Brain Drain News

Yeast Reveals How Fast a Cell Can Form a Body - NYTimes.com

2012-01-16T13:39:00.000-08:00

Yeast Reveals How Fast a Cell Can Form a Body - NYTimes.com: In a matter of weeks, Dr. Ratcliff noticed, the yeast was sinking fast, forming a cloudy layer at the bottom of the flasks. He put the yeast under a microscope and discovered that most of it was no longer growing as single cells. Instead, the broth was dominated by snowflake-shaped clusters of hundreds of cells stuck together.

These were not clumps of unrelated cells, he found. When he isolated individual cells and let them grow, they formed new snowflakes. Instead of drifting away, newly budded yeast cells remained stuck to their parents. By staying stuck together, these yeast clusters fell faster than individual cells.

Health News - Your DNA may carry a ‘memory’ of your living conditions in childhood

2011-12-09T14:07:00.000-08:00

Health News - Your DNA may carry a ‘memory’ of your living conditions in childhood

Proof of Darwin's pangenesis theory?

In Body’s Shield Against Cancer, a Culprit in Aging May Lurk - NYTimes.com

2011-11-21T12:21:00.000-08:00

In Body’s Shield Against Cancer, a Culprit in Aging May Lurk - NYTimes.com: But on Nov. 2, in what could be a landmark experiment in the study of aging, researchers at the Mayo Clinic reported that if you purge the body of its senescent cells, the tissues remain youthful and vigorous.

Perhaps one of the most important stories of our (hopefully extended) lifetime.

Purging Senescent Cells May Postpone Diseases of Aging, Study Finds - NYTimes.com

2011-11-02T16:01:00.000-07:00

Purging Senescent Cells May Postpone Diseases of Aging, Study Finds - NYTimes.com: Rid of the senescent cells, the Mayo Clinic researchers reported online Wednesday in the journal Nature, the mice’s tissues showed a major improvement in the usual burden of age-related disorders. Mice that had been cleansed of senescent cells from weaning onward did not develop cataracts, avoided the usual wasting of muscle with age, and could exercise much longer on a mouse treadmill. They retained the fat layers in the skin that usually thin out with age and, in people, cause wrinkling.

Tools for Thinking - NYTimes.com

2011-10-25T22:18:00.000-07:00

Tools for Thinking - NYTimes.com: The good folks at Edge.org organized a symposium, and 164 thinkers contributed suggestions. John McWhorter, a linguist at Columbia University, wrote that people should be more aware of path dependence. This refers to the notion that often “something that seems normal or inevitable today began with a choice that made sense at a particular time in the past, but survived despite the eclipse of the justification for that choice.”

Dr. Chris’ Autism Journal � Blog Archive � The Importance of Generalization

2011-10-25T22:10:00.000-07:00

Dr. Chris’ Autism Journal � Blog Archive � The Importance of Generalization: 2) Train Loosely - Adding variety to skills being taught. This will include using a variety of materials in a variety of ways and in a variety of situations. Ideas and approaches used in incidental teaching or naturalistic ABA tend to foster better generalization because these instructional environments more closely resemble the ultimate outcome. Studies have shown that the more naturalistic instructions and presentations of SDs tend to have better learning outcomes to intensive instruction.

Brains of autistic children grow much slower than their healthy peers

2011-10-25T22:07:00.000-07:00

Brains of autistic children grow much slower than their healthy peers: Researchers at UCLA have, for the first time, found that the connections between brain regions that are important for language and social skills, grow much more slowly in boys with autism than in non-autistic children – a possible explanation for why autistic children act and think differently than their peers.

Your DNA may carry a ‘memory’ of your living conditions in childhood | ScienceBlog.com

2011-10-25T22:01:00.000-07:00

Your DNA may carry a ‘memory’ of your living conditions in childhood | ScienceBlog.com: They found clear differences in gene methylation between those brought up in families with very high and very low standards of living. More than twice as many methylation differences were associated with the combined effect of the wealth, housing conditions and occupation of parents (that is, early upbringing) than were associated with the current socio-economic circumstances in adulthood. (1252 differences as opposed to 545).

Me: I see this as more possible evidence of Lamarkian-style evolution. If your genetics are changing based on your environment and those changes are passed on to your children, your environment now impacts the genetics of your children.

BBC News - Monkeys' brain waves offer paraplegics hope

2011-10-06T13:43:00.000-07:00

BBC News - Monkeys' brain waves offer paraplegics hope: The researchers trained the monkeys, Mango and Tangerine, to play a video game using a joystick to move the virtual arm and capture three identical targets. Each target was associated with a different vibration of the joystick.
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote

In terms of rehabilitation of patients that suffer from severe neurological disorders this is a major step forward”

Prof Miguel Nicolelis Duke University Centre for Neuroengineering

Multiple electrodes were implanted in the brains of the monkeys and connected to the computer screen. The joystick was removed and motor signals from the monkey's brains then controlled the arm.

Better brain wiring linked to family genes

2011-05-02T17:08:00.000-07:00

Better brain wiring linked to family genes: "He said how the brain’s network is organized has been a mystery to scientists for years. “The brain is an extraordinarily complex network of billions of nerve cells interconnected by trillions of fibres,” he said.

“The brain tries to maximize its bang-for-buck by striking a balance between making more connections to promote efficient communication and minimising the “cost” or amount of wiring required to make these connections. Our findings indicate that this balance, called ‘cost-efficiency’, has a strong genetic basis.”"

Robert W. Fogel Investigates Human Evolution - NYTimes.com

2011-04-27T16:57:00.000-07:00

Robert W. Fogel Investigates Human Evolution - NYTimes.com: "Mr. Fogel and his co-authors, Roderick Floud, Bernard Harris and Sok Chul Hong, maintain that “in most if not quite all parts of the world, the size, shape and longevity of the human body have changed more substantially, and much more rapidly, during the past three centuries than over many previous millennia.” What’s more, they write, this alteration has come about within a time frame that is “minutely short by the standards of Darwinian evolution.”"

New View of How Humans Moved Away From Apes - NYTimes.com

2011-03-11T15:37:00.000-08:00

New View of How Humans Moved Away From Apes - NYTimes.com: "A team of anthropologists led by Kim R. Hill of Arizona State University and Robert S. Walker of the University of Missouri analyzed data from 32 living hunter-gatherer peoples and found that the members of a band are not highly related. Fewer than 10 percent of people in a typical band are close relatives, meaning parents, children or siblings, they report in Friday’s issue of Science."

Medical Daily: Bees reveal nature-nuture secrets

2010-11-07T20:43:00.000-08:00

Medical Daily: Bees reveal nature-nuture secrets: "In the bees, more than 550 genes are differentially marked between the brain of the queen and the brain of the worker, which contributes to their profound divergence in behaviour. This study provides the first documentation of extensive molecular differences that may allow honey bees to generate different reproductive and behavioural outcomes as a result of differential feeding with royal jelly.'"

Smarter Than You Think - Computers Learn to Listen, and Some Talk Back - NYTimes.com

2010-06-25T16:49:00.000-07:00

Smarter Than You Think - Computers Learn to Listen, and Some Talk Back - NYTimes.com

Suspended Animation | Health & Medicine | DISCOVER Magazine

2010-06-13T21:39:00.000-07:00

Suspended Animation | Health & Medicine | DISCOVER Magazine: "When 35-year-old Mitsutaka Uchikoshi was found last October lying in an ice-cold field on Japan’s Rokko Mountain, a bucolic hiking spot north of Kobe, he was presumed dead. He had no detectable pulse or respiration, and his body temperature was 71 degrees Fahrenheit, 27 hatch marks shy of normal. While returning alone from a party on the mountain, Uchikoshi had stumbled and hit his head; he spent the next 24 days sprawled unconscious in the frigid air, without food or water. But when he arrived at Kobe City General Hospital, something remarkable occurred: He woke up. To the astonishment of the doctors who treated him for severe hypothermia and blood loss, Uchikoshi made a full recovery without a trace of brain damage. “I was in a field, and I felt very comfortable. That’s my last memory,” he told reporters before walking out of the hospital."

Experiments in the Revival of Organisms - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

2010-06-13T21:34:00.000-07:00

Experiments in the Revival of Organisms - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "Experiments in the Revival of Organisms is a 1940 motion picture which documents Soviet research into the resuscitation of clinically dead organisms. It is available from the Prelinger Archives, and it is in the public domain. The British scientist J. B. S. Haldane appears in the film's introduction and narrates the film, which contains Russian text with English applied next to, or over the top of, the Russian. The operations are credited to Doctor Sergei S. Bryukhonenko."

How Frozen Humans Are Brought Back | LiveScience

2010-06-13T21:25:00.000-07:00

How Frozen Humans Are Brought Back | LiveScience: "'There are many examples in the scientific literature of humans who appear frozen to death. They have no heartbeat and are clinically dead. But they can be reanimated,' Roth said. 'Similarly, the organisms in my lab can be put into a state of reversible suspended animation through oxygen deprivation and other means. They appear dead but are not.'"

The Search for Genes Leads to Unexpected Places - NYTimes.com

2010-04-28T10:32:00.000-07:00

The Search for Genes Leads to Unexpected Places - NYTimes.com: "Edward M. Marcotte is looking for drugs that can kill tumors by stopping blood vessel growth, and he and his colleagues at the University of Texas at Austin recently found some good targets — five human genes that are essential for that growth. Now they’re hunting for drugs that can stop those genes from working. Strangely, though, Dr. Marcotte did not discover the new genes in the human genome, nor in lab mice or even fruit flies. He and his colleagues found the genes in yeast."

Amazing tool to unlock the genome puzzle.

Op-Ed Columnist - The Underlying Tragedy - NYTimes.com

2010-02-18T22:49:00.001-08:00

Op-Ed Columnist - The Underlying Tragedy - NYTimes.com: "These programs, like the Harlem Children’s Zone and the No Excuses schools, are led by people who figure they don’t understand all the factors that have contributed to poverty, but they don’t care. They are going to replace parts of the local culture with a highly demanding, highly intensive culture of achievement — involving everything from new child-rearing practices to stricter schools to better job performance.

It’s time to take that approach abroad, too. It’s time to find self-confident local leaders who will create No Excuses countercultures in places like Haiti, surrounding people — maybe just in a neighborhood or a school — with middle-class assumptions, an achievement ethos and tough, measurable demands.

The late political scientist Samuel P. Huntington used to acknowledge that cultural change is hard, but cultures do change after major traumas. This earthquake is certainly a trauma. The only question is whether the outside world continues with the same old, same old."

Interesting to see a widely distributed article suggestion wide-scale culture-change. I personally believe cultural philosophies are a huge factor on the success and progress of companies, countries, and civilizations. In this regard, I believe Christianity and the later Protestant forms led to an awakening in the same way the colonization of the Americas by those seeking a new culture and who formed that culture through the crucible of war and self-enlightened studies of the history of government led to the progress we in the United States enjoy.

Innovation Lessons in "Start-Up Nation" - O'Reilly Radar

2010-02-18T22:47:00.000-08:00

Innovation Lessons in "Start-Up Nation" - O'Reilly Radar: "# A loyalty to the entire community that goes beyond personal success. The authors point out that, for all of Israelis' notorious fractiousness, they expend enormous effort helping total strangers. All of Israel is a single team, even a single family. (Obviously, this family feeling does not extend to non-Jews.) Israeli entrepreneurs who give talks abroad often play up the strengths of their country as well as their company.
# A sense of dissatisfaction. To innovate, one must be convinced that things are not good enough the way they are now. For Israelis, this drive for change has both Biblical and more recent historical roots, but technology provides a new arena rewarding hopes for improvement.
# A Do-It-Yourself approach to technology, which perhaps is one manifestation of the afore-mentioned innate dissatisfaction. The authors report that equipment purchased by the army is always being tinkered with. The same interest in taking things apart and jerry-rigging them extends throughout the culture.
# A culture of challenging authority. The authors point out that this is a deep cultural value (and like many before them, trace it partly to the Jewish intellectual tradition), one that is particularly hard to foster in countries with controlling regimes.
# A determination to succeed against all odds. Countries that get complacent and rest on their laurels--as most observers think North Americans are doing--eventually lose their privileged places. The authors highlight fascinating stories of Israelis keeping up production in the face of war, and of cheerfully taking on seemingly impossible challenges.
# Interdisciplinary agility. Israelis tend to learn many skills--partly to survive in the armed forces--and to form companies closely linking people with different areas of expertise. In an age where many challenges require mashups between disciplines, this imparts a strong advantage.
# A tolerance for failure. Like the Silicon Valley, Israel is a place where someone can start a company, manage it through bankruptcy, and then pick up to start another company. A single failure, the authors say, gives the entrepreneur a high chance of succeeding at the next venture. Even in the military, people are rewarded for tackling problems with creative intelligence--not so much for the ultimate success or failure of the attempt.
# Providing young people with arenas to exert responsibility. In Israel, of course, this arena is its unusually unhierarchical armed forces (and people who don't do army service, such as Arabs and the ultra-orthodox, miss out on critical experiences). But other countries could find other ways to challenge youth in situations where taking charge is a must and where results really matter.
# A fruitful mentoring relationship between venture capitalists and new entrepreneurs. Injecting money into new ventures (as so many countries do) is not enough; the managers must be guided through the shoals of financial, technical, and human resource challenges. Israel set up a unique program called Yozma in 1993 to bring together all the necessary elements.
# Government policies friendly to startups. Israel has a decidedly mixed history here. Even after making a historic turn away from government control and toward a free market, its environment is most helpful to computer and high-tech companies. There are certainly innovations in many other areas--notably agriculture--but the authors say these fields encounter hampering regulations.
# A truly open-arms approach to immigrants, who bring not only fresh perspectives but a high tolerance for risk. Once again, of course, Israel's liberal attitude toward immigrants applies only to Jews (and a lot of haggling goes on around deciding who qualifies). Even for Jews, it can take a long time to assimilate waves of newcomers and turn them into productive employees. But countries that don't make it easy to set down roots suffer economically. Short-term foreign workers never form the sustainable innovative institutions that can be planted by truly committed immigrants."

AFP: Suspended animation coming to life: researcher

2010-02-17T15:51:00.000-08:00

AFP: Suspended animation coming to life: researcher: "A gas proven deadly in chemical weapons could one day be used to put people into life-saving suspended animation.

While hydrogen sulfide is toxic in large doses, small amounts of the gas have the potential to make animals appear dead for a while then allow them to wake up unharmed, according to biochemist Mark Roth.

'I think we are on the path of understanding metabolic flexibility in a significant way,' said Roth, whose work at an eponymous lab in Washington State has gotten funding from a research arm of the US Department of Defense.

'In the future an emergency medical technician might give hydrogen sulfide to someone suffering serious injuries and they might become a little more immortal giving them time to get the care they need.'"

Study Finds Activity in Brains That Seem to Be Shut Down - NYTimes.com

2010-02-03T17:17:00.000-08:00

Study Finds Activity in Brains That Seem to Be Shut Down - NYTimes.com: "In the current experiment, the researchers found that three other patients showed similar responses. To open a channel of communication, they instructed one of them, the 29-year-old man, to associate thoughts about tennis with “yes” and thoughts about being in his house with “no.”

They then asked questions, repeating the procedure numerous times, switching the associations — tennis with yes, then with no — to make sure the patient was in fact making conscious choices. The researchers had previously tested the technique in healthy volunteers."

Whitehead Institute - Chimp and human Y chromosomes evolving faster than expected

2010-01-14T09:51:00.000-08:00

Whitehead Institute - Chimp and human Y chromosomes evolving faster than expected: "Contrary to a widely held scientific theory that the mammalian Y chromosome is slowly decaying or stagnating, new evidence suggests that in fact the Y is actually evolving quite rapidly through continuous, wholesale renovation.

By conducting the first comprehensive interspecies comparison of Y chromosomes, Whitehead Institute researchers have found considerable differences in the genetic sequences of the human and chimpanzee Ys—an indication that these chromosomes have evolved more quickly than the rest of their respective genomes over the 6 million years since they emerged from a common ancestor. The findings are published online this week in the journal Nature."

Scientists Report Findings on Origin of a Cancer in Tasmanian Devils - NYTimes.com

2010-01-01T14:20:00.000-08:00

Scientists Report Findings on Origin of a Cancer in Tasmanian Devils - NYTimes.com: "A team of Australian and American scientists has now followed up on Dr. Belov’s study, using more powerful gene-sequencing technology to take a closer look at a larger number of Tasmanian devils. To trace the origin of the tumors, the scientists looked at individual cancer cells, recording which genes were active. They found a set of genes normally active only in a type of nerve cell known as Schwann cells. They argue that a single Schwann cell in a single animal was the progenitor of all the devil facial tumor disease cells.

“The lack of genetic variation suggests that the tumors are young,” said a co-author of the study, Tony Pappenfuss, a bioinformatician at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in Australia.

Scientists have found only one other case in which cancer cells naturally spread like parasites, a disease in dogs known as canine transmissible venereal tumor. Comparisons of tumors collected from dogs around the world indicate that they descend from a single ancestral cell that existed several thousand years ago. Ever since, the tumor cells have evolved to move among hosts and avoid their immune systems."

BBC News - 'Lifeless' prion proteins are 'capable of evolution'

2010-01-01T14:18:00.000-08:00

BBC News - 'Lifeless' prion proteins are 'capable of evolution': "Scientists have shown for the first time that 'lifeless' prion proteins, devoid of all genetic material, can evolve just like higher forms of life.
The Scripps Research Institute in the US says the prions can change to suit their environment and go on to develop drug resistance.
Prions are associated with 20 different brain diseases in humans and animals.
The scientists say their work suggests new approaches might be necessary to develop therapies for these diseases."

Cancer Drug Delays Aging in Mice | Wired Science | Wired.com

2010-01-01T14:17:00.000-08:00

Cancer Drug Delays Aging in Mice | Wired Science | Wired.com: "In a potentially landmark study on the biology of aging and how to delay it, a drug gave elderly mice the human equivalent of thirteen extra years of life.

Though the drug is an immune system suppressant that almost certainly won’t have the same effect in humans, the study provides compelling evidence that pharmacologically slowing the process of aging itself may be possible."

#61: Child Abuse Leaves Its Mark on Victim’s DNA | Mental Health | DISCOVER Magazine

2010-01-01T09:59:00.000-08:00

#61: Child Abuse Leaves Its Mark on Victim’s DNA | Mental Health | DISCOVER Magazine: "Childhood trauma may leave a lasting imprint not just on the psyche but also in the DNA. This news comes from McGill University and the Suicide Brain Bank, a Quebec-based organization that carried out autopsies on suicide victims who had been abused as kids. Across the board, their brains showed DNA modifications that made them particularly sensitive to stress. Although gene variations are primarily inherited at conception, the findings show that environmental impacts can also introduce them later on. “The idea that abuse changes how genes function opens a new window for behavioral and drug therapy,” says study leader and neuroscientist Patrick McGowan."

Pentagon: Zombie Pigs First, Then Hibernating Soldiers | Danger Room | Wired.com

2009-12-08T08:37:00.000-08:00

Pentagon: Zombie Pigs First, Then Hibernating Soldiers | Danger Room | Wired.com: "The institute’s research will be based on previous Darpa-funded efforts. One project, at Stanford University, hypothesized that humans could one day mimic the hibernation abilities of squirrels — who emerge from winter months no worse for wear — using a pancreatic enzyme we have in common with the critters. The other, led by Dr. Mark Roth at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, used nematode worms and rats to test how hydrogen sulfide could block the body’s ability to use oxygen — creating a kind of “suspended animation” where hearts stop beating and wounds don’t bleed. After removing 60 percent of the rat’s blood, Dr. Roth managed to keep the critters alive for 10 hours using his hydrogen sulfide cocktail."

Birth of New Species Witnessed by Scientists | Wired Science | Wired.com

2009-11-18T06:51:00.000-08:00

Birth of New Species Witnessed by Scientists | Wired Science | Wired.com: "On one of the Galapagos islands whose finches shaped the theories of a young Charles Darwin, biologists have witnessed that elusive moment when a single species splits in two."

Murderer with 'aggression genes' gets sentence cut - life - 03 November 2009 - New Scientist

2009-11-04T12:35:00.000-08:00

Murderer with 'aggression genes' gets sentence cut - life - 03 November 2009 - New Scientist: "In 2007, Abdelmalek Bayout admitted to stabbing and killing a man and received a sentenced of 9 years and 2 months. Last week, Nature reported that Pier Valerio Reinotti, an appeal court judge in Trieste, Italy, cut Bayout's sentence by a year after finding out he has gene variants linked to aggression. Leaving aside the question of whether this link is well enough understood to justify Reinotti's decision, should genes ever be considered a legitimate defence?"

BBC NEWS | Health | Curry spice 'kills cancer cells'

2009-10-28T15:26:00.000-07:00

BBC NEWS | Health | Curry spice 'kills cancer cells': "The chemical - curcumin - has long been thought to have healing powers and is already being tested as a treatment for arthritis and even dementia.

Now tests by a team at the Cork Cancer Research Centre show it can destroy gullet cancer cells in the lab."

Good day in the fight against cancer.

Scientists Discover Gene that 'Cancer-Proofs' Rodent's Cells : University of Rochester News

2009-10-28T15:23:00.000-07:00

Scientists Discover Gene that 'Cancer-Proofs' Rodent's Cells : University of Rochester News: "Despite a 30-year lifespan that gives ample time for cells to grow cancerous, a small rodent species called a naked mole rat has never been found with tumors of any kind—and now biologists at the University of Rochester think they know why.

The findings, presented in today's issue of The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, show that the mole rat's cells express a gene called p16 that makes the cells 'claustrophobic,' stopping the cells' proliferation when too many of them crowd together, cutting off runaway growth before it can start. The effect of p16 is so pronounced that when researchers mutated the cells to induce a tumor, the cells' growth barely changed, whereas regular mouse cells became fully cancerous."

If it proves to be the key to defeating cancer, this may one day win the Nobel prize.

Human Evolution: Are Humans Still Evolving? - Yahoo! News

2009-10-26T06:35:00.000-07:00

Human Evolution: Are Humans Still Evolving? - Yahoo! News: "A team of scientists led by Yale University evolutionary biologist Stephen Stearns suggests that if the natural selection of fitter traits is no longer driven by survival, perhaps it owes to differences in women's fertility. 'Variations in reproductive success still exist among humans, and therefore some traits related to fertility continue to be shaped by natural selection,' Stearns says. That is, women who have more children are more likely to pass on certain traits to their progeny. (See the top 10 scientific discoveries of 2008.)"

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Lowly females pick mediocre mates

2009-10-09T12:59:00.000-07:00

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Lowly females pick mediocre mates: ".

'It also raises the intriguing possibility that the environment in which individuals are reared strongly influences their mating preferences as adults.'"

Mind - How Nonsense Sharpens the Intellect - NYTimes.com

2009-10-07T09:18:00.000-07:00

Mind - How Nonsense Sharpens the Intellect - NYTimes.com: "Now a study suggests that, paradoxically, this same sensation may prime the brain to sense patterns it would otherwise miss — in mathematical equations, in language, in the world at large."

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | We're all mutants, say scientists

2009-09-03T15:57:00.000-07:00

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | We're all mutants, say scientists: "However, next generation sequencing technology has enabled the scientists to produce a far more direct and reliable estimate.

They looked at thousands of genes in the Y chromosomes of two Chinese men. They knew the men were distantly related, having shared a common ancestor who was born in 1805.

By looking at the number of differences between the two men, and the size of the human genome, they were able to come up with an estimate of between 100 and 200 new mutations per person."

Observatory - Three Genes Determine the Nature of a Dog’s Coat - NYTimes.com

2009-08-28T08:10:00.000-07:00

Observatory - Three Genes Determine the Nature of a Dog’s Coat - NYTimes.com: "The researchers then used that information to look at a large dataset of genetic information from about 900 dogs representing 80 breeds. They were able to identify mutations at specific points, or loci, on three genes linked to fur length, curliness and growth pattern (bushy eyebrows, beards and other features that dog breeders refer to as furnishings)."

BBC - Earth News - Mouse set to be 'evolution icon'

2009-08-28T07:03:00.000-07:00

BBC - Earth News - Mouse set to be 'evolution icon': "Linnen and colleagues at Harvard and the University of California at Berkeley have now worked out exactly how the mice evolved so quickly.

They have published the details in the journal Science.

They discovered that the light coat colour is coded by a single gene, dubbed Agouti. This is expressed at a higher amount, and for longer, than the genes that code for dark hair.

Most animals known to quickly evolve new features do so by expressing a variation of a gene that already exists, rather than evolving a new type of gene altogether.

But the researchers found that the Agouti gene only appeared among wild deer mice in Sand Hills around 4,000 years ago, just a few thousand years after dark mice colonised their new home. That means it first evolved 8000 generations of mice ago."

Sperm Travels Faster Toward Attractive Females: Discovery News

2009-07-11T08:43:00.000-07:00

Sperm Travels Faster Toward Attractive Females: Discovery News: "The study, conducted on red junglefowl, a director ancestor of chickens, adds to the growing body of evidence that males throughout many promiscuous species in the animal kingdom, including humans, can mate with many females, but chances of fertilization are greater when the female is deemed to be attractive."

Byte Size Biology � From predator to plant in one gulp

2009-07-06T07:44:00.000-07:00

Byte Size Biology � From predator to plant in one gulp: "Two researchers have shown a striking example of�� endosymbiosis forming� now:� in 2005 Noriko Okamoto an� Isao Inouye reported on a unicellular organism called Hatena. Hatena (”enigma” in Japanese) leads a curious life cycle. Hatena is a single-cell organism, swimming around in the water, using a little feeding apparatus to eat cells and organic material smaller than itself.� At some point, it would feed on another unicellular algae, the Nephroselmis. Once Hatena swallows Nephroselmis, it does not digest it. Rather, Nephrosolmis makes a rather comfortable home inside Hatena. Actually, the algae starts growing inside Hatena: it grows to about 10 times its original size, filling up most of Hatena. The alga also seems to lose most of its own organelles, except for the chloroplast. The chloroplast actually grows bigger."

BBC - Earth News - Spider builds life-sized decoys

2009-07-06T07:35:00.000-07:00

BBC - Earth News - Spider builds life-sized decoys: "There is a species of spider that builds models of itself, which it uses as decoys to distract predators.
The spider may be the first example of an animal building a life-size replica of its own body."

BBC NEWS | Health | Daily sex 'best for good sperm'

2009-07-02T12:05:00.000-07:00

BBC NEWS | Health | Daily sex 'best for good sperm': "Having sex every day improves sperm quality and could boost the chances of getting pregnant, research suggests.

In a study of men with fertility problems, daily ejaculation for a week cut the amount of DNA damage seen in sperm samples.

Speaking at a fertility conference, the Australian researcher said general advice for couples had been to have sex every two or three days."

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Evolution faster when it's warmer

2009-06-24T06:58:00.000-07:00

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Evolution faster when it's warmer: "Climate could have a direct effect on the speed of 'molecular evolution' in mammals, according to a study.

Researchers have found that, among pairs of mammals of the same species, the DNA of those living in warmer climates changes at a faster rate."

Basics - Brainy Echidna Proves Looks Aren’t Everything - NYTimes.com

2009-06-10T09:08:00.000-07:00

Basics - Brainy Echidna Proves Looks Aren’t Everything - NYTimes.com: "Monotreme sex determination also holds its allure. In most mammals, a single set of XX chromosomes signifies a girl, a set of XY specifies a boy. For reasons that remain mysterious, monotremes have multiple sets of sex chromosomes, four or more parading pairs of XXs and XYs, or something else altogether: a few of those extra sex chromosomes look suspiciously birdlike. Another avianlike feature is the cloaca, the single orifice through which an echidna or platypus voids waste, has sex and lays eggs, and by which the group gets its name. Yet through that uni-perforation, a male echnida can extrude a four-headed penis."

BBC - Earth News - Chimps mentally map fruit trees

2009-06-08T10:05:00.000-07:00

BBC - Earth News - Chimps mentally map fruit trees: "Chimpanzees remember the exact location of all their favourite fruit trees.

Their spatial memory is so precise that they can find a single tree among more than 12,000 others within a patch of forest, primatologists have found.

More than that, the chimps also recall how productive each tree is, and decide to travel further to eat from those they know will yield the most fruit."

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Climate link to mockingbird songs

2009-05-26T11:25:00.000-07:00

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Climate link to mockingbird songs: "Unpredictable weather seems to stimulate chatter among birds - as well as humans - according to researchers.

A team of US scientists has found that mockingbirds living in variable climates sing more elaborate songs.

Complex tunes, sung by males to impress females, are likely to signal the birds' intelligence.

Published in Current Biology, the findings suggest that females seek mates with superior singing skills - smart enough to survive harsh climes."

Op-Ed Columnist - In Praise of Dullness - NYTimes.com

2009-05-21T13:57:00.000-07:00

Op-Ed Columnist - In Praise of Dullness - NYTimes.com: "The traits that correlated most powerfully with success were attention to detail, persistence, efficiency, analytic thoroughness and the ability to work long hours."

Very interesting.

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Scientists hail stunning fossil

2009-05-19T10:22:00.000-07:00

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Scientists hail stunning fossil: "The beautifully preserved remains of a 47-million-year-old, lemur-like creature have been unveiled in the US.

The preservation is so good, it is possible to see the outline of its fur and even traces of its last meal.

The fossil, nicknamed Ida, is claimed to be a 'missing link' between today's higher primates - monkeys, apes and humans - and more distant relatives."

Chemist Shows How RNA Can Be the Starting Point for Life - NYTimes.com

2009-05-14T09:56:00.000-07:00

Chemist Shows How RNA Can Be the Starting Point for Life - NYTimes.com: "An English chemist has found the hidden gateway to the RNA world, the chemical milieu from which the first forms of life are thought to have emerged on earth some 3.8 billion years ago.

He has solved a problem that for 20 years has thwarted researchers trying to understand the origin of life — how the building blocks of RNA, called nucleotides, could have spontaneously assembled themselves in the conditions of the primitive earth. The discovery, if correct, should set researchers on the right track to solving many other mysteries about the origin of life. It will also mean that for the first time a plausible explanation exists for how an information-carrying biological molecule could have emerged through natural processes from chemicals on the primitive earth."

Evolution is slowing snails down

2009-05-11T13:51:00.000-07:00

BBC - Earth News: "Natural selection is favouring snails with reduced metabolic rates, researchers in Chile have discovered.

It is the first time that evolution has been shown to select for this trait in individuals of any species.

Snails with lower metabolisms are at an advantage because they have more energy to spend on other activities such as growth or reproduction, the researchers say in the journal Evolution."

Gives new meaning to the term "snail's pace".

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Spider sex violent but effective

2009-04-30T16:32:00.000-07:00

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Spider sex violent but effective: "A violent but evolutionarily effective mating strategy has been spotted in spiders from Israel.

Males of the aptly-named Harpactea sadistica species pierce the abdomen of females, fertilising their eggs directly in the ovaries.

The so-called traumatic insemination gives the first male to inseminate a reproductive advantage by bypassing structures in the females' genitalia."

Brown Fat Identified as Heat-Yielding Cells in Humans - NYTimes.com

2009-04-09T11:16:00.000-07:00

Brown Fat Identified as Heat-Yielding Cells in Humans - NYTimes.com: "For more than 30 years, scientists have been intrigued by brown fat, a cell that acts like a furnace, consuming calories and generating heat. Rodents, unable to shiver effectively to keep warm, use brown fat instead. So do human infants, who do not shiver very well. But it was generally believed that humans lose brown fat after infancy, no longer needing it once the shivering response kicks in.

That belief, three groups of researchers report, is wrong.

Their papers, appearing Thursday in The New England Journal of Medicine, indicate that nearly every adult has little blobs of brown fat that can burn huge numbers of calories when activated by the cold, as when sitting in a chilly room that is between 61 and 66 degrees."

Science News Examiner: New discovery may end transplant rejection

2009-04-08T07:19:00.000-07:00

Science News Examiner: New discovery may end transplant rejection: "Professor Jonathan Sprent and Dr Kylie Webster from Sydney's Garvan Institute of Medical Research focused on a different type of T cells – known as regulatory T cells (Treg) – in this study. Tregs are capable of quieting the immune system, stopping the killer T cells from seeking out and attacking foreign objects. Usually, these cells live in basic equilibrium, allowing the killer T cells to destroy what needs to be destroyed, but stopping them once the infection is over. The idea was to boost the number of Tregs in the system, quieting the killer T cells for a period of time sufficient for the body to accept the new tissue. After that point, the immune system would return to normal activity.

Using a complex that contained a molecule known as interleukin-2, a molecule that promotes T cell proliferation, the researchers radically increased the number of Tregs in healthy mice before performing the transplants, effectively quieting the killer T cells. Webster explained what followed after the transplant: 'The numbers of T regulatory cells dropped over time, and the immune systems returned to normal in about two weeks. By that time 80% of the mice had accepted the grafts of insulin producing cells as their own. This acceptance rate is very high for transplantation, with mice normally rejecting grafts within 2-3 weeks. A graft is considered accepted if it's tolerated after 100 days. We took some mice out to 200-300 days, and not one of them rejected.' [EurekAlert]"

PLoS Biology - A Computational Framework for Ultrastructural Mapping of Neural Circuitry

2009-04-08T07:18:00.000-07:00

PLoS Biology - A Computational Framework for Ultrastructural Mapping of Neural Circuitry: "Building an accurate neural network diagram of the vertebrate nervous system is a major challenge in neuroscience. Diverse groups of neurons that function together form complex patterns of connections often spanning large regions of brain tissue, with uncertain borders. Although serial-section transmission electron microscopy remains the optimal tool for fine anatomical analyses, the time and cost of the undertaking has been prohibitive. We have assembled a complete framework for ultrastructural mapping using conventional transmission electron microscopy that tremendously accelerates image analysis."

Op-Ed Columnist - The End of Philosophy - NYTimes.com

2009-04-08T07:12:00.000-07:00

Op-Ed Columnist - The End of Philosophy - NYTimes.com: "The first nice thing about this evolutionary approach to morality is that it emphasizes the social nature of moral intuition. People are not discrete units coolly formulating moral arguments. They link themselves together into communities and networks of mutual influence.

The second nice thing is that it entails a warmer view of human nature. Evolution is always about competition, but for humans, as Darwin speculated, competition among groups has turned us into pretty cooperative, empathetic and altruistic creatures — at least within our families, groups and sometimes nations.

The third nice thing is that it explains the haphazard way most of us lead our lives without destroying dignity and choice. Moral intuitions have primacy, Haidt argues, but they are not dictators. There are times, often the most important moments in our lives, when in fact we do use reason to override moral intuitions, and often those reasons — along with new intuitions — come from our friends."

Extravagant Results of Nature’s Arms Race - NYTimes.com

2009-03-25T07:46:00.000-07:00

Extravagant Results of Nature’s Arms Race - NYTimes.com: "Sexual selection was Darwin’s solution to a problem posed by the cumbersome weapons sported by many species, and the baroque ornaments developed by others. They seemed positive handicaps in the struggle for survival, and therefore contrary to his theory of natural selection. To account for these extravagances, Darwin proposed that both armaments and ornaments must have been shaped by competition for mates."

New Particle Throws Monkeywrench in Particle Physics | Universe Today

2009-03-20T19:02:00.000-07:00

New Particle Throws Monkeywrench in Particle Physics | Universe Today: "Now, scientists have detected a new, completely untheorized particle that challenges what physicists thought they knew about how quarks combine to form matter. They're calling it Y(4140), reflecting its measured mass of 4140 Mega-electron volts."

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Finches choose sex of offspring

2009-03-20T18:57:00.000-07:00

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Finches choose sex of offspring: "Colourful Gouldian finches can judge if a mate is genetically compatible just by looking at its head.

A female that mates with a male with the same colouring lays eggs that hatch much healthier chicks.

This new study has found that, when the female finches mate with a male that has a different head colour, they select the sex of their offspring - giving their chicks a better chance of survival."

Two interesting questions arise -- how much "compatibility" information is encoded in a peacock's feathers? How many other traits can animals explicitly select for?

From One Genome, Many Types of Cells. But How? - NYTimes.com

2009-02-23T18:25:00.000-08:00

From One Genome, Many Types of Cells. But How? - NYTimes.com: "The answer, researchers are finding, is that a second layer of information is embedded in the special proteins that package the DNA of the genome. This second layer, known as the epigenome, controls access to the genes, allowing each cell type to activate its own special genes but blocking off most of the rest. A person has one genome but many epigenomes. And the epigenome is involved not just in defining what genes are accessible in each type of cell, but also in controlling when the accessible genes may be activated."

Technology Review: A Comeback for Lamarckian Evolution?

2009-02-16T07:00:00.000-08:00

Technology Review: A Comeback for Lamarckian Evolution?: "A Comeback for Lamarckian Evolution?

"Two new studies show that the effects of a mother's early environment can be passed on to the next generation.

"The effects of an animal's environment during adolescence can be passed down to future offspring, according to two new studies. If applicable to humans, the research, done on rodents, suggests that the impact of both childhood education and early abuse could span generations. The findings provide support for a 200-year-old theory of evolution that has been largely dismissed: Lamarckian evolution, which states that acquired characteristics can be passed on to offspring.

"'The results are extremely surprising and unexpected,' says Li-Huei Tsai, a neuroscientist at MIT who was not involved in the research. Indeed, one of the studies found that a boost in the brain's ability to rewire itself and a corresponding improvement in memory could be passed on. 'This study is probably the first study to show there are transgenerational effects not only on behavior but on brain plasticity.'

"In recent years, scientists have discovered that epigenetic changes--heritable changes that do not alter the sequence of DNA itself--play a major role in development, allowing genetically identical cells to develop different characteristics; epigenetic changes also play a role in cancer and other diseases. (The definition of epigenetics is somewhat variable, with some scientists limiting the term to refer to specific molecular mechanisms that alter gene expression.) Most epigenetic studies have been limited to a cellular context or have looked at the epigenetic effects of drugs or diet in utero. These two new studies are unique in that the environmental change that triggers the effect--enrichment or early abuse--occurs before pregnancy. 'Give mothers chemicals, and it can affect offspring and the next generation,' says Larry Feig, a neuroscientist at Tufts University School of Medicine, in Boston, who oversaw part of the research. 'In this case, [the environmental change] happened way before the mice were even fertile.'"

Sounds a lot like a mechanism in support of Darwin's pangenesis theory.

Darwin, Prescient with ‘Origin,’ Is Still Influential - NYTimes.com

2009-02-10T08:33:00.000-08:00

Darwin, Prescient with ‘Origin,’ Is Still Influential - NYTimes.com: "Biologists quickly accepted the idea of evolution, but for decades they rejected natural selection, the mechanism Darwin proposed for the evolutionary process. Until the mid-20th century they largely ignored sexual selection, a special aspect of natural selection that Darwin proposed to account for male ornaments like the peacock’s tail.

And biologists are still arguing about group-level selection, the idea that natural selection can operate at the level of groups as well as on individuals. Darwin proposed group selection — or something like it; scholars differ as to what he meant — to account for castes in ant societies and morality in people."

Essay - Darwinism Must Die So That Evolution May Live - NYTimes.com

2009-02-10T08:32:00.000-08:00

Essay - Darwinism Must Die So That Evolution May Live - NYTimes.com: "Equating evolution with Charles Darwin ignores 150 years of discoveries, including most of what scientists understand about evolution. Such as: Gregor Mendel’s patterns of heredity (which gave Darwin’s idea of natural selection a mechanism — genetics — by which it could work); the discovery of DNA (which gave genetics a mechanism and lets us see evolutionary lineages); developmental biology (which gives DNA a mechanism); studies documenting evolution in nature (which converted the hypothetical to observable fact); evolution’s role in medicine and disease (bringing immediate relevance to the topic); and more."

Genes Offer New Clues in Old Debate on Species’ Origins - NYTimes.com

2009-02-10T08:25:00.000-08:00

Genes Offer New Clues in Old Debate on Species’ Origins - NYTimes.com

"On Friday, Daven Presgraves, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Rochester, and colleagues published a paper in the journal Science identifying the latest such gene to be discovered. It is the second one that the team has found in fruit flies. The newly discovered gene, Nup 160, like its predecessor, Nup 96, causes reproductive isolation between the species Drosophila melanogaster and Drosophila simulans.

"Unexpectedly, the genes both produce proteins that are part of a large piece of cellular machinery known as the nuclear pore complex, a gateway that controls what molecules move into and out of the nucleus. It is still unclear why, in what Dr. Presgraves describes as a blind search for genes that cause problems in hybrids, his team twice pulled out genes involved in the nuclear pore complex or why the complex might be particularly important in the evolution of reproductive isolation.

"“The question is,” said Douglas Futuyma, an evolutionary biologist at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, “what the hell does this have to do with hybrid sterility?”"

Interesting...

High Pressure Yields Novel Single-element Boron 'Compound'

2009-02-05T07:18:00.000-08:00

High Pressure Yields Novel Single-element Boron 'Compound': "Scientists have found the first case of an ionic crystal consisting of just one chemical element – boron. This is the densest and hardest known phase of this element. The new phase turned out to be a key to understanding the phase diagram of boron – the only element for which the phase diagram was unknown since its discovery 200 years ago."

One element in two forms creates a new crystal compound. I guess pure chemistry hasn't completely given way to applied chemistry.

Research Ties Human Acts to Harmful Rates of Species Evolution - NYTimes.com

2009-01-13T07:15:00.000-08:00

Research Ties Human Acts to Harmful Rates of Species Evolution - NYTimes.com: "The new findings are more sweeping. Based on an analysis of earlier studies of 29 species — mostly fish, but also a few animals and plants like bighorn sheep and ginseng — researchers from several Canadian and American universities found that rates of evolutionary change were three times higher in species subject to “harvest selection” than in other species."

Sports May Be Child’s Play, but Genetic Testing Is Not - NYTimes.com

2008-12-01T10:33:00.000-08:00

Sports May Be Child’s Play, but Genetic Testing Is Not - NYTimes.com: "When Donna Campiglia learned recently that a genetic test might be able to determine which sports suit the talents of her 2-year-old son, Noah, she instantly said, Where can I get it and how much does it cost?"

Real-life GATACA. To some extent, I think this is inevitable, but a little frightening ethically. I like to believe that people should be encouraged to follow their passion as passion can overcome huge genetic obstacles.

Princeton University - Evolution's new wrinkle: Proteins with cruise control provide new perspective

2008-11-13T07:12:00.000-08:00

Princeton University - Evolution's new wrinkle: Proteins with cruise control provide new perspective: "'The discovery answers an age-old question that has puzzled biologists since the time of Darwin: How can organisms be so exquisitely complex, if evolution is completely random, operating like a 'blind watchmaker'?' said Chakrabarti, an associate research scholar in the Department of Chemistry at Princeton. 'Our new theory extends Darwin's model, demonstrating how organisms can subtly direct aspects of their own evolution to create order out of randomness.'"

We may find this extends Darwin's evolutionary ideas, or we may find this is a mechanism in support of Darwin's broader pangenesis theory.

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Political views 'all in the mind'

2008-09-18T11:42:00.000-07:00

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Political views 'all in the mind': "Scientists studying voters in the US say our political views may be an integral part of our physical makeup.

Their research, published in the journal Science, indicates that people who are sensitive to fear or threat are likely to support a right wing agenda.

Those who perceived less danger in a series of images and sounds were more inclined to support liberal policies."

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Taxi drivers 'have brain sat-nav'

2008-09-12T21:59:00.000-07:00

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Taxi drivers 'have brain sat-nav'

Cool!

Brain Cells Observed Summoning a Memory - NYTimes.com

2008-09-04T13:19:00.000-07:00

Brain Cells Observed Summoning a Memory - NYTimes.com: "Scientists have for the first time recorded individual brain cells in the act of summoning a spontaneous memory, revealing not only where a remembered experience is registered but also, in part, how the brain is able to recreate it.

The recordings, taken from the brains of epilepsy patients being prepared for surgery, demonstrate that these spontaneous memories reside in some of the very same neurons that fired most furiously when the recalled event was first experienced. Researchers had long theorized as much but until now had only indirect evidence."

Cool!

BBC NEWS | Technology | Rat-brain robot aids memory study

2008-08-14T07:12:00.000-07:00

BBC NEWS | Technology | Rat-brain robot aids memory study: "The project marries 300,000 rat neurons to a robot that navigates via sonar.

The neurons are now being taught to steer the robot around obstacles and avoid the walls of the small pen in which it is kept."

Viruses can catch colds, says study that redefines life itself - Telegraph

2008-08-07T07:14:00.000-07:00

Viruses can catch colds, says study that redefines life itself - Telegraph

Interesting -- viruses stuffing DNA into other viruses.

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Tumours 'alter devils' sex lives'

2008-07-15T21:10:00.000-07:00

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Tumours 'alter devils' sex lives': "Devil facial tumour disease (DFTD) has led to the animals mating at an unusually young age and females having just one litter, say scientists."

An example of the sexual process changing in response to an environmental factor that could potentially lead to more rapid evolution.

Scientist at Work - Edward O. Wilson - E.O Wilson Takes Cue From Ants in His Views on Human Social Evolution - NYTimes.com

2008-07-15T21:07:00.000-07:00

Scientist at Work - Edward O. Wilson - E.O Wilson Takes Cue From Ants in His Views on Human Social Evolution - NYTimes.com: "Dr. Wilson, changing his mind because of new data about the genetics of ant colonies, now believes that natural selection operates at many levels, including at the level of a social group."

Not only does selection operate at many levels, but selection operates on the selection process itself leading to the type of exponential change that can account for the speed at which evolution occurs.

Bad guys really do get the most girls - sex - 18 June 2008 - New Scientist

2008-06-22T14:06:00.000-07:00

Bad guys really do get the most girls - sex - 18 June 2008 - New Scientist: "Christopher von Rueden of the University of California at Santa Barbara says that the studies are important because they confirm that personality variation has direct fitness consequences."

In general, there's a selection criteria here -- why are females of this particular species selecting for this behavioral trait when it is likely to create a higher cost burden for them? It would seem that instead of directly selecting a mate based on a mate who can most directly contributed to high offspring survival, the mate selection seems to be selecting for a mate who's genetics will contribute most to offspring reproductive success. If an offspring has a high chance of survival to reproductive age, then the more important fitness criteria is the offspring's reproductive success rate.

It would be interesting to observe cultural implications more closely to see if even very subtle shifts in reproductive success do occur based on different cultural norms, which could in turn lead to slight changes in selected traits.

Synapses Found to Be More Complex Up the Evolutionary Scale - NYTimes.com

2008-06-11T19:01:00.000-07:00

Synapses Found to Be More Complex Up the Evolutionary Scale - NYTimes.com: "But in fact the synapses get considerably more complex going up the evolutionary scale, Dr. Grant and colleagues reported online Sunday in Nature Neuroscience. In worms and flies, the synapses mediate simple forms of learning, but in higher animals they are built from a much richer array of protein components and conduct complex learning and pattern recognition, Dr. Grant said."

This focuses just on the synapses, but the complexity of the chemical pathways may be similarly interesting.

Bacteria make major evolutionary shift in the lab - life - 09 June 2008 - New Scientist

2008-06-11T19:00:00.000-07:00

Bacteria make major evolutionary shift in the lab - life - 09 June 2008 - New Scientist: "But sometime around the 31,500th generation, something dramatic happened in just one of the populations – the bacteria suddenly acquired the ability to metabolise citrate, a second nutrient in their culture medium that E. coli normally cannot use."

This could be Nobel-worthy work. What's interesting is that it took 31,500 generations to adapt (and unclear from this article how many reproduction events that was). For complex organisms, 31,500 generations is far too slow to adapt to changes in the natural environment. Evolutionary processes presumably have evolved to work respond faster to environmental change in higher-level organisms.

Plants Found to Show Preferences for Their Relatives - NYTimes.com

2008-06-11T18:56:00.000-07:00

Plants Found to Show Preferences for Their Relatives - NYTimes.com

Another example of how evolutionary processes themselves evolve.

Mind - Optical Illusions Show How Brain Anticipates the Future to ‘See’ the Present - NYTimes.com

2008-06-11T18:55:00.000-07:00

Mind - Optical Illusions Show How Brain Anticipates the Future to ‘See’ the Present - NYTimes.com: "Scientists argue that the brain has evolved to see a split second into the future when it perceives motion. Because it takes the brain at least a tenth of a second to model visual information, it is working with old information. By modeling the future during movement, it is “seeing” the present."

Brain as anticipation engine is the central thesis of Jeff Hawkins' "On Intelligence".

Lots of Animals Learn, but Smarter Isn’t Better - New York Times

2008-05-05T18:16:00.000-07:00

Lots of Animals Learn, but Smarter Isn’t Better - New York Times: "Dr. Kawecki suspects that each species evolves until it reaches an equilibrium between the costs and benefits of learning. His experiments demonstrate that flies have the genetic potential to become significantly smarter in the wild. But only under his lab conditions does evolution actually move in that direction. In nature, any improvement in learning would cost too much."

Intriguing article.

"Junk" RNA May Have Played Role in Vertebrate Evolution: Scientific American

2008-04-26T02:13:00.000-07:00

"Junk" RNA May Have Played Role in Vertebrate Evolution: Scientific American: "Evidence has been building since 1993, however, that microRNA is anything but genetic bric-a-brac. Quite the contrary, scientists say that it actually plays a crucial role in switching protein-coding genes on or off and regulating the amount of protein those genes produce."

Another article highlighting the potential importance of microRNA in evolution and organism definition.

Kluge - Gary Marcus - Book Review - New York Times

2008-04-26T02:07:00.000-07:00

Kluge - Gary Marcus - Book Review - New York Times: "Evolution “kluges” its solutions because it has only the crudest tools at its disposal: genetic mutations and millions of years. Natural selection can select only from what genetic accidents have made available, and the features it chooses may remain in place not because they are optimal, Marcus writes, but “because evolution just didn’t find a better way.”"

At a 30,000ft level, this is true, but in the same way primitive tools give way to more advanced tools in societies, the primitive tools of evolution have themselves evolved to be much more complex and faster to respond as organisms have evolved.

'Suspended Animation' Induced In Mice With Sewer Gas: Effects Are Reversible

2008-03-26T07:48:00.000-07:00

'Suspended Animation' Induced In Mice With Sewer Gas: Effects Are Reversible: "'Hydrogen sulfide is the stinky gas that can kill workers who encounter it in sewers; but when adminstered to mice in small, controlled doses, within minutes it produces what appears to be totally reversible metabolic suppression,' says Warren Zapol, MD, chief of Anesthesia and Critical Care at MGH and senior author of the Anesthesiology study."

Temporary life suspension could radically alter and improve the survival rate of numerous medical procedures. True persistent life suspension will change society in more profound ways than birth control has. Another puzzle piece is coming into view with this study.

I suspect researchers are or will shortly be investigating whether introducing Hydrogen Sulfide into an oxygen-depleted organ would allow for reintroduction of oxygen without causing reperfusion (cell death)[1] which would allow for the treatment of drowning and potentially further pave the way to persistent life suspension.

Docs Change the Way They Think About Death | Newsweek Health | Newsweek.com

Research finds birdsong trigger

2008-03-19T15:18:00.000-07:00

BBC NEWS | UK | Scotland | Edinburgh, East and Fife | Research finds birdsong trigger: "Birds know to sing in the spring because of hormones triggered by longer days, researchers have found."

Chemical pathways for communication between cells and subsystems have evolved for billions of years before electrically-induced neural networks arose. Understanding the chemical pathways in the brain will prove at least as important, if not more important, than understanding the electrical pathways.

Docs Change the Way They Think About Death | Newsweek Health | Newsweek.com

2008-03-01T16:46:00.000-08:00

Docs Change the Way They Think About Death | Newsweek Health | Newsweek.com: "Biologists are still grappling with the implications of this new view of cell death—not passive extinguishment, like a candle flickering out when you cover it with a glass, but an active biochemical event triggered by 'reperfusion,' the resumption of oxygen supply. The research takes them deep into the machinery of the cell, to the tiny membrane-enclosed structures known as mitochondria where cellular fuel is oxidized to provide energy. Mitochondria control the process known as apoptosis, the programmed death of abnormal cells that is the body's primary defense against cancer. 'It looks to us,' says Becker, 'as if the cellular surveillance mechanism cannot tell the difference between a cancer cell and a cell being reperfused with oxygen. Something throws the switch that makes the cell die.'"

Intriguing article on cell death after the reintroduction of oxygen.

St. Jude researchers find key step in programmed cell death (news release)

2008-03-01T16:41:00.000-08:00

St. Jude researchers find key step in programmed cell death (news release): "Apoptosis rids the body of faulty or unneeded cells. However, molecular malfunctions that trigger apoptosis may cause some diseases, including Parkinson’s disease. Understanding the biochemical interactions that control the extent of programmed cell death could lead to new treatments."

As discussed previously, in the lack of oxygen doesn't seem to kill cells, but reintroduction of oxygen after a period of oxygen deficit leads to mass apoptosis -- programmed cell death. This study shows progress in understanding how apoptosis works and how cells stave off cell death.

Craving the High That Risky Trading Can Bring - New York Times

2008-02-07T10:10:00.000-08:00

Craving the High That Risky Trading Can Bring - New York Times: "“The more you think you can gain from the risk, the more you take the risk and the more activation in the circuitry,” Mr. Knutson said."

In my opinion, this "high" really defines the VC culture in Silicon Valley. Pitching to a VC is less about pitching a stable business model and much more about tapping into that desire to take the big risk and reap the big gain. The crazier your idea, the riskier it is, the more money you want, the more prestigious the team, the more you can amp up the valuation and amp down the percentage. The desire to invest in the more espensive, riskiest startup is akin to the desire to buy a $1M Bugatti Veyron. A beautiful thing for the entrepreneur.

New Findings Confirm Darwin's Theory: Evolution Not Random

2008-01-20T10:39:00.000-08:00

New Findings Confirm Darwin's Theory: Evolution Not Random: "When the researchers measured changes in 40 defined characteristics of the nematodes’ sexual organs (including cell division patterns and the formation of specific cells), they found that most were uniform in direction, with the main mechanism for the development favoring a natural selection of successful traits, the researchers said.

'Since random development would not create such unifying trends, we concluded that the observed development was deterministic, not random,' said Professor Benjamin Podbilewicz from the Technion Faculty of Biology."

This article seems hard to validate not having seen the whole article.

The idea of random mutation naturally leads to the conclusions that there should be an uniform chance of productive and non-productive change as a species evolves. 50% have shorter tentacles (positive) and 50% have longer tentacles per generation (negative). The productive change is selected for and the non-productive change is selected against. However, if the genetic offspring show that productive change is more common than non-productive change (70% have longer tentacles and 30% have shorter tentacles before natural selection has a chance to act), then that suggests a mechanism or selection criteria is working much before natural selection.

Environment Directly Affects Reptile Gender

2008-01-17T12:14:00.000-08:00

I understand that in the case of reptiles, gender is determined by temperature. How does this work with respect to X and Y chromosomes? Does temperature change Xs to Ys and/or vice versa?: Scientific American: "In temperature-dependent sex determination, however, it is the environmental temperature during a critical period of embryonic development that determines whether an egg develops as male or female. This thermosensitive period occurs after the egg has been laid, so sex determination in these reptiles is at the mercy of the ambient conditions affecting egg clutches in nests. For example, in many turtle species, eggs from cooler nests hatch as all males, and eggs from warmer nests hatch as all females. In crocodilian species—the most studied of which is the American alligator—both low and high temperatures result in females and intermediate temperatures select for males."

Radiation Causes Evolution of New Plants

2008-01-15T13:34:00.000-08:00

Science Journal Spring 2007 | Feature Story | Genetically Modified Foods: "Another way to make seedless fruits is by using radiation to cause mutations. The Rio Red, a popular red grapefruit, was created by exposing grapefruit buds to thermal neutron radiation at Brookhaven National Laboratory in 1968. Other notable successes of mutation breeding include Creso, the most popular variety of durum wheat used for making pasta in Italy; Calrose 76, a high-yielding California rice; Golden Promise barley, a fine-quality malt used in specialty beers; and some 200 varieties of bread wheat grown around the world."

Radiation has been used to increase this rate of mutation in crops. The interesting question is -- are the mutations introduced by radiation truly "random" or are there structures and mechanisms that have evolved to control how radiation affects rate and type of mutation? If those structures do exist, then changes in the environment can directly change the rate of "stable" mutation. Mutation may not be entirely "random" after all, but instead a response to environmental change by an intricately evolved mechanism.

More Evidence of Environmental Factors Influencing Evolution

2008-01-15T13:23:00.000-08:00

Air pollution causes sperm mutations

"The mice, reared in cages kept in a shed downwind of two steel mills and a busy highway in a Canadian city, showed a host of genetic changes compared to similarly housed mice breathing filtered air. DNA in the sperm of the mice in the polluted area contained 60% more mutations, had more strand breaks, and had more bases that had been chemically modified via the addition of a methyl group. That modification, called DNA methylation, can affect whether a gene is expressed."

http://www.nature.com/news/2008/080113/full/news.2008.439.html

ScienceDaily: Do Migratory Birds 'See' The Magnetic Field?

2007-09-30T10:02:00.000-07:00

ScienceDaily: Do Migratory Birds 'See' The Magnetic Field?: "These findings strongly support the hypothesis that migratory birds use their visual system to perceive the reference compass direction of the geomagnetic field and that migratory birds are thus likely to 'see' the geomagnetic field."

I bet they can see thermals too.

Genetic Code-Dependent: DNA Structure Also Crucial to Genomic Variation: Scientific American

2007-09-30T09:59:00.000-07:00

Genetic Code-Dependent: DNA Structure Also Crucial to Genomic Variation: Scientific American: "Until recently, genetic variation between people, accounting for everything from differences in hair color to predisposition to illness were attributed to flaws in genetic coding known as single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). But a new study argues that a genetic material's arrangement—along with changes in that DNA construct, such as insertion, deletion or rearrangement of segments of code within the genome—plays a more important role."

The Science of Lasting Happiness: Scientific American

2007-03-19T16:39:00.000-07:00

I have personally found two different types of happiness. Immediate and persistent. Immediate comes from being relaxed and excited and immersing yourself in something that you enjoy... golfing, canoeing, going to a rock concert, flying RC airplanes, etc.

Persistent happiness seems to arise out of being in resonance with your intrinsic needs. If you need personal space and can't find it, if you need fresh air and are cooped up, if you need financial stability and are financially struggling, if you need companionship and don't have it, if you need quiet time and can't get it, if you need the energy of being out with a group and are stuck inside... all those things erode your happiness.

The Science of Lasting Happiness: Scientific American

How to Make—or Break—Memory: Scientific American

2007-03-16T00:24:00.000-07:00

Worth a deeper read...

How to Make—or Break—Memory: Scientific American: "New evidence has been mounting to the contrary, however, since 1987 when an enzyme that carries out methylation was found in the neurons of adults. A study in this week's Neuron provides key evidence that DNA methylation—also known to occur as cancerous cells divide, when tumor suppressor genes are silenced—occurs in adult brains and can be triggered by environmental cues. Study co-author David Sweatt, a neurobiologist at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, says the finding could provide new targets for treating mental illnesses such as schizophrenia and the autism-spectrum disorder Rett, conditions in which improper methylation switches off certain genes during development."

Case in Point -- NHL slaps Simon with 25-game suspension - Yahoo! News

2007-03-11T16:33:00.000-07:00

NHL slaps Simon with 25-game suspension - Yahoo! News: "'I know what type of guy Chris is, and he's an honest guy. I saw the hit he took, and he lost control a little bit too much, and that's what it's all about,' Brashear, now with the
Washington Capitals, said after Saturday night's 5-2 loss to the Islanders. 'That's where it gets dangerous.

'A guy loses control, and you don't know what's going to happen. We try to stay away from those, and I'm sure after it happened, he looked at himself and said, 'What the hell am I doing?' It looked like he meant to do something else. Sometimes, guys have to pay the price, and I guess he's going to be one of them.'"

Was Chris Simon's action a deliberate act or revenge, or simply an overpowering urge to retaliate? A primal instinct that overpowered any sense of better judgment?

The question is less whether the punishment fits, but whether threat of punishment affects that type of decision-making. Hopefully along with a better understanding of neuroscience will be a better way to educate the subconscious mind on how to evaluate potential consequences.

Right from Wrong in the Justice System

2007-03-11T16:27:00.000-07:00

Neuroscience - Law - The Brain on the Stand - Jeffrey Rosen - New York Times: "American law holds people criminally responsible unless they act under duress (with a gun pointed at the head, for example) or if they suffer from a serious defect in rationality — like not being able to tell right from wrong. But if you suffer from such a serious defect, the law generally doesn’t care why — whether it’s an unhappy childhood or an arachnoid cyst or both. To suggest that criminals could be excused because their brains made them do it seems to imply that anyone whose brain isn’t functioning properly could be absolved of responsibility. "

As we begin to understand the brain better, we will begin to understand that our actions are not entirely under conscious control. How do we determine what we can control and what we can't? Can a brain cyst or a chemical dependency which overpowers our decision-making processes be used to absolve us of responsibility?

Well said!

2007-03-07T15:52:00.000-08:00

A Toast to Evolvability and Its Promise of Surprise - New York Times: "As scientists see it, these and others of nature’s fancy feats forward are clearly the result of large-scale evolutionary forces, but the precise mechanisms behind any given innovation remain piquantly opaque. For some researchers, the conventional gradualist narrative, in which organisms evolve over time through the steady accretion of many mincing genetic mutations, feels unsatisfying when it comes to understanding true biological novelty."

Modularity may be one part of the equation as the author mentions. I think a bigger part is the evolution of sexual selection and the ability to subconsciously recognize key traits in others, the effects of environment on how the brain experiences attraction and for whom, the mechanisms behind the transfer of epigenetic traits, and the processes by which cells fix transcription errors. Then there is similarly the notion of hybridization and rapid mutation in the presence of radiation... alas, we still have much to learn.

The Secret’s in the Neurons

2007-03-06T07:43:00.000-08:00

Not much substance to these articles, but they point to interesting phenomenon.

The Secret’s in the Neurons - New York Times: "Groundbreaking spinal cord studies have shown that during development, certain proteins are released at ventral and dorsal sides of the cord, and their concentrations decrease across the cord. These protein gradients have been shown to play a role in the differentiation of nerve cells — what kind of cells form where."

Evolution and Religion

2007-03-05T06:46:00.000-08:00

Evolution and Religion - Darwin’s God - Robin Marantz Henig - New York Times

I've always believed in a biological imperative driving us toward belief in a higher power. The biggest question for me though is whether that is a first-order biological process or a side-effect of having a biological predisposition toward social groups and hierarchical structures.

For instance, horses are naturally social and hierarchical in the wild, which is hypothesized to be why it is also easier for horses to look to humans for that leadership.

Similarly, wolves tend to be very social and hierarchical in the wild. Many breeds of dogs seem to need social companionship. That same need for social companionship seems to drive the comfort and pleasure we receive from being in a committed relationship. That sense of comfort is itself a neuro-chemical process.

I've also thought a lot about the "identification of traits in others" aspects to evolution lately. The idea here is that the ability to identify certain traits in other individuals is a key factor in successful sexual selection and in survival in general. Not only are we predisposed to recognize beauty (and especially facial beauty), we also possess a keen ability to recognize intellect in others.

I suspect horses and dogs also have this ability to recognize intellect and to decide whom to follow based on not just physical, but also intellectual prowess.

The ability to recognize intelligence in another individual of the same species would rapidly confer evolutionary advantage.

So in the end, from a neuro-chemical standpoint I think God may be an idealized abstract notion of intellectual perfection and the ideal leader hard-wired into the brain to set a pattern for selecting leaders and mates. Perhaps?