Researchers: The finding contradicts earlier research, which stated that almost all of human and fruit fly TFs bind the same motif sequences, and is a call for caution to scientists hoping to draw insights about human TFs by only studying their counterparts in simpler organisms.
Month: May 2019
Dozens of genes once thought widespread are unique to humans
Researchers: Even between chimps and humans, whose genomes are 99 per cent identical, there are dozens of TFs which recognize diverse motifs between the two species in a way that would affect expression of hundreds of different genes.
How maize corn’s wild ancestor teosinte prevents maize from breeding with it
The researchers don’t hazard a guess as to why the wild plant rejects its descendant. It’s tempting to liken it to a wolf pack chasing away a stray dog (if not outright killing him). Interesting development.
At Forbes: Four reasons people “fear science”
Of course, the price of cereal matters more to people on a limited budget than claims about polar bears, which they themselves never see outside a zoo. Most people in the world would not know that polar bears exist if no one told them so but they would know if food was getting scarce and cannot easily be fooled on the point. Good for him for understanding that.
Effacing the role of Darwinism in racism – Smithsonian edition
No mention is made of the fact that the general acceptance of Darwinism, in particular, enabled science-backed racism. Darwinian evolution theory made racism seem modern and cool instead backward and stupid.
Spiders and birds of Paradise use the same molecular strategy for mating displays
Convergent evolution
A serious look at whether we can be good without God
Christian Smith: One of the key problems with atheist arguments for universal benevolence, according to Smith, is the contention that we live in a “naturalistic” universe, in a realm that simply came to be, with no creator. So how can naturalistic atheist thinkers claim any rational basis for the high moral standard they’re reaching for?
Christian PhD driven out by the raging Woke
The question of whether the raging Woke have the right to do this stuff needs to be considered alongside whether anyone should be expected to fund their behavior through taxes or ponder their (increasingly mostly garbage) output—as conveyed to us through government and media.
Michael Egnor: It’s a matter of fact, not belief, that only humans reason
Readers may remember philosopher Justin Smith, who thinks that we can understand life better if we “give up the idea of rationality as nature’s last remaining exception.” Neurosurgeon Michael Egnor weighs in, responding point by point to the essay, for example: Material states of the brain can, of course, influence our power of reason—an ounce Read More…
Researchers: Maybe fundamental constants are not constant
Well, if they find anything at all, they could call fine-tuning “not-so-fine-tuning” and make a big point of it. If they don’t find anything, they can say they are still looking.
Something new to learn about water?
Who will be surprised if the odd new phases turn out to relate in some way to the fine-tuning of the universe? Don’t know. Just wondering.
In this version of the multiverse, you are unique
But wait! There might be an infinity of multiverses in which you are not unique. This is the only one in which your head has not exploded.
Science media: Insects can reason logically! Researchers: We never said that…
Could legacy science media actually afford to get it right? Could they afford a serious discussion?
Hope springs eternal: Are new particles hiding “in plain sight?”
The Large Hadron Collider just keeps confirming the Standard Model, almost as if there was some basis for believing it to be correct. Rob Sheldon thinks the current mood is desperation: If you don’t know where you are going, you will certainly arrive. Information is finite, ignorance infinite.
What does it mean to say, in physics, that something like the Higgs boson “exists”?
Sabine Hossenfelder’s view: Realism is a philosophy. It’s a belief system, and science does not tell you whether it is correct.