August 3, 2007
This post from March 27, 2006 starts with some of my old research and poses a new hypothesis.
The question of animal models
There are some very good reasons why much of biology is performed in just a handful of model organisms. Techniques get refined and the knowledge can grow incrementally until…
August 3, 2007
Statistical analysis of crew-members' deaths on Starship Enterprise, including various risk factors.
(Via)
August 3, 2007
A month has passed.
It was a steep learning curve, but I think I have climbed high enough on it to be confident that I'll be fine on my own back in Chapel Hill. Being a part of the PLoS team is such an exhillarating experience - there is so much energy and optimism around the office, everybody from…
August 3, 2007
This post is a modification from two papers written for two different classes in History of Science, back in 1995 and 1998. It is a part of a four-post series on Darwin and clocks. I first posted it here on December 02, 2004 and then again here on January 06, 2005:
II. Darwin on Time
There is a…
August 2, 2007
A well-spent day brings happy sleep.
- Leonardo da Vinci
August 2, 2007
This post about the origin, evolution and adaptive fucntion of biological clocks originated as a paper for a class, in 1999 I believe. I reprinted it here in December 2004, as a third part of a four-part post. Later, I reposted it here.
III. Whence Clocks?
Origin, Evolution, and Adaptive Function…
August 1, 2007
The memories of long love gather like drifting snow, poignant as the mandarin ducks who float side by side in sleep.
- Lady Murasaki
August 1, 2007
I started my stay in San Francisco with a dinner at Incanto and ended it tonight with a dinner at Incanto again. Last time, the duck fries were not on the menu, but this time I had better luck. Delicious!
August 1, 2007
Four Stone Hearth #20 is up on Afarensis.
Festival of the Trees #14 is up on Via Negativa
Circus of the Spineless #23 is up on Words And Pictures.
Tangled Bank 85 - The Reductionist's Tale is up on Migrations.
Carnival of the Liberals #44 is up on The Richmond Democrat.
130th edition of The…
August 1, 2007
On this day one year ago, PLoS ONE opened its doors to manuscript submissions. Chris Surridge, the Managing Editor, wrote a blog post recounting the past year:
The initial success of PLoS ONE is something unprecedented in scientific publishing. It has been achieved because of the commitment and…
August 1, 2007
The textbook example of commensalism was always the interaction between trees and the birds who make nests in those trees - it was always assumed that the birds gain from this relationships, while the trees are not in any way affected by it.
Now, a new study came out, demonstrating (for the first…
August 1, 2007
This post, originally published on January 16, 2005, was modified from one of my written prelims questions from early 2000.
EVOLUTIONARY PHYSIOLOGY OF BIOLOGICAL CLOCKS
"Circadian clocks allow organisms to predict, instead of merely react to, cyclic (predictable) changes in the environment". A…
July 31, 2007
and so this tree
Oh, that such our death may be!
Died in sleep, and felt no pain,
To live in happier form again:
From which, beneath Heaven s fairest star,
The artist wrought this loved guitar;
- Percy Bysshe Shelley
July 31, 2007
There are 32 new papers that just went live on PLoS ONE and here are a couple of titles that got my immediate attention:
Changing Hydrozoan Bauplans by Silencing Hox-Like Genes by Wolfgang Jakob and Bernd Schierwater:
Regulatory genes of the Antp class have been a major factor for the invention and…
July 31, 2007
Flip Of Genetic Switch Causes Cancers In Mice To Self-destruct:
Killing cancerous tumors isn't easy, as anyone who has suffered through chemotherapy can attest. But a new study in mice shows that switching off a single malfunctioning gene can halt the limitless division of tumor cells and turn them…
July 31, 2007
There is a new study this week about an unusual reproductive strategy in a bird, the Penduline Tit, which, if anthropomorphized, would appear to be an example of some really bad, deceptive parenting. But, Anne-Marie and Kate demonstrate the proper way to think about this. Obligatory Readings of…
July 31, 2007
Encephalon #28 is up on Bohemian Scientist.
Gene Genie #12 is up on My Biotech Life.
Triskaidekaphilia: the 13th Carnival of Mathematics is up on Polymathematics.
Carnival of the Green #88 is up on Nicomachus.
Grand Rounds, Vol.3, n.45 are up on Health Business Blog
Radiology Grand Rounds XIV are…
July 31, 2007
The Demise of Old-Fashioned Scholarly Journals? (I love the photo on the top of the article!)
Thoughts about the sea of information
Open Science like the start of Apple?
Nonsense, and pernicious nonsense at that.
Reading Journals Can Seriously Damage Your Wallet
Hybrid journals and the transition…
July 31, 2007
What Kevin says.
July 31, 2007
If you are one of the few of my readers who actually slogged through my Clock Tutorials, especially the difficult series on Entrainment and Phase Response Curves, you got to appreciate the usefulness of the oscillator theory from physics in its application to the study of biological clocks. Use…
July 31, 2007
Going into more and more detail, here is a February 11, 2005 post about the current knowledge about the circadian organization in my favourite animal - the Japanese quail.
Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica), also known as the Asian Migratory Quail, are gallinaceous birds from the family…
July 30, 2007
Is there a new Tuberculosis vaccine in the making?
Another movie is being made about Ivory-Bill woodpeckers.
A new astronomical explanation for the cycles of extinctions.
July 30, 2007
There are two kinds of people in the world: the Givers and the Takers. The difference between the two is that the Takers eat well, and the Givers sleep well at night.
- Joy Mills
July 30, 2007
This post, from January 25, 2006, describes part of the Doctoral work of my lab-buddy Chris.
Mammals have only one circadian pacemaker - the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN). Apparently all the other cells in the body contain circadian clocks, too, but only the SCN drives all the overt rhythms.…
July 30, 2007
Now that I have finished reading HP7, I finally let myself go around and see what others are writing. Here is some of the best I found so far, to be read only if you have finished the book (or do not care for spoilers).
There is a paper that looks at sociopolitical aspects of the books.
And there…
July 30, 2007
How do air-conditioners and refrigerators work? Scientific explanations for this can be cranky or patient. You choose.
July 30, 2007
This post was originally written on February 11, 2005. Moving from relatively simple mammalian model to more complex systems.
I have previously described the basic properties of the circadian organization in mammals. Non-mammalian vertebrates (fish, amphibians, reptiles and birds) have more…
July 29, 2007
It is a common experience that a problem difficult at night is resolved in the morning after the committee of sleep has worked on it.
- John Steinbeck
July 29, 2007
The Primate Diaries
Brettleighdicks - Biology Blog
Fnord
Psych Matters
Manifest Destiny
Wild Roses
July 29, 2007
First written on March 04, 2005 for Science And Politics, then reposted on February 27, 2006 on Circadiana, a post about a childrens' book and what I learned about it since.
When I was a kid I absolutely loved a book called "Il Ciondolino" by Ricardo Vamba - a book in two slim volumes for kids (how…
