Biological Sciences

(MoonToad/12835) I don't see how pinching wouldn't work for a woody plant. It's ...

MoonToad@rss.iscabbs.com — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 12:09:00 -0600

I don't see how pinching wouldn't work for a woody plant.  It's how I manage my
bonsai, which are adult woody trees

(Dugie/12834) Not sure about the pinching thing... i'm just not that familiar ...

Dugie@rss.iscabbs.com — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 14:50:00 -0600

Not sure about the pinching thing... i'm just not that familiar with Ficus
biology and development. I don't know how that works for woody plants...

I need to do some research online here.

The big boy -was- repotted, and I have started gertilizing it, er, fertilizing.
and gave it a shower. It's doing so great that I wanna make it do greater
faster, and design its growth if possible.

(MoonToad/12833) What about pinching back the new growth on existing branches, wo...

MoonToad@rss.iscabbs.com — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 04:11:00 -0600

What about pinching back the new growth on existing branches, would that
encourage new growth?

(SledgeHammer/12832) There are hormones you could apply, but it's easier just to repo...

SledgeHammer@rss.iscabbs.com — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 20:15:00 -0600

There are hormones you could apply, but it's easier just to repot, fertilize,
and water adequately.

(Dugie/12831) Xposted from Better Farms and Gardens>

Dugie@rss.iscabbs.com — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 07:33:00 -0600

Xposted from Better Farms and Gardens>
"I have a fig (Ficus sp.) tree. It WAS doing horribly with lack of attention
and
construction dust choking its leaves, as well as cats tearing at its bark.
About 2-3 weeks ago, I gave it a shower (the thing stands about 12ft high)...
and have been watering it consistently. It's doing MUCH better, and growing new
branches and leaves. I have noticed some entirely NEW branches which I did not
expect.

My query is: Can I somehow encourage the growth of entirely new branches to get
the tree back to its former glory (again, we're well on the way, but I'd like
to direct it...)

For instance, can a nick the bark and out a branch will come (perhaps with the
assistance of a powdered hormone), can I attempt grafting (i.e., remove a
healthy young branch and insert it elsewhere to create desired shape? Fig trees
have many tiny 'pimples', and that seems where the branches grow from... How
can I trick it to putting one "there" as opposed to "there..." "

(Gespalder/12830) All I can say is WOW

Gespalder@rss.iscabbs.com — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 02:09:00 -0600

All I can say is WOW


Four years, 80 people, one million spiders and one cape

The main star of a project by Englishman Simon Peers were the female Golden Orb
spiders in the highlands of Madagascar. A cape made completely out of spider
silk took four years to make. On average it takes 23,000 spiders to gather 1
ounce of silk. The one of a kind cap is now on display at the Victoria and
Albert Museum in London. The cape is golden because the silk extracted from the
spider is a naturally golden color.

(Xenos/12829) No I know, I'm only worrying about flowering plants :-) Thanks,...

Xenos@rss.iscabbs.com — Sun, 08 May 2011 12:16:00 -0500

No I know, I'm only worrying about flowering plants :-)  Thanks, I think I have
enough now not to inspire any great misconceptions at least!

(MoonToad/12828) If it helps, think of the ovule as the structure that creates an...

MoonToad@rss.iscabbs.com — Sun, 08 May 2011 12:06:00 -0500

If it helps, think of the ovule as the structure that creates and contains the
eggs.  Also, the basic explanation I gave was for flowering plants.  It's
different for  different types of plants, just like for animals it's different
for mammals and birds and reptiles.  Also, some things have been left out that
belong in the ovule of a flowering plant, but you have the basics.

(Xenos/12827) Yes I think you have... my main problem was the difference betwe...

Xenos@rss.iscabbs.com — Sun, 08 May 2011 07:42:00 -0500

Yes I think you have... my main problem was the difference between ovule and
egg.  Some places say (or imply) they're the same thing, but others suggest
they are different things.  I want to be clear in my own head.  But what you've
said is that there's a egg cell in the ovule, so that's quite clear.  It's just
that, unlike in animal reproduction, there are two sperm cells and one joins
with the egg while the other joins with another, different, cell.  It's also
useful to know that the pollen grain isn't exactly analogous with sperm; it
-contains- sperm cells.

(MoonToad/12826) I assume you're talking flowering plants (angiosperms)?

MoonToad@rss.iscabbs.com — Sat, 07 May 2011 15:27:00 -0500

I assume you're talking flowering plants (angiosperms)?

http://www.prairiefrontier.com/pages/flwrfamlys.html   Scroll just a smidge for
a pretty picture!  It has a diagram of a flower.

The pollen from the anther
lands on the stigma (it has a sticky layer on the flat portion).  The pollen
tube germinates from the grain of pollen, and it grows through the stigma, the
style, and the ovary where it is guided to the opening at one end of the ovule.
There is an egg cell in the ovule, and two synergid cells to either side of the
egg cell.  The pollen tube grows into one of the
synergid cells, which is degenerating.  The tube stops growing, ruptures, and
releases two sperm cells.  One migrates to the egg cell and creates the embryo,
the other migrates to the remaining synergid cell and makes the endosperm.

You know, after writing that, I'm entirely unsure that I answered your
question.

(Xenos/12825) I'm a chemist not a biologist, and I'm trying to get my head aro...

Xenos@rss.iscabbs.com — Sat, 07 May 2011 09:10:00 -0500

I'm a chemist not a biologist, and I'm trying to get my head around simple
plant reproduction :-S

Is this right?

So... the pollen grain reaches the stigma, where it grows a pollen tube through
the style down to the ovary of the plant.  In the ovary there are ovules, and
in the ovules there are eggs.  Once the nucleus of the pollen cell reaches the
egg, fertilisation occurs and the ovule ultimately turns into a seed.

I'm mainly having trouble with the difference between ovule, ovary and ovum
(egg?), and I just want to check I'm not misusing the terms :-)

(Dugie/12824) Weastern.

Dugie@rss.iscabbs.com — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 15:49:00 -0600

Weastern.

 ...or is it just Stern.  Perhaps, Howardicus Sternus.

(Gespalder/12823) So both classifications are still used?

Gespalder@rss.iscabbs.com — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 15:33:00 -0600

So both classifications are still used?
And when Western and Eastern interbreed what are the offspring? Western or
Eastern?

(Shag/12822) A quick goo indicates all the tiger swallowtails were originaly ...

Shag@rss.iscabbs.com — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 05:41:00 -0600

A quick goo indicates all the tiger swallowtails were originaly classified in
genus Pterourus and then later in Papilio.

(Gespalder/12821) Why does the Western Tiger Swallowtail butterfly have 2 scientif...

Gespalder@rss.iscabbs.com — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 01:11:00 -0600

Why does the Western Tiger Swallowtail butterfly have 2 scientific names?

(Another Yossarian/12820) Sledge is my hero. I somehow managed to find a store around her...

Another Yossarian@rss.iscabbs.com — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 09:31:00 -0600

Sledge is my hero.  I somehow managed to find a store around here that still
had pool chemicals on the shelves.  They had several little bottles of phenol
red for about $2 each.  I bought 3 and used about half of one.  AND, it sounds
like making my final solution was 1000x easier than using the powder.  WOO!
Bonus grad points for me!

(Dugie/12819) Hm... a CO2 monitor of sorts would work.. enclose the plant and ...

Dugie@rss.iscabbs.com — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 09:30:00 -0600

Hm... a CO2 monitor of sorts would work.. enclose the plant and place the probe
inside.  Or a glass of water, and use a liquid CO2 monitor.

(Another Yossarian/12818) Sledge, if this works, you've just scored me major graduate poin...

Another Yossarian@rss.iscabbs.com — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 20:50:00 -0600

Sledge, if this works, you've just scored me major graduate points.  Now,
hopefully somewhere still has pool chemicals in stock in the middle of a
midwest winter...  Thanks!

Oh, and to answer Aztech's question, I'm looking for a dye that will change
color in the presence of CO2, like phenol red would.  We're doing an experiment
in plant lab and need to show CO2 being produced. While pH paper would work, we
were trying for the more dramatic color change.  Unfortunately, the stock room
was out of phenol red.  (They have every other color/dye imaginable, but no
phenol red.)

(SledgeHammer/12817) I see what Aztech is getting at. Cabbage red would work, as woul...

SledgeHammer@rss.iscabbs.com — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 19:12:00 -0600

I see what Aztech is getting at. Cabbage red would work, as would lime (bubble
gas through lime solution, get cloudiness from CO2).

However, the "Guardex solution #2" in pool chemical kits- used for measuring
pH- is also phenol red. Should be able to get that at any Wal-Mart or other
store that has pool chemicals.

(Aztech/12816) The dye itself has to react with CO2, or just has to have a colo...

Aztech@rss.iscabbs.com — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 19:08:00 -0600

The dye itself has to react with CO2, or just has to have a color change in the
bicarb pH range?

(Another Yossarian/12815) In a bind for tomorrow... Anyone know of an indicator dye that ...

Another Yossarian@rss.iscabbs.com — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 16:40:00 -0600

In a bind for tomorrow...  Anyone know of an indicator dye that can be used in
place of phenol red?  It needs to be something that reacts with carbon dioxide.
 Figures it's the one thing the stock room is out of...  TIA

(Xenos/12814 Forum Moderator) And now returning you to your regular FM... :-)

Xenos@rss.iscabbs.com — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 10:04:00 -0600

And now returning you to your regular FM... :-)

(Aztech/12813) Cool. I figured it was a combination of the ear focusing and th...

Aztech@rss.iscabbs.com — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 18:35:00 -0600

Cool.  I figured it was a combination of the ear focusing and the hair cells,
but it was something I had never stopped and thought about before.

Which is always fun.  :)

(SledgeHammer/12812) An interesting comparison of the hearing range of a variety of s...

SledgeHammer@rss.iscabbs.com — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 12:42:00 -0600

An interesting comparison of the hearing range of a variety of species:

http://www.lsu.edu/deafness/HearingRange.html

(MoonToad/12811) There's a couple reasons. One is their ears are mobile, so they...

MoonToad@rss.iscabbs.com — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 12:00:00 -0600

There's a couple reasons.  One is their ears are mobile, so they can move them
in the direction of sound and that helps them gather sound better than humans
can, and it helps them locate things by sound easier.  The dog prototype has
ears that are shaped to gather sound better, too (it's only our selective
breeding that gives them floppy ears, left on their own dogs tend to revert to
a prick ear shape).

Dogs can hear both higher frequencies, and they hear softer sounds better than
humans.  Sounds humans are fine with can be too loud for dogs.  I would suspect
that as for them being able to hear high pitches better than humans, it has to
do with the hair cells.  When humans lose their hearing as they age, high
pitches are usually the first thing to go, and it's documented that damage to
the hair cells is a cause for the hearing loss.

(Aztech/12810) I was watching something on PBS this week about dogs. They made...

Aztech@rss.iscabbs.com — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 09:03:00 -0600

I was watching something on PBS this week about dogs.  They made a comment
about how their hearing is so much better than humans'.

Which made me wonder: what is the physical basis for better hearing?  Do their
ears have more (or more sensitive) cilia?  Are their ears better at
focusing/harvesting sound waves?  Something else?

(Lightning/12809 Sysop) Xenos will be filling in as your temporary FM.

Lightning@rss.iscabbs.com — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 20:41:00 -0600

Xenos will be filling in as your temporary FM.

(Xenos/12808) I was listening to the Naked Scientist podcast the other day an...

Xenos@rss.iscabbs.com — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 12:37:00 -0500

I was listening to the Naked Scientist podcast the other day  and someone asked
why the left hand side of the brain controls the right hand side of the body,
and vice versa (http://bit.ly/aPh8x3 OR
http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/content/latest-questions/question/2676/)

The neuroscientist that answered it made several interesting points, and one
was that scientists have been thinking theoretically about how can you wire up
a clever brain just on first principles, and decided that probably, its useful
to wire things crossed over because it reduces the liklihood of 'wiring
errors'.

Anyway, I thought of it because you might imagine there'd be a logic to having
both hands controlled by the same bit of the brain.  After all they both carry
out the same sorts of actions.  But they're not, your right hand is controlled
by the left-hand side of your brain and vice versa.

And it maybe just that in the majority of people one half of the brain is
better at managing the fine motor control, and so that hand becomes dominant.
So basically what I'm saying is it's just an artefact that arises from the way
our brains are put together.

(MoonToad/12807) http://pages.prodigy.net/unohu/dominance.htm

MoonToad@rss.iscabbs.com — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 20:27:00 -0500

http://pages.prodigy.net/unohu/dominance.htm

This is an interesting site on laterality, and it has a bunch of links as
sources.  I haven't checked the links.

(Egregious/12806) I view handedness as a specialization, which evolution tends to

Egregious@rss.iscabbs.com — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 07:24:00 -0500


I view handedness as a specialization, which evolution tends to
reward.  (Well, until it doesn't.)

In role-playing terms, if you can punch for 5HP with your left hand or
right hand, and I can punch for 2HP with my left hand and 8HP with my
right hand, I can kill you before you kill me.

(Giraffe/12805) Is there an evolutionary advantage to handedness? You would thi...

Giraffe@rss.iscabbs.com — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 07:00:00 -0500

Is there an evolutionary advantage to handedness?  You would think,
particularly if we are descended from arborial mammals, that ambidexterity
would be rather important. Are there any thoughts on that among biologists that
study such things?

(SledgeHammer/12804) Anyone in here do much work with anaerobes? I need some pointers...

SledgeHammer@rss.iscabbs.com — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 11:34:00 -0500

Anyone in here do much work with anaerobes? I need some pointers on technique.

(Another Yossarian/12803 Forum Moderator) Hey all, Xenos is manning the post while I check out the natural...

Another Yossarian@rss.iscabbs.com — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 19:21:00 -0500

Hey all, Xenos is manning the post while I check out the natural history of
Northern Wisconsin!  Play nice!

(Aztech/12802) I don't know all of the cases, but one of the most common is whe...

Aztech@rss.iscabbs.com — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 13:20:00 -0500

I don't know all of the cases, but one of the most common is where the
recessive version is functionally weaker in some way.  If you have a strong
signal that is sufficient for "normal" even at one copy level, then DD or Dd is
going to look the same.  It would only be with dd would you get some kind of
different phenotype.

This can also be the case with a dominant negative mutation, where the
wild-type version winds up being "recessive" due to the effects of the mutant.

I want to say that they're trying to use a dominant negative effect against...
anthrax toxin?  Some kind of toxin anyway, that oligomerizes to form a pore for
transport of something else.  The idea is that a dominant negative mutant
monomer could be injected and prevent pore formation, thereby preventing the
lethal effect of the toxin.

(Steppenwolf/12801) What is the biological process that determines when one gene is ...

Steppenwolf@rss.iscabbs.com — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 09:15:00 -0500

What is the biological process that determines when one gene is dominant and
the other recessive?

(SledgeHammer/12800) I've tried that. Doesn't work. It seems they have to go forward.

SledgeHammer@rss.iscabbs.com — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 16:27:00 -0500

I've tried that. Doesn't work. It seems they have to go forward.

(Dugie/12799) Ah, Raubvogel, I misinterpreted your original question... you wa...

Dugie@rss.iscabbs.com — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 16:19:00 -0500

Ah, Raubvogel, I misinterpreted your original question... you wanted to know:

"In moving an animal forward through the water, which is the more efficient
design: vertical caudal fins such as in fish, or horizontal caudal fins such as
in mammals.."

*beep beep beep* I thought you were wanting to move the beast in reverse!

(Diarmid/12798) Since bluefin tuna and mako sharks are known to be among the fas...

Diarmid@rss.iscabbs.com — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 03:02:00 -0500

Since bluefin tuna and mako sharks are known to be among the fastest of all sea
dwellers I would think their design is the way to go.

(Aztech/12794) Bleys>

Aztech@rss.iscabbs.com — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 14:27:00 -0500

Bleys>

Wouldn't steering fins be the main driver of how fast something could change
direction in the plane perpendicular to the tailfin plane?

Kinda like how it's the wingflaps that determine the up and down with an
airplane, since the jet or prop is just providing forward thrust?

((Unknown ISCABBS User)/12793) I'm going to be wishy-washy and say that it depends on which pla...

(Unknown ISCABBS User)@rss.iscabbs.com — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 12:33:00 -0500

I'm going to be wishy-washy and say that it depends on which plane you 
want to make quick changes in the most.  My gut says they'll both be 
about the same for moving straight ahead.  Fish, I'll bet have the 
advantage in changing direction left or right.  Mammals, up and down.

However, my intuition on these things has let me down before.  ;)

(Dugie/12792) ... I'm going to put in an educated guess here and say vertical,...

Dugie@rss.iscabbs.com — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 11:58:00 -0500

... I'm going to put in an educated guess here and say vertical, as in the case
of say, a knife fish (and others like them), which can very quickly move
backward over distance via a long, undulating set of dorsal and ventral fins.

(Raubvogel/12791) What is the most efficent rear/propulsion fin layout: horizontal

Raubvogel@rss.iscabbs.com — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 10:00:00 -0500

        What is the most efficent rear/propulsion fin layout: horizontal
fins as used in mammals or vertical as in fish?

(Another Yossarian/12790 Forum Moderator) While I am off to explore the flora and fauna of Northern Wiscon...

Another Yossarian@rss.iscabbs.com — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 19:40:00 -0500

While I am off to explore the flora and fauna of Northern Wisconsin,
JuggernautXL will be keeping an eye on things.  Not that there's anything going
on (hint, hint), but continue playing nicely (just not in the corners by
yourselves!).

((Unknown ISCABBS User)/12789) This is really cool

(Unknown ISCABBS User)@rss.iscabbs.com — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 03:08:00 -0500

This is really cool
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32388708/ns/technology_and_science-science/

(SledgeHammer/12788) Yeah- some poikilotherms can do that. Turtles for certain. For s...

SledgeHammer@rss.iscabbs.com — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 12:59:00 -0500

        Yeah- some poikilotherms can do that. Turtles for certain. For some,
the genetic "decision" is presumably epigenetic, and can switch between the
two, particularly when one gender or the other gets scarce.
        We know it's epigenetic in some plants that have "genders." Some
orchids can have male and female flowers on the same inflorescence. Most (all?)
cycads are male or female, and one of my buddies did some work with chemically
"changing" that. Ditto with nepenthes, the tropical pitcher plants; this is of
importance with one species that is known from three male clonal lines, and
(possibly) one female clonal line. There's been some interest in getting one of
the male lines to throw female flowers so a little more genetic diversity can
be inspired; there's some doubt the one female line is actually the pure
species, and not a hybrid.

(Aztech/12787) Don't forget animals like (I think) alligators, where the temper...

Aztech@rss.iscabbs.com — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 20:49:00 -0500

Don't forget animals like (I think) alligators, where the temperature of the
eggs during development determines the gender.

(SledgeHammer/12786) Bugs don't rely on dinged-up chromosomes to determine their gend...

SledgeHammer@rss.iscabbs.com — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 19:55:00 -0500

        Bugs don't rely on dinged-up chromosomes to determine their gender or
(in the case of social insects) role in life. It's not even the case with all
mammals. With bees, it's more diffuse- sex genes are shot throughout their
chromosomes.

(Another Yossarian/12785) Need some help with a genetics question...

Another Yossarian@rss.iscabbs.com — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 19:45:00 -0500

Need some help with a genetics question...

Now, I'm only really familiar with human genetics which says the female
contributes the X sex chromosome and the male contributes either an X or a Y
determining sex.  Right?

I just read somewhere that in bees, if the queen is gone, some of the workers
will begin to produce unfertilized eggs (since they've never taken a mating
flight like the queen).  Because of this, all their eggs will become drones (or
males).

How is this possible?  Shouldn't an unfertilized egg be an exact clone of its
mother?

(Giraffe/12784) But can she get a taxi?

Giraffe@rss.iscabbs.com — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 05:02:00 -0600

But can she get a taxi?

(Gespalder/12783) Bonnie, an Orangatan at the National Zoo in Washington D.C. has ...

Gespalder@rss.iscabbs.com — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 00:19:00 -0600

Bonnie, an Orangatan at the National Zoo in Washington D.C. has learned to
whistle on her own. It is said to be a first.

(Egregious/12782) Huh, learn something every day. The current way that pre-implan...

Egregious@rss.iscabbs.com — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 06:50:00 -0600


Huh, learn something every day.  The current way that pre-implantation genetic
diagnosis is done, from what I gather, is to fertilize eggs with sperm and then
examine the resulting embryos for whatever genetic profiles you want (usually
stuff like Tay-Sachs or Downs).

It's pretty invasive, and there are ethical considerations about creating
embryos.  If one could somehow isolate the sperm with the specific markers
that are needed and do artificial insemination, it's much less invasive,
and many (although of course not all) of the ethical issues are addressed.

I assumed we don't have anywhere near that level of technology as of yet
required to do this.  Glad I got that one right at least.

(Another Yossarian/12781) You can also "assist" the gender selection by the timing of inte...

Another Yossarian@rss.iscabbs.com — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 16:57:00 -0600

You can also "assist" the gender selection by the timing of intercourse.  Since
the Y sperm are smaller and lighter, they will get to the egg faster than the
heavier X sperm.  So, timing sex as close to ovulation as possible will cause a
greater liklihood of male babies.  (At least, according to my infertility docs)

(SledgeHammer/12780) Aaaaand then there's transposons, too. And on top of the genotyp...

SledgeHammer@rss.iscabbs.com — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 15:57:00 -0600

        Aaaaand then there's transposons, too. And on top of the genotype,
there are epigenetic considerations like gene silencing. So, it's more than
just a mitotic do-si-do.

(Aztech/12779) In a perfectly Mendelian situation, yeah, you have the standard ...

Aztech@rss.iscabbs.com — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 13:14:00 -0600

In a perfectly Mendelian situation, yeah, you have the standard Punnett square
situation on genes (D1M1, D2M1, D1M2, D2M2).

But recombination isn't perfect:  you don't get perfect scrambling of each and
every single gene between the two copies (one on each chromosome) before you
get the single-chromosome gamete.  So, if you have A1B1C1D1E1 genes on one
chromosome, and A2B2C2D2E2 on the other chromosome, you're more likely to get
something like A1B1C1D2E2 rather than something like A1B2C1D2E1.  The fact that
you tend to inherit chunks from chromosomes is one of the things that makes
gene hunting using the SNP map (single-nucleotide-polymorphism) possible:  if
persons A, B, and C have a disease and share SNP53, then the gene (or one of
the genes) responsible is likely to be near to SNP53 on whatever chromosome. 
If nothing else, it narrows down the possibilities.


For sex determination, yeah, XX and XY are the "standard" ones, but you can get
cases where an egg or sperm gets two copies rather than just one, or something
else where you can get a person where their secondary sex characteristics don't
match their genetic sex.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_chromosome_disorders

(Xenos/12778) Well, gametes (sperm and eggs) have half the number of chromosom...

Xenos@rss.iscabbs.com — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 12:25:00 -0600

Well, gametes (sperm and eggs) have half the number of chromosomes of normal
cells.  My limited understanding of this is that which half is random.  But
gender is complicated and is actually determined by lots and lots of genes on
two chromosomes (the XX or XY chromosomes).  Sperm has either X or Y; eggs have
only X.  It's a lot easier to pick out a change in a whole chromosome than to
look for a difference of one gene.  Selecting, say, Y chromosome sperm is going
to be orders of magnitude easier than finding say, blue eye gene sperm.  And
you'd need to consider the egg too in that case.

(Egregious/12777) They probably covered this in biology class but I slept through ...

Egregious@rss.iscabbs.com — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 12:10:00 -0600


They probably covered this in biology class but I slept through it.

When is a person's DNA determined?

I was thinking that sperm meets egg and then one of each parents' genes
gets randomly given to the kid.

So if Dad's sperm has genes D1D2 and Mom's egg has genes M1M2, the kid
has a 1 in 4 chance of being each of D1M1 D1M2 D2M1 D2M2.

However, I remember hearing that one can influence sex selection by
interfering with sperm.  The sperm with the X-chromosome are
distinguishable from the sperm with the Y-chromosome by weight, and
you can mess with them in a lab to noticeably change the odds of getting
one sex or the other.

That implies that selection -- at least some of it -- happens long
before sperm meets egg.  Some sperm makes boys and some makes girls.
Is this true for other traits, like bloodtype?

Let's say Dad has one allele for bloodtype A and one allele for
bloodtype O.  Assuming you had good enough technology, could you find
each sperm that had the O and make sure only those got near the egg?

Or is X-versus-Y chromosome selection different from others?  If so, why?

(Pluck Duck/12776) RIIIIIGHT....because CLEARLY anyone of a certain IQ percentage w...

Pluck Duck@rss.iscabbs.com — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 13:08:00 -0600

RIIIIIGHT....because CLEARLY anyone of a certain IQ percentage would disavow
religious teachings.



or not.

I would argue that there are likely many, many creationists who are more
intelligent than either you or myself. They are simply ignorant of many of the
facts on this topic. But if it makes you feel better to label anyone who is
ignorant on a topic you think is clean cut stupid then have at it.


What's weird is that apparently I've somehow become MORE intelligent over the
last four years since I've moved from being a fundamentalist who believes in
creationism to a non-fundamentalist who believes in evolution.

No wait...I'm like just as intelligent as before, only less ignorant on the
topic since I started actually reading up on it.

(Giraffe/12775) Are you suprised that 1/3 of the population is of below-average ...

Giraffe@rss.iscabbs.com — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 09:20:00 -0600

Are you suprised that 1/3 of the population is of below-average intelligence?
Or are you surprised that it was so easy to identify them?

(Pluck Duck/12774) Hmm...I have no problem with the fact that many in Britain belie...

Pluck Duck@rss.iscabbs.com — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 08:27:00 -0600

Hmm...I have no problem with the fact that many in Britain believe that
evolution alone doesn't really account for the amazing diversity we find in
nature. I mean, you can believe in evolutionary science and still think that,
given the incredible complexity and beauty in nature there was some other
force at work THROUGH evolution and still be an educated, scientific, rational
thinker in my view.

The idea that nearly 1/3 of British people polled think the world is less than
10,000 years old is a bit concerning for me, though.

(Xenos/12773) Cross-posting from Check>

Xenos@rss.iscabbs.com — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 02:11:00 -0600

Cross-posting from Check>

Belief in creationism is widespread in Britain, according to a new survey.
http://tinyurl.com/creationpoll

And for the other side of the argument:
http://tinyurl.com/focusmag
Has an article called 'How to win an argument with a creationist' on page 12.

No nudity, work safe.  The magazine is a bit slow to load because it's a lot of
content, so don't try from a slow connection.

((Unknown ISCABBS User)/12772) I know this is a bit late, but you could do serial dilutions and...

(Unknown ISCABBS User)@rss.iscabbs.com — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 21:37:00 -0600

I know this is a bit late, but you could do serial dilutions and than count the
number of colony forming units of an aliquot of each dilution on a plate.

(SledgeHammer/12771) Ah- but this is the other way around. I expect either enhancemen...

SledgeHammer@rss.iscabbs.com — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 20:31:00 -0600

        Ah- but this is the other way around. I expect either enhancement of
growth, or inhibition.
        The disks I'm familiar with, and I'm going to be running some
antibiotic resistance experiments, too- but they are separate. The first one is
with SLS. The second set of experiments is with some macrolide antibiotics for
which there are no disks available, or Etest strips, either, best as I can see.
So, for those, I will probably have to make some broth cultures with antibiotic
dilutions, or (more likely) some plates.

(Aztech/12770) Look up information on antibiotic filter disc assays.

Aztech@rss.iscabbs.com — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 17:26:00 -0600

Look up information on antibiotic filter disc assays.

In most cases, culture is spread on an agar plate, filter paper discs
inoculated with a given concentration of an antibiotic are placed on the agar
plate.  If the concentration kills or strongly inhibits growth, there will be a
clear (or at least less dense) area around the given disc.


Alternatively, you can buy deep-well microtiter plates, in 24, 48, or 96 wells.
Many of them have clear bottoms, so you could do a standard OD600 reading
through the culture.

And they come with lids that can ensure the culture stays in place while on a
shaker overnight.  Alternatively, you can put clear tape across the top (though
there may be issues with oxygen depletion), or, I think, even a few kinds of
gas-permeable tape on the market.

(SledgeHammer/12769) Other than broth cultures on a shaker table, is there way way to

SledgeHammer@rss.iscabbs.com — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 08:29:00 -0600

        Other than broth cultures on a shaker table, is there way way to
effectively gauge the influence on growth of a compound added to bacterial
cultures?
        I was going to add a fixed concentration of a given compound to broth
cultures of a bacterium, and gauge their growth relative to control cultures
using optical density. Is there another way by which this is performed in
microbiology?

(Gespalder/12768) http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/12/16/semen-intelligence.html

Gespalder@rss.iscabbs.com — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 19:44:00 -0600

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/12/16/semen-intelligence.html

Semen Quality Linked to Intelligence
Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News

Measuring Fitness
Measuring Fitness | Discovery News Video


Dec. 15, 2008 -- Past studies have linked an individual's intelligence to his
or her height, cardiovascular function and longevity, but now a new study
suggests semen quality may be added to that list, since it also appears to help
predict the level of a man's intelligence.

The findings as a whole suggest that both intelligence and semen quality are
fitness traits -- characteristics evolved to promote survival -- that are
influenced by genetics.

Other studies on twins of both sexes, and on adopted individuals, have
demonstrated that, by middle age, a person's smarts are highly influenced, and
at least partially predicted, by genetic makeup.

Brain activity and semen quality would seem to have little connection, but
that's one reason why lead author Rosalind Arden, a King's College London
researcher, and her team decided to study a possible link.

Related Content:

Dino Intelligence: Dim to Somewhat Smart
Video: Brain Power
Animal Intelligence Resists Definition



"Scientists know that intelligence is correlated with many other
characteristics, but the reason is a puzzle," Arden told Discovery News. "We
chose a trait -- sperm quality -- that seems to be quite unrelated to
intelligence to test our general idea."

She and her colleagues analyzed data gathered on thousands of U.S. Army
veterans enrolled in the Vietnam Experience Study conducted by the U.S. Centers
for Disease Control in 1985. Out of 4,462 study participants, 425 provided
semen samples that were scientifically evaluated at the time.

The men also took five I.Q.-measuring tests. Arden's team used computer
analysis to study that data, along with the semen determinations. The
researchers found that a man's intelligence positively correlated with three
key indicators of his semen quality: sperm concentration, sperm count and sperm
motility.

The findings have been accepted for publication in the journal Intelligence.

"Most genes probably affect multiple traits -- this is strongly supported
experimentally," Arden explained, saying that we all carry genetic mutations at
varying levels.

"Aside from the number of mutations we carry, their harmfulness varies," she
added. "The specific mutations we carry are also on our lottery ticket."

This genetic "lottery ticket," as she calls it, may then lead to an overall
level of fitness that seems to affect all aspects of a person, including brain
and sexual organ function.

"Sometimes people are surprised that intelligence can be measured because it
seems to be such a diverse quality," she said. "But beauty is a diverse quality
too. The celebrated beauty of the actors Gong Li or Angelina Joli stand out,
but their loveliness is not just in the nose or the angle of the cheekbones."

Like beauty, Arden believes intelligence is both a fitness and a summary trait,
meaning that our perception of it is comprised of many different components.
Braininess is additionally influenced by a person's environment, quality of
education, health care, dedication to studies, accidents and illness that could
impair thinking and more.

"It's crucial to understand that nobody claims intelligence is all that
counts," she said. "Intelligence, like beauty, may be 'bundled' with avarice,
vanity and deceit. Lack of intelligence may be 'bundled' with compassion,
virtue and generosity. Neither biological fitness nor intelligence capture all
of what we value and esteem about others."

David Buss, a professor of psychology at the University of Texas at Austin,
told Discovery News that the new study is "fascinating" and may be "the first
of its kind."

Related Links:

How Stuff Works: Is emotional intelligence a better indicator of brain health
than IQ?

Jennifer Viegas' Blog: Born Animal

Vietnam Experience Study

(SledgeHammer/12767) Just as an update- thanks to a lot of questions in X's fielded b...

SledgeHammer@rss.iscabbs.com — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 15:56:00 -0600

        Just as an update- thanks to a lot of questions in X's fielded by
Aztech, I think I'm ready for this. I have two plate readers coming, and the
various components that I need for my research will be arriving shortly.
Nothing like learning ELISAs- I brought home the two books from the library on
the subject. Unfortunately, they're a little dated (mid-1990's), and it's tough
to tell if there have been any radical advancements that render pieces of those
manuals old and outdated or not.

(Aztech/12766) Actually, the densitometer-ish thing I've used in the past is a ...

Aztech@rss.iscabbs.com — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 15:03:00 -0600

Actually, the densitometer-ish thing I've used in the past is a Bio-Rad model:
from looking at their website right now, I think it was the Molecular Imager
GS-800 Calibrated Densitometer.

If not, it was something similar.  The nice thing about it is that you didn't
have to use film:  just slap a wet gel down on the scanner, or a Western, and
it would digitally process the image for you.  The software would output (I
think) an Excel sheet of the band density values as one of the optional
settings.

The only issue I can see, really, is making sure that your primary antibody is
specific.  I'm not aware of what anti-bacterial-strain-X antibodies are on the
market:  I could see there being, say, an anti-peptidoglycan antibody, but that
would just test for bacteria in general.


Or, since you mentioned pure culture, are you planning on growing the bacteria
and making your own antibodies?  Or do you have a source for
Klebsiella-specific antibodies already?

(SledgeHammer/12765) Alas, no densiometer. But I could beg/borrow/steal time on one, ...

SledgeHammer@rss.iscabbs.com — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 14:24:00 -0600

        Alas, no densiometer. But I could beg/borrow/steal time on one, as that
relies upon film and, therefore, would be essentially permanent. But- maybe i
am mistaken- if I'm looking for antibodies in blood serum to a given bacterium
(and I can grow the bacterium in pure culture), wouldn't an ELISA be slightly
easier?

(Aztech/12764) Well, most ELISAs have an arbitrary endpoint: you bind the prim...

Aztech@rss.iscabbs.com — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 03:18:00 -0600

Well, most ELISAs have an arbitrary endpoint:  you bind the primary, then the
secondary, then add the colorimetric or fluorescent substrate and let the
protein conjugated to the second antibody (alkaline phosphatase, for example)
chew away at the substrate and give your readout.  At timepoint X (5 min, or
whatever), you stop the reaction by washing away the substrate (sometimes in
conjunction with a quencher, such as phosphate buffer, in the case of alkaline
phosphatase), and then read on the plate.

But this is the same sort of thing as a Western, and if you have a
densitometer, you can get quantification of the darkness of the band or lane.

(SledgeHammer/12763) Gels? No; I'm planning on using microplates. I haven't seen any

SledgeHammer@rss.iscabbs.com — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 19:48:00 -0600

        Gels? No; I'm planning on using microplates. I haven't seen any
techniques involving Westerns or other blots. I also need to quantify the
reaction to see if the antibody concentration drops over time- and my
understanding is that the plate reader will allow me to do that.

(Aztech/12762) Are you sure you need an ELISA? It sounds more like you're tryi...

Aztech@rss.iscabbs.com — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 17:57:00 -0600

Are you sure you need an ELISA?  It sounds more like you're trying to do a
Western, but without blotting it onto a membrane.  In other words, is there a
reason you're keeping it in the gel?

You can still titrate the primary antibody concentration in the first step.

(SledgeHammer/12761) Klebsiella. E. coli is such a close cousin- or, hell, anything i...

SledgeHammer@rss.iscabbs.com — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 13:23:00 -0600

        Klebsiella. E. coli is such a close cousin- or, hell, anything in the
Enterobacteraceae would do. I just need a nice, tight protocol- start to
finish- for running antigens in blood sera to K. pneumoniae. I have a couple of
really old ones from some papers, but I'd prefer a newer one as I simply don't
have the mad skillz to update it myself.

(Disappearing Boy/12760) ELISA>

Disappearing Boy@rss.iscabbs.com — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 02:10:00 -0600

ELISA>
what type of organism are we talking about?  Plenty of people use whole cell
lysates from bugs or yeasties or cell culture as controls in any number of
high throughput applications, but controls are the bitch of it.

(SledgeHammer/12759) Anyone here with experience in gel ELISAs?

SledgeHammer@rss.iscabbs.com — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 21:12:00 -0600

        Anyone here with experience in gel ELISAs?
        Is it possible to do one with live organism (or killed, whatever) in
one well, and sera from a host to determine if there are antigens to the
organism in the sera of the host? I'm only vaguely familiar with them.

(SledgeHammer/12758) Tragically, I am no longer affiliated at the University level, a...

SledgeHammer@rss.iscabbs.com — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 11:32:00 -0600

        Tragically, I am no longer affiliated at the University level, and
Fisher won't sell to individuals! But- I have found a company willing to sell
me a similar test kit, made in Denmark. :)

((Unknown ISCABBS User)/12757) Fisher Scientific certainly seems to carry them. www.fishersci.c...

(Unknown ISCABBS User)@rss.iscabbs.com — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 04:27:00 -0600

Fisher Scientific certainly seems to carry them. www.fishersci.com Search for
API 20E

(SledgeHammer/12755) Any microbiologists out there able to recommend a good source fo...

SledgeHammer@rss.iscabbs.com — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 18:36:00 -0600

        Any microbiologists out there able to recommend a good source for the
API-20E enterobacteriaceae identification kit? Hardy Diagnositics doesn't list
it in their catalog; any competitors that still sell this- is it even still
available?

(Another Yossarian/12754 Forum Moderator) Let's make sure we're sticking to the biological aspects of thin...

Another Yossarian@rss.iscabbs.com — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 16:34:00 -0600

Let's make sure we're sticking to the biological aspects of things here.
Disability> and Support> are down the hall and to the left.  Thanks.

((Unknown ISCABBS User)/12753) By all means, we should help autistic children become more funct...

(Unknown ISCABBS User)@rss.iscabbs.com — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 14:39:00 -0600

By all means, we should help autistic children become more functional. On the
other hand, getting to the point where one can function in society is made
unnecessarily difficult by the prejudices and hostility of the neurotypical
people who are unable to accept anyone who is different.

The discrimination is real. I've lost jobs when people found out I was
autistic. And people tell me, "I wouldn't know you were autistic" like it's a
big compliment, when it really isn't. All it says is that I've gotten REALLY
GOOD at going underground in order to avoid being found out, because being
found it usually means, loss of a job, loss of housing, loss of friends,
violence against my person. This is what it's like to be autistic in today's
society. And yet, we make autistic behaviors the problem, and not society's
utter intolerance of them. Do you know that parents rarely get prosecuted if
they murder their autistic children? We aren't considered fit to live by the
rest of society.

I've suffered far more from other people's prejudice and discrimination than
I've ever suffered from autism. The worst bits, the bits that affect me
personally, I've been able to manage with a good diet and supplementation. The
rest, I have no control over, because of other people's unreasonable reactions
and expectations. Therapy was a non-starter, because the therapist would always
expect me to be at her level, and my communication skills, particularly when
talking about emotions, just isn't up there, and she would refuse, on
principle, to come down to my level. However, what she was asking me to do was
impossible. It was like expecting a quadriplegic to get up and walk. And every
therapist put me in that exact same predicament.

It IS easier to be physically disabled. When I had trouble walking, no one
expected me to get up and run a marathon. Yet, that is what people expect me to
do on a social level, and while I've gotten a hell of a lot better over the
years, it's extraordinarily difficult. And I can't just tell people I'm
autistic, because people have no idea what it is. And generally would cause me
to lose my job, lose a friendship or have violence against my person. Most
people think autistic=crazy, and they often react with extreme violence. When I
was a kid, other parents thought it perfectly ok to hit me and scream at me
because since I was an autistic kid, I had no feelings (according to them). Do
you have any fucking idea what an utter mindfuck it is to be told that you
aren't human and that you don't have any feelings while you are bawling your
eyes out?

(Xenos/12752) Was Einstein actually autistic? Is that on record somewhere.

Xenos@rss.iscabbs.com — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 08:05:00 -0600

Was Einstein actually autistic?  Is that on record somewhere.

I feel for your situation Cadenza, but it is worth noting that a lot of
autistic people, probably the majority, don't have special skills.  In fact
many have severe educational problems.  I used to work in a school that had a
large autistic support wing, and believe me those kids weren't little geniuses.
 Quite the opposite.  One of my colleagues had an autistic son and she was
dreadfully anxious about the future for him.  He was going to struggle to get
any qualifications and he found functioning in society extremely difficult.
Was he ever going to hold down a job?  How do you cope with that as a parent?

So I can understand why some people would leap at a 'cure' if they could find
one.

((Unknown ISCABBS User)/12751) Not all of this is wacko stuff, though anything coming out of th...

(Unknown ISCABBS User)@rss.iscabbs.com — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 13:26:00 -0600

Not all of this is wacko stuff, though anything coming out of the mouth of
Jenny McCarthy is. I just want to smack that bitch. Her son is going to be a
total basket case because all she's doing is teaching him that everything about
him is bad and evil and wrong. Diet modification does work, though it has to be
individually tailored, but it's no cure. It doesn't cure autism; all it does is
make you more functional.

But as a functional autistic person, I strongly resent the notion that I need
to be cured of anything. The only way you can cure me is by killing me because
the stuff I can't do would literally require me to be born with a different
brain. I also can do stuff that most neurotypical people *can't* do. It makes
me a damn good proofreader, for instance, and I'm pretty sure my dad's autism
makes him damn good at his job. I don't know too many 69-year-olds who can
learn a new programming language in two days like he can.

I've suffered more from discrimination than I've ever suffered from autism.
What people with autism need is ACCEPTANCE. If you manage to rid the world of
autism, you can pretty much kiss much of the advanced sciences goodbye, since a
high number of people working in those fields are autistic, and autism gives
them the means to work on those things. EINSTEIN was autistic. If he were
"cured", would he have come up with the Theory of Relativity? Probably not.
He'd have been too busy going to parties rather than sitting at home working on
it. NEWTON, if he wasn't autistic, he was certainly profoundly weird and so was
his contemporary Liebniz. So anytime I see an ad pleading for money to "cure"
(read: exterminate) autism, I want to puke. I'm all for any therapy that helps
an autistic person become more functional in society, but it is grossly unfair
that the autistic person is expected to fit in at all costs with absolutely no
tolerance of their difference, even though it is that difference that is often
useful to society.

But then we live in a society that is becoming increasingly scientifically
illiterate, so what should we expect?

(SledgeHammer/12750) Note also that at least one of the wackos pointing to the gluten...

SledgeHammer@rss.iscabbs.com — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 12:59:00 -0600

        Note also that at least one of the wackos pointing to the gluten-autism
link also point to a potential link between lactose and autism. If the
individual lacks the ability to process lactose, then it, too, "feeds" bacteria
in the gut. This is nothing new, of course. But once again- is this enough to
feed enteroadherent bacteria that restrict nutrient absorption?
        There are plenty of anecdotal data that the correct diet can fix this
sort of thing. I'm unaware of any controlled studies, but some people swear by
it.

((Unknown ISCABBS User)/12749) And of course, assuming that the child in question has a pre-exi...

(Unknown ISCABBS User)@rss.iscabbs.com — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 12:09:00 -0600

And of course, assuming that the child in question has a pre-existing
sensitivity to wheat. I'm all for allergy testing, and as soon as possible if
autism is suspected. It's the first thing I tell parents who come to me with
"My child's been diagnosed autistic, what do I do?" I've read research
published in New Scientist which posits that the difference between autistic
and neurotypical children is not really in their brains, but in their guts.
They simply can't digest certain proteins as well as other children and THAT
affects the brain. This explains why simple dietary changes are often enough to
see drastic improvement. The only reason why I'm not quick to jump onto the
gluten-free bandwagon is that the most frequent allergy that autistic children
have is milk, more specifically, the protein casein. This may or may not come
along with lactose intolerance, so just because the milk goes down with no
problem does not mean that an allergy couldn't be at work. I didn't develop
lactose intolerance until my late teens. And yet when people ask me what my
drug of choice is, I say cheese, because for me, it is. I can't keep it in the
house and the cheese craving gets particularly bad when I'm stressed out. It's
my Xanax. And of course, the peculiar thing about food allergies is that you
end up craving what you're allergic. I still eat cheese on occasion because
even though it causes behavioral changes, they are not disruptive ones. Anyway
milk allergy is so common among autistic children, and the often drastic
improvement that frequently happens once milk is removed from the diet, that it
has it's own name, "milk allergy autism". But this is not to speak for ALL
autistic people. Everyone has their own unique set of allergies and
sensitivities.

As for supplementation, it's been discovered, and there is a lot of anecdotal
evidence about improvement with supplementation, that autistic people
apparently need more vitamin B6, calcium and magnesium than other people. I
don't know quite why that is, but it's probably related to the digestive
difficulties we have. (And the ensuing gas, oy!) Anyway, supplements have
really helped me and the difference is obvious to my friends, so when I start
acting up or more scattered, having touch issues or just not picking up on
social cues, they ask whether or not I remembered to take my B vitamins, and if
they have to ask, then I forgot. That's how obvious the difference is. So thank
goodness for dietary modification and supplementation because it is what keeps
me employable.

(SledgeHammer/12748) That depends upon whether the sensitivity is caused by gluten it...

SledgeHammer@rss.iscabbs.com — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 10:53:00 -0600

        That depends upon whether the sensitivity is caused by gluten itself,
or a byproduct of gluten. Those who restrict gluten intake are, by default,
removing a big chunk of dietary carbohydrates- barley, rye, wheat, and spelt;
most would also include oats, as although they don't contain the offending
proteins specifically, they are often processed on machinery that may
cross-contaminate oats with wheat gluten.
        So the question becomes- is it removal of the wheat, or is it the
reduction in carbohydrates? One could argue that large quantities of dietary
starch have ill effects on the gut of the developing child- not all, certainly,
but if there is a genetic susceptibility, this could be the case. Note that a
number of individuals have found that intravenous vitamins have shown a
reduction in symptoms in *some* austistic children. So- purely hypothetically:
bacterial overgrowth in the gut, caused by consumption of long-chain
carbohydrates, leads to reduced absorbtion, or even "leaky gut" in which
nutrients are lost. Note also that wheat itself is an "anti-nutrient," and that
white bread is (by law) fortified in the UK and the United States as it is
depleted in nutrients.
        Now, it's been a while since I had Biochem I and II, but I seem to
recall that there are a number of strange neurological defects that occur when
the developing child is deprived of certain vitamins and nutrients at the wrong
time of development. From this perspective, it doesn't seem like a huge leap to
say that too much wheat could result in specific nutrient deficiencies which in
turn cause autism-like symptoms in a small segment of the population.

((Unknown ISCABBS User)/12747) autism and gluten-free diets> I don't think that would necessari...

(Unknown ISCABBS User)@rss.iscabbs.com — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 09:22:00 -0600

autism and gluten-free diets> I don't think that would necessarily create an
improvement unless the autistic person was actually allergic to gluten. People
with autism do tend to have more in the way of food allergies than neurotypical
people. So remove the allergens and behaviors improve. And generally, it's a
good idea to stay away from processed foods because we tend to react to the
chemicals. I know for myself that corn syrup combined with caffeine has a
synergistic effect in me that causes temper tantrums. This is why I haven't had
a Coke in about 15 years.

(SledgeHammer/12746) It depends upon the proteins that are involved. Presumably it co...

SledgeHammer@rss.iscabbs.com — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 17:51:00 -0600

        It depends upon the proteins that are involved. Presumably it could
even vary between cultivars, but that would depend upon the nature of the
proteins. For example, if it were a structural protein or something intrinsic
to the seed (such as wheat gluten- a decent example), then that's mighty tough
to work around while maintaining the delightful properties of gluten- making
bread chewy, making noodles flexible, and so forth. As a result, barley, rye,
and spelt all share this property with wheat.
        Unfortunately, it all comes down to empirical data; one would have to
expose mucous tissue to the potential offender to see how well it responds-
unless one could evoke a dermal response, skin-patch test style.

(Aztech/12745) I was chatting with a friend about food allergies, and it made m...

Aztech@rss.iscabbs.com — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 10:45:00 -0600

I was chatting with a friend about food allergies, and it made me wonder:  I
know that allergy to food X can indicate an allergy to food Y, if they're in
the same family of foods.

But how close does that relationship have to be?

For example, I appear to be allergic to quinoa.  According to the
classification information on wikipedia for each (yeah, I know, but....),
amaranth is classified the same down to the Family level, but differ at
Subfamily and below.

The grains/seeds also bear no real resemblance to each other.


Just curious.  :)

(SledgeHammer/12744) Yeah. Hansen's disease remains resistant to Koch's postulates.

SledgeHammer@rss.iscabbs.com — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 07:31:00 -0600

        Yeah. Hansen's disease remains resistant to Koch's postulates.
        I've heard estimates that put our understanding of microbial life at
something like 0.4%, which would imply that despite the claims that infectious
disease specialities would be dead by 1970 or whatever, that they're more
important than ever. Now is probably the best time to be alive as a
microbiologist, and it'll only get better.

(Aztech/12743) Yeah.....aren't most estimates something like only 5% of bacteri...

Aztech@rss.iscabbs.com — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 18:13:00 -0600

Yeah.....aren't most estimates something like only 5% of bacterial species can
be grown in pure culture so far?

The bacterium that causes leprosy still can't be grown in pure culture like E.
coli, and it's one that's been identified!
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycobacterium_leprae )

(SledgeHammer/12742) Sure. But the point is that there's a lot of ongoing work on mic...

SledgeHammer@rss.iscabbs.com — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 10:15:00 -0600

        Sure. But the point is that there's a lot of ongoing work on microbial
stuff in rock sediments. Part of the problem is that they require weird
substrates on which to grow; just finding out what they live on once they hatch
is tricky. Then again, there hasn't been much work on finding out what grows on
strange substrates to begin with; there could be huge numbers of bugs that live
on stuff we can't even think about right now. Heck, even stuff that we
routinely culture out today like Legionella were completely unknown in 1976-
and it took another 7 months before they could actually grow the stuff.
        But it is important to recognize when considering the mass of living
organisms that there is a lot under our feet- whether it grew there originally
or was introduced later, the mass and quantities of organisms is huge. The top
few feet of soil is very rich; the question is how well-populated it is in deep
sediments. If it's even just a few kg per cubic kilometer, that could make it
massive.

(Aztech/12741) Oh, I'll agree there has been a lot more learned about bacteria ...

Aztech@rss.iscabbs.com — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 04:31:00 -0600

Oh, I'll agree there has been a lot more learned about bacteria living in what
look like solid rocks hundreds or thousands of feet deep in the ground.

But the issue of water permeation and nutrient and/or microbial transfer into
older rocks hasn't been solved.  In other words, they may be much younger
things that Plinko'd their way there, rather than being there from the start.

(SledgeHammer/12740) I had to look it up. Vreeland and Rosenzweig, back in 2001:

SledgeHammer@rss.iscabbs.com — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 18:18:00 -0500

        I had to look it up. Vreeland and Rosenzweig, back in 2001:
http://newsarchive.asm.org/jan01/topic4.asp
        The next best was from a bee in amber (25-30 million years old). There
is great debate over whether the bugs pulled out of the rock by V&R actually
are a quarter of a billion years old. There's also Tom Kieft at NMT; a few fun
papers to look at in your spare time.
        Subsurface microbial diversity in deep-granitic-fracture water in
Colorado. Applied and Env Micro, 74:143-152
        The distribution of microbial taxa in the subsurface water of the
Kalahari Shield, South Africa. Geomicrobiology Journal.
        Geochemically generated, energy-rich substrates and indigenous
microorganisms in deep, ancient groundwater. Geomicrobiology J. 22:325-335
        Blah blah blah blah. Lots of speculation. But the net upshot is that
lots of people are pulling bacteria out of rocks. Whether they're as old as the
rocks or not, the subsurface flora is probably much greater than ever
anticipated.

(DesCartes/12739) That sounds like a science fiction movie waiting to happen.

DesCartes@rss.iscabbs.com — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 15:30:00 -0500

That sounds like a science fiction movie waiting to happen.
Voiceover:
Nobody knows why the dinosaurs died out.  A meteor?  Climate change? 
Evolutionary adaptation pressures from mammals?  No.  It was a killer bacteria
that nearly wiped out life on the planet.  A plague that died out millions of
years ago, until...
*cut to a laboratory*
Scientist:  Hey, look at this.  We found some viable bacteria in this
geological sample of rock.  It must be millions of years old!
Another scientist: Cool!  Let's see if we can grow it in a culture!

(Aztech/12738) Sledgehammer>

Aztech@rss.iscabbs.com — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 15:27:00 -0500

Sledgehammer>

Has anyone actually tried to culture any of the bacteria from 250 million y/o
rocks?  I know there was some talk in the last 10 years about the bacterial
cell someone found in a crystal from a salt mine, but last I heard, they
weren't going to do anything with it.

To my recollection, no one has tried culturing anything more than a few
thousand years old.  I'm not saying it can't be done, but there are some rather
severe DNA preservation issues that have to be dealt with in one way or
another.

(SledgeHammer/12737) Here we go.

SledgeHammer@rss.iscabbs.com — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 17:14:00 -0500

        Here we go.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2002/04/020411071455.htm
        "Recent studies suggest that the mass of bacteria existing below ground
may be larger than the mass of Rosie O'Donnell."

(Giraffe/12732) Of the six kingdoms (Eubacteria, Archaebacteria, Protista, Fungi...

Giraffe@rss.iscabbs.com — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 09:44:00 -0500

Of the six kingdoms (Eubacteria, Archaebacteria, Protista, Fungi, Plantae, and
Animalia), which are the largest, in terms of

* number of individual organisms?
* number of species?
* combined mass of all organisms?

(SledgeHammer/12704) Effective meaning it manages the disease, and safe meaning it wo...

SledgeHammer@rss.iscabbs.com — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 17:47:00 -0500

        Effective meaning it manages the disease, and safe meaning it won't
kill you, yeah.
        I can't find any literature to support this stance, and am wondering if
it's out there and I'm missing it, or if it's so well-established that doing a
study would be a "Duh, yeah!" thing so nobody's done it.