clock | August 29, 2007If by the time we are 60 we haven't learned what a knot of paradox and contradiction life is, and how exquisitely the good and bad are mingled in every action we take, and what a compromising hostess Our Lady of Truth is, we haven't grown old to much purpose.
- John Cowper Powys
clock | August 29, 2007One cool thing about being a blogging biologist is that one can write every day about sex with a straight face and then blame readers for "having a dirty mind". But sex is so interesting - life would cease to exist without it and it is a central question in biology, so we have a license, nay, duty, to write about it all the time. We get all blase about it, I guess, compared to "normal people". ;-)
One cool story that revolves around sex is making the rounds of the science blogosphere today. Jake Young explains in seemingly dry scientific language:
This issue has spawned a variety of weird…
clock | August 29, 2007I mentioned that I met Tanja and Doug on Sunday. They just sent me some pictures from the meeting (under the fold) and you can also see their wildlife pictures here.
clock | August 29, 2007
There are 32 new articles on PLoS ONE this week. Here are some titles that caught my eye - go read, rate, annotate and comment:
Why Men Matter: Mating Patterns Drive Evolution of Human Lifespan:
Evolutionary theory predicts that senescence, a decline in survival rates with age, is the consequence of stronger selection on alleles that affect fertility or mortality earlier rather than later in life. Hamilton quantified this argument by showing that a rare mutation reducing survival is opposed by a selective force that declines with age over reproductive life. He used a female-only demographic…
clock | August 29, 2007See the entire comic strip here, as this is just the panel most relevant to yesterday's news:
clock | August 29, 2007Super Spiders Make Bolder Birds:
Recent research has revealed that by feeding spiders to their chicks, birds can manipulate the personality and learning ability of their young. In a report recently published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, University of Glasgow researchers reveal that birds preferentially feed their young spiders containing taurine.
Taurine is an amino acid which is also found in breast milk and energy drinks. The beneficial qualities of taurine include aiding the development of premature babies and reducing blood pressure in human adults, but it has not…
clock | August 28, 2007Take time to gather up the past so that you will be able to draw from your experience and invest them in the future.
- Jim Rohn
clock | August 28, 2007
The Molecular Anatomy of Spontaneous Germline Mutations in Human Testes:
The frequency of Apert syndrome mutations is 100-1,000 times higher than expected from average mutation rates, and it is due to positive selection in the testis increasing the frequency of germ cells carrying the defect.
Enlightening Energy Parasitism by Analysis of an ATP/ADP Transporter from Chlamydiae:
This paper explores the functional basis of how the intracellular P. amoebophila manages to effectively exploit the energy pool of its host cell by using the nucleotide transporter PamNTT1.
Emergence of Large-Scale…
clock | August 28, 2007If we are not there at the moment of birth, how come we can bond with the baby and be good fathers or good adoptive parents? Kate explains. Obligatory Reading of the Day.
Update: Related is this new article by former Scibling David Dobbs: The Hormone That Helps You Read Minds
Update 2: Matt responds to Kate's post.
Update 3: Kate wrote a follow-up: Why help out? The life of an alloparent
clock | August 28, 2007Grist takes a look at all candidates from both parties and evaluates their stands on environmental issues, global warming and energy:
How Green Is Your Candidate?
clock | August 28, 2007Michael Pollan's book The Omnivore's Dilemma got out in paperback today, so if you have not read it yet, now is the time.
Also, in his mailing-list letter, Pollan announces that he has "...just completed a new book, a short manifesto about diet and health called "In Defense of Food." It's scheduled to be published January 1."
On the Farm Bill, currently going through the Congress, he writes:
The House Bill was a disappointment in many ways, leaving the current subsidy system undisturbed, though there are a handful of creative provisions tucked into it regarding school lunch and local food…
clock | August 27, 2007There's no point in being grown up if you can't be childish sometimes.
- Dr Who
clock | August 27, 2007
Echidna's Sex Life Under Study:
A University of Adelaide-led project will study the genetic makeup of one of Australia's most iconic animals, the echidna, to give an unprecedented insight into their sex life and behaviour. World echidna expert Dr Peggy Rismiller and geneticist Dr Frank Grützner will collaborate with the Monarto and Adelaide Zoos and South Australian Museum to learn more about these unique egg-laying mammals known as monotremes.
Sharks' 'Bite Force' Under The Spotlight:
While sharks instill fear in beachgoers worldwide, they instill a deep sense of curiosity in UT assistant…
clock | August 27, 2007Encephalon #30 is up on Neurofuture
Gene Genie #14 is up on MicrobiologyBytes
Carnival of the Green #92 is up on Greener Magazine
clock | August 27, 2007Here is the time-table if you want to watch the eclipse in the Eastern time zone:
As you can see, it is very late at night, and much of the good stuff is happening after dawn. Perhaps in other time zones, the eclipse will look better, so check out the timelines here.
clock | August 27, 2007There is a good reason why scientists in general despise MS Excel. It is cumbersome, non-common-sensical, and the stats cannot be trusted. The graphs are ugly. I am sure it took a lot of hard work to design Excel (and Word), but if I were Charles Simonyi, I would hide the authorship of those two programs as much as possible. Charles went to the Space Station, after all, paying for the ticket out of his own pocket, so there is something much more exciting (and safe) to brag about (not to mention dating Martha Stewart).
There are so many good pieces of software out there, many capable of…
clock | August 27, 2007Yesterday I had lunch (and coffee and another coffee - this lasted a while because it was so much fun) with Tanja and her husband Doug. Regulars here probably recognize the commenter who goes by the handle "tanjasova" - that's her.
They just bought a nice house in Winston-Salem and will completely move to North Carolina next month, so we'll get to meet each other and indulge ourselves in Serbian cuisine often in the future. They have three teenage boys (from their respective first marriages) and they live on his salary as she is still looking for a job. Now that she will be here, she can…
clock | August 27, 2007Brian Russell, the tireless fighter for public wireless in the Chapel Hill/Carrboro area, recently wrote two blog posts on the widely read local blog Orange Politics: Chapel Hill WiFi Pilot needs different Hotspots and Where is the WiFi?
This received quite a lot of attention both before and during the Chapel Hill Town Council meeting where public wi-fi was discussed. Some pilot locations may get altered due to Brian's advice. Today, Brian has a front-page article in Chapel Hill News on the topic. He has been building a Google Map of local wireless (on which I made sure to include a good…
clock | August 27, 2007Mouse Vision Has A Rhythm All Its Own:
In the eyes of mammals, visual information is processed on a daily schedule set within the eyes themselves--not one dictated by the brain, according to a new report in the journal Cell. The researchers found in mice that the eyes' normal rhythmic response to light requires only that a molecular "clock" inside the retina go on ticking. The retina is a layer of nerve tissue covering the back of the eyeball, which is often likened to the film in a camera; without it, images can't be captured.
How Snakes Survive Starvation:
Starving snakes employ novel…