Evolution

Understanding The Human Face

The human face is, by far, one of the most complex features that has stumped the scientists in the field of developmental science. The recent debates on human face transplant makes it obvious that there is a lot more to the story. Just like fingerprints, ...

Article - Payal Joshi - May 28 2011 - 12:32pm

Studying Memes With Phylomemetics

In The Selfish Gene (1976), Richard Dawkins introduced the word ‘meme’ (derived from the Greek word mimema, roughly translates as ‘something imitated’) to denote “a unit of cultural transmission, or a unit of imitation.” It turned out to be a good meme it ...

Article - Gunnar De Winter - Jun 1 2011 - 10:12am

"It's Sad But True That Most Discoveries In Biology Are Made By Physicists"- Freeman Dyson

What's ailing biology? Wilson da Silva, Editor-in-Chief of COSMOS, a science publication in Australia, was attending a lecture by Freeman Dyson lecture at the Perimeter Institute in Canada when Dyson said, "It's sad but true that most discov ...

Article - Hank Campbell - Jun 2 2011 - 2:21pm

Blooming Botany (1A)

When I was a teenager, my two scientific passions were astronomy and botany.  However, at my school in the early 1960s, one could either do A-levels in Mathematics- Physics- Chemistry (Science A) or Chemistry – Botany- Zoology (Science B).  I chose the for ...

Article - Robert H Olley - Jun 18 2011 - 11:40am

Mutation Rates And Life-History Traits

Recently, research has been conducted to see if certain life-history traits could be correlated with DNA mutation rates. By using whole-genome sequence data for 32 species of mammal, the researchers tested the hypothesis that DNA mutation rates are influen ...

Article - Gunnar De Winter - Jun 19 2011 - 9:01am

Don't Have Sex With People From The Future

If Hollywood movies are your science guide, outer space is populated primarily by hot vampire girl aliens and time travel is not only possible, but chicks will dig you more, the same way women today would like a man in a powdered wig and no bath for three ...

Blog Post - Hank Campbell - Jun 22 2011 - 2:32pm

Darwin's Library

Charles Darwin was, among many things, an avid reader, and by the end of his life he had created his own small library. Not only did he read a lot, but he also compared his ideas with those proposed by the authors, which becomes clear when noticing the cop ...

Blog Post - Gunnar De Winter - Jun 23 2011 - 3:28am

Is Evolution Fast Enough?

The world is changing. Climate change, deforestation, and much more, are all having an impact on our litlle planet. A question that follows this statement quite naturally, is 'Will the earth's organisms be able to adapt to the changing circumstan ...

Article - Gunnar De Winter - Jun 23 2011 - 3:38pm

Sperm Competition

The term sperm competition can be used in two ways. In the broad sense, it involves a large range of morphological, behavioural and physiological attributes, including courtship and copulation behavior (for example, a male that guards females to ensure th ...

Article - Gunnar De Winter - Jun 24 2011 - 6:39am

Origin of Life Prize

Harry Lonsdale, a 79 year old millionaire scientist, has launched a $50,000 prize to promote research in the origin of life. The prize could potentially be complemented by $2,000,000 (!) of research funding. ...

Blog Post - Gunnar De Winter - Jun 28 2011 - 9:31am