Biology
Stranger Fruit
Category archives for Biology
Linnaeus’ Legacy is live!
Posted by John Lynch on February 9, 2008 I don’t usually do blog carnivals but Linnaeus’ Legacy #4 is up at The Other 95% and mentions a post of mine. Wander on over to see the current best posts on taxonomy and systematics.
Joshua Lederberg (1925 – 2008)
Posted by John Lynch on February 5, 2008 Tara has more details.
BERT binds to ERNI
Posted by John Lynch on January 13, 2008 Scientists have discovered how two proteins called BERT and ERNI interact in embryos to control when different organ systems start to form. Apparently BERT binds to ERNI to unblock the transcription factor Sox2. Seriously. The paper is over at PLoS Biology.
Planet Bob … or why taxonomy is important
Posted by John Lynch on November 18, 2007 More information here.
White-Crowned Sparrow
Posted by John Lynch on November 11, 2007 White-Crowned Sparrow, Zonotrichia leucophrys We recently planted winter grass and have managed to attract large numbers of white-crowned sparrows, a species that I hadn’t seen before here in Tempe. [image source]
Digital dissection coolness
Posted by John Lynch on October 30, 2007 This is so cool. A one-millimeter long spider (Cenotextricella simoni) encased in amber gets "digitally dissected" using Very High Resolution X-Ray Computed Tomography. The paper is online in Zootaxa 1623:47-53 but requires a subscription.
Arthur Kornberg, dead at 89
Posted by John Lynch on October 27, 2007 Stanford University Hospital is reporting that Arthur Kornberg, the 1959 Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine, has died aged 89. Kornberg received recognition for his discovery of "the mechanisms in the biological synthesis of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)". His son, Roger, received his own Nobel (Chemistry) last year.
Just a random image.
Posted by John Lynch on October 19, 2007 A colorized scanning electron micrograph depicts a group of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). The bug made headlines this week because of a report in the Journal of the American Medical Association that it caused 94,000 serious infections and nearly 19,000 deaths in 2005 – most of them in hospitals. (Source: Janice Carr/CDC/Handout/Reuters)
Is there a lepidopterist in the house?
Posted by John Lynch on August 18, 2007 Can any one out there identify this little guy for me? Spotted this afternoon fluttering around my yard (suburban Phoenix, AZ) in some distress. If it helps, the grey stripe is approximately a half an inch wide. Update: Looks like it is a White-lined sphinx (Hyles lineata Fabricius, 1775). More information here. Thanks to Gene…
Optimism and the Yangtze River dolphin
Posted by John Lynch on August 12, 2007 ABC (Australia) is reporting that the Yangtze River dolphin or baiji (Lipotes vexillifer) may not be definitely extinct after all (see here and here). Wang Ding – who headed the survey team – is reported as saying: This is only one survey and…you can’t have a sample in a survey, so you cannot say the…