Comments on: Open Thread, 11-08-2012

By: dave chamberlin

dave chamberlin — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 16:41:44 +0000

I won a bet with you, you are supposed to send me a book I would enjoy reading. Don’t bother. Too much time and effort on your part and I know how busy you are. Just keep adding book reviews to Razib on Books and keep on keeping on with the bloging and we will call it even.

By: AG

AG — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 20:15:51 +0000

http://www.nature.com/jhg/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/jhg2012114a.html
The history of human populations in the Japanese Archipelago inferred from genome-wide SNP data with a special reference to the Ainu and the Ryukyuan populations

By: Matt

Matt — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 04:17:28 +0000

#16 – Sounds interesting. I guess I wouldn’t say right now I have a specific route I’ve got mapped out. I am curious about the long term impact that iPSCs will end up playing, if they’ll supercede embryonic stem cells (limited ethical issues and limited possibility of immune rejection), or if the technical hurdles associated with them will prove insurmountable. You probably happened to see that Shinya Yamanaka won the nobel, so it would seem the scientific community is bullish to say the least.

#17 – Ya, he’s unconvincing. I’ve only caught a game or two of Man U this year (believe it or not, I’m probably one of only a few Americans who follows Wigan) but he seems to flail around a lot out there. I know he was thought of highly when he played for Atletico Madrid. Give me Tim Howard any day of the week (who coincidently enough used to play for United, albeit briefly).

By: Karl Zimmerman

Karl Zimmerman — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 02:12:27 +0000

One thing I’ve wondered with paleogenetics is if anyone could extract and study DNA from Toxodon and/or Macrauchenia. They died out within the last 20,000 years, and it’s still a total mystery which extant clades “South American ungulates” are closest related to, as the Paleocene members of their clade were so unspecialized. It seems like just the sort of thing that genetics would be great at where paleontology is awful (same with mega-groups like Afrotheria, which have been grudgingly supported now, but still don’t have many definable characters.

By: Dylan

Dylan — Sun, 11 Nov 2012 18:09:46 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=id9LvhupIBU

By: Darkseid

Darkseid — Sun, 11 Nov 2012 03:04:53 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62jZENi1ed8
this was a really great talk by Steve Hsu on the genetics of IQ

By: ackbark

ackbark — Sat, 10 Nov 2012 21:39:29 +0000

20. Thanks. I was wondering about the lack of publicity. The countless articles and tv shows about frozen mammoths never seem to mention anything else.

By: Nathan

Nathan — Sat, 10 Nov 2012 18:01:58 +0000

Anyone got 23andMe discount/special offers like their past $99 for kit and $99 subscription per year (or was it $5 per month subscription?) ?

Soo far the best discount coupon I see from a 3rd party website is $60 off the kit price; kit price is $299 now but no subscription required.

Thanks

By: RafeK

RafeK — Sat, 10 Nov 2012 07:22:50 +0000

Ackbark yes there are other frozen animals and they are not all uninteresting Steppe bison
http://atlasobscura.com/place/ice-age-mummified-bison

Whooly Rhino’s
http://www.flickr.com/photos/eglantine/232280744/in/gallery-jobaria-72157622764678586/

Horse
http://www.sciencephoto.com/media/172101/enlarge

Thats just what quick google search showed me. I have read about more IIRC in the book “frozen fauna of the mammoth steppe” but can’t remember the details

By: Sandgroper

Sandgroper — Sat, 10 Nov 2012 04:27:38 +0000

Kind of old news, I guess, but: data kill punditry – the revelation that the media hate.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-11-08/green-win-for-data-over-punditry/4360072

By: Simon

Simon — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 06:33:30 +0000

15 says: I’ve never heard anything about the mice or birds or sabre toothed frogs or any of the other animals that might be preserved in the tundra.

Holy crap that would be AWESOME

By: Sandgroper

Sandgroper — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 04:43:25 +0000

#13 – Yeah, 2-1. It was reported here as 2-0. Don’t know if you’ve been watching Manchester United’s goalkeeper, but he gives me the horrors. Where/why did they pick him up?

By: I_Affe

I_Affe — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 02:28:07 +0000

#14

I’m a grad student working with adult muscle stem cells. Most of what I do is basic research stuff that doesn’t have too much practical implication, but my lab has done transplantation studies for muscular dystrophy models as well as collaborated with other transplantation labs.

Are you interested in any particular stem cell or something like iPSCs?

By: ackbark

ackbark — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 02:21:04 +0000

We often hear about frozen mammoths found in Siberia, but what about other frozen extinct animals?

I’ve never heard anything about the mice or birds or sabre toothed frogs or any of the other animals that might be preserved in the tundra.

Are they just all uninteresting?

By: Matt

Matt — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 21:36:17 +0000

#4 – I’m curious what you do, where you work, and what level of education you have. I worked with stem cells quite a bit for undergrad projects, and currently I’m just sort of mopping around deciding between job possibilities and grad school. I took a condensed class over winter break 2 years back on which the focus was soley on stem cells, plus lab work. In terms of inspiring an intrest with a topic it was probably my favorite class. So I’m curious about the route you took to a stem cell lab position.

By: Matt

Matt — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 21:23:30 +0000

Ya Sandgroper, I’m surprised at the Barcelona result too – I didn’t watch it in part because I just assumed Barca would win – so I don’t know how deserved it was. By the way, the final score was 2-1, apparently Messi scored in the last minute. I’m going out on a limb and saying Borussia Dortmund wins the Champions League year being impressed with how they played in their matches against Madrid, and knowing they won the Bundisliga last year. It would be surprising, but I like the underdog.

By: toto

toto — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 18:36:52 +0000

i hedged. so i was going to win $ either way.

“You keep ragin’, I keep arbitragin’.”

By: Justin Loe

Justin Loe — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 16:02:41 +0000

I just saw this new paper: Estimating divergence times in large molecular phylogenies. PNAS.
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2012/10/31/1213199109.abstract Could be promising.

By: Archwright

Archwright — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 15:25:54 +0000

Read this blog about star stacking our banner.
http://danbliss.blogspot.com/2011/11/51-star-flag.html

Y’know. it’s good to start formulating predictions about what our flag will look like if Puerto Rico makes its long-shot bid for statehood.

By: Razib Khan

Razib Khan — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 15:11:04 +0000

Was there a net gain or loss? How’s your win/loss record?

i hedged. so i was going to win $ either way. but near the end i updated and went all in that romney would LOSE, and sucked some people into bets. $300 (would have won $100 the other way).