Show Me The Science Month Day 22



How do genes work together to build body traits? This is one of the hottest questions in genetics today, and the answer holds implications not only for our understanding of evolution, but also health, agriculture, and wildlife conservation. A recent paper in Science (by Scientific Blogging's own Redneck Geneticist) takes a look at how genetic variants work together to generate the physical diversity that we see in living organisms.

About one in 3,500 people are affected with retinitis pigmentosa (RP), a disease of the retina's visual cells that eventually leads to blindness. Now, a University of Missouri researcher has identified a genetic link between cats and humans for two different forms of RP. This discovery will help scientists develop gene-based therapies that will benefit both cats and humans. 

Researchers examined the genetic mutations in two groups of cats; one with a congenital form of RP and another with a late-onset form and were able to identify the genes responsible for both forms of the disease in cats.

As researchers continue to examine the role of sweeteners in the diet, it's important that people understand the differences among various ingredients used in scientific studies, according to the Corn Refiners Association (CRA). Interchanging two distinctly different ingredients, such as pure fructose and high fructose corn syrup, creates factually incorrect conclusions and misleads consumers.

Recent studies using pure fructose that purport to show that the body processes high fructose corn syrup  differently than other sugars due to fructose content are a classic example of this problem because pure fructose cannot be extrapolated to high fructose corn syrup. The abnormally high levels of pure fructose used in these studies are not found in the human diet.

The Martian volcano Olympus Mons is about three times the height of Mount Everest but it's the small details that Rice University professors Patrick McGovern and Julia Morgan are looking at in thinking about whether the Red Planet ever had life.

Using a computer modeling system to figure out how Olympus Mons came to be, McGovern and Morgan reached the surprising conclusion that pockets of ancient water may still be trapped under the mountain.

If there's still ancient water, there may still be ancient life, they say.   Their research is published in Geology. 

Nanomaterials like carbon possess unique properties, which have led to first applications in novel electronic devices and sensors. These materials are based on ordered, atomically thin layers of carbon atoms, for example in the form of a single layer as so-called “graphene”, or rolled-up in carbon nanotubes.

The electronic properties of such structures are closely related to those of graphite, which consists of a stack of graphene sheets. Despite intensive research in the past, the fundamental behavior of electrons in this material are not fully understood and still controversially debated.

If you need another reason to drink your daily glass of wine, here’s one. According to a recent study, not only is moderate consumption of alcohol good for your heart, but also benefits your bone health.

Researchers at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University found in their study that in men and post-menopausal women who participated in regular consumption of moderate amounts of alcohol showed greater bone mineral densities.

Grammar is supposedly a holistic account of how meaning is expressed by using words in categories and in sequences. It is supposed to be a meld of syntax and semantics. Unfortunately, most writers on grammar focus on the syntax to the exclusion of the semantics. For me, that is like focusing on a carrier wave to the exclusion of the superimposed signal.

Spoken language is meaning conveyed by the modulation of a sound signal. It is not the modulation, but the meaning that is master.


'When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, 'it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less.'


'The question is,' said Alice, 'whether you CAN make words mean so many different things.'