Morning Roundup

The big news here today is all about evolution - we've got the rhesus monkey genome and Tyrannosaurus rex protein sequences published. There's also some cool science policy stuff to look at - there's information on abstinence-only sex ed and more manatee material available. Finally, we've got an excellent - although sad and nearly tragic - example of how government policies can (if followed) help reduce injuries in certain situations.

More Monkey Business:

As I mentioned yesterday, the rhesus macaque genome was released yesterday. Carl Zimmer wrote an excellent blog post on the project, and there are now some more fantastic resources available - including some for non-scientists. The journal Science, which published the genome article and several other articles on other aspects of the project yesterday, has made all of the rhesus genome resources freely available to the public on their website. People with a really good background in science might want to look at the genome article and the other scientific reports (the one on genomic triangulation is pretty good, I thought). For those who are interested in science, but aren't familiar with (or interested in reading) jargony genomic papers, there are a few less-technical reads. There's an editorial introduction, a couple of news articles, and a set of educational resources intended for high school teachers and students. All are good reads.

Tastes like a blend of chicken and . . . newt?

The other big science news of the week is the extraction of proteins from T rex fossils. Small fragments of the proteins were analyzed using some cool new techniques. The results were compared with the matching fragments of the same protein in living species. The fossil remains matched chicken most closely, but some fragments matched up with newts and a couple of other species of cold-blooded vertebrates.

Would you believe it! It turns out that teenagers don't listen!

How's that for a shocker. Via Grrlscientist, we learn that a recent study concludes that abstinence-only sex education accomplishes exactly nothing. By nothing, I mean just that - the age at first sexual encounter, the number of sexual partners, and frequency of condom usage are all statistically indistinguishable when students who went through abstinence-only sex education are compared with those who didn't.

Save The Manatees - they still need it:

Shelley has further updates on the possible manatee delisting. It looks like there's going to be a public comment period opening up, so make sure you make your opinions known.

Ladies and Gentlemen of the Class of 2007: Wear Seatbelts.

As many of you know, New Jersey governor John Corzine was in a car wreck yesterday (like Orac, I don't like using the term "accident"). There were three people in his vehicle. Two received minor injuries. The governor received major injuries, including a flail chest and open femur fracture, and has so far needed seven pints of blood. Can you guess which of these three wasn't wearing a seatbelt at the time of the collision?

That would be the guy who started out in the front seat, and wound up in the back of the SUV by the time the vehicle had stopped. It's been a long time since I worked in EMS, but thinking back to the MVCs I've seen, I'd guess that the femur fracture was probably the result of getting his leg stuck under the dashboard, and the flail chest from hitting the back of a seat - either his or the seat behind him. The scalp laceration could have come from any number of things, and the broken collarbone probably happened along with the rib and sternum injuries. The injuries to the lower vertebrae, I'd guess, probably happened when the rest of his body was still trying to fly through the vehicle when his chest hit the seat (or whatever).

Had the Governor been wearing his seatbelt - as required by law in New Jersey - he almost certainly would not have sustained anywhere near as much injury. That's because the Governor would have been restrained in his seat, and would have been protected by the seatbelt and airbags. Instead, he became a large moving body that was apparently flying loose in the back of his vehicle, and banged into a lot of stuff that was harder than he was.

Hopefully, we'll be seeing some public service commercials starring a chagrined Mr. Corzine - once he gets off the ventilator.