Trackback: Calling all skeptics, science bloggers, and med bloggers Tracked on: tangledbank (66.15.48.88) at 2005 07 21 08:18:35
Much t' appeal t' th' scientifically minded is comin' up on th' weblogs. First, The thirteenth Skeptics' Circle is available fer readin' right now at Respectful Insolence. This is th' weblog carnival fer critical thinkin'. Second, there is another...

#32522: Raven — 07/21  at  08:23 AM

I'll have ye know, though, that I am an accomplished neurosurgeon…'tis just that all o' me patients have been fish and insect embryos, and none o' them have e'er survived th' operation.

Realistic, attainable goals are th' secret t' success. Besides, takin' out that pesky "survivability" requirement takes a lot o' stress off o' th' surgeon.

#32525: — 07/21  at  10:04 AM
LOL!

With beauty operations and all, adaption t' invasive procedures may be a new evolutionary pressure in humans that we will eventually benefit from. So I think surgeons should consider it t' be a good outcome anyway if by accident some patients survives.

#32528: — 07/21  at  10:44 AM
Totally off topic o' course but as people who are obviously all interested in evo-devo I just wanted t' point out a paper in this weeks edition o' Nature (21 July 2005, subcription required - and recommended!) on "The nerual crest origins o' th' neck and shoulder" by Masuoka et al.
This is one o' th' most beautiful papers I've read in a while. In it they use individual cell fate mappin' t' follow th' developmental origins o' neck muscles and bones from either th' neural crest (basicaly "head-derived" mucles) and somitic mesoderm (trunk muscles). By identifyin' th' source o' th' muscle scaffoldin' o' th' neck and shoulder bones they find that th' attachment o' th' muslces and th' bones, rather than th' type o' bone has been evolutionarily conserved - a major turn-o'er o' "ossification model". Usin' this they can determine bone homologies in th' neck region not just in currently extant species such as mamals, amphibians and sharks, but also in fossil tetrapods and fish.

In addition this gives them an insight into previously baffin' features o' human diseases by showin' how and where th' pleitropic effects are derived and directly suggests canditate genes or pathways fer several syndromes.

This is a marvelous illustration o' how science works - two competin' hypotheses are tested empirically with th' lastest tools and th' one that fits th' data th' best will eventually come out on top.

Anyone who says that th' naturalistic worldview lacks wonder has ne'er read an insightful and well done scientific study. When everythin' falls into place like that its wonderful!

Cheers,
Yak

#32532: PZ Myers — 07/21  at  10:59 AM
Oh, yeah...I'm workin' me way through that paper now. Lots and lots o' good stuff in there that I'll probably find time t' present here in th' not-too-distant future.