Who was Saint Valentine and why do we (males) have to buy flowers and chocolates today?1 Nobody really knows very much about the Saints Valentine (there were about a dozen of them). The whole idea of romantic Valentine's day seems to have been invented by Geoffrey Chaucer sometime around 1380. 
1. And why don't women have to reciprocate?
Scientists have discovered a new way genes are regulated that is unique to primates, including humans and monkeys. Though the human genome -- all the genes that an individual possesses -- was sequenced 10 years ago, greater understanding of how genes function and are regulated is needed to make advances in medicine, including changing the way we diagnose, treat and prevent a wide range of diseases.The actual paper is ...
"It's extremely valuable that we've sequenced a large bulk of the human genome, but sequence without function doesn't get us very far, which is why our finding is so important," said Lynne E. Maquat, Ph.D., lead author of the new study published February 9 in the journal Nature.
Gong, C. and Maquat, L.E. (2011) lncRNAs transactivate STAU1-mediated mRNA decay by duplexing with 3′ UTRs via Alu elements. Nature 470:284–288. [doi:10.1038/nature09701]It's just one more example of how a transcribed Alu sequence can screw up gene expression. There's an outside chance that this is significant and has been selected as a regulatory mechanism but the most probable explanation is that it's just an accident. In any case, there's no reason to generalize from this single example.
"Previously, no one knew what Alu elements and long noncoding RNAs did, whether they were junk or if they had any purpose. Now, we've shown that they actually have important roles in regulating protein production," said Maquat, the J. Lowell Orbison Chair, professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics and director of the Center for RNA Biology at the University of Rochester Medical Center.The correct statement is that we've known for decades that the vast majority of Alu elements in the genome do absolutely nothing. However, there are a dozen examples already in the scientific literature of Alu sequences that affect transcription, RNA processing, mRNA, or translation. They've all proven to be unique, rare, cases. We strongly suspect that most long noncoding RNAs are junk but there are some excellent examples of ones that are functional.
[Hat Tip: Ryan Gregory at Genomicron: Grumble grumble… media… evolution… junk DNA… grumble.]
I have friends and relatives who love iPhone and Blackberry apps. Here's just the gift for someone who has everything and it's only $1.99.[Hat Tip: RichardDawkins.net]
I was really excited (not) when the January 8th edition of New Scientist arrived. The cover story was bound to be something I could use in my course when we discussed modern views of evolution. Even the title was provocative: Uncertainty principle: How evolution hedges its bets.1A man walks into a bar. "I have a new way of looking at evolution," he announces. "Do you have something I could write it down on?" The barman produces a piece of paper and a pen without so much as a smile. But then, the man wasn't joking.Let's turn this into a quiz.
The man in question is Andrew Feinberg, a leading geneticist at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore; the bar is The Hung, Drawn and Quartered, a pub within the shadow of the Tower of London; and what's written on the piece of paper could fundamentally alter the way we think about ... evolution ....
All of these things have been touted as new ways of looking at evolution. Which one did he choose?
- the importance of small RNAs
- random genetic drift
- epigenetics
- species sorting
- hierarchical theory
- evo-devo
- evolvability
- mutationism
- developmental constraints
- contingency
- alternative splicing
- selfish DNA
- the demise of the Central Dogma
- facilitated variation
- group selection
- phenotypic plasticity
- molecular chaperones
- genome complexity and the myth of junk DNA
- horizontal gene transfer
- the death of trees
- molecular drive
- endosymbiosis
- mass extinctions
- punctuated equilibria
- genomics
- proteomics
- systems biology
- the high cost of a beer in London
Before setting foot in the pub, Feinberg had taken a turn on the London Eye, climbed Big Ben and wandered into Westminster Abbey. There, as you might expect, he sought out the resting place of Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin. He was struck by the contrast between the lavish marble sculpture of a youthful Newton, reclining regally beneath a gold-leafed globe, and Darwin's minimalist floor stone.Hmmm ... Hung, Drawn and Quartered ... that gives me an idea. Let me write it down ....
As he looked round, Feinberg's eyes came to rest on a nearby plaque commemorating physicist Paul Dirac. This set him thinking about quantum theory and evolution, which led him to the idea that ... XXX ... might inject a Heisenberg-like uncertainty into the expression of genes, which would boost the chances of species surviving. That, more or less, is what he wrote on the piece of paper.
[Photo Credit: Jaunted]
1. Most of you can't follow the link because it's behind a paywall.
Ms. Sandwalk has a thing about singing our national anthem, O, Canada. Not only does she think that every Canadian should sing along whenever it's played but they should do so in TWO languages!Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's lastgleamingreaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro' the perilous fight,O'er the ramparts we watch'd, were so gallantly streaming?
Oh so proudly we washed at the twilight's last reaming
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof thro' the night thatoura flag was still there.
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home ofthenuh brave?
[Hat Tip: Greg Laden's Blog: Sing along with Christina Aguilera]
[Hat Tip: RichardDawkins.net]
The Right Honourable Kim Campbell is the former Conservative Prime Minister of Canada. I never voted for her party but I'm proud of her today. She took on Congressman Jack Kingston (R, Georgia) recently on the Bill Maher show and showed him how stupid he was for denying climate change and evolution.
The recent economic downturn was caused by the private sector, especially big banks and investment companies. As an average citizen and public sector employee, I was happy to help out by giving the private sector bundles of taxpayer money in order to rescue them from their own greed. After all, that's what the public sector is for—to support free enterprise with government money.
I'm very uncomfortable with popular claims about the migration of modern humans into Asia and Europe. You often see the date as 50,000 years ago and most people seem to think that this was a sudden event associated with the destruction of ancient hominids (Neandertal, Homo erectus) who lived in Asia and Europe at this time.
P.S. As I was about to publish this post I did a quick check to see when the movie was released. It was 1985. This means that none of the students in my molecular evolution class were alive when it came out. I feel old.
[Image Credit: The map is from The Human Journey.]
1. As Ricky Gervais said recently, "Just because you're offended doesn't mean you are right."
