• Why leopards can't change their spots

    Updated: 2010-01-29 14:07:49
    The leopard cannot change its spots, nor can the tiger change its stripes, but a new research report reported in the January 2009 issue of the journal GENETICS tells us something about how cats end up with their spots and stripes. It demonstrates for the first time that at least three different genes are involved in the emergence of stripes, spots, and other markings on domestic cats. Scientists have also determined the genomic location of two of these genes, which will allow for further studies that could shine scientific light on various human skin disorders........

  • Tracking paw prints of selective breeding

    Updated: 2010-01-29 14:07:49
    From the Dachshund's stubby legs to the Shar-Pei's wrinkly skin, breeding for certain characteristics has left its mark on the dog genome. Scientists have identified 155 regions on the canine genome that appear to have been influenced by selective breeding. With more than 400 distinct breeds, dogs come in a wide range of shapes, sizes, fur-styles, and temperaments. The curly-haired toy poodle, small enough to sit in a teacup, barely looks or acts like the smooth-coated Great Dane tall enough to peer like a periscope out of a car's sunroof. Not so apparent are breed differences in how the dogs' bodies function and their susceptibility to various diseases........

  • Sexual reproduction versus asexual reproduction

    Updated: 2010-01-29 14:07:49
    Living organisms have good reason for engaging in sexual, rather than asexual, reproduction as per Maurine Neiman, assistant professor of biology in the UI College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and researcher in the Roy J. Carver Center for Genomics. In an article published in a recent issue of the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution, she and her colleagues, including John M. Logsdon Jr., associate professor of biology, examined the theory that sexual reproduction, while requiring more time and energy than asexual reproduction, is also much more common among living organisms and, therefore, must be very beneficial........

  • What Makes a Panda?

    Updated: 2010-01-26 00:02:40
    In this week’s issue of Nature, Jian Wang and colleagues from the Beijing Genomics Institute report the first-ever genome sequence of a member of the clade Ursidiae, or the bear family. Wang et al. sequenced all 2.4 billion bases of the panda genome. The panda has 21,001 genes on 22 haploid chromosomes. The fact that [...]

  • Apologies to a commenter!

    Updated: 2010-01-25 18:34:52
    A commenter had left a kind note thanking us for our work on the Darwin Manuscripts Project. In my enthusiasm for deleting spam, I accidently deleted the comment. I wasn’t able to notice who the comment was from. My apologies! Thank you for the words of support and appreciation.

  • Of Monkeys and Men

    Updated: 2010-01-25 16:29:47
    When frustrated with the opposite sex, women tend to compare men to monkeys, apes, or even chimpanzees.  However, judging from recent discoveries concerning the Y chromosome in men and chimpanzees, scientists from the Whitehead Institute at MIT and the Genome Center at Washington University might argue that this comparison has no scientific basis (NY Times [...]

  • NoName National Park?

    Updated: 2010-01-22 22:37:48
    I recently attended a lecture given by a panel of speakers, one of whom worked for Glacier National Park and was responsible for training all of the park’s presentation staff.   The effects of climate change, particularly the melting of glaciers and the resulting change of the landscape, has already impacted the park’s inhabitants, and models [...]

  • Podcast of Life

    Updated: 2010-01-20 19:30:11
    Got five minutes? Dive into marine biology and biodiversity through the Podcast of Life and witness science in action through lively, you-are-there stories from the front lines of ocean science. This series of 13 podcasts, hosted by Ari Daniel Shapiro, is brought to you by the Encyclopedia of Life, Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, [...]

  • Charles Darwin’s illness

    Updated: 2010-01-12 21:56:59
    At the Evolution: Education and Outreach blog, I have put up a new posting about Darwin’s illness. Barry Marshall, 2005 Nobel Prize winner in Medicine and Physiology, believes that he suffered from a Helicobacter pylori infection.

  • Creating a local copy of PubMed

    Updated: 2010-01-11 17:55:09
    I just updated a previous post about my plans to create a local copy of PubMed with a few more remarks about how I intend to proceed. I hope to have that work completed in the next two or three weeks. Check it out here: http://shiftingbalance.org/?p=244. It will be a challenge to integrate the various [...]

  • New lab instrument invaluable in search for truth

    Updated: 2010-01-08 22:14:23
    A new instrument has been obtained for use in the Invertebrate Paleontology & Evolution Ontology Lab at AMNH. It’s seen here photographed with that other low-tech but important tool, the rock crusher/splitter. Who knew that such a powerful tool such as the rock splitter could be used with such precision? The thinnest flake of layered [...]

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