Author Archive for Larry Moran
These photos were taken near the Champlain Bridge on the Ottawa river not far from where I grew up. This is right in the heart of Ottawa (Canada).
We never saw anything like this when we were children. The most exciting thing on the Champlain rapids was the occasional log and, rarely, a canoe shooting the rapids.
Every year in May there's a famous dandelion festival in Ottawa (Canada). People come from all over the world to see the millions of dandelions along the parkways and walkways throughout the city.
Dandelion lovers are very tolerant and generous with their praise of lesser flowers. Here's a small group of dandelion fans admiring some other kind of yellow flower.
The various governments in
Tulips are the best flower according to Jane and Michael on Beer with Chocolate. Jane and Michael may have been slightly influenced by their Birthday Adventure in Holland.
Much as I hate to disagree with my offspring (), tulips are not the best flowering plant. Dandelions (from the French dent de lion - lion's teeth) are the best plant.
Not only are dandelions beautiful, they are hardy and
In an earlier posting I described a problem that we often use to encourage critical thinking in our undergraduates. The problem is how can E. coli divide faster that the time it takes to replicate it's chromosome? [DNA Replication in E. coli: The Problem]
Recall that DNA replication always begins at an origin of replication. In bacteria there is usually one origin per chromosome or plasmid. (
The 31st edition of Gene Genie has been posted at Adaptive Complexity [Capitalists, Genetic Tests and Your DNA].
Everyone knows there is a lot of crazy stuff on the internet, but did you know there is a lot of great writing about genes, genetics, and human diseases? And believe it or not, sometimes these pieces are written by people who know what they're talking about. If you're looking for
ThemeBlood ClottingLast year I spent some time studying blood clotting. You can read the series of postings by clicking on the "Theme" link.
One of the reasons for reading up on this topic was because the creationists were promoting it as another example of something that could not evolve. Micheal Behe was one of those creationists.
The data is now in. Russel Doolittle has been working on the
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ATHEISTS and agnostics are decent people whose tormented souls will burn for all eternity in the scorching fires of hell, Britain's biggest catholic said last night.
Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor said non-believers should be respected, right up to the point of death when they will finally come face to face with Satan and his blood-soaked pitchfork.
He told a conference in London: "Those
Premier Dalton McGuinty started the debate in February when he called for a study of the current practice [Lord's Prayer review ordered].
Queen's Park Bureau Chief
In a bid to separate church and state – or, in this case, province – Premier Dalton McGuinty wants to end the practice of reciting the Lord's Prayer in the Ontario Legislature.
McGuinty surprised observers at Queen's Park this
Amino acids come in two different "flavors" depending on the orientation of atoms bound to the central α-carbon. The two possibilities are L- and D- configurations. In the examples shown here, you can see that the two forms of serine, L-serine and D-serine, are mirror images of each other. These forms are called stereoisomers because they contain the same atoms with different mirror image
I've started reading microcosm by my favorite science writer, Carl Zimmer [Buy This Book!]. Watch for a review, coming soon.
I was mildly disappointed to see Carl repeat a common myth about DNA replication in E. coli on page 29. Since we often use this myth to teach critical thinking in our undergraduate classes, I thought it would be worthwhile to discuss it here.
Today I'm going to present
Uncommon Descent is the Intelligent Design blog of Bill Dembski, Denyse O'Leary and their friends. It represent the best that the IDiots have to offer.
Yesterday's posting by DLH is an example of the best sort of creationist reasoning. The posting is an extensive quotation from an article by Robert Meyer originally posted in New Alliance Magazine [Ben Stein’s Dangerous Idea]. Here are the first
I'm with Orac and Orcinus on this one. This is just too delicious to resist.1
1. Although, as a notoriously bad speller, I have made some pretty similar mistakes on Sandwalk.
A big event just happened at Evolutionblog—Jason Rosenhouse got tenure [Tenure!]. Congratulations Jason.
I'll let him describe the process ....
I got tenure! Yay! By my count it's been about fifteen years getting to this point. I started studying mathematics seriously in my last two years of college (a rather late start in this profession). Then it was five years of graduate school, three
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2000.
"for their discoveries concerning signal transduction in the nervous system"
Arvid Carlsson (1923 - ) and Paul Greengard (1953 - ) received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their work on identifying dopamine as a neurotransmitter. They also showed that L-dopa [Monday's Molecule #70], a precursor of dopamine, could relieve the
Jeffrey Shallit at Recursivity posts about a chiropractor in Seattle who will heal you by using quantum mechanics [Your Daily Dose of Woo].
There's a comment on his blog that points to a quack right there in Kitchener/Waterloo who makes the same silly claims. Check it out. I've inserted a picture of the ECLOSION (Electro Physiological Feedback Xrroid) device from the Kuantum Power website.
Canadian Cynic has a new job that forces him to drive past a certain billboard every day [And now, two troublemakers that need no introduction ...].
CC links to the website of the billboard sponsor [Stop the Cover-up]. Here's what you see if you follow the link.
This is group of people who are opposed abortion. What they're saying is that women who choose abortion are more likely to get
According to Bill Dembski [Who’s in it for the money?].
Darwinism has always been an upper-class movement. ID, by contrast, is strictly middle-class. That’s our base and that’s where we find our support.You won't believe his evidence for such a statement unless you actually follow the link and read what he wrote.
Come to the Centre for Inquiry's lecture by Wodek Szemberg on the role of atheists in the media. [Why So Few Atheists in the Media?].
Email me if you'd like to attend. Maybe we could meet at my office and get together for something to eat before walking to the Centre for Inquiry on Beverley St.? I'm certainly going to ask him about the "Best Lecturer" series. That should be fun.
SPECIAL EVENT
Steven Novella (photo) is a skeptic and a neurologist at Yale University School of Medicine. He publishes a podcast called Skeptics Guide to the Universe. In the April 30th edition he discusses the proposed Florida Laws on "Academic Freedom" with Bob Novella, Evan Bernstein, and Jay Novella [Skepticast #145].
About one quarter of the way into the podcast they turn their attention to the issue
Reserpine is a powerful plant alkaloid that used to be used to control psychotic behavior and treat certain cancers. Unfortunately, it's severe side effects and unpredictable behavior has limited it's usefulness. The drug has been replaced by more reliable treatments.
Many plants contain mildly toxic alkaloids but in most cases the concentrations are not high enough to cause a problem.1
Eva Amsen has an interesting question about how you would fund research if you were in complete control of all the money in the world [see, Would you rather?].
I was all set to post a comment when I realized that I had to sign in to Nature Network in order to do so. That reminded me about the terms and conditions. That's way more hassle than I'm prepared to put up with. I prefer the rough and
It's been a while since you had to identify a molecule and give it's correct IUPAC name so here's a molecule that will give you some practice. First, you should assume that this is the L- form of this molecule and not the D- form. (This isn't obvious from the chemical structure.)
Give the common name of the molecule and the complete IUPAC name.
Identify the two Nobel Laureates who were
I've been wondering if John Logsdon was still alive. There have been very few postings on his blog Sex, Genes, & Evoluton. Now we know why. He has been organizing a meeting about Sex in Iowa. (Is that an oxymoron?)
This looks like a very interesting meeting. Most of the key players are going to be there. Looking over the list of speakers makes you realize that the problem of sex is still very
The latest issue of Tangled Bank is #104. It's hosted at Dammit Jim! [Tangled Bank #104].
Welcome to the 104th edition of the Tangled Bank blog carnival (a biweekly showcase of good biology posts selected by the authors themselves). Rigorous calculations and archaelogical research have revealed that this is the Tangled Bank’s 4th birthday. In the birthday spirit, several people sent
John Hawks has posted an interesting discussion of the effective population size of human ancestors. He concludes that Ne=34,000 during the late stone age (about one million years ago). According to Hawks, this means there were about 100,000 to 300,000 individuals spread throughout Africa at this time [Did humans face extinction 70,000 years ago?].
I don't understand the math, or the data. As a
Come to the Centre for Inquiry's lecture by David Hitchcock tomorrow night. I'm really looking forward to this 'cause I've often confronted theists who claim that atheism is a relatively new phenomenon. Many of them think it's caused by modern science.
Starts
Friday, May 2nd at 7:00 pm
Ends
Friday, May 2nd at 9:00 pm
Location
Centre for Inquiry Ontario, 216 Beverley St, Toronto ON (1
One of the arguments used against atheists is that they haven't studied religion. The theists maintain that there are very sophisticated arguments for the existence of God and that we atheists are just ignoring all those good argumnts in order to score points against the simplistic arguments of the hoi polloi.
I've been asking for examples of these "sophisticated" arguments for some time
Starting about 10 days ago, a number of blogs on Blogger have been blocked because they are suspected of being spam. Apparently, the blogger/blogspot crew installed some new software to detect spam and the result was that many blogs were removed (blocked) without warning. You can imagine how upset some bloggers are about this.
The blogs are gradually being restored (unblocked) [e.g. ERV].
I know, I know, ... I'm not telling you something you don't already know. Ben Stein's role in Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed is more than sufficient to demonstrate that, indeed, intelligence is not permitted in that movie.
In case you didn't know how stupid Stein really is, there's even more proof in his various interviews. John Derbyshire has just posted an excerpt from an interview with
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