Come with me to a zoo. Not your usual zoo of animals in cages and corrals. This zoo is displayed on a fold-out chart in the 1999 annual genome issue of the journal Science.
Articles with Genetics
More closely related to a chimpanzee than a shark • Photo by Jen Milius on Unsplash
Image by Pixabay (Public Domain)
Does the world need smarter mice?
When Mrs. Little’s adopted son arrived at the family home in New York City, everybody noticed that he was not much bigger than a mouse.
Photo by Jelleke Vanooteghem on Unsplash
To nurture or nature?
Back when I was starting out in science and parenthood, more or less simultaneously, behaviorism was all the rage: Provide the right stimulus, you’ll get the right response.
Joseph Merrick in 1889
Nature’s perfect imperfections
On my desk is a blueberry gall, given to me by a student who wanted to know what it was.
Photo by Hadis Safari on Unsplash
Beastly idea: beauty’s only gene deep
Beauty, having replaced her father in the palace of the Beast, sat down to table. The board was spread with dainty morsels of every kind and delicious drinks.
Detail from Goya's “The Disasters of War”
The evil that men do
If I remember rightly, I was about 12 years old when I first came across Francisco Goya’s collection of etchings called The Disasters of War.
Caenorhabditis elegans • Image by Bob Goldstein, UNC Chapel Hill (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Making a new Methuselah
An Irish proverb describes life this way: “Twenty years a‑growing. Twenty years in bloom. Twenty years fading. Twenty years a‑dying.”
Tiger salamander • Photo by Peter Paplanus (CC BY 2.0)
What humans can do that salamanders cannot
On the planet of a yellow star in the outer arms of a spiral galaxy live a race of creatures called Manders.
Photo by Miguel Discart (CC BY-SA 2.0)
On aggression, wimpy fish and professional wrestling
My flight was delayed. I slipped into a booth at the airport lounge and ordered a beer to pass the time. Pro wrestling was on the big TV over the bar. A half-dozen men perched on bar stools watched the action, whooping it up with each eye gouge or knee to the groin.
Photo by Lomig on Unsplash
Just dial ‘N’ to order an offspring with ‘niceness’
Are you ready for this? Sperm sorting. I’m not kidding.