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PZ Myers is a biologist and associate professor at the University of Minnesota, Morris.
…and this is a pharyngula stage embryo.
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Such reports persist and proliferate because they sell. And they sell, I think, because there are so many of us who want so badly to be jolted out of our humdrum lives, to rekindle that sense of wonder we remember from childhood, and also, for a few of the stories, to be able, really and truly, to believe—in Someone older, smarter, and wiser who is looking out for us. Faith is clearly not enough for many people. They crave hard evidence, scientific proof. They long for the scientific seal of approval, but are unwilling to put up with the rigorous standards of evidence that impart credibility to that seal.
Carl Sagan
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Development:
Wow…so have you heard about this result? One goal of regenerative medicine is to instructively convert adult cells into other cell types for tissue repair and regeneration. Although isolated examples of adult cell reprogramming are known, there is no...
Posted on August 30, 2008 12:50 PM • 34 Comments
Monday morning, PST: time for some science with a side of controversy, Danio-style There's a Department of Health and Human Services document circulating that's got the pro-choice lobby up in arms. Afarensis and The Questionable Authority weighed in on the...
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Posted on August 11, 2008 12:42 PM • 196 Comments
Every time I mention this developmentally significant molecule, Sonic hedgehog, I get a volley of questions about whether it is really called that, what it does, and why it keeps cropping up in articles about everything from snake fangs to...
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Posted on August 1, 2008 3:17 PM • 68 Comments
Ontogenetic allometry in the fang in the front-fanged Causus rhombeatus (Viperidae) displaces the fang along the upper jaw. Scale bars, 1 mm. We note the change in relative size of the upper jaw subregions: i, anterior; ii, fang; iii,...
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Posted on July 31, 2008 10:05 AM • 185 Comments
Life has two contradictory properties that any theory explaining its origin must encompass: similarities everywhere, and differences separating species. So far, the only theory that covers both beautifully and explains how one is the consequence of the other is...
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Posted on July 23, 2008 12:28 PM • 63 Comments
Epigenetics is the study of heritable traits that are not dependent on the primary sequence of DNA. That's a short, simple definition, and it's also largely unsatisfactory. For one, the inclusion of the word "heritable" excludes some significant players...
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Posted on July 22, 2008 1:56 PM • 120 Comments
Massimo Pigliucci has posted the notes, parts 1, 2, and 3, from the Altenberg meeting that was unfortunately over-hyped by the creationist crowd (no blame for that attaches to the organizers of this meeting). It sounds like it was...
Posted on July 19, 2008 11:04 AM • 43 Comments
Teratology is so interesting — it gives us hints about the mechanisms driving developmental processes. In some cases, when you just have a few isolated instances, it can be frustrating, because there isn't enough information to go much beyond...
Posted on July 19, 2008 10:02 AM • 59 Comments
I'm on my way home, and am actually using a fast internet connection at the airport — I'd forgotten what it was like! I quickly uploaded a few essential files, and my mail software is downloading my email. Unfortunately, I'd...
Posted on July 16, 2008 11:55 AM • 49 Comments
Remember Suzan Mazur, the credulous reporter hyping a revolution in evolution? She's at it again, publishing an e-book chapter by chapter on the "Altenberg 16", this meeting that she thinks is all about radically revising evolutionary biology. I can tell...
Posted on July 5, 2008 4:04 PM • 85 Comments
This is an amphioxus, a cephalochordate or lancelet. It's been stained to increase contrast; in life, they are pale, almost transparent. It looks rather fish-like, or rather, much like a larval fish, with it's repeated blocks of muscle arranged...
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Posted on June 26, 2008 3:29 PM • 142 Comments
I've discovered a couple of important things at this meeting. One, late night sessions at west coast meetings are deadly for any of us coming from more eastern time zones. At least the morning sessions are low stress. Two, I...
Posted on May 29, 2008 1:59 PM • 23 Comments
You may recall that a while back I mentioned how Jerry Coyne praised some work on bat evo-devo. I also said that I was going to have to write that paper up sometime. The bad news: I haven't written it...
Posted on May 18, 2008 4:02 PM • 11 Comments
Jay Hosler has a new book out, Optical Allusions(amzn/b&n/abe/pwll). If you're familiar with his other books, Clan Apis(amzn/b&n/abe/pwll) and The Sandwalk Adventures(amzn/b&n/abe/pwll), you know what to expect: a comic book that takes its science seriously. Hosler has a fabulous knack...
Posted on April 14, 2008 10:29 AM • 23 Comments
[Since I had to fly away early this morning and missed all these talks, I had to rely on regular commenter DanioPhD to fill in the gaps … so here's her summary:] This morning's final series of talks each focused...
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Posted on April 6, 2008 10:10 PM • 20 Comments
