razib
Posts by this author
July 3, 2006
Evolgen has a nice little post up on the problems with mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) in regards to using it to infer demographic history. This form of genomic information is useful in that it is relatively copious, being present in the hundreds of mitochondrion to be found within every cell. This is…
July 2, 2006
Over at my other weblog "Darth Quixote" interviews cognitive science superstar Steven Pinker.
While I've got your attention, here are some other 10 questions....
John Derbyshire, conservative writer.
Armand Leroi, evolutionary & developmental biologist.
Warren Treadgold, Byzantine historian.…
July 2, 2006
A population bottleneck has a tendency of reducing the long term effective population size (harmonic mean) a great deal. I'm sure all of you knew that, and I'm sure you know that it also has a tendency of reducing variation. This is because low effective population sizes increase the power of…
July 1, 2006
My focus on this weblog will tend to be a bit more theoretical and abstract when it comes to genetics. Specifically, as I've made clear before, I'm interested in how theoretical population genetics as conceived of during the Fisher-Wright-Haldane era can be applied and made relevant in the…
July 1, 2006
Paul comments on blogging, politics and science in response to my interview at Genetics & Health. Some of what Paul says mirrors Chris of Mixing Memory's sentiments in relation to reaching out and engaging in dialogue with those who differ from you.
There is a big topic, and I'm not going to…
July 1, 2006
A few years ago there were reports of a new great ape in the Congo, perhaps a chimp-gorilla hybrid. As the story unfolded it seemed more and more plausible that this was a local morph of the common chimpanzee, and genetic tests have confirmed that hunch. It is a subspecies of common chimpanzee,…
June 30, 2006
Janet has the details, but we're winding down. Three things:
1) Thanks to everyone who gave, I didn't raise much myself, but something is way better than nothing and good is accomplished in small steps
2) Mad props to "DS" (you know who you are), as you donated twice, and at least once…
June 29, 2006
It is well known that academics tend to be on the political Left. Some people are angry about this, but I don't particularly care. Members of Opus Dei tend to be on the Right, does that surprise? Nevertheless, I am curious about differences with disciplines in academia. So I found this study…
June 29, 2006
Closeup 1 has revamped their website and is ramping up for their 2006 edition, though for a poetically inclined folk this introduction does translate somewhat manically into English:
Dreams & Talents
Confidence & Aspiration
Voice & The Microphone
A Nation & Its Youth
You, us and…
June 29, 2006
It seems that others have a compulsion to control the means of my opinion production. 5 questions from Hsien Hsien Lei aimed at me. Lei runs a great weblog, Genetics and Health.
June 28, 2006
In Unequal by nature: A geneticist's perspective on human differences, James F. Crow states:
Two populations may have a large overlap and differ only slightly in their means. Still, the most outstanding individuals will tend to come from the population with the higher mean.
This is a trivial…
June 27, 2006
In the long winded post below I referred to genetic conflicts in pregnancy. If you are curious about this, I highly recommend Mother Nature by Sarah Hrdy. Though the topic is placed in the context of female evolution (of our species) in general, it gets a thorough treatment. If you are interested…
June 27, 2006
The paper that was supposed to be out nearly a week ago is finally on the PNAS site. This isn't the first time this has cropped up. Additionally, I can't believe that someone is writing all the press releases which give early dates for release on the website, rather, I'm assuming that the IT guys…
June 27, 2006
Janet points me to this post which points to this research which reinforces the theory that placental environment might have a strong effect on the phenotype of the fetus. Since I've expressed an interest in genomic imprinting let me respond to Jill at Feministing's query, "why do we have to know…
June 27, 2006
A random hot chick approached me and started talking to me on the street, real aggressive like. I was pretty taken aback until I realized she was a Jehovah's Witness, though I didn't comprehend that until I looked at the literature she gave me. I don't really know what she said, and I left the…
June 26, 2006
Manish points me to this bizarre article about a successful young American who happens to be gay, and, is seeking a "marriage of convenience" with a suitably inclined lesbian. Oh, and guess what, he is a practicing Muslim to boot! A few months ago rik asked me if I thought science and religion…
June 26, 2006
My 10 questions for James F. Crow are up. It isn't often that a nobody gets to interview the greatest living thinker in a field (theoretical population genetics), so you should check it out.
June 26, 2006
OK, people, check out the leader board. I suck, but that's cool, we've raised thousands & thousands of dollars. But, I would like to stand a little taller and say that I did my part, so lift me up on your shoulders!
June 25, 2006
I might not believe in God, but I believe in Satan. Below the fold is a picture where you can make your own judgement (those who remember the Omen movies know what I'm talking about)....
June 25, 2006
Chris has an excellent post up about the "why" and "what" in regards to science blogs. I have already sketched out why I blog in the generalities, it is really a function of my egoism. The one thing I would add, or elaborate, in regards to Chris' post is that I do think science blogs play a very…
June 25, 2006
In reference to my previous post about multi-level selection, I have an admission to make, I am generally more open to group selection, strictly speaking interdemic selection, for human beings than I am for other creatures. The reasoning is culture, as my intuition is that ingroup vs. outgroup…
June 24, 2006
Ruminations on the relationship between religion and evolution at the Conservatives Against Intelligent Design website.
June 23, 2006
What makes a good teacher? That's what SEED is asking this week. Here's my top 10....
10) Patience
9) Lack of ego (putting the focus on the student)
8) Enthusiasm
7) Social sensitivity (know the audience you are aiming at, whether it be the children of religious fundamentalists, 8 year olds or…
June 23, 2006
This is a question I'm throwing out to the philosophers out there, what is the current thinking in regards to Popper in philosophy of science? My own impression is that Popper is considered passe. I find this interesting, because in my personal experience when workings scientists mouth…
June 22, 2006
I swung by the public library today to pay a $1.25 fine. Offhand I asked the librarian what the biggest fine she'd ever encountered was, and she leaned forward and whispered, "$1,000." What she told me was that someone simply came in and paid $1,000 rather than returning their checked out books.…