This semester, the Zika virus has been making news, with fears of microcephaly and Guillain-Barre autoimmune disorders. My students and I were curious about what is known about the biology of this virus, and it was the focus of our scientific literacy assignment this term for both my Cell Biology and Evolution classes. It’s therefore…
Category: Evolution
Evolution
Dissecting a flower on Periscope
Let’s dissect a flower with @arieloquent! 🌺🌻 Yesterday in Evolution (April 7, 2016) we were talking about MADS-box genes and flower development. Immediately after class, this popped up on my Periscope feed from @SciFri! In this video, @arieloquent takes you through the various structures of a flower (petals, stamens, pistils). My students should be able…
Are we in the middle of a 6th Mass Extinction?
At the very end of the semester, we are talking about extinctions and mass extinctions. This video from Business Insider and Dr. Lisa Randall talks briefly about the potential for a human-caused 6th mass extinction. http://www.businessinsider.com/earth-sixth-mass-extinction-dinosaur-meteor-volcano-lisa-randall-2015-11#ooid=5jdWFteDrJ5J0ZQaZr9tUiHsMSmERa-O
“Glowing” Sea Turtle Discovered!
Okay, this is just really neat! Read the full story over at National Geographic.
Strangest Genitals In The Animal Kingdom | IFLScience
Strangest Genitals In The Animal Kingdom | IFLScience
The Latest Fossil Finds Make the Puzzle of Human Evolution Harder Than Ever to Solve
The Latest Fossil Finds Make the Puzzle of Human Evolution Harder Than Ever to Solve The latest molecular analyses and fossil finds suggest that the story of human evolution is far more complex—and more interesting—than anyone imagined By Bernard Wood
Blue Monkey Balls!
Yep. You read that right. And the picture confirms it. From the album: Timeline Photos By I fucking love science Across the animal kingdom, males can be brightly colored to attract females. Vervet monkeys also fall into this category, but only with their scrotums which are bright blue. However, this coloring comes with a catch:…
Economy of Scale
Giant Ant Colony Excavated, You won’t believe what they build underground! Although this story isn’t new by any means (October 2012 by Amazing Earth ), it shows what can be accomplished with one of the major transitions in Evolution: social living. Humans are not the only creatures that modify their environments or build on a…
Alga takes first evolutionary leap to multicellularity – life – 06 November 2013 – New Scientist
Alga takes first evolutionary leap to multicellularity – life – 06 November 2013 – New Scientist This is EXACTLY what we started talking about this week: one of the major transitions in evolution is considered to be the transition from unicellular to multicellular life. We discuss this with particular attention to dictyostelid slime molds (which…
Antibiotic Resistance and Drug Discovery
Antibiotic resistance is a topic we discuss in my class. With our current textbook, we mostly talk about ciprofloxacin and Campylobacter resistance, but there are many, many more examples, including drug-resistant strains of Pseudomonas, Mycobacterium, Staphylococcus, and lots more. Most people aren’t aware that the problem of antibiotic resistance isn’t new. Penicillin began to be used…