The [British] government is appealing against a High Court decision that granted Symbian a patent on a computer program.The ruling overturns a refusal by the UK Intellectual Property Office to give the mobile phone firm a patent.The case is being watched with interest because before now it was rarely possible to patent dedicated computer programs in Europe.
Monthly Archives: March 2008
Geographic Patterns of Genome Admixture in Latin American Mestizos
Significant cultural and physical differences … the stuff of race and ethnicity … are prominent when people move across continents or between them. Eventually, the ponderous events of history, which involve occasional foldings in the continuum of human variation, causing apparent patchiness, are offset by the frequent events of human activities, resulting in genetic and cultural admixtures. What colonialism, invasion, and migration do is undone.A new study out in PLoS Genetics examines this phenomenon for Latin America, with a study of genetic admixture. Continue reading Geographic Patterns of Genome Admixture in Latin American Mestizos
The Shape of Life 5
The Framing Critique (Dawkins-Myers-Expelled!-Gate)
Here is an updated set of links to postings on the critique of Myers and Dawkins’ response to Myers-Dawkins-Expelled!-Gate. The point of these links is to provide quick access to the critiques coming from The Intersection and Framing Science blogs, and responses to them. I’m not going to keep updating this entry, so if you have any links please add them in the comments.If your comment gets moderated it is probably because links with comments get tossed automatically in the dungeon, sometimes. I’ll be checking the dungeon now and then and freeing such links. Continue reading The Framing Critique (Dawkins-Myers-Expelled!-Gate)
Clues that it is time to call Dr. Phil
I’m happy to say that Amanda still read my blog every day. Almost.[Stolen from here.]
War in Iraq: History Repeats Itself
Or at least, as Mark Twain said, “… it rhymes.”When George Bush invaded Iraq, I was immediately reminded of Julian the Apostate. I’ve read about Julian the Apostate, and I can tell you, George Bush is not Julian the Apostate. But, Julian died during his ill fated campaign in the region, so that is why I was reminded.(If you want read a cool book have a look at Julian: A Novel
LOL SiFi
Open Access Beer
Generally, inhabitants of Bohemia (western region of the Czech Republic) are known to drink more beer than people from Moravia (eastern region of the country). This difference was confirmed for my sample of researchers: researchers from Bohemia drank significantly more beer per capita per year (median 200.0 litres) than those from Moravia
What’s it all about? You need to see this study of Open Access Beer by Coturnix at A Blog Around the Clock. Seriously.
The Boneyard
Bone Yard XVI Blog Carnival is now available at The Dragon’s Tales.
…. And stranger
The election is getting dirty.
The Shape of Life 4
Genetics of Behavior: Fire Ants
A common presumption is that behavior is part of phenotype, and since phenotype arises from genotype (plus/minus Reaction Norm), that there can be a study of “behavioral genetics.” This is certainly an overstatement (or oversimplification) for organisms with extensive and/or complex neural systems, such as humans and mice. Neural systems probably evolved (not initially, but eventually) to disassociate behavior with the kind of pre-determined micro-management of behavior that a simple gene-behavior link requires. However, in organisms with neural systems the size of the period at the end of this sentence, we often do see cases of allelic variations causing behavioral variation in the whole organism. The study discussed here is an example of this. Continue reading Genetics of Behavior: Fire Ants
Here Fido …. AAARRRGGG!! You’re a Robot!
Hat Tip: Zooillogix
The Boomerang Experiment Worked
… and, gave positive results. I know you have been waiting in anticipation for the results of an experiment in which an astronaut was going to toss a boomerang in space to see if it came back.Well, it worked:
Boomerang works in space: Japanese astronaut from PhysOrg.com
In an unprecedented experiment, a Japanese astronaut has thrown a boomerang in space and confirmed it flies back much like on Earth.[…]
Whew, this one had me really worried…