Natural Science Forum / Biology / Evolution / September 2007

What does SBE know about this?
'The second genetic code is written into the structure of
the enzymes that couple the transfer RNA with its corresponding
amino acid. These enzymes, or synthetases, are the reall

Genome 2.0
Mountains of new data are challenging old views
Patrick Barry
When scientists unveiled a draft of the human genome in early 2001, many

Adaptive Evolution of Conserved Noncoding Elements in Mammals
Su Yeon Kim 1, Jonathan K. Pritchard 2
1 Department of Statistics, The University of Chicago, Chicago
2 Department of Human Genetics, The University of Chicago

This study suggests UV destroys more glycine than it builds up.
Kinetic study of abiotic amino acid formation by UV-irradiation
H. Mita *, N. Shirakura, H. Yokoyama, S. Nomoto, A. Shimoyama
Department of Chemistry, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1 Ten-o-dai,

If we (perhaps somewhat improperly) define "animal" a mobile,
macroscopic organism, then why are there no photosynthetic animals?
All photosynthetic orgamisms I know of are either immobile plants or
(possibly mobile) microorganisms?

One of the most common ways new genes originate is by "gene
duplication".  Such duplication becomes a source of genetic diversity
because the duplicated genes can mutate to produce new types of proteins
with novel functions while the original gene can continue to function

How To Speed Up Evolution: Switch Goals
Science Daily - Is heading straight for a goal the quickest way there? If
the name of the game is evolution, suggests new research at the Weizmann
Institute of Science, the pace might speed up if the goals themselves change