Natural Science Forum / Biology / Evolution / July 2004

I am not a biologist, so please use small words I can understand.
My question is whether certain features in vertebrates, like
ribs, vertebrae, and the abdominal "six pack" follow from segmentation
in an ancestor to chordates.

I'll begin by saying that I am completely in favour of stem cell
research as I do see a lot of potential benefit as a result of its
careful application.  However, once I temporarily ignore some of the
more common controversies surrounding this topic, I am left wondering

I've always wondered what would happen if the left and right halves
of the human body were completely seperated, and somehow kept alive.
What would conciousness be like? Would the new "beings" still perecieve
themselves as one person, or two different entities? I've heard of people

I have read many explanations of kin selection that are based on the
"fact" that I share 1/2 of my genes with each of my parents and
siblings, 1/8 of my genes with each of my first cousins, etc.
I have also seen it stated many times that each human shares a very

Name And Address Supplied wrote:-

The last thing I really want to do is to start another Hamilton's
rule thread.  But I was rereading Lonely Roads the other day, and I
noticed something I had missed before.  The 1964 paper is not just
about the evolution of genes affecting "b" and "c" (altruism and

Theory: the height of the grass determines the height of the grazer
First Lemma: the height of the grass determines the height of the predator
Second Lemman: the extinction of giant grasses caused the extinction of
giant grazers and of giant predators.

How yeasts evolve
Publication of four more genomes confirm disputed whole genome duplication
theory
By Cathy Holding

Dear NG,
there is an unrooted phylogenetic tree (cladogram) and I do know the
charakters of internodes. How can I root the tree without using an
outgroup?

I am working on a new algorithm for phylogenetic tree reconstruction. In
order to validate my methods, I am looking for sequence alignments with
the following characteristics:
- hundreds to thousands of taxons

I will be starting my first teaching job in a community college this
Fall for an introductory Biology course.  I will be using a text
called "Bioinquiry:Making Connections in Biology".
Has anyone reviewed this text before?

Some pictures of the Giant Hogweed.
Came across this giant plant on an evening walk.
http://y2u.co.uk/&002_Images/Hogweed%2001.htm 
Apparently this plant has a sap that causes ultra-violet sensitivity

A new publication just came out, which shows that exceptional human
longevity is  *NOT* associated with infertility (contrary to the
earlier widely publicized article published in "Nature"):
Does Exceptional Human Longevity Come With High Cost of Infertility?

Dust worms hold the key to planet formation
Maggie McKee
19:08 13 July 04
Elongated dust worms - rather than fluffy blobs of dust - are the seeds of

"Peter F." <effectivespamblock@ozemail.com.au> wrote: