OCTOPUS bracket: The arenas have just opened.

To advance: I'm calling:

Invertebrates (close game though),
Internal Medicine (drugs work),
Proteomics (more sexy),
respiration (I want photosynthesis to win, being underdog, but come on -it's respiration!), Linnaean (because experience counts),
Totipotent (stem cells rock),
neuroscience (sexy sexy),
HIV (just has to get the job done).

I know that people are picking totipotent for the win because they're all around good guys capable of doing anything. That's great if you're at a liberal arts college getting a rounded education but c'mon, now really - unipotent clearly has the advantage here because they're really, really good at doing one thing - playing the game.

I'm going to have to disagree and look to genomics to top the rookies in the proteomics side. There's a lot of promise in that proteomic squad, but the fact their playbook is basically derived from the genomics side means they won't be able to throw any surprises at their opponent. Plus, at this point, we know how genomics performs under all kinds of different settings. From the front to the back of that roster, we can figure out the character of each player based on what we've been seeing for the last few seasons. Proteomics? There's a lot of flash there, a low of raw talent and some stand-out players, but at this point no one is in a position to really know what the whole proteome brings to the game. They're a young group and I like their moxie, but I don't think they bring enough to the table yet to advance. Maybe facing some adversity over the next couple seasons will help build them up. Genomics by 15.

And you know unipotent will have the religious right on their side. So I'm also calling unipotent on that game, just because of lobbying power (they got the bucks to have that strong team). And, speaking as an ecologist, I'm going to have to say that Photosynthesis has heart, will dig deep, and will go far (maybe even all the way to the end).

Neuroscience sexy? Isn't psychology the home of guys like Freud? Psychology will win that one. No contest.

GO INVERTEBRATES!

Go go go! (my picks and loud cheering for)

Invertebrates
Internal Medicine
Genomics
Photosynthesis
Linnaean taxonomy
Totipotent
Neuro
HIV

Invertebrates definitely (notochords are overated)
Surgery (cutting things is fun)
What is with all the omics endings
respiration (deep-sea vents and seeps don't need photosynthesis)
Linnaean (because experience counts),
neuroscience (because at least it striving to be a science),

Given that invertebrates are a paraphyletic taxon, in which vertebrates are nested, I'd have to go with the inverts (or can we just call them "animals" already).

And given that surgeons must go inside someone, aren't they practicing "internal medicine". Who cares who wins that battle as long as the med-major teams are knocked out in the next round.

Genomics will fly past proteomics using they're high throughput approach. And what the hell is proteomics anyways? 2D gels?

Photosynthesis v. respiration is a tricky one to call. W/o photosynthesis, it would be damn hard for a lot of life on earth to get energy. But (almost) everything respires -- even the photosynthesizers -- so it's hard to pull against respiration.

Taxonomy is responsible for stupid classifications like "invertebrates" (see above). Phylogenetics (aka, systematics) wins in a landslide.

Totipotent? Unipotent? Show me indeterminate v. determinate cleavage. Neither of these teams deserve to be in the tournament.

Neuroscience contains the word "science", psychology does not. Case closed. Neuroscience by 10.

And in a shocker, plasmodium knocks off HIV when it's discover that HIV lacks the requisite molecules for auto-replications. Plasmodium's multi-host strategy is too much to handle.

Phylogenetics should crush Linnaean taxonomy
Linnaean Taxonomy is a holdover from the pre-darwinian era, and is so terribly useless. At best, a good Linaean Taxonomy will capture the a good estimate of the phylogenetic tree structure. But the cutoffs between the different levels (phylum, class, order, etc) is largely arbitrary and meaningless. Even the definition of a species is troublesome.

On the neuroscience side, you've got a bunch of young, smart, fast kids. They have a good work ethic, and they show up ready to play.

On the psychology side, they are starting to show their age, but they have wisdom, and they are really good at turning the tables on their opponents. They find weaknesses and turn them into strengths. And they are really good at anticipating their opponent's next move.

The psychologists tend to get off to a slow start, but nobody can figure out what they are thinking or what they'll do next. The neuroscientists are an open book. Hell, they have the bad habit of publishing their play book.

Only since nobody's said it yet, I'll go for it:

I'd love to see invertebrates go far in this thing and represent the region in the Final Four, but I'm thinking they don't have the backbone to hold up down the stretch?

And while I agree with Nick, about the problems heading into this thing for Linnaean taxonomy, I wonder if that old-style plays well in a grueling tournament like this. Kinda like an early round Penn upset, or that old Princeton four-square thing they were always doing.

What? What? Genomics and Proteomics squeezing on another game. Where are Photosynthesis and Respiration playing?

All Proteomics has to do is stand on their end of the court and chuck the ball at genomics' basket until they make it. Unless the proteomics folks mosey interact with the genomics folks, there isn't a damn thing the genomics team can do. They can't even cross to the other side of the court without help from the proteome. My God. This one game could end up in overtimes until we're all dead.

Dammit. Totipotent has to win. My thesis is dependent on that! And I second the neuroscience is science comment.

I'll have to go with vertebrates, those other guys ain't got no back bone.

Surgeons have knives at their disposal, 'nuf said.

Here's a dirty secret, proteomics is just mass spec, those posers are going down! Genomics takes it.

Photosynthesis is a sure winner. Respiration can't sustainably go on without it.

Taxonomy? You got to be kidding me. Both get thrown out for not showing up.

Totipotent are waaaayyy more flexible, they'll take it.

Neuroscience will kick psychology's butt ... there should be some reference to anal retentiveness but it's eluding me.

Finally HIV vs plasmodium. Although HIV is "sexy" they're just a flash in the pan. Plasmodium is a eukaryote with multiple life cycles each specializing for a different host cell (or a different host!) ... and to say nothing of their bizarre genome ... malaria, I mean plasmodium takes it.

Invertebrates (A strong showing by previously rumored giant and colossal squids combined with octopus know-how in taking down vertebrate apex predator sharks)

Surgery (The surgery team's faster reflexes is going to effectively counter anything internal medicine can come up with.)

Genomics (Sony's support of the proteomics team [PS3 involvement with folding@home] ultimately dq's them as the refs discover a rootkit in the computer scoring system)

Photosynthesis (In the end, respiration was never able to produce more than photosynthesis.)

Phylogenetics (A well thought-out strategy is going to make the most of the specific adaptations on the phylogenetic team. Alas, the Linnaeans still picked their tallest player to play center, even with giraffe's recent poor performance)

Totipotent (I agree with the flexibility argument. Their team is going to be able to adapt instantly to the unipotent's one-dimensional play)

Neuroscience (Although an alma mater from psychology, I don't think they have the attention to detail necessary to prevail over neuroscience.)

Plasmodium (Ever since the banning of DDT, nothing has been able to stop plasmodium's dominance.)