomic analyses have been done by almost a complete glacial cycle. Using this sequence, together with mitochondrial genome sequences from two African elephants, two Asian elephants, and two…
130,000 year old Mastodon DNA?
Posted by Razib Khan on July 22, 2007 Science makes DNA breakthrough in the tooth of a mastodon: …after finding DNA preserved in the fossilised tooth of a beast that died up to 130,000 years ago. … Researchers were hoping its teeth might have preserved enough of the DNA for them to recover lengthy chunks of it, and this week they will publish…
Mike on group selection
Posted by Razib Khan on July 21, 2007 Mike offers his 2 cents on the levels of selection debates. He says: If it doesn’t provide me with testable hypotheses and the conceptual tools to do so, it’s just not useful. That’s what happened the last go around with this in the late 80s and early 90s. Do the experiments and I’ll be interested,…
Terrence Tao on introgression
Posted by Razib Khan on July 20, 2007 A reader points out that Fields Medalist Terrence Tao has a post on introgression in Darwin’s Finches.
Out of Africa: by the skulls?
Posted by Razib Khan on July 20, 2007 Update: John Hawks weighs in. Here is the abstract. Several people have asked about a new paper coming out that uses the diversity in skulls to “prove” the Out of Africa hypothesis. The paper is going to be out in Nature yesterday. Yes, you read that right, it was supposed to be on the site…
Cognitive morphs in Drosophila
Posted by Razib Khan on July 19, 2007 Natural polymorphism affecting learning and memory in Drosophila: Knowing which genes contribute to natural variation in learning and memory would help us understand how differences in these cognitive traits evolve among populations and species. We show that a natural polymorphism at the foraging (for) locus, which encodes a cGMP-dependent protein kinase (PKG), affects associative olfactory…
Tuning in & out-by the genes
Posted by Razib Khan on July 18, 2007 Go Ahead, Everyone Talk at Once: People who can’t follow a movie when someone else is talking can blame their genes. The ability–or inability–to listen to more than one thing at once is largely inherited, according to a study of twins. The finding could help scientists better understand disorders that involve problems in auditory processing.…
Who were the ancient Hungarians?
Posted by Razib Khan on July 18, 2007 We know that the Magyars originated from Inner Eurasia. They were one of the long line of steppe peoples who conquered and settled central Europe, the Avars being their local predecessors. But unlike the Avars, or the Bulgars or the Huns, the Magyars left a cultural imprint: their language. And yet physically and genetically the…
Harun Yahya – who is funding him?
Posted by Razib Khan on July 17, 2007 As a follow up to my post mocking Harun Yahya, check out Ali Eteraz’s impressive post exploring his possible sources of funding and affiliations. My own immediate instinct was to assume that he was a front for Saudi $$$; Ali points to reasons why this is unlikely. The argument is circumstantial and based on elimination…