Via Bioephemera, I’ve discovered this wonderful medical illustration blog, Street Anatomy. In particular, this article on the illustrator Cvetomir Georgiev has an amazing image of a dissected torso exposing a fetus in situ…and I’ve got a new desktop image. It’s gorgeous stuff; people are so interesting on the inside.
I was on the radio again this morning, this time to announce the upcoming Café Scientifique here in Morris, which was also announced on the university web page. Did you happen to tune in? Are you coming?
It’s going to be a fun one. The chemistry discipline will be putting on a show, with discussions and demonstrations of household chemistry.
Café Scientifique: Chemistry Style
A presentation by Joe Alia, Nancy Carpenter, Jenn Goodnough, Troy Goodnough, Ted Pappenfus and Jim Togeas.
Household Chemistry
Joe Alia: Joe’ll tell us what’s cooking in chemistry with the chemistry of spices.
Nancy Carpenter: What’s that smell?? Nancy tells us how chemistry is responsible for fragrances.
Jenn Goodnough: The chemistry of water. What does your water softener, RO system, Brita filter really do? What is the difference between deionized and distilled water?
Troy Goodnough: A brief discussion of some of the greatest chemistry advances, referencing the book Napoleon’s Buttons. Better living through chemistry…
Ted Pappenfus: The chemistry of beverages. Just try to make beer without chemistry. And where would your coffee be without caffeine?
Jim Togeas: From the realm of “don’t try this at home,” Jim will fill us in on some of his favorite experiments that were done throughout history.
Plus we’ll do a few demos and answer household chemistry questions from the audience.
That will be next Tuesday, 30 January, at 6:00 in the Common Cup Coffeehouse on Atlantic Avenue in downtown Morris. See? Now I’ve given you several days notice, plenty of time to get here, so even you readers in Addis Ababa and Alice Springs don’t have any excuse for failing to show up.
Chris Clarke has a new banner on Creek Running North, so of course he has to give us a grand tour of the Pleistocene. It’s a Carl Buell original, you know — it’s becoming quite the coup to get some Buell art on your blog.
Yesterday, I pointed out that Jonathan Wells was grossly ignorant of basic ideas in evo-devo. This isn’t too surprising; he’s a creationist, he has an agenda to destroy evolutionary biology, and he’s going to rail against evolution…same ol’, same ol’. That’s nothing, though. Wells and his fellows at the Discovery Institute have an even more radical goal of fighting natural, material explanations of many other phenomena, and his latest screed at the DI house organ is against natural explanations of development. Not evolution, not evo-devo, just plain basic developmental biology—apparently, he wants to imply that the development of the embryo requires the intervention of a Designer, or as he refers to that busy being in this essay, a postmaster.
When I was a wee young lad, I remember making crystal radios and small-scale explosives for fun. The new generation can do something even cooler now, though: how about isolating your very own stem cells, using relatively simple equipment. It’s fun, easy, and educational!
Step 3, “get a placenta”, does rather gloss over some of the practical difficulties, though, and does require planning about 9 months ahead.
The vulva is one of my favorite organs. Not only is it pretty and fun to manipulate, but how it responds tells us so much about its owner. And it is just amazing how much we’re learning about it now.
Don’t worry about clicking to read more…this article is full of pictures, but it is entirely work safe because it’s all about science.
This is cool: a team using distributed computing to solve the protein folding problem has put out a promotional video asking for your unused computing cycles…and along the way they explain exactly what it is they are doing.
I mulled over some of the suggestions in my request for basic topics to cover, and I realized that there is no such thing as a simple concept in biology. Some of the ideas required a lot of background in molecular biology, others demand understanding of the philosophy of science, and what I am interested in is teetering way out at the edge of what we know, where definitions often start to break down. Sorry, I have to give up.
Seriously, though, I think that what does exist are simple treatments of complex subjects, so that is what I’m aiming for here: I talk a lot about genes, so let’s just step way back and give a useful definition of a gene. I admit right up front, though, that there are two limitations: I’m going to give a very simplified explanation that fits with a molecular genetics focus (pure geneticists define genes very differently), and I’m going to talk only about eukaryotic/metazoan genes. I tell you right now that if I asked a half dozen different biologists to help me out with this, they’d rip into it and add a thousand qualifiers, and it would never get done. So let’s plunge in and see what a simple version of a gene is.
The Bell Museum in Minneapolis is pulling out all the stops in the month of February, celebrating Darwin’s birth month with an orgy of science and sex. I’m going to be there for the events on the 13th and 15th, and I’m really tempted by the talk on the 20th—I’ll have to see if I can get away for that one.
People in Minneapolis/St Paul ought to appreciate that this kind of public outreach is what good museums do, and take advantage of the opportunities!
Bell Museum of Natural History, University of Minnesota
10 Church St. S.E. , Minneapolis, MN 55455, (612) 624-7389In Feburary, the Bell Museum of Natural History celebrates the birthday of pioneering naturalist Charles
Darwin with a series of discussions and films that explore his life and legacy.Thurs., Feb. 1, 7 p.m. Bell Museum Auditorium
Film — “Genius”
$7, $5 students, seniors and members
A documentary on Charles Darwin, his historic voyage to the Galapagos Islands, and his most influential work:
The Origin of Species. Highlights include expert analysis and insight into Darwin’s impact on today’s world.Thurs., Feb. 8, 7 p.m., Bell Museum Auditorium
Film — “Kansas vs. Darwin”
$7, $5 students, seniors and members
In May, 2005 the Kansas state school board held hearings that put Darwin’s theory of evolution on trial. See
for yourself what happened — and why.Tues., Feb. 13, 6 p.m., Varsity Theater, Dinkytown, Minneapolis
Discussion — Cafe Scientifique: “Understanding Evolution”
$5 Suggested Donation.
A panel of University of Minnesota researchers discusses the science of evolutionary biology, and the history
of America’s cultural response to teaching evolution. Learn about new research from professor and science
blogger PZ Myers, Bell Museum Director Scott Lanyon, and historian of biology Mark Borrello.Thurs., Feb. 15, 7 p.m., Bell Museum Auditorium
Film (Regional Premier) — “Flock of Dodos”
$7, $5 students, seniors and members
Filmmaker and evolutionary ecologist Randy Olson pokes fun at the battle between evolution and intelligent
design. He travels to his home state of Kansas to consult his mother, Muffy Moose, and confronts her
neighbor, a lawyer backing intelligent design.Tues., Feb. 20, 6:30 p.m., Bryant-Lake Bowl, 810 W. Lake St., Minneapolis
Discussion — Cafe Scientifique: “Sex, Snails & Evolution”
$5 admission. Doors open at 5:30 p.m.
Cynthia Norton, biologist and Professor of Animal Behavior at the College of St. Catherine discusses
evolutionary biology and sexual selection. Her research into the reproductive behaviors of hermaphroditic snails
is one example of the diversity of sexual behaviors found in nature. What can biologists tell us about the
evolution of sex?Thurs., Feb. 22, 7 p.m., Bell Museum Auditorium
Film — “Deepest Desires”
$7, $5 students, seniors and members
Does the difference in the way men and women approach sex have an evolutionary basis? See what happens
when a male and female actor are sent to a London university campus with hidden cameras to ask a simple
question: “Will you sleep with me?”
That clever fellow John (Chris) Walken has proposed a useful idea—that we put together simple descriptions of basic concepts in our fields of interest for the edification of any newcomers to science. He picked the magic word Clade to write about first; I don’t know why he didn’t pick “Species”, since he could have just dumped his thesis into one short, simple blog post. Maybe he’ll do that next.
Larry Moran has joined in with a lovely lucid explanation of Evolution. This is very useful, because now whenever a creationist comes along here, we can just tell him or her to go to that post and argue with Larry. If they survive that, then they are worthy of further interaction.
All of my science posts are basic and simple, so I’m not sure what I could write to add to this collection. If anyone has any suggestions, chime in and let me know.
