Author Archives: kirkmike157

Utah

Posted on December 11, 2015 by kirkmike157

Red dust from the desert filtered into the tent as the morning sun rose. At dawn the light was diffuse and the triangle of fabric enclosed space was peaceful. Then the first of the sun’s direct rays brushed the canvas … Continue reading →

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1958: Galveston physicians render infants Vitamin F deficient

Posted on October 8, 2015 by kirkmike157

There seems to be a dedicated readership numbering in the solid single digits who faithfully read each entry I post here. Those who would not be counted in such a group are encouraged to read my last post, Vitamin F, … Continue reading →

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Vitamin F

Posted on August 28, 2015 by kirkmike157

  Sabine is a mouse midwife. She’s looking after about 20 expectant mouse moms, and the prognosis for the babies is not good. 3/4 of them will be born looking relatively normal, and no one is too concerned about these. … Continue reading →

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Pig Blood

Posted on July 31, 2015 by kirkmike157

There were two dead pigs dangling from the ceiling, spinning around together in a slow pirouette. Another was submerged in a vat of scalding water, and one more lay sprawled on the grate of a heavy iron rack. Kurt had … Continue reading →

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Who were the Denisovans anyway?

Posted on July 29, 2015 by kirkmike157

Originally posted on TwilightBeasts:
Human evolution used to be the preserve of two groups of academics: the ones who liked fossils and the ones who liked stone tools. Both regarded the other as peculiar for being obsessed with the wrong…

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Sympathy for the Devil

Posted on June 12, 2015 by kirkmike157

Tim Hunt is a 72-year old British Nobel laureate who was forced to resign from his position at the University College of London this week because of things he said at a press conference. Those sentences have been reproduced widely … Continue reading →

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Lineage-Enders

Posted on April 21, 2015 by kirkmike157

Teddy Wayne recently wrote a piece for the Sunday New York Times called “The Childless Life” (the digital version is titled “No Kids for Me, Thanks”) which at face value was a discussion of the individual choice to go vocally, self-righteously extinct. In … Continue reading →

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Of Mice and Men, and Cats and Women

Posted on February 9, 2015 by kirkmike157

 Wookie Bear I am infested with parasites. My entire house is lousy with them—the word lousy is derived from the singular form for lice, a particular small mammalian ectoparasite. We categorize our parasites by where they live—the endoparasites like ascarid worms … Continue reading →

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Yeitse

Posted on January 22, 2015 by kirkmike157

This post was inspired by Michael Eisen (@mbeisen), who innocently asked about the DNA content of various foods on Twitter a few days ago. As expected, the responses were mostly the rantings of idiots, all sound and fury, signifying nothing. Michael … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, Genetics, Science | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

When is a Survey not a Survey?

Posted on January 6, 2015 by kirkmike157

One of the great things about Twitter is that it alerts you to new papers and discussions of those papers that you’d otherwise not be privy to. Sadly, the 140 character limit badly stunts those discussions just when they are … Continue reading →

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