The Human Dynasty

On February 7, 1:00 PM, Center for Inquiry Tampa will present ten monetary awards for the "Darwin Day Poster Contest", in celebrating the 200th birthday of Charles Darwin. Science teachers of Hillsborough County, FL, invited middle school science students to participate. The top ten prize winners will be awarded cash prizes, and their posters will be displayed for one week in J.F. Germany Library, science section. (PRWeb Jan 30, 2009)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2009/01/prweb1928154.htm

The discovery of primordial magnetic fields around small, young stars in the Milky Way boosts the case that fields existed just after the big bang

Land plants’ ability to sprout upward through the air, unsupported except by their own woody tissues, has long been considered one of the characteristics separating them from aquatic plants, which rely on water to support them. Now lignin, one of the chemical underpinnings vital to the self-supporting nature of land plants — and thought unique to them — has been found in marine algae.

(University of British Columbia) Land plants’ ability to sprout upward through the air, unsupported except by their own woody tissues, has long been considered one of the characteristics separating them from aquatic plants, which rely on water to support them.

Why have some of our genes evolved rapidly? It is widely believed that Darwinian natural selection is responsible, but new research suggests that a separate neutral (nonadaptive) process has made a significant contribution to human evolution.

(Purdue University) In an effort to improve rice varieties, a Purdue University researcher was part of a team that traced the evolutionary history of domesticated rice by using a process that focuses on one gene. Agronomy Professor Scott A. Jackson said studying the gene allows researchers to better understand how it evolved over time through natural selection and human interaction. Understanding the variations could allow scientists to place genes from wild rice species into domesticated rice to create varieties with more favorable characteristics.

UCSF researchers have used a new strategy to study inherited susceptibility for skin cancer in mice. In the process, they have identified a network of genes that may play a key role in controlling this susceptibility. The technique, the scientists say, could be used to identify such genes in human cancers. (PRWeb Jan 12, 2009)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/UCSF/Cancer_Susceptibility/prweb1841484.htm

A study looking at the entire human genome has identified new genes that appear to be involved in making some children more susceptible to Kawasaki disease, a serious illness that often leads to coronary artery disease, according to a new international study published in PLoS Genetics. This is the first genetic study of an infectious disease to look at the whole of the genome, rather than just selected genes.

First complete mitochondrial genome of the extinct animal suggests genetics left species vulnerable to disease

Scholars have long struggled with questions about when and where the majority of the thousands of painstakingly handwritten books produced in medieval Europe originated. Now a researcher is using modern advances in genetics to develop techniques that will shed light on the origins of these important cultural artifacts.