razib
Posts by this author
June 22, 2006
Three human gene variants appear to influence tb susceptibility:
Approximately one-third of the world's population is thought to be infected with the M. tuberculosis pathogen, yet only about 10 percent becomes ill with the active disease. Researchers suspect that a variety of factors interplay to…
June 21, 2006
Steve points me to this story which reports that the man reported to be the first direct line descent of Genghis Khan among Europeans is not a Khan. Nevertheless, the more important point holds: the success of the Khan patrilineage seems distinctly an Asian phenomenon, showing how fickle social…
June 21, 2006
At my other weblog Jason Malloy points me to Half Sigma who crunches the data from the GSS and finds that yes, religiosity is a predictor of lower intelligence. One of the most googled postings of mine from years back is where I showed that there is a positive trend for mean national IQ to predict…
June 20, 2006
A few weeks ago Evolgen expressed irritation that people kept confusing his blog with Jason Rosenhouse's Evolution Blog. Well, check this:
Razib at Evolutionblog has asked contributors to try defining evolution in ten words or fewer.
The title "Evolution Blog" must be cognitively "sticky" or…
June 20, 2006
Over at The Corner at National Review Online John Derbyshire has been getting into a debate with his colleagues over Judith Rich Harris' work, and her two books The Nurture Assumption and No Two Alike. I find it amusing when scientific controversy comes crashing into the punditocracy, though I…
June 20, 2006
EurekAlert obviously doesn't have quality control, as of right now their top press release in the Biology category is Graham Hancock, international expert on lost civilizations. If you don't know, Hancock is a pseudoarcheologist. Basically he is just Robert E. Howard with a little more world-…
June 19, 2006
A few weeks ago I was posting on genomic imprinting. I will continue that series in the near future, but until then, I point you to my 10 questions for David Haig, the theorist who originated many of the ideas which I discussed and will discuss. Though Haig is not a popularizer himself, he shows…
June 19, 2006
Jake at Pure Pedantry has a lengthy post on heritability. It makes concrete (using real psychological illneses, etc.) some of my points in my previous post where I discuss the complexity of behavioral genetics.
Two issues of note. First, Jake used the example of Huntington's Disease as "100%…
June 19, 2006
As most of you know, SEED will be matching the money we're raising here at Science Blogs. Thanks to the many who've already given. If you haven't, I encourage you too! Step up!
June 18, 2006
I will be contributing to the new blog Nation Building, which was the weblog "Dean Nation." Though I am generally of the opinion that the 4-year-election-cycle is generally characterized by transient epiphenomena on a substantive level (though there's a lot of tribalism and "my team won!" going…
June 18, 2006
Conservatives against Intelligent Design addresses l'affaire Coulter.
June 18, 2006
This hilarious article about "confirming" your descent from Confucius is making the rounds.
Now, my understanding is that the patrilineage of Confucius remains to this day. So the people who would seek confirmation would often have a tradition of descent from the great sage himself. But, I note…
June 16, 2006
I was hungry yesterday, and everywhere I went the lines were long, so I decided to visit a "fast food" restaurant. While I was waiting for my order a 7 year old child was adding more ice to the soda fountain machine. The child had to use a chair to climb up, and he was having a very difficult…
June 16, 2006
The answers keep coming in for my query about "what is evolution?" RPM took me to task for basically answering "what is selection" with my initial response. This is a good criticism...honestly, I wanted to focus on selection because I think random genetic drift confuses many people, and it…
June 15, 2006
I too defend space cadets, what is mankind without a dream? I remember back in the late 1980s a speech by Joseph P. Kennedy II as he stood on the floor of the house of representatives and asked his fellow members if people here at home should eat less so that vessels could fly above them in the…
June 15, 2006
On the heels of the asinine review of Before the Dawn in Nature, I see Carl is linking to some recent papers that are coming out in regards to positive selection in our own storied lineage. I must say that the new one in Science is quite phat in its broad sweep. Pictures below the fold....…
June 15, 2006
Dave and Jonah have both commented on this piece in The New York Times which is something of a mismash of recent studies coming out of the field of behavior genetics. The best thing about the piece, from my selfish angle, is that it references Contingency Table, now absorbed into my other weblog,…
June 15, 2006
Question: Ask a Science Blogger June 15:
How is it that all the PIs (Tara, PZ, Orac et al.), various grad students, post-docs, etc. find time to fulfill their primary objectives (day jobs) and blog so prolifically?
My guess: blogging is easy. What it takes is a little courage to speak your mind…
June 15, 2006
Time to represent...no point pulling one's hair about the ignorance of the anti-evolutionist unwashed unless one is willing to do something about the problem, right?
Small update: Props to those of you who have given so far! Small $$$ can go a long way. In any case, just so you know, everyone…
June 15, 2006
Bora's reference to popular misconceptions about evolution and RPM's post which points to some of Francis Collins' bizarre contentions in regards to human evolution (talk about "End of History") got me thinking, how about I be a unifier and not a divider? If you had 10 words or less, what would…
June 14, 2006
Manish has a post up on this YouTube video of a South Indian movie where the male lead has an out of control bouffant. The weird thing is that whenever I hear South Indian languages I always get a weird feeling like I'm listening to aliens chattering in an Indian accent. Myself, I can speak…
June 14, 2006
RPM got me thinking about two things today. First, what's up with the new picture. Second, Francis Collins' is repeating his experiences with religion. Four points
The equanimity of his religous patients in the face of cruel fate fascinated him
He was struck by the arguments in C.S. Lewis' Mere…
June 14, 2006
Simon of Bloggasm asked me 5 questions, and I responded. Now, I will admit that I found being "interviewed" to offer my "opinion" kind of hilarious (another interview with me should pop up on the web at the end of this month, "watch this space," or, better yet, read another genetics blog regularly…
June 14, 2006
Bora made two quick references to "group selection" today. I don't have much time...and shouldn't be blogging, but I want to make a few quick points before this topic goes down the memory hole (I know, unnecessary caveat, but I am driven by personal guilt in expressing it, not public shame). For…
June 13, 2006
Every few months I take a political test just to see where I "fit in." Jason Soon reminds me of The Libertarian Purity Test. Funniest question?
58. Should the courts be privatized?
Yes
No
I scored 35, "Your libertarian credentials are obvious. Doubtlessly you will become more extreme as…
June 12, 2006
Regular readers of this weblog know that there are some quick "back of the envelope" prediction equations that one can appeal to to get a rough sense of how quickly evolution can proceed. For example, the time until fixation of a neutral (no selection + or -) mutant is 4Ne generations, where Ne is…
June 10, 2006
Yes, the title is a bit asinine, but it got your attention didn't it? This post is a response to Chad Orzel's response to my response to his response to last week's "Ask a Science Blogger" where I allude to the benefit of tightening labor for our working classes (these United States). Chad…