Please make a recommendation for a funny paper for our lab meeting on 2009-7-28. Please have you recommendation submitted by 2009-7-23 and we will vote on 2009-7-24. NO eye papers please! Be as creative as you can!!
Lab Meeting 2009-7-28
July 14th, 2009July 21st Lab Meeting
July 14th, 2009Please make a recommendation for a serious scientific paper for our lab meeting on 2009-7-21. Please make all recommendations by 2009-7-16 and we will vote on which paper to read on 2009-7-17. Get real creative!!!!
New zebrafish book coming!
July 8th, 2009
The secret of ageing
July 4th, 2009may lie inside this girl.
Brooke Greenberg is the size of an infant, with the mental capacity of a toddler. She turned 16 in January.
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Brooke hasn’t aged in the conventional sense. Dr. Richard Walker of the University of South Florida College of Medicine, in Tampa, says Brooke’s body is not developing as a coordinated unit, but as independent parts that are out of sync. She has never been diagnosed with any known genetic syndrome or chromosomal abnormality that would help explain why.
References:
Doctors Baffled, Intrigued by Girl Who Doesn’t Age [ABC news]
Walker RF. A case study of ‘‘disorganized development’’ and its possible relevance to genetic determinants of aging. Mech Age Devel 2009; 130:350 [PubMed][pdf (link provided by the research group's site)]
The scientists behind the Meselson-Stahl experiment
June 30th, 2009The other day we talked about the historical moment when Matt Meselson and Frank Stahl elucidated the semi-conservative mechanism of DNA replication.
We briefly discussed the challenges that they faced at that time as a graduate student and a postdoc, which I think would give us insights to face our own challenges. I am still reading the longer book about the history behind this experiment. I think it is a very entertaining read but it is also very thick. A shorter historical account published in the PNAS would be easier for many of us to get an overall impression of the story.
References:
Hanawalt PC. Density matters: the semiconservative replication of DNA. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2004 Dec 28;101(52):17889-94. [PubMed][pdf]
Holmes FL. Meselson, Stahl, and the Replication of DNA: A History of ‘The Most Beautiful Experiment in Biology’ [Amazon]
A good review paper on the architecture of retina
June 26th, 2009I read several classic papers when I am planning projects with some of you. This is a very good review paper on the fundamental architecture of retina. There are a lot useful histological facts and observations. It has great discussions on how the retinal architecture has evolved and in turn provides the necessary visual functions to the animal. I believe you will also find this review paper useful.
Reference
Masland RH. The fundamental plan of the retina. Nat Neurosci. 2001 Sep;4(9):877-86.[PubMed][Nat Neurosci]
In the Light of Evolution III: Two Centuries of Darwin – Sackler Colloquium
June 22nd, 2009This is a series of papers from a recent Sackler colloquium of the National Academy of Sciences entitled “In the Light of Evolution III: Two Centuries of Darwin“. You can watch most of the presentations online here. The conference papers are published in a supplemental issue of the PNAS.
I read Daniel Dennett’s paper because of my personal interest. He is a philosopher in science. In his paper, he provides a simple overview on why it is not necessary to have an intelligent designer to make complicated biological machines.
Reference
Dennett D. Darwin’s “strange inversion of reasoning”. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2009 Jun 15. [PubMed][pdf]
Journal club on 7/2
June 20th, 2009Please suggest your favorite paper by making a comment here. Once everyone has made a suggestion, we will vote for it. Let’s decide by this Thursday 6/25.
Thanks!
The origin of laughter
June 8th, 2009Why do we laugh? Is there any evolutionary significance? Well, instead of pondering about these questions… why not tickle a primate to find it out?
Humans aren’t the only ones who like it in the armpit. Our fellow great apes — orangutans, chimps, bonobos and gorillas — also squeal in response to tickling, and new research shows this behavior may be the evolutionary root of human laughter.
….
Laughter is a key component of social interaction in humans. Humans are 30 times more likely to laugh when in the company of other humans than not, and tickling is inherently social — no animal is capable of tickling itself. Understanding the origins of laughter can also lend insight to the evolution of language, as both behaviors involve breath control and vocal cord vibrations.
References
Human Laughter Echoes Chimp Chuckles [Wired]
Ross MD, Owren MJ, Zimmermann E. Reconstructing the Evolution of Laughter in Great Apes and Humans. 2009 June [Current Biology]
Shark Fining Truth
June 5th, 2009I know that we all take a lite attitude when talking about shark fin soup in the lab, but it really is a serious issue. After watching the documentary “Sharkwater” on youtube.com, which is about shark fining, I was shocked. I am definitely changing my tone about being open minded to trying any new food and will now have shark fin soup as my exception. I personally was unaware that the fin industry was so corrupt, dishonest, and dangerous. I think this movie is completely worth the 1 hour and 16 minutes to watch. You can go to youtube.com and search “Sharkwater” and the movie comes up in 9 segments about 10 minutes each. Hope you all take the time to watch it and see the truth behind this dish.
I do want to clarify that I don’t think that the shark fin soup dish should be done away with all together. However, I do think there needs to be a world wide push controlling the number of sharks harvested and also the methods of capture used in harvesting these animals. The ocean is a vast area and it will take all countries working together to protect the sea and it’s sharks.