The differential biology reader

"They did a little study, wrote it up, and submitted it to one of the leading journals in their..."

Sat, 18 May 2013 17:27:20 +0100

“They did a little study, wrote it up, and submitted it to one of the leading journals in their field. It’s not their fault the journal chose to publish it.”

- Andrew Gelman, How can statisticians help psychologists do their research better

headlikeanorange: A tarsier (Bill Bailey’s Jungle Hero - BBC)

Fri, 03 May 2013 06:32:10 +0100

headlikeanorange:

A tarsier (Bill Bailey’s Jungle Hero - BBC)

Cervus elaphus

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 08:00:21 +0100

Cervus elaphus

“Localization of levels of variation for chimpanzees and...

Sat, 27 Apr 2013 18:12:31 +0100

“Localization of levels of variation for chimpanzees and humans. (a) Symmetric variation (b) Directional asymmetries (c) Fluctuating asymmetric variation”

Gomez-Robles, A., Hopkins, W. D., & Sherwood, C. C. (2013). Increased morphological asymmetry, evolvability and plasticity in human brain evolution. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 280(1761), 20130575–20130575.

FlyVac, an automated assay of disposition to move toward light...

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 07:25:04 +0100

FlyVac, an automated assay of disposition to move toward light for fruit flies.

Kain, Stokes, de Bivort. Phototactic personality in fruit flies and its suppression by serotonin and white. PNAS.

Aida T, On the inheritance of color in a fresh-water fish,...

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 13:50:00 +0000

Aida T, On the inheritance of color in a fresh-water fish, Aplocheilus latipes Temmick and Schlegel, with special reference to sex-linked inheritance Genetics. 1921. via @ewanbirney

"Why study the history of psychology? To most historians of science the question is not very..."

Sun, 17 Mar 2013 15:43:17 +0000

“

Why study the history of psychology?

To most historians of science the question is not very interesting. The answer is quite obvious: the historical study of man’s Promethean attempt to understand himself on this planet is a fascinating adventure that needs no rationale. It is the view from the mountain tops, the surveying of man’s most profound problem against the huge panorama of his history, the place where the grandeur is, where the findings, theories, changing importances, and intellectual heroics of every age — including the present one — are woven into exciting patterns. Why study the history of psychology? Because it is psychology, all of it, and psychology cannot be studied seriously apart from its history.

”

- Julian Jaynes, The Study of the History of Psychology

"Internal Error: macros.h: SRAND" in FRANz

Fri, 15 Mar 2013 13:11:18 +0000

I was running into the following error in the pedigree reconstruction program FRANz

[===============     ]   75%  Initializing Mersenne Twister                  
Internal Error: macros.h: SRAND

The solution from the program author, Markus Reister, is to run FRANz with fewer threads

OMP_NUM_THREADS=8 FRANz simpsons.dat

"The p-value does not tell you if the result was due to chance. It tells you whether the results are..."

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 18:44:57 +0000

“The p-value does not tell you if the result was due to chance. It tells you whether the results are consistent with being due to chance. That is not the same thing at all.”

- Phillip Price

Long-tailed tits, the species I am studying. From the WWT via...

Fri, 08 Mar 2013 07:17:17 +0000

Long-tailed tits, the species I am studying. From the WWT via fat-birds

“The autumn color swamp”, Akiyoshi Kitaoka

Thu, 07 Mar 2013 10:48:50 +0000

“The autumn color swamp”, Akiyoshi Kitaoka

"Besides sharing most of your physical makeup with the most common dust of the universe, you share..."

Wed, 06 Mar 2013 16:17:00 +0000

“

Besides sharing most of your physical makeup with the most common dust of the universe, you share 60% of your genetic material with the fruit fly.

Your genetic sequence shares an 80% similarity with that of the domestic cow. Cats’ genetics are 90% homologous with yours, even more than with dogs (82%). And 90% of your genome can be lined up with a direct counterpart on that of the mouse.

But what’s really amazing is that you share almost all of your genetic material with your brother; the variation across the whole genome is less than half a percent. And yet, you can hardly carry a conversation with him for two minutes.

”

- Joel Alexander, Noise of Creation, (2nd release) p 28 (Ch .0017).

American Woodcock calls, by TheMusicOfNature

Sun, 03 Mar 2013 09:44:43 +0000

American Woodcock calls, by TheMusicOfNature

Another good use of a GIF as a scientific illustration. This...

Tue, 26 Feb 2013 10:44:16 +0000

Another good use of a GIF as a scientific illustration. This would make great supplementary information for a paper on the topic.

headlikeanorange:

The Guillemot is a seabird that lays its eggs on a bare rock ledge on a cliff face. When an egg is accidentally dislodged, its shape causes it to spin in a tight circle, which prevents it from falling off the ledge into the sea. (Springwatch - BBC)

Tamara StaplesBearded Buff Frizzle Polish Bantam hen

Fri, 22 Feb 2013 21:54:50 +0000

Tamara Staples
Bearded Buff Frizzle Polish Bantam hen

"destiny is constructed."

Thu, 21 Feb 2013 21:04:38 +0000

“destiny is constructed.”

- Susan Oyama, The Ontogeny of Information, 2nd ed. p 9.

Camera traps from the Tropical Ecology Assessment and Monitoring...

Wed, 20 Feb 2013 20:33:29 +0000

Camera traps from the Tropical Ecology Assessment and Monitoring Network via Wired

Ahumada et al Community structure and diversity of tropical forest mammals: data from a global camera trap network Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B 2011 366 1578 2703-2711; doi:10.1098/rstb.2011.0115 1471-2970

A side view of brain pathways, from the right. At far left is...

Tue, 19 Feb 2013 10:55:35 +0000

A side view of brain pathways, from the right. At far left is the visual cortex, connected by a large bundle, green, which connects to the frontal lobes. At centre, the vertical pathways in blue serve voluntary movement, connecting the motor areas of the brain with the spinal cord and muscles. The green path at centre is the right cingulum bundle, here seen from the side. The cerebellum, which controls coordinated movement, can be seen at bottom left.

via BBC News)

Wilton M. Krogman, The Scars of Human Evolution, Scientific...

Mon, 18 Feb 2013 16:00:20 +0000

Wilton M. Krogman, The Scars of Human Evolution, Scientific American 1951.

Nematode, from The Yearbook of the Department of Agriculture...

Mon, 18 Feb 2013 08:24:20 +0000

Nematode, from The Yearbook of the Department of Agriculture via @JenniferFrazer