Researchers at UC Berkley exploited an interesting property of extant species of the mollusk genus Conus. Apparently, the patterns on the shells of these little buggers is a reflection of activity patterns in their neurons.
Tag: evolution
Scientists scooped by evolution
It turns out that your classic experimental trick to mimic protein phosphorylation by mutating serines and threonines to aspartate or glutamate at phosphorylation sites was not first discovered by humans. Pearlman, Serber and Ferrell argue that many phosphorylation sites in proteins evolved from negatively charged amino acid residues, which means that phosphorylation evolved to mimic the effects of glutamate and aspartate. This, of course, occurred long before human scientists discovered in 1987 that you could replace phosphorlated serines and threonines with negatively charged amino acids and still get a functional protein.
“A Mechanism for the Evolution of Phosphorylation Sites”, Samuel M. Pearlman, Zach Serber, James E. Ferrell Jr., Cell Volume 147, Issue 4, 11 November 2011, Pages 934–946 Continue reading “Scientists scooped by evolution”
More evidence that opposition to evolutionary biology is about religion, not science
Intelligent design and the oxymoronically titled creation science, despite their pretensions to being a scientifically principled opposition to one of the our most well-established scientific theories, have never been anything more than attempts to dress religion as science.
From the National Center for Science Education:
INDIANA CREATIONISM BILL PASSES THE SENATE
On January 31, 2012, the Indiana Senate voted 28-22 in favor of Senate Bill 89. As originally submitted, SB 89 provided, “The governing body of a school corporation may require the teaching of various theories concerning the origin of life, including creation science, within the school corporation.” On January 30, 2012, however, it was amended in the Senate to provide instead, “The governing body of a school corporation may offer instruction on various theories of the origin of life. The curriculum for the course must include theories from
multiple religions, which may include, but is not limited to, Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Scientology.”
Unfortunately for the Indiana senate, this kind of non-stealth creationism legislation has a long, perfect record of complete and expensive failure in court.
Missouri legislative session is off to a solid creationist start
It’s creationism season in my back yard again. The National Center for Science Education has the goods as usual:
First, your typical equal time time bill, complete with inept politicians’ definitions of scientific terms – in defective alphabetical order, no less:
House Bill 1227, introduced in the Missouri House of Representatives on January 10, 2012, would, if enacted, require “the equal treatment of science instruction regarding evolution and intelligent design,” according to the legislature’s summary of the bill. The equal treatment provision would apply to both public elementary and secondary schools and to “any introductory science course taught at any public institution of higher education” in Missouri. Continue reading “Missouri legislative session is off to a solid creationist start”
Tag, or the Springsteen-Smoke Theorem
The adrenaline rush of going fast is undeniable. The fear. The excitement. Yet, there also seems to be something redemptive about going fast, as if we can actually run away from our problems.
Well now I’m no hero
That’s understood
All the redemption I can offer, girl
Is beneath this dirty hood
–Bruce Springsteen, “Thunder Road” Continue reading “Tag, or the Springsteen-Smoke Theorem”
The Finch and Pea 