Here's a useful excercise: can you summarize a key concept in your field in less than a minute? Chris Mims takes a stab at explaining evo-devo — he's not trying to explain the whole field, actually, but the central concept of a master gene. He uses the analogy of a power strip for a transcription factor, which I like quite a bit, and I'm probably going to have to steal it someday.
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PZ Myers is a biologist and associate professor at the University of Minnesota, Morris.
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More articles by PZ Myers can be found on Freethoughtblogs at the new Pharyngula!
Evo-devo in 60 seconds
Category: Development • Evolution
Posted on: December 3, 2007 6:01 PM, by PZ Myers
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Comments
Posted by: notthedroids | December 3, 2007 6:18 PM
Whoa. Well done.
Posted by: Michael | December 3, 2007 6:20 PM
This video has an awesome soundtrack. It's a cool idea. Are there any plans for more videos? I gotta say, I like the power strip analogy - the lava lamp may have been a bit much though. All in all, an informative and entertaining clip. Thanks
-Michael
Posted by: shiftlessbum | December 3, 2007 6:32 PM
Wow. Very Cool. Thanks to both you and Chris.
Posted by: John | December 3, 2007 6:42 PM
On my system the sound is so broken up that the video is unwatchable, even after it has loaded completely. I don't have a particularly fast connection, but I think there is some other problem here. YouTube works fine, for example.
Posted by: syntyche | December 3, 2007 6:55 PM
Also on that site is this:
http://www.60secondscience.com/archive/biology-news-articles/most-redundant-book-title-ever.php
Notice that the first author of the ID for idiots book has a Masters of Divinity as his only credential?
They're not even trying anymore.
Posted by: Chris Bell | December 3, 2007 8:01 PM
I wasn't too impressed at first. I wanted to see some cool 3D animations or something I could show in a high school science class!
Then the last 30 seconds came, and I realized that this guy vamped for the first 30 seconds because he only needed the last 30. By the end I was impressed.
Posted by: Zachary Kroger | December 3, 2007 8:30 PM
Very nice! I did not know any of that.
...and I have those exact same glasses. Weird, its like they mass produce em.
Posted by: monson | December 3, 2007 8:35 PM
whip it good.
Posted by: DustPuppyOI | December 3, 2007 8:46 PM
That was pretty good although I kept on thinking what "Ask a Ninja" would do with the topic. (Actually, "Ask a Ninja" is a pretty good demonstration on how to do multiple cuts effectively.) I'm still reading through "Endless Forms Most Beautiful" but I'm thinking maybe you could have more fun with light switches controlling all power to a room, multiple power bars, and electronic timers?
And I like the lava lamp and the music cuts.
Posted by: Brownian, OM | December 3, 2007 9:39 PM
Heh! I had the same reaction. Very effective way to impress the audience with the simplicity of the basic idea.
OT, but did the first few seconds remind anyone else of the old skit "A Medical Minute" on SCTV, where John Hemphill plays a doctor who tries to give a public health message in a 60-second TV spot but is always either too slow or too fast?
Posted by: Janus | December 3, 2007 10:43 PM
Whoa, nice. Someone Youtube that shit.
Posted by: Skeptic8 | December 3, 2007 10:55 PM
That "Master Switch" theme is a bit Lysenko for me. I've travelled the path of electrical design, in industry. It is either "memory" or "boot up". There have to be subroutine memories or it is start afresh. Try a master switch concept on the Central American fish that switches from sexual to asexual reproduction depending on conditions. The "fishes" memory has to persist complete with subroutines. In the "devo" scheme you can't neglect uterine (or egg) environments.
Posted by: Christopher | December 4, 2007 11:09 AM
Thanks for highlighting this, PZ, and Janus -- I already did youtube it. :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14yxfot5sq8
All credit is due to John Pavlus, who scripted the whole thing. If you like this one you might like the others, as well, on Dark Matter and Moore's Law (there more to come in the coming weeks)...
http://scientificamerican.blip.tv/