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biology

  1. dogjones

    World's Strongest Beer - 32%

    OK, so they've launched a 32% beer: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/north_east/8380412.stm The thing is, how the hell is this possible? I thought alcohol content eventually kills the yeast, which is why you don't get wines/beers above a certain percentage (in the teens I think)...
  2. dogjones

    Oh God, here we go again - micro/macro evolution

    A friend of mine is slowly descending into religiosity. He is a smart chappie but cannot handle the implications of "materialism", "naturalism", etc - namely, that objective moral truths cannot exist within this worldview. Fine, I have a good time debating him philosophically over a few...
  3. dogjones

    Therefore with frank and uncurbed plainness, tell us the dolphin's mind

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2003/jul/03/research.science Very interesting stuff. Does anyone here have more intimate knowledge of this kind of research? I am wondering about this part in particular: Given the fact that the ape sign language people are somewhat woo-ish I wonder how...
  4. A

    Million to one apple is half red, half green

    There's an article in the Telegraph about an apple which is half red and half green. They say it's a very rare mutation. I think that nature very rarely creates straight lines or, emulates planes in oval objects. Knives, on the other hand, do that quite often. So does duct tape. I have two...
  5. dogjones

    Evolution question

    I think this may have been dealt with before, but does evolution as we understand it allow for traits to develop that may lessen the survivability of an individual but overall increase the survivability of a group/species? If so, how would the trait be selected for? I guess I'm thinking of the...
  6. skeptical

    Opinions on Margulis

    I'm curious as to the opinions people here have about Lynn Margulis and her work. There is no doubt that her theory of the origin of eukaryotic cells from the symbiosis of prokaryotic cells and her tenacity in pushing it have made here a bit of a legend in Biology cirlces. However, I am noticing...
  7. Axiom_Blade

    Where Does Laziness Come From?

    Are human beings naturally lazy? If so, why? Is there some kind of evolutionary advantage to being lazy? Are the lazy ones more likely to survive and spread their genes? I would think the answer is NO. If anything, laziness would be an evolutionary disadvantage. Why, then, is laziness so common?
  8. paximperium

    Abiogenesis takes a step forward via RNA

    Abiogenesis takes another step forward with a plausible pathway for self-assembly of RNA from "non-living" material. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/14/science/14rna.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&ref=science Not the complete picture but another brick to add to a growing wall of evidence for abiogenesis.
  9. neutrino_cannon

    Things that produce milk and aren't mammals

    You read that right; there are in fact animals that feed their young with bodily secretions that are not mammals. Some folks are real persnickety and won't call something "milk" unless it came from a mammal, but that's just prejudice. For some strange reason, Middle Age scholars believed that...
  10. Robster FCD

    Teaching about swine flu

    I moved a bit away from my planned lectures on environmental science for my two freshmen biology sections to focus on this current and very teachable event, and thought that other educators may find these lecture notes and resources useful. First off, the google swine flu map provides an...
  11. UnrepentantSinner

    Homeschool Biology Text

    Saw this homeschool biology text referred to on Freep so I looked it up. http://www.highschoolscience.com/store/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=4 Make sure you check out the sample module. It's filled with awful.
  12. Piggy

    Have we outgrown our brains?

    OK, I admit up front to some poetic license with the thread title, so I hope folks don't get too focused on that, but here's the thing.... Consider some of the great issues of our time: Climate change Energy Environmental degradation Nuclear power and weapons The global economy Stem cell...
  13. Dorian Gray

    Metal Bits Self-Assemble into Lifelike Snakes

    http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/03/snakes.html?npu=1&mbid=yhp This is incredibly interesting, because it could explain how life formed on early Earth. There are several videos and a fairly long article, but you won't be disappointed.
  14. D

    Wisdom teeth

    I remember learning in high school biology that every part of the body has a matching area in the brain, with a size roughly corresponding to the number of sensory nerves in that body part - so the scalp is just a tiny patch, the torso is fairly small, the fingertips are huge, etc. But how does...
  15. F

    New Source, Univ.Level Genetics, Evolution +

    http://www.nature.com/scitable is a free, new (AFAIK) site for (technically ) university faculty and students. The first/current topic is aspects of chromosomes, evolutionary genetics and related. Research based and, unless my reading skills have dramatically died, real science!!:):):):)
  16. shadron

    Requirements for Intelligent Life

    I was having a conversation with amb about Fermi's Paradox, and it occurred to me that it would be useful to be able to point to a list of requirements that are prerequisites for intelligent life evolving. I am attracted by the arguments for assuming that evolution of intelligent life is...
  17. T

    You Are What You Eat: Photosynthesis in Elysia chlorotica.

    Just noticed this article from the New Scientist newsfeed. Biology is so cool. :D What is interesting about this is the fact that kleptoplastisized genes are almost always nonfunctional in the host organism.
  18. Zeuzzz

    The Central Dogma

    The picture of a genetic makeup that fluctuates by the hour and minutes seems at odds with the public perception: That genes determine everything from our physical characteristics all the way to our behaviour. Many scientists seem to think that our geners form an immutable blueprint that our...
  19. C

    artificial life!!! (well almost)

    http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/09/biologists-on-t.html An interesting article on efforts to recreate the first proto-cells. Obviously this is only one possible path to the origins of life and is not claimed to be THE way it happened but very interesting none the less. Nice to see...

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