Carnival of Evolution #48: The Icelandic Saga!

At last! Here is the much delayed Carnival of Evolution 48!

I must begin by apologizing for my tardiness, especially since John Wilkins managed to post the last one on time. I was traveling in the 2½ weeks preceding the deadline for CoE, and the combination of spotty internet access, extreme jetlag (British Columbia to Germany to Iceland, where the sun hovered around the horizon all night long, just messed me up), and of course, the incredible distractions of exotic foreign lands, meant that I was disgracefully dilatory in putting it all together.

To reward your patience (or punish you all for allowing me to do this carnival), I thought I'd sprinkle the listing with some of my travel photos. Iceland is a lovely place; it's also a strange place to consider evolution, in a land that's only about 60 million years old and that is lacking in large animals (other than humans and their livestock), and mainly seems to be a place for rocks, lichens, mosses, fish, and small insects, as well as the busy bacteria…so in a sense it's a place where we get back to the roots of evolution. Anyway, I'm just splattering the text with my photos; ignore them or get motivated to visit this gorgeous place.

On to the linkfest!

Bacteria

Wait a minute here…bacteria are where all the action is. I expected lots and lots of submissions about bacterial evolution, and this is all you give me? Come on, microbiologists, molecular biologists, and biochemists — give more next time.

• While the big beasts were evolving, their bacterial diseases were evolving right along with them.

• Bacteria evolving alone or in communities -- it makes a difference!

• Go deep into a cave and examine the bacterial resistome of species isolated for over 4 million years, and you discover they are resistant to many antibiotics.

Plants

I'm a little disappointed here, too. As an evo-devo kind of fellow, I'm often castigated for neglecting the importance of botany in understanding evolution and development…and here again we see an important group underrepresented on the Carnival of Evolution. Get to work blogging, plant biologists!

• Dandelions! The interactions between the environment and genetic diversity

• What's the connection between gigantic genomes and high mutation rates in flowering plants?

Charismatic megafauna

Here we go. Animals are clearly very popular.

• Gigantism in sauropods -- all the details behind growing huge.

• Birds are paedomorphic dinosaurs?

• Molecular genetics of polar bears.

• The evolution of silly walks…errm, hopping

• Fish tradeoffs: bigger gills or more efficient swimming?

• Carl Zimmer and Ed Yong both got into Ichthyostega: How Ichthyostega was like a mudskipper, and Ichthyostega wasn't very good at walking.

• How arthropod segmentation mechanisms lead to lots of legs. Tetrapods, pay attention.

• Clearing up the confusion about gills, gill slits, and pharyngeal arches. I've never been confused about it, but lots of people are.

• A brief summary of the entirety of mammalian evolution. Ambition is good.

Humans

Why do we have more posts about people than about bacteria? Man, we're a self-centered bunch.

• It's a peculiar exceptionalism that makes people even ask if humans are still evolving.

• So blondes in Melanesia may be a consequence of a different mutation than the one that produces Scandinavian blondes.

• Considering the two big hypotheses about human evolution: Continuity vs replacement in the evolution of the human species

• Vegetarians may not like this: meat-eating contributed to human success by allowing for early weaning, allowing for an earlier return to fertility for their mothers.

• The rise of Christianity and Islam had an effect on the genetics of Jews.

Charismatic organs in charismatic megafauna

You know what's really popular? The evolution of brains and penises.

• Why did we evolve such big brains, and what does a hole in our head have to do with it?

• Smart birds, smart fish: how did bigger brains evolve?

• The biochemistry of fatty brains may affect cardiovascular health.

• Thank an error that leads to more synapses in the human brain for our smarts. Well, in part.

• Apophallation. You probably don't want to know what it is.

Theory

• People are always confusing fact and theory in evolution. Let's straighten them out.

• Here's a battle that's been fought for many years: Kin selection vs group selection — it's complicated.

• The Black Queen Hypothesis is the idea that there are necessary complex functions that some species must get stuck with in order to maintain a viable ecology. We've got two posts on it.

• Constructal theory tries to explain one way complexity can arise from natural processes.

• It's not all natural selection! Think about the neutral theory of genome evolution

• If you don't know the difference between orthologs and paralogs, read this post.

• Something unusual has to happen for an invasive species to be successful: consider the difficulties of weediness.

• Is the Carnival of Evolution evolving? (Answer: yes. Just about everything that replicates is evolving.)

History

It's helpful to know where our ideas are coming from.

• Atheists have replaced theists in discussing the incompatibility of god and evolution.

• Diagramming relationships: sometimes a network is better than a tree.

Simulations

• Using Avida to figure out how organisms could evolve navigation abilities.

Idiots

Here's another popular category. Evolution is sociologically and politically contentious, even if it is scientifically rock-solid, so we have to spend a lot of time battling misconceptions and outright lies. Sometimes it's aggravating, and sometimes it's a source for hilarity.

• Knee joints are not irreducibly complex. Comparative anatomy shows that they're actually nothing new.

• Intelligent design creationism lacks a mechanism, even if Casey Luskin claims they do. Hint: "God" is not a mechanism.

• Evo-psych people might not want to read this one: biologists and evolutionary psychologists amusingly contrasted. If you're as disgusted with most of evo-psych as I am, though, it's required reading.

• Is it Intelligent Design? Or is it photoshop?

• Creationists are still waiting for cat to turn into a dog. Keep waiting, guys.

• Creationists love "living fossils". They shouldn't.

• So simple even a creationist ought to be able to understand it.

• A letter to the AMNH: please stop pandering to god belief.

• Oh, man, even when they mean well, bad journalism can make a mess of evolution. Here's an example of entertainingly bad science journalism.

A little bit of everything

• Bora summarizes the Society for Research on Biological Rhythms meeting. It hits just about every category I've put in here.

• I counted. There are actually 101 Reasons Why Evolution is True listed on this one page.

I have to thank Hope, Einar, Þorsteinn, and Friða of Siðmennt for taking me about Iceland and instructing me on geology, and also thanks to Háskóli Íslands and Vantru for hosting me.

You can follow the Carnival of Evolution on Facebook, Twitter, or the CoE blog, and you can submit links to the next edition.

IMPORTANT NOTICE: There is currently no host scheduled for July or thereafter. Volunteer! It's a good way to be compelled to carefully read a lot of excellent posts about evolution, so think of it as a learning experience.