Shanghai ranks oldest and wealthiest science research universities

The latest Shangai rankings can be found here.

These are the criteria used to determine the ranking.

As usual, American universities dominate the rankings taking eight of the top ten positions. (Cambridge and Oxford are the other two.) Most of the top schools are quite old so they are more likely to have had alumni who won Nobel Prizes and more likely to have had Nobel Laureates on staff. Many of the American universities are private and wealthy—they are able to attract the best scientists and the most funding for research.

My school, the University of Toronto (Toronto, Canada), comes in at #24 - far behind the top schools on the list.

It's important to note that the rankings have nothing to do with the quality of undergraduate education at these universities.

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What is the Modern Synthesis?

Serious criticisms of evolutionary theory have been floating around for half a century. The main focus is over the Modern Synthesis and whether it's the best explanation of evolution. That requires a throrough understanding of what the Modern Synthesis actually means and how it's understood by most evolutionary biologists.

One view is that the Modern Synthesis is almost exclusively about natural selection. If that's true, then Stephen Jay Gould makes a good case when he argues that the Modern Synthesis is effectively dead—it was killed off by the neutral theory and the recognition that random genetic drift is a major player in evolution [Is the Modern Synthesis effectively dead?].

Donald Voet (1938-2023)

I just learned that Don Voet died on April 11th, 2023. Don and Judy Voet were the authors of one of the most successful biochemistry textbooks of all time and for a long time they were the editors of the journal Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education (BAMBED). I've known Don for over thirty years and we met often at conferences.

He will be greatly missed. Here's an excerpt from the obituary from the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology written by my old friend Charlotte Pratt who collaboated with me on my textbook and with Don and Judy Voet on theirs [Don Voet (1938-2023)].

Don’s work over the years demonstrated his conviction that biochemical knowledge has limited value unless it is transmitted fully and honestly to the next generation of scientists. His writing style was intentionally aimed at students of all levels, never dumbed down, and straightforward — a way to invite readers to enter a conversation among professional scientists.

Ever collegial, Don insisted on dropping names into the text, referring to the discoveries of specific researchers wherever possible and borrowing figures from the original publications rather than rendering simplified versions. In cases where visual information was lacking, Don created his own molecular graphics, at a time when modeling software was not accessible to amateurs.

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Help fix the Wikipedia article on evolution

The Wikipedia article on evolution [Evolution] is a "Featured article," which means two things: (1) it is one of the best articles Wikipedia has to offer, and (2) it was voted a featured article by Wikipedia editors and that means they will resist any changes.

You will be shocked to learn that the article isn't perfect. It could use some serious updating and revision but my first attempt was reverted by an editor named Efbrazil who has vowed to revert any edits I make unless I can get his approval. So I thought I'd give it a try and you can see the result on the Talk:Evolution pages. My intitial objective is to edit the introductory paragraphs in the lead to eliminate the reference to expression of genes and to introduce the term "allele," which is covered in the main part of the article. Here's the current opening paragraphs of the lead,

In biology, evolution is the change in heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations.[1][2] These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Genetic variation tends to exist within any given population as a result of genetic mutation and recombination.[3] Evolution occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection (including sexual selection) and genetic drift act on this variation, resulting in certain characteristics becoming more or less common within a population over successive generations.[4] It is this process of evolution that has given rise to biodiversity at every level of biological organisation.[5][6]

The theory of evolution by natural selection was conceived independently by Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace in the mid-19th century and was set out in detail in Darwin's book On the Origin of Species.[7] Evolution by natural selection is established by observable facts about living organisms: (1) more offspring are often produced than can possibly survive; (2) traits vary among individuals with respect to their morphology, physiology, and behaviour; (3) different traits confer different rates of survival and reproduction (differential fitness); and (4) traits can be passed from generation to generation (heritability of fitness).[8] In successive generations, members of a population are therefore more likely to be replaced by the offspring of parents with favourable characteristics for that environment. In the early 20th century, other competing ideas of evolution were refuted as the modern synthesis concluded Darwinian evolution acts on Mendelian genetic variation.[9]

I'm also thinking that we should modify the following sentences that don't seem to be appropriate in a "Featured article,"

According to the now largely abandoned neutral theory of molecular evolution most evolutionary changes are the result of the fixation of neutral mutations by genetic drift.[101] In this model, most genetic changes in a population are thus the result of constant mutation pressure and genetic drift.[102] This form of the neutral theory is now largely abandoned since it does not seem to fit the genetic variation seen in nature.[103][104]

Editor Efbrazil seems to be he only editor willing to discuss these problems and he is hard to convince. If anyone else is interested in improving this Wikipedia article, I invite you to participate in the discussion on the Talk pages.

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