Using Google Maps to Follow Darwin

http://www.google.com/maps/about/behind-the-scenes/streetview/treks/galapagos-islands/ Last Friday, September 13, 2013, Google didn’t have a doodle.  What it did have was a link under the search box to follow Charles Darwin’s voyage through the Galapagos archipelago. There are a couple of YouTube videos that give you an overview of what the project was about and what they did–and some of…

Evolution Is an Opportunist-By Wynne Parry and Quanta Magazine

Evolution is an Opportunist We just talked about theoretical models (and blue moon butterflies) in class, and how they help us make better scientific predictions and help us refine our understanding of, well, how stuff works.  This article talks about using computer models (computational studies) about metabolism, and how they support the idea of evolutionary…

The Evolution of the Country Mouse and the City Mouse

City Mouse and Country Mouse. By Arthur Rackham. Via Wikipedia http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rackham_town_mouse_and_country_mouse.jpg The Evolution of the Country Mouse and the City Mouse Many people today still struggle with the idea that evolution could be occurring right now.  In front of us.  This is a really good place to start our understanding of evolution with a current,…

Gut Microbiome Splits a Species-by Buddhini Samarasinghe

https://plus.google.com/u/0/108510686109338749229/posts/apoxkhhLSva Gut flora (bacteria) is really coming into its own. In our surprisingly germaphobe world, this is kind of surprising. Today, we see ads side-by-side for Activia yoghurt and pill-form probiotics to promote regularity. At some point, perhaps we’ll realise that bacteria are not all evil. In the meantime, this post does a fantastic job…

How to build an Eye by Buddhini Samarasinghe

https://plus.google.com/u/0/108510686109338749229/posts/S4J7RAt7zNJ Another great post dealing with eye development across species. This one directly goes to the argument that there’s no way something as complex as the human eye could have evolved. In class, we look at diagrams of structures of mollusc eyes as examples of some really basic eye structures. This article summary goes more…

How to Build a Snake-by Buddhini Samarasinghe

I came across this on Google+ today and thought it was GREAT.  Too bad classes are currently over until fall–I’ll have to wait almost an entire semester until I get to the chapter on Hox genes and development again! We talk about snakes and pelvises, and then later we talk about Hox genes and development……

Epigenetics on NOVA

I was looking for a few good animations or ways to explain epigenetics today at work and came across this video from NOVA. Watch Epigenetics on PBS. See more from NOVA scienceNOW.