Welcome to Tangled Bank #63. Probably a pretty good reason to start scienceblogging again. I was going to do a clever little theme, but I’m neither clever nor little. I thought about doing something primate-related. But I’m too obsessed with monkeys as it is; I research them with no funding, no position faculty or student, and no prospects. And then I thought about doing a country music themed edition. But I figured that in these circles, my musical tastes are possibly even more anathema than my political opinions.

So you’re getting a straight up carnival. Deal.

Phil B. presents Phil for Humanity: A Better Purpose for N.A.S.A. posted at Phil for Humanity. He makes the proposition that NASA research is best directed toward developing the technology to maintain longterm space colonies, rather than simple basic science. Personally, I like my weekly NASA wallpaper way too much to support ditching telescopes that can take pretty pictures, but it’s not a bad suggestion.

Wandering Visitor exposes a dirty truth when it comes to ‘ready to eat’ food. Thank god I buy fresh.

Avant News tells us about a study that Finds Human Brain Capable of Finite Number of Thoughts. Well, at least I have an excuse for my performance on last week’s midterms. Seriously though. I guess it turns out there is a limit to what human imagination can do.

…Ok, I guess I wasn’t so serious…but then again neither were they…

Dr. Kavokin continues his series on how pharmaceutical compnies use you as a guinea pig (Part III). Part I and Part II are also worth a read if you’re interested in the history and mechanics of how clinical trials work.

For a change of pace, Dr. David Ng brings us a very different entry titled ‘Be Very Afraid‘. It’s a fun stream of conscious romp through various aspects of science that currently have the public’s attention. Everything from GM foods to alternative energy to eugenics, he hits it all. If it were a book I’d buy it.

You know what pisses me off? The titmouse (Baeolophus spp.). Not because of anything it’s done, but because of its name. Its name is clearly British in origin, because the rather vugar colloquial use of those first three letters didn’t exist back when it was named. But the bird is American. And to make it worse, the bird doesn’t resemble either of its namesakes. Luckily, 10000 birds has come to my rescue. I’m still annoyed, but at least now I know what I’m so pissy about.

Apparently there’s something called plum pox. And at some point in the vague future, it might possibly threaten the plum production capabilities of this great nation. Sound familiar? *cough* Avian Flue *cough*

Anyway, genetically modified foods come to our rescue with the Honeysweet Plum, Guaranteed Pox Resistant ™. Brought to you by Genetics and Health. The story, not the plums. Although they may grow the plums too. They didn’t mention it in the conflict of interest disclosure form though. So let’s assume it’s just the story.

Never trust authority is my motto. In government, in science, and at home (the latter probably explains why my parents kicked me out of their house 3 times before I graduated). And RPM shows us exactly why in ‘On Somatic Variation of the Genome‘. Just because someone is more famous than you does not mean he necessarily knows more. And the founder of Wired magazine shows his ignorance about the nature of the genome writ large for all to see. The sad thing is that because he’s a figure of some influence, he will be taken at face value, setting science back a small, but significant amount. Kudos to an excellent fisking, RPM. I’ll use it if that misconception ever comes up amongst my peers.

Balancing Life brings us a discussion about why a Japanese crab’s carapace would resemble a Samurai mask so strongly, for reasons other than artificial selection. That’s a geographical coincidence if I’ve ever seen one. I mean, North Carolina blue crabs don’t have carapaces that look like samurai masks. Although the Blue Devils are in North Carolina…Now explain that to me.

Flocking behavior. Finally, something I studied in school. CPBVK of Rigor Vitae does an excellent job of bringing what can be a boring subject to life as he explains why selfish animals would group with their competitors. Some of the benefits aren’t necessarly intuitive, which makes them all the more fascinating. And he discusses monkeys. Brownie points.

Tim Abbott of Walking the Berkshires presents Thar She Breaches!, an account of a recent whale watching experience. Good background info and well written. Whale watching is definitely one of those things on my ‘to do’ list. There’s something romantic about mammals who chose to return to the sea of their piscine forefathers. The way they sing to each other across miles of empty ocean only heightens the image.

Libertarians can be green. And one thing that upsets this green libertarian is invasive species. They’re just so destructive and so hard to stop. And in many cases such waste could have easily been avoided. Perhaps the most galling is that I have to accept that humans are the most invasive, most destructive of any of these. Dr. Jenn Orth of the Invasive Species Weblog picked the time I was hosting the Tangled Bank to send an entry in about the controversy surrounding the introduction and control of Buffelgrass in Arizona. She’ll be receiving a bill for my aneurysm repair surgery.

The Hairy Museum of Natural History brings us news that Coelophysis might not be the babykiller we’d all pegged it as. I liked the piece, but I wasn’t even aware that Coelophysis had been pegged as a cannibal. Which is weird because I’m even more obsessive about dinosaurs now than I was at 4, which is really saying something. It does heighten my belief that these days paleontologists of all stripes (human and dinosaur especially) are becoming more and more obsessed with creating controversy. I blame Horner and Bakker. They started it all. And Alvarez too. And, come to think of it Cope and Marsh. And if we mention them we have to mention the real life Indiana Jones Mr. Andrews. Ok, maybe paleontologists have always been obsessed with creating controversy. Nevermind.

Lab Cat discusses the interesting, but difficult process of objectively measuring the color of various foods. If it sounds a bit dull to you, consider her excellent synopsis of its importance:

How many people remember the fuss when blue M&Ms first came out?

Physics nerds beware. This one will grab you.

Ouroboros discusses how the failure of normal cellular turnover (autophagy) may be linked to aging. He seems a little concerned with the ravages of father time as he’s sent me another post, this one dealing with oxidative damage and age-related hearing loss. As a future psychiatrist, I must caution him that such a preoccupation is frequently a marker of deeper insecurities that would be best addressed before they fester like an untended sore.

Dan Rhoads discusses the results from a new paper and compares two possible scenarios detailing how the results of said paper influence the polarity, movement, and cytoskeleton in motile cells. Hypothesizing is the fun part of science. Unfortunately that’s not what you get paid for. Which is why you blog.

Martin of Salto Sobrius takes a look at the unorthodox field of childhood treehouse archaeology. Interesting analogy between the development of one of these ‘archaeological sites’ and the development of the mind.

Diane Kelly of Science Made Cool points out a few good resources for bug identification. If I wasn’t the type to scream like a 6 year old girl and run at the site of a terrestrial arthropod, I might have been willing to try that out. But the saga continues. The caterpillar they identified in the first post spouted parasites! All in all a very clever way to develop your child’s interest in science.

Daniel Collins of Down To Earth discusses what a genetic algorithm is:

Genetic algorithms (GA) are types of computer models that incorporate processes inspired by evolutionary biology such as selection, inheritance, mutation, and recombination…GAs are used to find optimal solutions to complex problems, though in practice you can never be sure they find the absolute optimum instead of just a local optimum (just as in evolution).

and then he discusses how these algorithms can be applied to further our understanding of plant diversity.

Which segues nicely into the final entry of this edition of the Tangled Bank. Mine. Daniel discussed how other disciplines (especially engineering) could benefit by using genetic/evolutionary algorithms. I instead focus on the dire need for a pseudobiological discipline (Medicine) to learn to use an evolutionary perspective.

Well that’s it for this week. I hope my commentary wasn’t too offensive, or tiresome. And at any rate even if I volunteered again, you wouldn’t see me till February. Which gives you a minimum of 4 months to to recover from the psychological trauma.

Tangled Bank 64 will be hosted by the Neurophilosopher’s Blog on October 11. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to bed.