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Posts Tagged ‘evolution’

Mother Nature loves that party rock

Posted in SNAP25, Uncategorized, tagged , , on January 4, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

… but you knew that already.  Here’s an example of how a phenomenon known as exon shufflin’ can lead to evolutionary diversity (here involving SNAP25‘s exon 5a variant for early brain development while the exon 5b variant is used later in development) .  Perhaps we owe our awesome, ahem, “higher” cognitive abilities to this ancient [...]

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Are there genes for my favorite part of me?

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , on December 22, 2011 | 1 Comment »

Here’s an excerpt from William Vollmann’s book Poor People … of an exchange between two men … one, a passerby, and the other, homeless “young, bearded, well-clad, his his bluejean legs sewn into pockets around his stumps“. He expressed through his noninsistence my right not to give him anything, and the little that I did [...]

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Students implement the -ome of -omes

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , on December 20, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

Check out the Interpretome! developed by students and staff at Stanford University. – I have 17 European alleles and 3 East Asian alleles … the genetic proof is in … white boys can’t jump. – I have 17 out of 32 Type 2 Diabetes risk alleles … put down those carbs now … and 19 [...]

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My homo sapien ancestors definitely got it on with Neanderthals

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged on December 18, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

Come to think of it, I was never very, um, choosy, back in my wanton late teens and early 20′s … apparently, it runs in the family.  News blurb.

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Little known factoid …

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , on February 18, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

After writing 4 books and thousands of learned pages on the topic of evolution … all to little avail.  Charles Darwin enjoyed his elder years “shusshhing” priests whenever he had the chance.

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Why is our genome methylated? Because it’s a junk pile.

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , on February 9, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

DNA methylation is THE key driver of epigenetic regulation.  Where goest CpG methylation, then followest chromatin remodelling … NOT the other way around. “The heritability of genomic methylation patterns clearly shows that once established, DNA methylation is dominant over chromatin modifications.” Some neurodevelopmental processes (here) seem to depend on DNA methylation, but, is this the [...]

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What are you wired to do? to do IT

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on December 30, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

Image via Wikipedia If you’ve ever watched Steve Martin’s movie “The Jerk“, you may chuckle at the notion of having a “special purpose”. Nevertheless, you may have wondered about your own special purpose … what are YOU meant to do?  What are some things that give meaning to YOUR life – you know – social [...]

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Why did early humans do yoga?

Posted in evolution, tagged , , , , , on July 12, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

An exploration of HOW mindfulness practices such as yoga and meditation transform the body and mind seems inextricably tied to the question of, “WHY, in the first place, would anyone want to sit for days and meditate?” What was it that motivated early humans and early civilizations to engage in these so-called “spiritual” practices?  Why [...]

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Notes from The Alchemical Body: inward vs. outward sacrifice

Posted in evolution, The Alchemical Body, tagged , , , , , on July 10, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

Image by myyogaonline via Flickr Am having a great time reading David Gordon White‘s  The Alchemical Body (here also)  – an incredibly in-depth exploration into the interplay of yoga with spirituality,  alchemy and the local political economics of India from 1,500 years ago and even earlier. Man, there is just so much to learn about [...]

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Social scientist unites biology with Buddism

Posted in evolution, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 22, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

Image via Wikipedia Just a few excerpts from a lecture by the renown social psychologist Paul Ekman who is known for his work on the biology of human emotion.  Here he relates conceptual bridges between the writings of Charles Darwin and HH The Dalai Lama.  Ekman notes that both Darwin and HH The Dalai Lama [...]

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Genetic road signs for super-size coffee SUV drivers

Posted in ADORA2A, DRD2, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 4, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

If you’re a coffee drinker, you may have noticed the new super-sized portions available at Starbucks.  On this note, it may be worth noting that caffeine is a potent psychoactive substance of which – too much – can turn your buzz into a full-blown panic disorder.  The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for psychiatry outlines a [...]

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My genes tell me that smokin’ and drinkin’ are sins

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , on February 9, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

Image by muffintoptn via Flickr Humans are spiritual creatures – there’s no denyin’.  How & why we got this way is one of THE BIG questions of all time.  Since our genome shapes the development of our brain and its interaction with our culture, its not a surprise to see that, from time to time, [...]

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C.H. Waddington provides conceptual framework for shifting influences of genes and environment in the development of mind

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 12, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

Just a pointer to onetime University of Edinburgh Professor C.H. Waddington’s 1972 Gifford Lecture on framing the genes vs. environment debate of human behavior.  Although Waddington is famous for his work on population genetics and evolutionary change over time, several of his concepts are experiencing some resurgence in the neuroimaging and psychological development literatures these [...]

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Recalling finch beaks using variable decision criteria to learn from whence we came

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on December 14, 2009 | Leave a Comment »

Image via Wikipedia In his book, The Beak of the Finch, Jonathan Weiner describes the great diversity of finches on the Galapagos Islands – so much diversity – that Darwin himself initially thought the finch variants to be completely different birds (wrens, mockingbirds, blackbirds and “gross-bills”).  It turns out that one of the pivotal events [...]

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Insights on emotional attachment found in pain gene (OPRM1) – poets everywhere say, “I told you so”

Posted in OPRM1, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on December 8, 2009 | 1 Comment »

Image via Wikipedia If you slam your hand in the car door and experience physical pain, medical science can offer you a “pain killer!“.  Certainly morphine (via its activation of the mu opioid receptor (OPRM1)) will make you feel a whole lot better.  However, if your boyfriend or girlfriend breaks up with you and you [...]

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Look deeply into my eyes and let me see your genes

Posted in OTR, OXTR, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on November 24, 2009 | 1 Comment »

*** PODCAST accompanies this post *** Nowadays, it seems that genomics is spreading beyond the rarefied realm of science and academia into the general, consumer-based popular culture.  Quelle surprise!?  Yes, the era of the personal genome is close at hand, even as present technology  provides – directly to the general consumer public – a  genome-wide [...]

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Interview with Dr. Garet Lahvis on genetic and animal models of empathy and social behavior

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , on November 14, 2009 | Leave a Comment »

Image by juanpol via Flickr It was a great pleasure to speak with Professor Garet Lahvis from the Department of Behavioral Neuroscience at the Oregon Health and Science University, and learn more about how the biology of empathy and social behaviors in general can be approached with animal models that are suitable for genetic studies.  [...]

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Interview with Dan Weinberger, M.D. on KCNH2 and schizophrenia

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , on October 27, 2009 | Leave a Comment »

Image by Oliver Lavery via Flickr Daniel R. Weinberger, M.D., Chief of the Clinical Brain Disorders Branch and Director of the Genes, Cognition and Psychosis Program, National Institute of Mental Health  discusses the background, findings and general issues of genes and mental illness in this brief interview on his paper, “A primate-specific, brain isoform of [...]

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Interview with Dr. Christina Barr

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , on October 6, 2009 | Leave a Comment »

Image via Wikipedia Many thanks to Dr. Christina S. Barr from the National Institutes of Health/National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism-Laboratory of Clinical and Translational Studies, National Institutes of Health Animal Center for taking the time to comment on her team’s recent publication, “Functional CRH variation increases stress-induced alcohol consumption in primates” [doi:10.1073/pnas.0902863106] which [...]

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Science fun – pliocene hominin rap

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged on October 6, 2009 | Leave a Comment »

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