Feb 05 2013
I have a bit of a peeve with a common analogy for the human genome: that it is the blueprint of the body, and that we can find a mapping of genes to details of our morphological organization. It’s annoying because even respectable institutions, like the National Human Genome Research Institute, use it as a …
Jan 21 2013
I was reading an interview with George Church, who was discussing that very same question, and somehow I had to rethink some things. There was the question of technical feasibility, and Church thinks it’s going to be entirely possible in the near future. The first thing you have to do is to sequence the Neanderthal …
Dec 27 2012
I’ve constricted my anus 100 times, and it isn’t helping! I’m still feeling extremely cranky about this story from the NY Times. Scientists intend to sequence Adam Lanza’s DNA. They’re looking for genetic markers for mass murder. Why? Because some scientists are stupid. Some researchers, like Dr. Arthur Beaudet, a professor at the Baylor College …
Nov 18 2012
In about 20 minutes, Atheist Talk radio will be interviewing George Church, the molecular geneticist who has been working to make genetic sequencing affordable, and preparing us for the day high school students are building designer organisms in their garage. Listen to it, or be unprepared for the sneaky stuff the kids will be up …
Oct 29 2012
I approve this plan. A number of researchers have gotten together and worked out a grand strategy for sequencing the genomes of a collection of cephalopods. This involves surveying the phylogeny of cephalopods and trying to pick species to sample that adequately cover the diversity of the group, while also selecting model species that have …
Sep 23 2012
I can take it no more. I wanted to dig deeper into the good stuff done by the ENCODE consortium, and have been working my way through some of the papers (not an easy thing, either: I have a very high workload this term), but then I saw this declaration from the Electronic Frontier Foundation. …
Aug 14 2012
“-ome” and “-omic” are overused, as Jonathan Eisen has been saying for years, and now the Wall Street Journal has taken notice. There are 404 “-omics” disciplines? It’s so silly that there is now a Badomics generator to invent new terms. It’s still missing PZomics. I’m serious, it could be a real science, you know…I …
Jul 23 2012
The NY Times is touting a computer simulation of Mycoplasma genitalium, the proud possesor of the simplest known genome. It’s a rather weird article because of the combination of hype, peculiar emphases, and cluelessness about what a simulation entails, and it bugged me. It is not a complete simulation — I don’t even know what …
Jul 21 2012
If you’re looking for a meaty weekend read, look no further than Paul McBride’s thorough dismantling of Science and Human Origins, the new bad book from the Discovery Institute, by Gauger, Axe, and Luskin. It’s in 6 parts, taking on each chapter one by one: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, a prediction about what …
Jul 20 2012
I always have unwarrantedly high expectations of creationists. I know that there are some flamingly ignorant nutjobs out there, all your Hams and Hovindses and Luskins, but lurking in my mind is always this suspicion that somewhere there has to be one or two biologically competent ideologues on their side of the fence. And I …
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PZ Myers is a biologist and associate professor at the University of Minnesota, Morris.
Chris Clarke is a science and natural history writer, editor, and
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