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dvunkannon



Posts: 1377
Joined: June 2008

(Permalink) Posted: May 27 2011,18:24   

Quote (noncarborundum @ May 27 2011,17:08)
Quote (dvunkannon @ May 27 2011,14:47)
Currently reading Carl Zimmer's E.coli book. Wonderful as would be expected.

He mentions that bacteria maintain a high internal pressure, which he credits with helping chemical reactions proceed more quickly. However, it also forces bacteria to wear a corset, and if this is pierced, they explode.

On the web, I saw the actual internal pressure quoted as 3-5 atmospheres.

Here's a hypothesis - the internal pressure of bacteria is approximately the atmospheric pressure under which they evolved. If so, the corset evolved later as a way to maintain high pressure and chemical activity, even as atmospheric pressure dropped (due to CO2 being used by life and then sequestered, etc.). Sort of like how people argue that blood is the salinity of the ocean.

What think you?

I plan to keep an eye on this.

That is frickin' brilliant. We live in an amazing time, when we can afford to investigate the most wonderful mysteries of how life started.

MY TAX DOLLARS AT WORK!!1!

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I’m referring to evolution, not changes in allele frequencies. - Cornelius Hunter
I’m not an evolutionist, I’m a change in allele frequentist! - Nakashima

  
Henry J



Posts: 5786
Joined: Mar. 2005

(Permalink) Posted: May 27 2011,21:40   

So one way to kill invasive bacteria would be to puncture their girdles? Er, corsets?

Henry

  
Badger3k



Posts: 861
Joined: Mar. 2008

(Permalink) Posted: May 27 2011,22:58   

Quote (Henry J @ May 27 2011,21:40)
So one way to kill invasive bacteria would be to puncture their girdles? Er, corsets?

Henry

Maybe we can get them to trip on their stiletto heels, puncturing their corsets?  Seriously, do they use whalebone or what?  And who manufactures them - whoever it is, boy do they mass-produce.

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"Just think if every species had a different genetic code We would have to eat other humans to survive.." : Joe G

  
dvunkannon



Posts: 1377
Joined: June 2008

(Permalink) Posted: May 28 2011,07:27   

Quote (Henry J @ May 27 2011,22:40)
So one way to kill invasive bacteria would be to puncture their girdles? Er, corsets?

Henry

Yes.

http://www.iop.org/news/oct10/page_44964.html

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I’m referring to evolution, not changes in allele frequencies. - Cornelius Hunter
I’m not an evolutionist, I’m a change in allele frequentist! - Nakashima

  
Wesley R. Elsberry



Posts: 4991
Joined: May 2002

(Permalink) Posted: May 28 2011,09:31   

Quote (Henry J @ May 27 2011,21:40)
So one way to kill invasive bacteria would be to puncture their girdles? Er, corsets?

Henry

One mechanism shared by many antibiotic agents is disturbing bacterial cell wall production. Once the bacterium tries to reproduce itself, its inability to complete the cell wall in each part results in it opening the inside of both to the outside. At least, that's what they told us back in the dark ages.

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"You can't teach an old dogma new tricks." - Dorothy Parker

    
Schroedinger's Dog



Posts: 1692
Joined: Jan. 2009

(Permalink) Posted: May 28 2011,09:51   

Sounds a bit nasty to the bacteria. I like it!

--------------
"Hail is made out of water? Are you really that stupid?" Joe G

"I have a better suggestion, Kris. How about a game of hide and go fuck yourself instead." Louis

"The reason people use a crucifix against vampires is that vampires are allergic to bullshit" Richard Pryor

   
noncarborundum



Posts: 320
Joined: Jan. 2009

(Permalink) Posted: May 30 2011,01:53   

Industrial Melanism in British Peppered Moths Has a Singular and Recent Mutational Origin

I think there's a typo in the title.  They wrote "Peppered Moths" where they meant "Icon of Evolution".

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"The . . . um . . . okay, I was genetically selected for blue eyes.  I know there are brown eyes, because I've observed them, but I can't do it.  Okay?  So . . . um . . . coz that's real genetic selection, not the nonsense Giberson and the others are talking about." - DO'L

  
Kristine



Posts: 3061
Joined: Sep. 2006

(Permalink) Posted: June 06 2011,10:45   

For what it's worth:

Harley, K. (June, 2011). Book reviews. The Indexer 29(2), p. 93-94. I review Melanie J. Norton's book, Introductory Concepts in Information Science, Second Edition.
   
Quote
In fact, this reviewer recommends that any novice, whether indexer or information science student, read the last four chapters only with caution. Norton, in Chapter 9 on bibliometrics, uses percentages to describe Lotka’s frequency distribution, which is misleading. Care must be exercised in drawing conclusions from Lotka’s pattern as it is neither a mathematical formula nor statistically rigorous; Norton neglects to say this. She apparently does not understand that Bradford’s Law describes a pattern after intentionally dividing journals into three categories of diminishing citation frequencies (core and scatter), which is likewise not statistically accurate. She does not explain which allegedly ‘qualitative’ research methods are used in bibliometrics, and the reviewer is not aware of any. Chapter 10, on economics, does not even mention the concept of return on investment or the so-called ‘crisis’ in scholarly publication.

In Chapter 11, Norton seems to erroneously credit NASA with an inadvertent development of Velcro in the 1960s, when it was intentionally patented in the 1950s. The text subheaded ‘Value in context’ could have been shortened and integrated with the rest of the chapter; setting out this section achieves a Zeno’s paradox of abstract tortuousness.

I know it's boring, but it's exciting to me, because I'm new at scholarly writing.

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Which came first: the shimmy, or the hip?

AtBC Poet Laureate

"I happen to think that this prerequisite criterion of empirical evidence is itself not empirical." - Clive

"Damn you. This means a trip to the library. Again." -- fnxtr

  
noncarborundum



Posts: 320
Joined: Jan. 2009

(Permalink) Posted: June 06 2011,11:39   

Quote (Kristine @ June 06 2011,10:45)
Quote
The text subheaded ‘Value in context’ could have been shortened and integrated with the rest of the chapter; setting out this section achieves a Zeno’s paradox of abstract tortuousness.

I know it's boring, but it's exciting to me, because I'm new at scholarly writing.

And here I always thought Zeno's paradoxes involved concrete tortoiseness.

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"The . . . um . . . okay, I was genetically selected for blue eyes.  I know there are brown eyes, because I've observed them, but I can't do it.  Okay?  So . . . um . . . coz that's real genetic selection, not the nonsense Giberson and the others are talking about." - DO'L

  
Henry J



Posts: 5786
Joined: Mar. 2005

(Permalink) Posted: June 06 2011,23:48   

It's turtles all the way down!  :p

  
BWE



Posts: 1902
Joined: Jan. 2006

(Permalink) Posted: June 07 2011,00:52   

yertle the king of all he could see...

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Who said that ev'ry wish would be heard and answered
When wished on the morning star
Somebody thought of that, and someone believed it
Look what it's done so far

The Daily Wingnut

   
Richardthughes



Posts: 11178
Joined: Jan. 2006

(Permalink) Posted: June 07 2011,10:02   

http://forums.gottadeal.com/showthr....-Amazon

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"Richardthughes, you magnificent bastard, I stand in awe of you..." : Arden Chatfield
"You magnificent bastard! " : Louis
"ATBC poster child", "I have to agree with Rich.." : DaveTard
"I bow to your superior skills" : deadman_932
"...it was Richardthughes making me lie in bed.." : Kristine

  
Kristine



Posts: 3061
Joined: Sep. 2006

(Permalink) Posted: June 07 2011,15:47   

Okay, I swear that I will not turn this thread into shimmy whoring, but my latest article (TOC here) is about the Human Genome Project curriculum at the Brooklyn Public Library.

Not my fault that after oodles of rejection letters over the years I get published twice in one week!

--------------
Which came first: the shimmy, or the hip?

AtBC Poet Laureate

"I happen to think that this prerequisite criterion of empirical evidence is itself not empirical." - Clive

"Damn you. This means a trip to the library. Again." -- fnxtr

  
Richardthughes



Posts: 11178
Joined: Jan. 2006

(Permalink) Posted: June 09 2011,09:42   

http://www.news.ucdavis.edu/search/news_detail.lasso?id=9921

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"Richardthughes, you magnificent bastard, I stand in awe of you..." : Arden Chatfield
"You magnificent bastard! " : Louis
"ATBC poster child", "I have to agree with Rich.." : DaveTard
"I bow to your superior skills" : deadman_932
"...it was Richardthughes making me lie in bed.." : Kristine

  
Kristine



Posts: 3061
Joined: Sep. 2006

(Permalink) Posted: June 13 2011,16:45   

A new study suggests something that I have often suspected: that it is not the particular political position taken by the student that makes the student resist what a professor teaches, or see bias in that professor. It is how rigidly that student holds his or her political views.

--------------
Which came first: the shimmy, or the hip?

AtBC Poet Laureate

"I happen to think that this prerequisite criterion of empirical evidence is itself not empirical." - Clive

"Damn you. This means a trip to the library. Again." -- fnxtr

  
dvunkannon



Posts: 1377
Joined: June 2008

(Permalink) Posted: June 14 2011,11:55   

BUT THEY ARE STIL JUST BIRDS!!1!

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/06/110610131906.htm

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I’m referring to evolution, not changes in allele frequencies. - Cornelius Hunter
I’m not an evolutionist, I’m a change in allele frequentist! - Nakashima

  
Henry J



Posts: 5786
Joined: Mar. 2005

(Permalink) Posted: June 15 2011,09:55   

Not only are they still birds, but they're also still dinosaurs, reptilian, vertebrate, chordate, bilateral, metazoan eukaryotes.

  
dvunkannon



Posts: 1377
Joined: June 2008

(Permalink) Posted: June 16 2011,11:38   

BUT THEY ARE STIL JUST FLIES!!1!

http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2011/05/17/1105937108

More kick ass evo-devo from Sean Carroll et al.

--------------
I’m referring to evolution, not changes in allele frequencies. - Cornelius Hunter
I’m not an evolutionist, I’m a change in allele frequentist! - Nakashima

  
Schroedinger's Dog



Posts: 1692
Joined: Jan. 2009

(Permalink) Posted: June 23 2011,14:37   

Darwin's notes online

Full link since it seems to not work:

[URL=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2007170/The-origin-On-The-Origin-Species-Darwins-research-notes-scribbled-730-books-library-online

.html?ito=feeds-newsxml]http://www.dailymail.co.uk/science....newsxml[/URL]

ETA: just remove the <br> tag in the adress...

Edited by Wesley R. Elsberry on July 01 2011,07:03

--------------
"Hail is made out of water? Are you really that stupid?" Joe G

"I have a better suggestion, Kris. How about a game of hide and go fuck yourself instead." Louis

"The reason people use a crucifix against vampires is that vampires are allergic to bullshit" Richard Pryor

   
Quack



Posts: 1961
Joined: May 2007

(Permalink) Posted: June 23 2011,15:44   

How about using TinyURL?

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Rocks have no biology.
              Robert Byers.

  
Schroedinger's Dog



Posts: 1692
Joined: Jan. 2009

(Permalink) Posted: June 23 2011,15:58   

Quote (Quack @ June 23 2011,21:44)
How about using TinyURL?

I could do that, but I'm just too damn lazy at the moment...

--------------
"Hail is made out of water? Are you really that stupid?" Joe G

"I have a better suggestion, Kris. How about a game of hide and go fuck yourself instead." Louis

"The reason people use a crucifix against vampires is that vampires are allergic to bullshit" Richard Pryor

   
Kristine



Posts: 3061
Joined: Sep. 2006

(Permalink) Posted: June 29 2011,20:14   

University of Minnesota Engineering Researchers Discover Source for Generating 'Green' Electricity.
Quote
To create the material, the research team combined elements at the atomic level to create a new multiferroic alloy, Ni45Co5Mn40Sn10. Multiferroic materials combine unusual elastic, magnetic and electric properties. The alloy Ni45Co5Mn40Sn10 achieves multiferroism by undergoing a highly reversible phase transformation where one solid turns into another solid. During this phase transformation the alloy undergoes changes in its magnetic properties that are exploited in the energy conversion device.

During a small-scale demonstration in a University of Minnesota lab, the new material created by the researchers begins as a non-magnetic material, then suddenly becomes strongly magnetic when the temperature is raised a small amount. When this happens, the material absorbs heat and spontaneously produces electricity in a surrounding coil. Some of this heat energy is lost in a process called hysteresis. A critical discovery of the team is a systematic way to minimize hysteresis in phase transformations. The team’s research was recently published in the first issue of the new scientific journal Advanced Energy Materials.


--------------
Which came first: the shimmy, or the hip?

AtBC Poet Laureate

"I happen to think that this prerequisite criterion of empirical evidence is itself not empirical." - Clive

"Damn you. This means a trip to the library. Again." -- fnxtr

  
fnxtr



Posts: 3504
Joined: June 2006

(Permalink) Posted: June 29 2011,21:55   

Quote (Kristine @ June 29 2011,18:14)
University of Minnesota Engineering Researchers Discover Source for Generating 'Green' Electricity.
 
Quote
To create the material, the research team combined elements at the atomic level to create a new multiferroic alloy, Ni45Co5Mn40Sn10. Multiferroic materials combine unusual elastic, magnetic and electric properties. The alloy Ni45Co5Mn40Sn10 achieves multiferroism by undergoing a highly reversible phase transformation where one solid turns into another solid. During this phase transformation the alloy undergoes changes in its magnetic properties that are exploited in the energy conversion device.

During a small-scale demonstration in a University of Minnesota lab, the new material created by the researchers begins as a non-magnetic material, then suddenly becomes strongly magnetic when the temperature is raised a small amount. When this happens, the material absorbs heat and spontaneously produces electricity in a surrounding coil. Some of this heat energy is lost in a process called hysteresis. A critical discovery of the team is a systematic way to minimize hysteresis in phase transformations. The team’s research was recently published in the first issue of the new scientific journal Advanced Energy Materials.

"Spontaneously" may be a bit misleading.

If I remember my physics, it's the sudden alignment of the magnetic field that would generate an electric current, but only while the field is changing strength, so they'd probably have to keep the material fluctuating above and below the critical temperature fairly rapidly to generate any useful current. Be hard to do with any respectable mass.

Innerestin', tho...

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"[A] book said there were 5 trillion witnesses. Who am I supposed to believe, 5 trillion witnesses or you? That shit's, like, ironclad. " -- stevestory

"Wow, you must be retarded. I said that CO2 does not trap heat. If it did then it would not cool down at night."  Joe G

  
Henry J



Posts: 5786
Joined: Mar. 2005

(Permalink) Posted: June 29 2011,22:45   

Quote
so they'd probably have to keep the material fluctuating above and below the critical temperature fairly rapidly to generate any useful current.

That may depend on what it's used for; even if it's too weak to power something, it might be useful as a sensor (in a thermostat, perhaps).

Henry

  
Dr.GH



Posts: 2333
Joined: May 2002

(Permalink) Posted: June 30 2011,09:00   

Quote (Kristine @ June 07 2011,13:47)
Not my fault that after oodles of rejection letters over the years I get published twice in one week!

congratulations  :D

   
Kristine



Posts: 3061
Joined: Sep. 2006

(Permalink) Posted: June 30 2011,09:04   

Quote (Dr.GH @ June 30 2011,09:00)
Quote (Kristine @ June 07 2011,13:47)
Not my fault that after oodles of rejection letters over the years I get published twice in one week!

congratulations  :D

Thanks - another is coming! I'm really proud of this one.

--------------
Which came first: the shimmy, or the hip?

AtBC Poet Laureate

"I happen to think that this prerequisite criterion of empirical evidence is itself not empirical." - Clive

"Damn you. This means a trip to the library. Again." -- fnxtr

  
fnxtr



Posts: 3504
Joined: June 2006

(Permalink) Posted: July 01 2011,00:27   

Quote (Henry J @ June 29 2011,20:45)
Quote
so they'd probably have to keep the material fluctuating above and below the critical temperature fairly rapidly to generate any useful current.

That may depend on what it's used for; even if it's too weak to power something, it might be useful as a sensor (in a thermostat, perhaps).

Henry

Yes. That. Hardly "Green energy", though, you can do the same thing with garden-variety thermocouple.

--------------
"[A] book said there were 5 trillion witnesses. Who am I supposed to believe, 5 trillion witnesses or you? That shit's, like, ironclad. " -- stevestory

"Wow, you must be retarded. I said that CO2 does not trap heat. If it did then it would not cool down at night."  Joe G

  
dvunkannon



Posts: 1377
Joined: June 2008

(Permalink) Posted: July 05 2011,13:21   

http://www.biology-direct.com/content/6/1/35

Nick Lane explaining (once again) his view of eukaryotic origins via endosymbiosis, and the follow on effects. Part of a number of Biology Direct articles on the "Tree of Life" just published.

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I’m referring to evolution, not changes in allele frequencies. - Cornelius Hunter
I’m not an evolutionist, I’m a change in allele frequentist! - Nakashima

  
dvunkannon



Posts: 1377
Joined: June 2008

(Permalink) Posted: July 06 2011,14:37   

http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2148/11/194/abstract

A look at what drives speciation in salamander ring species. Ring species are great topics for discussion with anti-evos. This paper shows that reproductive isolation in the salamanders is mostly driven by genetics, not ecology.

--------------
I’m referring to evolution, not changes in allele frequencies. - Cornelius Hunter
I’m not an evolutionist, I’m a change in allele frequentist! - Nakashima

  
dvunkannon



Posts: 1377
Joined: June 2008

(Permalink) Posted: July 07 2011,09:31   

Superconductivity, Theory and Practice

http://spectrum.ieee.org/semicon....ulators

This article brings up the interesting point that for 50 years we had no explanation for the phenomenon of superconductivity. This could be a good discussion point for anti-evos talking about non-materialist explanations in science. Did any useful non-materialist explanation get put forward in 50 years? Was Darwinism suppressing these?

--------------
I’m referring to evolution, not changes in allele frequencies. - Cornelius Hunter
I’m not an evolutionist, I’m a change in allele frequentist! - Nakashima

  
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