Hidden gems

Ayodele Yusuf, a dear and courageous friend who has an amazing amount of talent that he keeps under wraps. 

New evidence suggesting that the Spanish chronicles of the conquest of the Incas may exaggerate Conquistadores heroism. Atleast they didn't blame the weather.

The great Inca rebellion was an attempt to defeat the Spanish in Lima. The chronicles depict the few Spaniards riding out to the 10,000 awaiting Inca warriors and defeating them. New material evidence suggests that the attacking Incas were more likely in the 1000's and the Spaniards had a massive supporting Inca force themselves. 

Tangerine waterfalls and a few wrong turns

Today's hike

Evo-devo

Recently I have taken interest in the field of evolutionary developmental biology. It is perhaps natural to get engaged in the evolutionary roots and/or evolutionary consequences of developmental processes. Another way to view this field might be the construction of a map between genotype and phenotype. The illustration above depicts such a map. It is easy to philosophize on such a topic. Even if the conversation is entirely non-scientific I find myself feeling pleased to even talk about such grand (if vague) concepts.

Following an initial surge of enthusiasm I find myself disappointed in the field. Despite interest in the field for over a century (if not more) very little science appears to have been done. To highlight this fact, a serious scientific/quantitative attempt at posing a question seems to have evaded the entire field.

Perhaps the field has been hindered by the natural disposition of scientists to take extreme points of views. Either, developmental processes, genetic circuitry and architecture etc. have been selected upon and what we see in extant species is optimized, or, everything is random and scientific enquiry, into the why questions, is futile. The former, I believe, oversimplifies natural evolution and reflects a lack of interest in really figuring it out. The latter represents a surrender and goes against the very basis of what drives science and scientists.

Currently, I find myself employing both arguments when I see fit. There are examples of optimality (vision), there also examples of neutral processes. However, I also admit to biology (encompassing developmental processes and genetic circuitry and architecture) being, perhaps, enroute to optimality. Perhaps we can shed light on biology by considering what might have the optimum been, and how does what we see compare to that. Since I don't yet know of secure and tried & tested ways of making progress in biology, I will try all reasonable routes. 

Alain Pumir

Just sitting at the KITP in Santa Barbara is enough to ensure that I bump into some of the best minds and most wonderful people. Currently, I sit across from Alain Pumir. A true scholar and gentleman. 

in the shadow of great friends

Carlos, a very dear friend of mine, presented me with this painting upon his departure. It now hangs on my bedroom wall.

Some people have the ability to create beautiful things, others can merely stand in the shadows, and marvel. 

Rob Phillips - A gentle scientific giant

Over the last few months I have had the pleasure of getting to know Rob Phillips. He is a professor at Caltech and a great man. His book - The physical biology of the cell - is a fantastic text and introduction to a new way of doing biology (one that I subscribe to). He is also a great friend.

Sitting in the company of people like Rob Phillips, Boris Shraiman, Mahadevan and Michael Brenner is an experience I am not worthy of.

The National Academy of Science - Boris Shraiman

Working with Boris has been the single most rewarding experience I have yet had. He was recently elected to the National Academy of Sciences. Perhaps the students of every academy member would be equally positive in their comments, however, I believe that Boris represents what is best in science. Regardless, he is a good man and a great friend.

Cambrian explosion

In the Canadian rockies a fossil field called the Burgess Shale was happened upon. Within it, and in other fossil fields (another one found, I believe, in Australia) was found evidence for an evolutionary explosion. The Cambrian explosion is believed, to not just be an artifact of it being a uniquely well preserved period in the Earth's natural history, indeed, paleontologists and the like, believe that around 500 million years ago there really was an "explosion" in the number and type of organisms inhabiting the planet.
It isn't clear, from my superficial knowledge, what aspect of this ought to be surprising. There certainly was a massive change in the Earth's climate at the time as well (a super ice-age had come to an end not so long ago). So is it just an example of where the selective pressures were "evolving" rapidly, or is there something about the organisms and their genomes at that time that suddenly allowed the exploration of a vast range of phenotypes?

Such questions of course get to the hearts of one of the deepest questions in Biology, as I see them. What are the range of phenotypes within the reach of a given genome. Can we begin to understand the tree of life in a statistical manner?

A bridge of sorts

My ignorance has yet again been revealed. I thought the Aleutian Islands formed an ice-bridge during an ice-age, allowing the movement of animals. Indeed, during an ice-age, vast amounts of water are stored as ice, leading to a drop in sea-levels. This actually created a land-bridge between the North American continent and Asia.

iBio

A wonderful resource on all manner of biological topics. I just watched one presented by Marc Kirschner, who really is a living giant in the field, on his investigations into a "new" model organism. 

Return

I was thoroughly enjoying maintaing this blog and then stopped for a period of 4 months. I am now making an attempt to re-engage with it. I have read, seen and done all manner of things during this hiatus. Instead of even attempting to recount this, I will simply try and fill my future with all manner of new things.