…and a little bit rock'n'roll. On Thursday, the paper describing the platypus genome will be published in Nature. From an evolutionary standpoint, the platypus is quite an interesting species. It is a mammal, but it has traits of birds (lays eggs, has a bill) and reptiles (lays eggs, produces venom). Oh, and did I mention you can literally scare a platypus to death? You can learn more from NPR's coverage, Platypus Is Even More Strange... Full Post
It seems something has happened on the way to the coronation. What happened to Obama mania? It seems the cult is falling apart. Could these pundits have been wrong about Sen. Obama's followers? In short, yes. Completely wrong. The truth of the situation is that Sen. Obama's base were always the most fragile and, in many ways, the most easily ignored. First to the fragility. Breaking down Sen. Obama's core supporters you have white, highly-educated... Full Post
The Senate has passed the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA). You can hear NPR's take in their story Senate OKs Bill Outlawing Genetic Discrimination. It seems Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) was satisfied with recent changes and therefore no longer felt the need to single-handedly hold up the passage of the bill which had overwhelming bipartisan support. The House is expected to take up and pass the bill next week. President Bush has said he will... Full Post
The Rev. Jeremiah Wright will be on Bill Moyers Journal tonight. Check your local listings. 16"Tell this to the nations, proclaim it to Jerusalem: 'A besieging army is coming from a distant land, raising a war cry against the cities of Judah. 17They surround her like men guarding a field, because she has rebelled against me,' " declares the LORD. 18"Your own conduct and actions have brought this upon you. This is your punishment. How... Full Post
Happy DNA Day. Julie Bierach of KWMU (St. Louis' NPR station) has a story about The Genome Center's DNA Day outreach efforts entitled Young scientists learn about DNA. One of the main things we do is visit area schools and perform a DNA extraction experiment on strawberries. If you would like to try the experiment yourself, here is the lab protocol to extract DNA from strawberries or bananas. Full Post