A nice study in Hum Genet by Eiberg hit the public press (and the blogosphere 1|2). Although I agree with most commentators that this is a sound study with a bit antiquity dust in the methods, I am unsure if I should believe the main conclusion of a founder mutation Continue reading Blue eyes
All posts by admin
Parascience in nature medicine?
I wonder about the title of a new nature medicine editorial
Breathing easier with breast milk
It is not so much the unwanted analogy to aspiration; the paper simply hasn´t to do anything with breathing. It is a poor narrative of a concomittant NM article repeating many of its prejudices. Although the authors would like to let you belief that they have discovered allergen transfer into breast milk, this is known Continue reading Parascience in nature medicine?
Watermarking microscopic photos with your iris data
… or your gel scans with fingerprints seem to be the only secure way to prevent later photoshopping. Engadget has all the details of a new Canon patent, yea, yea.
Unnecessarily disruptive
“Positively disruptive” – a new nature genetics editorial – makes a U turn of the opinion voiced only two months earlier – having at that time cautioned users of new consumer genomics services. The current editorial now reads like an advertisement for deCODEme or Navigenics. Continue reading Unnecessarily disruptive
Would any one trust in the convictions of a monkey’s mind?
While Nature magazine is preparing something about Darwin’s enduring legacy here is a piece from Darwin’s own writings
doubt always arises whether the convictions of man’s mind, which has been developed from the mind of the lower animals, are of any value or at all trustworthy. Would any one trust in the convictions of a monkey’s mind, if there are any convictions in such a mind?
which can be found in Continue reading Would any one trust in the convictions of a monkey’s mind?
I am number eight
The trouble with coauthors, a wonder poem
I am not sure exactly
how I came to be where I am,
number eight among eleven authors…
The full text is at the link above, yea, yea.
CD1 to CD350
I had to g..gle several times to find a comprehensive list of CD marker. Yes – I could buy this book, retrieve this paper or surf to this web site but I simply need a quick reference for all CD classes. A student here helped me – go for the (printed) Biologends catalogue. Nice to know that Invitrogen has a free online book, yea, yea.
Tis strange – but true; for truth is always strange
This Byron quotation is taken from the foreword of Selye “Calciphylaxis” 1962 and may help to introduce the followup story on the question who described for the first time vitamin D as cofactor in the allergic sensitization process. Continue reading Tis strange – but true; for truth is always strange
When science fails
Science fails if there is no gain in knowledge. At least in my research field the majority of papers does not provide any significant new knowledge leading even to the incredible notion “Beam me up”. Paper output is reaching an all time height as reported in a recent Nature commentary [1, 2]. Continue reading When science fails
X activity center
A recent editorial in PLoS Biology was about “Sex, dose and equality“. I always had problems to understand X linked recessive disease and carrier status of a woman: If the random X inactivation would have been complete why are there not much more colorblind women? Obviously the second X is at least partially active as a rescue system. Continue reading X activity center
More Zotero support
Welcome Just Science Participant! Here is an extra primer how to store your references from the scientific papers that you are reading. In 1983 I was writing on cards, moved to a simple 4-column-database in 1989, used Endnote in 2005 and eventually moved to Zotero in 2007. Zotero is an open source database that sits as a plugin in your Firefox browser [download link]. The neat thing Continue reading More Zotero support
New psoriasis gene would have been missed by testing linkage only
A recent study published in nature genetics study highlights a ß-defensin gene where increased copy numbers are related to psoriasis. The normal range is 2 – 12 copies with the risk increasing with each extra copy. I don´t know if the given explanation is really correct: more genomic copies lead to more RNA, lead to more antimicrobial peptide, lead to skin inflammation. Maybe there is an unknown intermediate step: more antimicrobial peptide -> induce other inflammtory interleukins -> skin inflammation.
In any case, Continue reading New psoriasis gene would have been missed by testing linkage only
Just Science Week
The Just Science 2008 will start next week – and here is my last chance to say something non scientific: Science is a method, that has certain prerequisites, works under certain conditions while using techniques with strengths and limitations and is leading to certain conclusions evident to some but not all humans. Needless to say that from a protestant / Lutheran view that there are other ways to explain a phenomenon while providing even extra dimensions like giving an ethical justification.
Haldane / When I am dead / 1928: I am not myself a materialist, because, if materialism is true, it seems to me that we cannot know that it is true. If my opinions are the results of a chemical processes going on in my brain, they are determined by the laws of chemistry, not those of logic.
More at the recent immersion blog post…
WordPress 2.1.x to 2.3.x upgrade – so many problems
No idea, why this version hasn´t been as rigorously tested as earlier versions. There are numerous changes to the main tables that come without any warning – numerous incompatibilities even with disabled plugins and the first time that I am really in trouble with WordPress. Fortunately I was working with backups and did a pre-flight. This is what I recommend Continue reading WordPress 2.1.x to 2.3.x upgrade – so many problems
More virtual computer worlds
More recently I tested another emulator being useful for several genetics programs running under unix*: virtualbox by innotek. I am still struggling with the network adapter and mounting hda1 as writable but everything already works. Continue reading More virtual computer worlds