gregladen | March 31, 2008Fall, a very sunny, very breezy day on the lake, Amanda and I sitting in the cabin minding our own business.
Suddenly, ...thwack...
... well, it was a sort of tiny miniature thwack, but a thwack nonetheless. Peering outside through the window, we could see the the last death throws of a tiny greenish bird that had run into the window. The lighting conditions must have been just right for this bird to think that it could fly through the cabin, because this was an odd and unusual event. (We later made further adjustments to the window to see to it that this did not happen again, of…
gregladen | March 30, 2008How do you avoid having sex with your close relatives? Well, not you, specifically, but how is it done generally, or perhaps among mammals in particular?
One obvious way would be to use a part of the genome that seems to evolve rapidly, and that would be able to distinguish between even moderately closely related individuals. For instance, the Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) is big, diverse, and changes rapidly. If two potential mates could somehow compare their MHC's, they could estimate their degree of relatedness, and thus avoid inbreeding.
An article just out in Current Biology…
gregladen | March 30, 2008Power lines kill raptors. Tens of thousands of raptors a year die on power lines. But there are ways to avoid this.
On 26 February, the Hungarian Ornithological and Nature Conservation Society (MME; BirdLife in Hungary) signed an agreement with the Ministry of Environment and Water (MEW), and all relevant electric companies in Hungary, to provide a long-term solution for bird-electrocutions. The signing parties promised to transform power lines in Hungary, and to make them more 'bird-friendly' by 2020.
Since the 1980s, electrocutions and collisions with electric power lines have caused…
gregladen | March 29, 2008
The Penny Dreadfuls: works by Bohemian Press
U of M Printmaking Collective
Opening April 3rd 6-9 Northrup King Building
(1500 Jackson Street NE)
April 3-16 2008
Gallery hours:
Th-F 12-5
Sat 12-4
gregladen | March 29, 2008The question is basic: Is evolutionary change largely random or is it more often shaped by selective forces? The former is linked to what is called Neutral Theory, and it has a lot of support, to the extent that it most likely true. The latter is part of what is sometimes known as the Adaptationist Program, and it is certainly correct. New research on the Development of the Nematode Vulva is sure to cloud the issue even further..
First, a word on this confusing introduction. We know that when we observe life, we do not see a really wide range of degree of adaptation among closely related…
gregladen | March 28, 2008The Earth Hour, that is!
March 29th is Earth Hour Day. From 8pm to 8pm in your local time zone, you are to switch off the lights and stuff.
A number of astronomers out for an early evening look at the stars will thank you, and the Earth will thank you.
More details here.
gregladen | March 28, 2008The Friday Ark on Modulator
and
Carnival of the Liberals # 61 at Last Left Turn...
gregladen | March 28, 2008PZ Myers is not pulling punches with Expelled! and the enigmatically moronic producers of said movie.
gregladen | March 28, 2008
The University of California Board of Regents today (March 27) voted unanimously to appoint Mark G. Yudof, current head of the University of Texas system and a recognized leader in American higher education, the 19th president of the University of California.
The appointment was made during a special meeting of the board following a search committee's recommendation last week. Yudof will succeed Robert C. Dynes, who last August announced his intention to step down by June 2008 after nearly five years in the position.
Yudof's appointment will become effective this summer, with the exact date…
gregladen | March 28, 2008
Welcome to Gene Genie #24: with a heavy emphasis on Personal Genetics
The previous Gene Genie was hosted at DNAdirect Talk and it is still fresh, so go have a look if you have not already. The next Gene Genie will be hosted at My Biotech Life. By the way, the Gene Genie logo was created by Ricardo at My Biotech Life -- see the other award winning artwork here.
If you wish to submit a post for the next Gene Genie, you may use the handy-dandy submission form.
And, now, on with the show:
Did you ever wonder How many knocked out genes in Knock Out mice? at molecular B(io)LOG(y)
One would…
gregladen | March 28, 2008According to a study just out in PLoS, you can learn to be nice. This study, using functional MRI brain imaging, assessed brain activity while meditation experts produced a meditative state called a "loving-kindness-compassion state" (and here I was thinking that the "loving-kindness-compassion state" was Vermont... ).
From the paper:
meditators have more than 10,000 hours of practice in Buddhist meditation and are perceived in their communities as embodying qualities of compassion (see Methods). Experts were compared with age-and gender-matched "novices" who were interested in learning to…
gregladen | March 28, 2008
Details:
LIGHTNING + THUNDER CD RELEASE PARTY
Friday, March 28th, 2008
Varsity Theater (1308 - 4th Street SEth, Minneapolis, 55414
21+. Doors 9:00pm. $7.
TRU RUTS/SPEAKEASY RECORDS + SMOKESIGNYL PRESENTS LIGHTNING + THUNDER CD RELEASE
First Compilation of its kind in Minnesota fusing Reggaeton, Dancehall, Reggae + Hip Hop
Tru Ruts/Speakeasy Records + Smokesignyl Productions join forces to release HIGHSTYLEKYLE + TRU RUTS present LIGHTNING + THUNDER (VOLUME ONE), the first compilation of its kind in Minnesota, fusing reggaeton, dancehall, reggae and hip hop. Featuring the talents of twenty…
gregladen | March 28, 2008Branta ruficollis is endangered. The Red Breasted Goose International Working Group (RbGIWG, which is unpronounceable) has a new species action plan to save this critter.
Here's some info from Redbrested Goose Central:
Red-breasted Goose (Branta ruficollis) is a charismatic globally threatened species highly dependent on wetlands and farmed areas. In the last 50 years, the distribution of the breeding and wintering grounds of Red-breasted Goose has changed dramatically for unknown reasons.
This species has a small wintering range with 80-90% of the population concentrated in just five…
gregladen | March 27, 2008
NASA astronomers were blown away last week by what was far and away the strongest gamma-ray burst (GRB) ever observed. GRB 080319B, shown here in x-ray [left] and optical/ultraviolet [right] views captured by the Swift satellite, burned so brightly that its afterglow was briefly visible to the naked eye from its origin 7.5 billion light-years (or half a universe) away. If placed side-by-side with the brightest supernova ever seen, the burst would still outshine it by a factor of 2.5 million, researchers calculated. GRBs typically occur when the explosion of a dying star gets channeled into…
gregladen | March 27, 2008
Don't mess with me, man, I'm a Philippine Eagle, Pithecophaga jefferyi. You can call me Jeff.
This bird is almost extinct.
gregladen | March 27, 2008Please get me your Gene Genie Blog Carnival Entries by tomorrow afternoon! I'd like to get the carnival up ca midnight on Friday. I've got lots of good stuff already, but I don't want you to miss your chance.
gregladen | March 27, 2008The ape human split is a bit of a moving target. In the 1970s and early 1980s, there were geneticists who placed it at very recent (close to 4 million years ago) and palaeoanthropologists, using fossils, who placed it at much earlier. During the 1980s, the ape-human split moved back in time because of the importance of sivapithecus, then later in time when Sivapithecus slipped and fell out of the hominid/hominin (human ancestor) family tree. Meanwhile the geneticists were moving towards a more and more recent split. At one point not too long ago, all the evidence converged with the split…