1235 Alien Planets Out There?!

Greetings Dr. Palmer! Reading the Star Tribune on Thursday, I noticed this article on the new findings of existing planets with possible life. I thought it was a neat article because it got me thinking of how might evolution differs on those planets if they did contain life.

  http://www.startribune.com/nation/115153569.html?elr=KArks:DCiUo3PD...

Vaccinations and Autism

Hello Dr. Palmer!  I am currently taking Phar 4200W: Drugs and the U.S. Healthcare System, and we are also talking about some hot topics in that class as well. One of the topics that we are currently talking about is parents refusing vaccinations for their children. Should parents have the right to refuse the vaccinations? What about vaccinations that are for highly contagious diseases, should these be mandated before a child can go to school? What about the risk to other children? Although it's not something we talk about in Biol 1010, I thought it was a really interesting topic! This article is from the Washington Post and talks about how the number of parents who are refusing vaccines has gone up in the past couple of years. One of the main reasons for the spike is that a lot of parents fear that vaccinations cause Autism and other cognitive disorders, which there is no scientific evidence for. I suppose that whole argument ties into the "scientific evidence vs. anecdotal thinking" concept we discussed at the beginning of the semester. Those individuals who believe vaccinations cause cognitive disorders are only looking at the small number of cases where Autism was diagnosed roughly around the same time the child received the vaccination and not at the much higher number of children who were just fine. What they don't realize is that typically the first time Autism can be diagnosed is around 2 years old, the same age a number of vaccinations are administered. So correlation does not necessarily mean causation. The article then talks about how some of these parents have documentation of evidence that they are basing their beliefs on, but when examined are completely false and just based on a whim. It's just a really interesting read and I think something people aren't aware of how big an issue it's becoming.

  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/04/AR2...   Thanks Dr. Palmer!

Human Genome Project Information - Cloning Fact Sheet

Hello, professor, This link is kind of official website about clone. You can find almost every faces about cloning from this web, such as the definition and theories of clone, the risks of clone and the debates between shoule people clone. Hope this link can help you a lot on exploring cloning information.
 http://www.ornl.gov/sci/techresources/Human_Genome/elsi/cloning.shtml   Thank you

Funny about Stem Cell Debate!

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-august-13-2001/stem-cell-debate

More on Stem Cell Research...

http://gizmodo.com/5749968/the-skin-gun-that-sprays-new-skin-on-bur...

 Hey Dr. Palmer, This is an article I found today that has a bit to do with stem cells, but it's also just way too cool to not see. It's a new way of restoring skin using stem cells, that is much quicker and more durable than modern skin grafts. Enjoy!

Scientists Use Monkey Clones to Extract Stem Cells

Doctor Palmer, I ran across this article about scientists extracting sten cells from cloned monkey embryos. I thought that this article was very fitting for this week since it shows where the two debate topics meet and how they can work together. This article is about scientists who used cloning to produce monkey embryos and then extracted stem cells from said embryos. This was the first time that such cells had been produced in any other animal besides a mouse. The article explains the advantages of using cloning to obtain stem cells and how this research may be useful for labs working on human eggs and human cells.

 http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/15/science/15primate.html?_r=1&ref=c...

Addition Stem Cell Research Information!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63Uqp9VcCq4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuHnjDM-tys

both of the videos are about stem cell research the first one is from president obama and the second one describe the challenges scientists face with authority. it's a simple way for people to understand the conflict with stem cells right now

Pharmaceutical Companies Struggling to Adhere to the Scientific Method?!

Hello Dr. Palmer,  I found a very interesting link you might like to share in class or use for your blog.  It appears, in a recent article of the New Yorker, that Pharmaceutical companies are struggling to adhere to the scientific method, or "defying" the scientific method in creating replicable data.  In my personal opinion, this simply means their experiments are flawed as they don't adhere to this method.  Nevertheless, it is showing up in a number of areas, implying there could be something more.  I hope you enjoy this article.  Here's the link:

 http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/12/13/101213fa_fact_lehrer 

Can We Slow the Aging Process??

Also in our lab today we talked about stem cells and someone brought up and questioned Life extension, also known as anti-aging medicine, experimental gerontology, and biomedical gerontology, refers to attempts to slow down or reverse the average lifespan. Some researchers in this area, and "life extensionists" believe that future breakthroughs in tissue rejuvenation  with stem cells, molecular repair, and organ replacement (such as with artificial organs or xenotransplantations) will eventually enable humans to have indefinite lifespans through complete rejuvenation to a youthful condition. I remembered that I had recently came across a very interesting movie about this on nova this is very interesting stuff!!!!!!!!! something i could defiantly be seen being put on your blog! and worth some extra credit! Program Description  Could a gene that doubles the lifespan of tiny worms help extend human lives, too? In Hawaii, a group of exceptionally healthy elderly men—who just so happen to share a genetic link to those long-lived worms—could hold the answer.  

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/body/can-we-slow-aging.html

Scandal Surrounding Stem Cell Research

Hello, I found some more stuff that i would like to submit for extra credit. While I was reading the textbook I got to the point in the chapter where it talks about human cloning since this week my group is presenting the debate on human cloning I found these pages in the book to be very relevant to this weeks material. In the book they briefly described a recent scandal with South Korea and human cloning i went online and found a article relating to what the book briefly described.

 http://health.usnews.com/usnews/health/articles/060103/3book.htm 

This might be something worth putting up on your blog. Or this article

 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4554422.stm 

Basically in both these articles  South Korean stem-cell scientist Hwang Woo Suk  claimed in a paper published in the journal Science that he had successfully created 11 colonies of human embryonic stem cells. But A Seoul National University panel has since found that Hwang faked his results. While Hwang's stem-cell project was initiated by Hwang on his own, it "grew into a state project with government backing and then became the people's project, adding a massive weight of national expectation." Because of this, the editorial says, the ability of the scientific community in Korea to monitor Hwang's research was crippled. 

Symbiotic Relationship Evolved Between Bats and Pitcher Plants

Here's an interesting article

 http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2011-01/26/borneo-bat-toilets 

I found about a symbiotic relationship between bats and pitcher plants, of all creatures.  Bats were found roosting inside pitcher plants, giving them a safe place to sleep during the day.  In return, the bats' guano serves to nourish the plant.  The plant's pitcher funnel is specially adapted to prevent bats from falling into the digestive fluids, ensuring they return.

NEW Stem Cell Technology Using A Direct Reprogramming Strategy

Hi Melissa, I thought this article was definitely interesting with the debates coming up because I didn't even know that adult cells could be converted to different cells by first being converted to stem cell-like cells.

  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/01/110130213901.htm  

With the debate about stem cells and their use in research and transplantation coming up, I thought this article was interesting as it is a different way to think of stem cells and their purpose. With new technology, researchers have been able to convert adult cells directly into different types of cells without first having to convert them to embryonic-like stem cells.

New Guidelines Urging People to Cut Back on Their Salt Intake!

Dr. Palmer,  I found this article on the CNN Health page and it talks about the new Federal dietary guidelines that were just updated and released this past week. It talks about how the new guidelines urge people to cut back on their salt intake. I found this article to be interesting since I know many people, including myself, that fit the characteristics of the people they are urging to cut back on their salt intake. I'm not sure where this could fit into the class itself, however, it was definitely interesting!  LINK:

http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/01/31/dietary.guildelines/index.html... 

Be Careful Out There This Weekend!!

I found this article on CNN and it has to do with the Super Bowl coming up and the rise in heart attacks it may bring. The article talks about how the high amounts of stress while watching the game can cause sharp spikes in the heart rate and blood pressure which can cause strain on the heart and ultimately heart attacks. I found this article to be very timely since the Super Bowl is coming this weekend and also to be very interesting - and slightly humorous that a story about heart attacks due to the Super Bowl showed up as a top story on their Health portion of the website. Enjoy!  LINK: 

http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/01/31/super.bowl.heart.attacks/index...

Helpful Website Illustrating Cell Organelles!

After todays class I was very *intrigued to learn more about the new *subject* we *are* learning about the with the structure and function of cells and cell reproduction and differentiation. So I explored the internet to fist get a better understanding of how everything works with cell functions the book dose a very good job explaining what each cell dose and there *structure* but while the book gives some pretty good pictures of what is happing its *still* hard for me to understand it *completely* without the means of a movie or *animation* which we saw in class today. 

http://www.cellsalive.com/cells/cell_model.htm

while this animation is very simple i found it to be most informative with placing a picture with the definition. It showed the animation of both plant and animal cells and their structures and functions. The *Eucaryotic Cell Interactive Animation had all the terminology which we learned in class and I have read in the book. It something i found helpful and maybe others would so it might be something worth while to put up on your blog. After exploring this website i decided to see whats in the news today about cells and the most talked about is stem cell research. 

The Danger of Science Denial

From another student:

So I found this...I can't say this is why so many people oppose the evolutionary theory...but it is cool none the less.

 http://www.ted.com/talks/michael_specter_the_danger_of_science_deni... 

Abortion and Embryonic Stem Cell Research Debate Rages On... But Cool Article on a Company Extracting Stem Cells from Baby Teeth!

Hello Dr. Palmer,  Since I believe abortion is a form of murder, I am opposed to embryonic stem cell research. However, there are many alternative and harmless ways of getting stem cells. You could post this neat article about a company that extracts stem cells from baby teeth.  

http://www.24-7pressrelease.com/press-release/banking-on-baby-teeth...  

Thanks!

Here is a better article that I found 

http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/am/v2/n1/babytooth

Possible Evidence that Chimpanzees Mourn Their Dead!

Dr Palmer,
 We were in class and someone posted this on facebook as we were watching the movie on apes self recognition and i thought you may find it interesting. Although I know i should be on facebook it was just a quick glimpse.   
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1352119/Chimpanzees-...

Flores People Debate Continues!!

Dear Professor Palmer:  I found this article about the debate on the Flores people. The article briefly reviews the competing sides' views on the issue, particularly focusing on the idea that the Flores people had a disorder that made them small. The debate has intensified with the discovery of other small people fossils on the island of Palau in the Western Caroline Islands of Micronesia. This discovery raises the question of whether the Flores people were, in fact, a distinct species (known as Homo floresiensis) or if they were simply Homo sapiens adapted to their life on an island with limited resources.

  http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/18/science/18litt.html 

The Flores People Featured on NOVA!

Dr. Palmer,  I found this episode of NOVA about the Flores people.  It really gives a lot of information about them.  For example it says that they hunted kimoto dragons in groups because of the bacteria the dragons spat out, and that because of this, they must have had some sort of language.  The episode really makes you think that these people were possibly humans.

  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/evolution/little-people-flores.html 

Arguments Against Evolution

Hello, professor,

 There are a lot of debates between the evolution and creationism. I keep hunting some useful information about this debate onine. Here is the website that talks about some evidences of errors in evolution. However, these are only personal ideas and opinions. Just for reference.

  http://www.godandscience.org/evolution/locke.html 

HS Teachers Reluctant to Teach Evolution!!

Dear Dr, Palmer, This article is about what we have covered in class last week. Although more and more high-school instructors start to teach evolutional biology with respect to scientific view, according to the article, there are still many instructors hesitating to do this. The authors, Michael Berkman and Eric Plutzer, Professors of Political Science at Pennsylvania State University, warn that some of the high-school students cannot be educated by scientific truths if they are taught by those teachers. It is impossible to state which is right or not; however, it is possible to state which is true or not because we have proofs to show the evolutional chronogram. Therefore, in my opinion, teachers should give the truths to their students at school.  

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/01/110127141657.htm 

New Strategy in Combating HIV and AIDS!

Dear Dr. Palmer,  Hello. I have found information that shall be beneficial for our daily lives if what written on this article is pervaded as one of the treatment methods of AIDS. The researchers in Japan, Korea and the United States have invented an anti-HIV gene therapy method. This produces enzymes that can prevent the replication of HIVs. This method sounds so fantastic that I would like to let you know.

  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/01/110126121059.htm

Gorilla Walking Upright Video!

I know that the week is over for evolution and creationism but after browsing around for a while I came across something interesting! I don't know if its evolution at its work or the gorilla is copying the humans walking by, but the clip made an interesting impact on me. Here's the link

 http://news.yahoo.com/video/world-15749633/gorilla-s-upright-walk-i... 

Another Funny...

Dr. Palmer,  I found this photo,

 http://thechive.com/2011/01/28/best-photos-of-the-week-50-photos-23...,

 and I thought it was pretty interesting.  It fits right in with our Creationism vs. Evolutionism.  It took me a while to understand what it meant.  I had found it earlier this week, but I saw it again, now after the discussion in class yesterday, and i realized what it meant.  It fits right in with our Creationism vs. Evolutionism.  Enjoy 

Body World Exhibition - Another Example of the Science vs. Religion Conflict?

Dear professor,   I was just attracted by a cool vedio about the "Body World Exhibition", which impressed me a lot by the technology called "plastination", even though it's a little scary to watch at night. This technology was created by Gunther von Hagensone,one of the most evolutionary anatomists of our time. However,this body exhibition provides a lot of controversies between science and religious groups. The Catholic Church and some Jewish rabbis have objected to the display of human remains, stating that it is inconsistent with reverence towards the human body. For me, as a Chinese, even though I don't have any specific religious belief, such body exhibition still seems shocking to the mainstream culture in China, and I believe in most of the Asian countries (especially for the Buddhists).

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5bBtohsCCI&feature=fvw

  Have a good weekend! 

Medical Marijuana Industry... What Are Your Thoughts on the Issue?

Hello Dr. Palmer,  This article is about rules about monitoring, recording and tracking every aspect of the booming medical-marijuana industry, from seed to sale.  Right now medical marijuana is legal in 15 states and Washington D.C, and Colorado has led the push on this controversial topic. This topic will be a hot topic button in the next couple years and this article could be used in later discussions.  Thanks.

  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703559504575630760766...  

Teaching the Controversy... Some Statistics!

Hello,  I found this article to very intriguing since we have been talking about evolution vs. creationism in class. It basically talks about how high school science teachers are failing to teach the theory of evolution effectively. More specifically only 28%, out of 900 US teachers, correctly taught the subject. Even more surprising was the fact that 13% of the teachers polled actually taught creationism in class. The majority of teachers taught both and allowed the students to decide. These findings show that many teachers are not teaching the required curriculum and defying laws and court orders. I believe if this trend continues, our national scientific standards will diminish and in return create more pressure for the US to catch up to foreign countries that are making great progress.

I just remember that I forgot to add the link, sorry. Here is the link 
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41313808/ns/technology_and_science-scie... 

Nevermind Teaching the Controversy... Another Reason NOT to Teach Evolution? What?!

Hello Dr. Palmer!  Here is another article on the whole "Teaaching evolution in the classroom" debate. In this article they touch a very little bit on the religious aspect of why evolution should not be taught in classrooms, which I thought was interesting. The principal of this particular school gave different reasons as to why he thinks evolution should not be taugh in his school such as thinking it's too complex or for little kids to think about or for teachers to properly convey to youth. Another reason was that they thought it was too "brutal" for the little kids because things had to die in order for us to be around. Like I said just very interesting to see other reasons (some are a huge stretch in my opinion...) that are though up to NOT teach evolution in schools. Here is the link!

  http://www.newsweek.com/blogs/the-human-condition/2010/04/14/a-new-... 

Thanks! 

AIDS and Cellular Aging AND Sexing Pterydactyls (Huh?)

Hi Dr. Palmer   Yesterday I found this article and I thought it's really interesting. It talks about the demographic shift of HIV-infected people. The research also suggests that HIV causes fast aging in some cells that play an important role in the body's response to the infection. 

  http://www.biologynews.net/archives/2011/01/27/research_suggests_hi...   

I also found another article which I think is closely related to what we studied in class. The article talks about newly-found fossil of a flying reptile which lived in the same era with dinosaurs and an flying reptile egg. The new discovery has given scientists a chance to find out more about the sex and gender of these extinct creatures. More information on its reproduction also can be discovered through the fossil.

   http://www.biologynews.net/archives/2011/01/22/dinoera_sex_riddle_s...

The Flores People Controversy Heats Up... Again!!

Hi Melissa, I was researching the Flores people controversy for the debate tomorrow and I came across this video that was pretty interesting. You could put it on the blog for extra credit. Thanks! Skeletal remains of a possible human were found in Indonesia. There is much debate over the idea that these remains belonged to a homo sapien or a different species altogether. These Flores people would have stood at merely half the size of an average human.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/evolution/little-people-flores.html

For Your Viewing Pleasure... The Most Psychedelic Images in Science!!

Hi there,  If we have an article for the blog do we just email it to you?  If so, here's an article I found on Discover website.  It's a list of 'The Most Psychadelic Images in Science."  I thought it was pretty cool.  I especially liked the colony of Volvox algae.  

http://discovermagazine.com/photos/27-the-most-psychedelic-images-i...

More on Science and Religion... An Interview with Kenneth Miller

Dr. Palmer,  This article is an interview with Kenneth Miller, a christian and an evolutionist, who is a professor of Biology.

 http://www.actionbioscience.org/evolution/miller.html 

I thought Miller had some interesting points of view concerning science and religion.  He believes that faith in religion does not mean that one must reject science, or vice versa. In his book, he writes "there is a deeper problem caused by the opponents of evolution, a problem for religion."  What he means by this is that when religion places itself in conflict with science, religion loses ground whenever science increases in its understanding of the world.  It is a mistake to reject evolution for creationism because it argues that religion is disapproved by the mechanisms of science.  It is possible to accept evolution while believing in a higher power.  This second article lists several differences between science and religion, as well as areas of overlap.

 http://www.religioustolerance.org/scirel_ov.htm 

It may help explain how one can accept both science and religion.

Whoa! Immortal Jellies! (Turritopsis nutricula)

Melissa,  I know its a bit outdated, but I still think these jellyfish are incredible. To be able to recreate yourself and become young again is unthinkable. In the article, they refer to these jellyfish as the "Benjamin Button" of the ocean. It says they usually do it only for emergency purposes, but to think they could do it over and over again is amazing. Their cells can even be completely transformed. Muscle cells have the ability to become sperm cells or nerve cells even. Whether or not they actually use their immortality is unknown I suppose, but the fact that its possible is pretty cool. Maybe one day they will figure out how humans can do it! Who knows..

  http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/01/090130-immortal-jel...  

More later,

More on the Flores People!

Dr. Palmer,  I found this article while looking for background information on flores people.

 http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/features/world/asia/georgia/flore...

 The article explores the similarities and differences between the flores people, modern humans, and early fossils such as Lucy.  It also investigates several pieces of evidence which indicate that the hobbit is in fact a new human species, as well as several possible explanations from critics of this idea.  Microcephaly, a rare condition in which the brain is shrunken and the body dwarfed, is one explanation offered by skeptics, however, a second skull similar to the first was discovered last year and seems to discredit the claim of a disease. 

The Inner Life of a Cell - Animation

Hi Dr. Palmer, I'm sure you've seen this video but I watched it 2 years ago in my AP Bio class and it has stuck with me. It is about the inner workings of the cell in the body.  The description is on the video is "illustrating mechanisms that allow a white blood cell to sense its surroundings and respond to an external stimulus. This award winning piece was the first topic in a series of animations XVIVO is creating for Harvards educational website BioVisions at Harvard."  I figured this would be revelent as we move onto cell function in the body in later lectures.  Thanks,  

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mszlckmc4Hw  --

Documentation of Butterfly Evolution

Here is an interesting article

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/01/science/01butterfly.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

about the "lay" scientific work of the famous novelist Vladimir Nabokov on the evolution of a particular species of butterflies.  His speculations have been vindicated by DNA testing years after his work, which had to that point been gently thought of as thorough but not as "truly" scientific as "the pros."

Baby-eating Storks?

Dear Professor Palmer, I was on facebook the other day and stumbled across an article that mentioned the Flores People. Considering that our class is soon going to have a debate about the Flores people I looked at it. The article is about an interesting theory that some scientists have about another cohabitant of the islands. Scientists recently found a very large bird that is a relative of the modern stork. These birds could have been up to six feet tall and heavy. Due to their heaviness these birds could no longer fly and resorted to eating meat. Some have speculated that these birds actually ate the small Flores children or even scavenged the dead adult bodies. This seems to be just specultation and is not backed up by any scientific evidence as of yet but none the less I thought the concept was interesting.

 http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2011/01/25/133178380/killer-stork... .

Tibetans and High Altitude... Evidence of Adaptation!

Professor Palmer,  Here's the link,

 http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/abs/10.1089/152702901750265341  

I am definitely interested in humans adaption to high altitudes, because it's literally evolution (however small) that we can "see" with our own eyes. I was looking through some articles on adaption to high altitudes, and found this one particularly interesting. It compares a few different locations where people live permanently in high altitudes, and how studies have been done and will continue to be done in order to test the hypothesis or theory (I'm not exactly sure what stage it is at) that these people have genetically adapted to living in these environments. Furthermore, I am interested in how these adaptions will affect the people who have them in other areas with lower altitudes, however this article unfortunately does not specifically cover that.

One More Example of Lightning -fast Evolution!

Dr. Palmer, I found an article that relates to the discussion we had in class today about rapid evolutions. This article is about lizards that were put into a new habitat and evolved drastically in just 36 years. The lizards head was morphed because of the adaptation to new food sources. The lizards went from eating bugs to plants. This cause wider, longer and taller head structures, which in turn translated into stronger biting force. Research even revealed that new structures formed in the lizard's digestive tracts, to help that digest their new food source, that were never before associated witht this species of lizard. The lizards also evolved in their behavior. They gave up defending territories and travel around more, the population also increased dramatically due to the unending amount of food source.

 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080417112433.htm

Another Example of Lightning -fast Evolution!

Hey Dr. Palmer!  I found this article that reminded me of the lecture we had in class today on Evolution.  It's about a population of green-eyed frogs that were isolated from the rest of their species and years later could not mate with their original species.  This was so interesting to me that a population was able to change that drastically so quickly.  In the article, they considered it almost being a new species all together.  It reminded me of the Tibetan people we talked about in class today!  I could not figure out how to put this up on the blog so would you be able to post that for me? Here's the website:  

http://www.rxpgnews.com/evolution/Lightning-fast_Evolution_Driven_B...  Thank you! 

http://berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2005/10/27_greeneyed.shtml