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Reconstructing The Evolution Of Ancient Microbes?

Reconstructing The Evolution Of Ancient Microbes?

Dec 20 2010 | comment(s)

580 million years ago, life on Earth began a rapid period of change called the Cambrian Explosion, defined by the birth of new life forms over many millions of years that ultimately helped bring about the modern diversity of animals.

While fossils can help palaeontologists chronicle the evolution of life since the Cambrian Explosion, drawing a picture of life during the 3 billion years before the Cambrian Period is challenging because the soft-bodied Precambrian cells rarely left fossil imprints; early life forms did leave behind one abundant microscopic fossil, DNA. 
Proteomics Discovery - Postsynaptic Density Genetic Link To 130 Brain Diseases

Proteomics Discovery - Postsynaptic Density Genetic Link To 130 Brain Diseases

Dec 20 2010 | comment(s)

Scientists have studied human brain samples to isolate a set of proteins that accounts for over 130 brain diseases and found an intriguing link between such diseases,  the leading cause of medical disability in the developed world, according to the World Health Organization, with an economic costs in the USA exceeds $300 billion, and the evolution of the human brain.
Could someone explain?

Could someone explain?

Dec 20 2010 | comment(s)

This has recently appeared on Telegraph Blogs, from one of the few sensible authors.

Could someone explain why global warming has to be a disaster?


Could readers please help with a reasonably concise explanation, which I could post within a day or two?

Many thanks in advance.
Where to see the Lunar Eclipse if it's cloudy

Where to see the Lunar Eclipse if it's cloudy

Dec 20 2010 | comment(s)

Where can one see the lunar eclipse online or at a viewing party.  Here are a couple of options and how to find out.

The best option would be to watch the eclipse online via NASA's live feed of the eclipse from Huntsville Alabama. Which I have embedded right here. 

Dec 20 2010 | comment(s)

Bull's Eye

Dec 20 2010 | comment(s)

Dec 20 2010 | comment(s)

A Modern Xmas Story: He Went and Dug the Shit Hole

A Modern Xmas Story: He Went and Dug the Shit Hole

Dec 20 2010 | comment(s)

It is that time of the year, the season, and a good excuse to contribute with something that can be at most only very loosely connected with science. These happenings unfolded around this time of year, and it involves all the makings of a good Xmas story: lots of snow and cold overcome mainly by the warmth of hearts.

The Say of the Week

The Say of the Week

Dec 20 2010 | comment(s)

An expert is a man who has made all of the mistakes which can be made, in a narrow field.
Niels Bohr
Baby Squid Goes Zoom

Baby Squid Goes Zoom

Dec 20 2010 | comment(s)

In honor of all the hullaballoo about California market squid (hullaballoo which I will soon be adding more to, stay tuned!) here are some pictures I took a few years ago. The subject is a baby market squid viewed through a microscope.

First it opens its mantle, or body cavity, to fill it with water:


Then it squeezes all the water out and goes zoom! This picture was taken milliseconds before it disappeared from view:
MOLECULAR MARKERS AND GENOME SEQUENCING IN CROP IMPROVEMENT.

MOLECULAR MARKERS AND GENOME SEQUENCING IN CROP IMPROVEMENT.

Dec 20 2010 | comment(s)

MOLECULAR MARKERS AND GENOME SEQUENCING IN CROP IMPROVEMENT. Molecular techniques, in particular the applications of molecular markers, have been used to scrutinize DNA sequence variation(s) in and among the crop species and create new sources of genetic variation by introducing new and favorable traits from landraces and related crop species. Molecular markers What are they? A marker is a gene or piece of DNA with easily identified phenotype such that cells or individuals with different alleles are distinguishable. For example a gene with a known function or a single nucleotide change in DNA Or A readily detectable sequence of DNA or protein whose inheritance can be monitored
From hammock to armchair

From hammock to armchair

Dec 19 2010 | comment(s)

You haven't seen any new hardcore physics posts entering this blog in recent weeks. Reason is a new role in my professional life, combined with a new science project that I have started in my spare time (if successful, you will definitely read more about the latter here). Both activities currently consume a lot of my time, and as there are only 1015 inches in a day, something has to give. 
Hypoxia Explained - And Why It Mattered In The Evolution Of Animal Life

Hypoxia Explained - And Why It Mattered In The Evolution Of Animal Life

Dec 19 2010 | comment(s)

Researchers say they have uncovered a clue that may help to explain why the earliest evidence of complex multicellular animal life appears around 550 million years ago, after atmospheric oxygen levels on Earth dramatically rose, from 3% to the modern day level of 21%.

The group says humans share a method of sensing oxygen with the world's simplest known living animal, Trichoplax adhaerens, suggesting the method has been around since the first animals emerged around 550 million years ago and helps us understand how humans sense oxygen and how oxygen levels drove the very earliest stages of animal evolution.
Winter Is Coming - And So Is Its First Lunar Eclipse Since 1554 AD

Winter Is Coming - And So Is Its First Lunar Eclipse Since 1554 AD

Dec 19 2010 | comment(s)

If you're in one of the areas of the world blanketed by snow, it probably feels like winter is already here - the cold weather has NPR pundits in such a panic they are claiming the snow is worse than global warming because it means (to them) that the climate is already 'unstable'.

But December 21st is officially winter and it is bringing with it a lunar eclipse.   Last time that happened?   1554 A.D., according to NASA.
An Exercise In Relativistic Kinematics

An Exercise In Relativistic Kinematics

Dec 19 2010 | comment(s)

A faithful reader of this blog has been asking me for answers to some of the 42 questions which were given at an exam for particle physics researcher wannabes in Italy in 2005. I already provided some answers in a separate post a few months back, but the reader asked for an answer to some specific exercises which I had not bothered to deal with here. I will do so now.
Helixanthera Schizocalyx: Just In Time For Christmas, A New Mistletoe Discovered

Helixanthera Schizocalyx: Just In Time For Christmas, A New Mistletoe Discovered

Dec 19 2010 | comment(s)

A  parasitic, tropical mistletoe has been discovered near the summit of Mount Mabu in northern Mozambique and, just in time for Christmas, this new wild mistletoe has been named Helixanthera schizocalyx.

It was spotted by Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew East African butterfly specialist, Colin Congdon, while the team were trekking up the mountain, on a path that took them from the moist montane forest up to where the broad granite peaks break through the dense foliage. Congdon says he quickly realized this species was different from anything he had seen on the mountains in neighboring Malawi and Tanzania, and on closer inspection back at Kew it was confirmed as a new species.
For moonwalking robots, jumping is better

For moonwalking robots, jumping is better

Dec 19 2010 | comment(s)

Atsuo Takanishi from Waseda University in Tokyo says that walking on the moon is harder than running due to the low gravity - and for robots even worse.   

His work simulates robotic movement in low gravity and he has determined the solution to keeping robots like the WABIAN-2R bipedal robot moving may be jumping with 'feet' together rather than leaping from foot to foot.

New Scientist has the story.
Is Cosmic Reincarnation and the idea of a Pre-Big Bang universe dead?

Is Cosmic Reincarnation and the idea of a Pre-Big Bang universe dead?

Dec 19 2010 | comment(s)

A widely publicized report that cosmic microwave background, the glow left over from the explosive start of the universe believed to have occurred 13.7 billion years ago, contains echoes of previous cycles of cosmic birth and death, has been disputed by new analyses.

Three teams state that circular patterns do exist but are entirely consistent with the leading model for the birth of the universe, known as inflation, and do not require an alternative, pre–Big Bang theory. According to inflation, the universe began as a subatomic entity that ballooned in size during the first tiny fraction of a second of its existence.
While Visions of Squid Feeding Danced in My Head

While Visions of Squid Feeding Danced in My Head

Dec 19 2010 | comment(s)

I had a beautiful dream on Thursday night.
Having recently graduated, I was cleaning up and moving out of my lab, and in particular, I was deciding what to do with the animals in the aquarium room. I had several small aquariums with young squid in them--not Humboldt squid, oddly, but glass squid, those ethereal denizens of the deep.

Dec 19 2010 | comment(s)

Dirac Equation Projected To High Speed