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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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Molecular Biology:
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
We've heard the arguments about the relative importance of mutations in cis regulatory regions vs. coding sequences in evolution before — it's the idea that major transitions in evolution were accomplished more by changes in the timing and pattern...
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Posted on June 30, 2008 12:54 PM • 79 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
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
The Harvard multimedia team that put together that pretty video of the Inner Life of the Cell has a whole collection of videos online (including Inner Life with a good narration.) Go watch the one titled F1-F0 ATPase; it's...
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Posted on March 20, 2008 9:49 AM • 47 Comments
Fossils are cool, but some of us are interested in processes and structures that don't fossilize well. For instance, if you want to know more about the evolution of mammalian reproduction, you'd best not pin your hopes on the...
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Posted on March 19, 2008 12:15 PM • 85 Comments
What are the key innovations that led to the evolution of multicellularity, and what were their precursors in the single-celled microbial life that existed before the metazoa? We can hypothesize at least two distinct kinds of features that had...
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Posted on March 3, 2008 2:38 AM • 49 Comments
Since I wrote about the wacky creationist who couldn't wrap his mind around the idea that plants and animals are related, and since I generally do a poor job of discussing that important kingdom of the plants (I admit...
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Posted on February 17, 2008 11:52 AM • 57 Comments
Many of you have already seen the gorgeous video below: it's a spectacularly beautiful animation of the activity in a cell. I like it, and it's a useful illustration, but … there's something fundamental that it gets completely wrong....
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Posted on February 3, 2008 2:37 PM • 79 Comments
When I decide to take a break from the mad scramble of organizing my classes, I really shouldn't follow a whim and take a peek at Uncommon Descent. The lead article has this astonishing opening paragraph. Remember the dark days...
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Posted on January 23, 2008 11:41 AM • 85 Comments
…you think the PCR song is kind of catchy. The PCR SongThere was a time when to amplify DNA, You had to grow tons and tons of tiny cells. Then along came a guy named Dr. Kary Mullis, Said you...
Posted on January 11, 2008 4:03 PM • 34 Comments
I've spent this last week familiarizing myself with this article for my biochemistry class. Obviously, the article is way to large to bite off in one blog. One spot that draws my curiosity. The AUR1 is promoted by the presence...
Posted on December 6, 2007 7:45 PM • 5 Comments
I've known for years that this was going to happen: Mario Capecchi, Oliver Smithies and Briton Martin Evans have won the Nobel Prize in Medicine for their work on targeted gene mutations. If you're interested in what kinds of work...
Posted on October 8, 2007 2:07 PM • 15 Comments
All of us mammals have pretty much the same set of genes, yet obviously there have to be some significant differences to differentiate a man from a mouse. What we currently think is a major source of morphological diversity...
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Posted on October 1, 2007 12:06 PM • 13 Comments
