I’ve posted about this before, but apparently it’s a thing in systematics - the radial cladogram. Not only are they really cool, but the more I look at them, the more I realize they are a really excellent way to illustrate the relationships between species.
A recent paper on miRNA got me thinking about when I started to get interested in the micro mechanisms of biology. Specifically, it reminded me of a fundamental misunderstanding that I had about biology that, when corrected, suddenly allowed things to make a lot more sense. It’s one of the cooler (and maddeningly illogical) aspects of molecular biology. I think that understanding it will help clear up a lot of people’s confusion about how genes and evolution work.
“Let us understand, once for all, that the ethical progress of society depends, not on imitating the cosmic process, still less in running away from it, but in combating it.”
- Thomas Henry Huxley, Evolution and Ethics
It’s been longer than I’d like since I posted another in my (pathetically small) series on the cooler aspects of evolution, written for the poseur dilettante layman, like me.
Since it’s been a while, and since I posted something recently that touched on evolution, I figured I would shake it up and write about some of the really not cool aspects of evolution.
It should come as no surprise at this point that chimps use a variety of tools. That doesn’t mean it’s not amazing and humbling every time you hear about it.
I picked up this one recently from Tangled Bank #111:
Ionian Enchantment: Chimpanzees hunt with spears
Seriously, it’s like being able to watch humans about three million years ago.
I’m generally fascinated by human evolution. I’ll post something interesting about it soon, but for now, here’s a couple of developments that I came across recently that will probably factor into some future cool things:
The cool thing about this one is that they determined that the existing DNA from cro-magnon samples has not been contaminated by modern human DNA (meaning from the people who’ve handled the remains). That’s good.
ScienceDaily: Complete Neanderthal Mitochondrial Genome Sequenced From 38,000-year-old Bone
And this one is just about sequencing DNA from neanderthal samples. Neanderthal’s are cool in and of themselves. The very idea that two (possibly three) human species co-existed is pretty sweet. And now we’ve got mitochondrial DNA for both of ‘em.
Yay, science.
A large number of very serious papers about molecular biology use the term Sonic Hedgehog, and they’re very serious. Which I find very amusing.
Well, PZ Meyers has an excellent summary of Sonic Hedgehog at Pharyngula. What it is and why it’s important.