tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3621026.post6093197107111394425..comments2024-03-27T22:32:31.588+01:00Comments on Robert's Stochastic thoughts: Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14455788499385673507noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3621026.post-36370660451976325372007-04-13T21:02:00.000+02:002007-04-13T21:02:00.000+02:00Darn, I think Mayr's work in the philosophy of bio...Darn, I think Mayr's work in the philosophy of biology of signal importance. Philosophers, well, American philosophers at least, had problems with Darwin into the 1970s, since Darwin threatens grand theoretical conceptualizations (though Kant fits, for all his early thinking as a sort of astronomer).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3621026.post-90121021740871602602007-04-13T20:57:00.000+02:002007-04-13T20:57:00.000+02:00Ernst Mayr, by the way, as you well know, began an...Ernst Mayr, by the way, as you well know, began and ended really studying birds. Jared Diamond too, the same birds, or sort of. See why Oliver is so proud?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3621026.post-86470041910246258792007-04-13T20:50:00.000+02:002007-04-13T20:50:00.000+02:00http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/13/science/13dino.h...http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/13/science/13dino.html?ex=1334116800&en=55ec2752b68e3b7e&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss<BR/><BR/>April 13, 2007<BR/><BR/>In Startling Advance, Study Identifies Dinosaur Protein <BR/>By JOHN NOBLE WILFORD<BR/><BR/>In a retrieval once thought unattainable, scientists have recovered and identified proteins in a bone of a well-preserved Tyrannosaurus rex that lived and died and was fossilized 68 million years ago.<BR/><BR/>The scientists say the success, with advanced research techniques, opens the door for the first time to the exploration of molecular-level relationships of ancient, extinct animals, instead of just relying on their skeletal remains.<BR/><BR/>Dinosaur fossil hunters are planning nine expeditions this summer to search wide and deep for more specimens as promising candidates for similar tests. A few large dinosaur bones already in laboratories may be examined for surviving traces of organic matter.<BR/><BR/>The earliest previously identified ancient proteins were from mammoths that died about 300,000 years ago. The oldest confirmed samples of DNA, a more direct bearer of information of molecular evolution, but more degradable, have come from Neanderthals that lived 30,000 to 50,000 years ago. The extraction of DNA would be necessary for studies in dinosaur genetics and for cloning experiments.<BR/><BR/>Repeated analysis of the T-rex proteins, the researchers said, uncovered new evidence of a link between dinosaurs and birds, a widely held but contentious hypothesis....<BR/><BR/>[Yes; birds, of which little Oliver conure in my shirt, is awfully proud. Birds.]<BR/><BR/>anneAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3621026.post-28988861585273933202007-04-13T20:46:00.000+02:002007-04-13T20:46:00.000+02:00http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/06/science/06dogs.h...http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/06/science/06dogs.html?ex=1333512000&en=09313b6c06ea6eb1&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss<BR/><BR/>April 6, 2007<BR/><BR/>Difference Between Mutts and Jeffs? A Gene <BR/>By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr.<BR/><BR/>If it weren't for the IGF-1 suppressor gene, Paris Hilton's life would be a lot less elegant.<BR/><BR/>She'd be lugging around an Irish wolfhound in her purse.<BR/><BR/>Scientists have just discovered which gene fragment controls the size of dogs, the mammal with the greatest range in size: no other species produces adults with 100-fold differences, like that between a 2-pound Chihuahua and a 200-pound Newfoundland.<BR/><BR/>In a study to be published today in the journal Science, researchers analyzed 3,241 purebreds from 143 breeds. Genetically, the yapper arguing with your ankle is almost identical to the drooling behemoth bred to hunt bears, except for a tiny bit of DNA — universally present in small breeds and largely absent in big ones — that suppresses the "insulin-like growth factor 1" gene.<BR/><BR/>Dog owners have unwittingly been selecting for it since the last ice age. Dogs emerged from the wolf about 15,000 years ago, and as far back as 10,000 years ago domesticated dogs as big as mastiffs and as small as Jack Russells were trotting the earth.<BR/><BR/>The study's lead author, Elaine A. Ostrander, chief of cancer genetics at the National Human Genome Research Institute, said she had visited a lot of dog shows, asking for blood.<BR/><BR/>"It became kind of a status symbol to participate, and we were inundated," Dr. Ostrander said. "I only wanted one sample from any descendant of one grandfather, and owners would show up with five Scottish deerhounds, all of them siblings, and say, 'Oh, absolutely, they all want to be in.' " ...<BR/><BR/>anneAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com