TX education - evolution = sadface

It's been almost a year since I moved to Texas (seriously!) and I vaguely remember freaking out how conservative everyone would be. Turns out, I'm in a liberal bubble in Austin (yes, I realized that I wasn't in too much danger but the combination of gun-toting mixed with liberalism is something I'm unfamiliar with).

However, a friend's daughter asked for some help the other night with her science homework. I was handed a public school, 6th grade science book. DUH DUH DUH DUNHHHHH.

Obviously, there's no mention anywhere in the book of evolution. Or natural selection. I really could not believe this, but it's true. I mean, I'd heard stories, of course. We all have. But I saw no chapters called "The Origin of Life" or any such thing that would help a young, curious mind figure out where we came from or how the earth came into existence. There were chapters titled "Prokaryotes to Eukaryotes" and "Single Cells to Multi-Cell Organisms." Ok...

I've harped on this in the past and it makes me want to cry. I cannot imagine growing up with such a huge chunk of my science education and understanding just... missing. How would I look at the natural world without realizing that everything is connected and came into being over this incredibly long process? It's amazing in the truest sense of the word.

So on Election Day, with the state election board up for the vote in Texas, good grief, I hope y'all have voted for some good change.

Cetaceans >>> humans... again.

I was telling someone last night how if I don't sleep for a few days (you know that half sleep when you're stressed and you wake up at 5am and give up and read or watch Parks & Rec til an acceptable time to be out of bed?), I fall apart. We NEED sleep. It certainly feels like a weakness and reading that dolphins don't need sleep for over 2 weeks at a time only intensified that feeling.

In theory, only half of a dolphin brain "sleeps" so the other half can remain vigilant and prevent the creature from drowning (dolphins must consciously take breaths, it isn't an automated behavior). They have to remain alert to predators such as sharks, in which they use echolocation to take stock of their mental landscape and can spot danger.

Side note: I remember furiously writing a paper on echolocation in 4th grade and it basically confirmed my belief that dolphins were the coolest animal on the planet (I'm also sure the assignment was something like "talk about your favorite animal" and I went way overboard and included citations from various sources). 

Even with half of their brain in a resting state, dolphins are able to accurately echolocate, or map, their surroundings. They are able to rotate which half of the brain remains alert as well. I can't wait for the inevitable conversation about how we can tap into what dolphins are doing and only sleep with half of our brain and productivity will go up and crime will go down and everyone will live forever. But seriously, dolphins are cool as shit.

Fist pumps for DNA and science and things!

I was pumped when I caught a segment from this week's Science Friday on NPR (caught? who am I kidding... I auto-download them all and then binge out on them on lazy Saturdays at the lake). First, I learned how to pronounce Denisovans, which was nowhere near how I was saying it in my head. Secondly, human ancestor remains DNA sequenced... FROM A MOLAR. This is the kind of thing that makes me fist pump and yell "sciiiiiience!" in some weird accent ($10 goes to whoever can tell me where I'm quoting that from. Seriously, I can't figure it out, but I know the second syllable is emphasized).

Sometimes seemingly simple things astound me. We are able to sequence a genome from a PIECE of what used to be an individual. A tooth. Scientists also have a small fragment of a finger bone. And from that, we know that Denisovans were their own unique group. I think we take it for granted that researchers are able to figure out the genetics of something CSI-style. Like, we've always been able to do that, right?

It's truly amazing and exciting to find another pre-modern human group that overlapped with Neandertals. Go listen to the segment here and high-five whoever's around you.

Okla Elliott, on atheism/agnosticism and the wonder of the world around us

My friend, Okla Elliott wrote this amazing piece on atheism/agnosticism and it reminded me so thoroughly of something I would write (only he writes infinitely better than I can). I will stipulate that I probably wouldn't have written misconception #2 because I can't comprehend a situation in which I would be shown something that's proof of a deity. Perhaps that makes me close-minded (I'm assured it does), but that possibility is out of the realm of my imagination. Regardless, it is a beautifully written piece that succinctly narrates some common misconceptions about atheists and has the added benefit of being full of even more amazing quotes from some of the best thinkers of the past.

This struck me in particular:

We are the ones willing to admit our limits without having to fabricate deities to patch over the holes in our all-too-fallible human reason and capacity for knowledge. And I don’t want to speak for anyone else here, but I myself am filled with existential awe at the universe and all its mysteries and am overjoyed at the fraction of it I’ve been able to experience and partially understand. I would never want all this mystery and unknowing taken away by some deity. This is part of what makes being human so expansively interesting, to my mind anyway.

Exactly.  One of the arguments I find myself in frequently revolves around the missing gaps in what science can or cannot tell us right now. I am in constant awe of the massive amounts of information and knowledge we've amassed in just the few short centuries since "enlightened" thinking began. Criticizing non-believers for not knowing everything today seems ridiculous. When I think about all of that scientific information (DNA, how to cure disease, how the body works, the solar system, the oceans, dinosaurs), I just want to take it all in my arms and not let go. Everything is not perfect and it doesn't have to be. It's the journey of discovery that makes us human and constantly increases our richness as a species, marveling at the world inside us and around us.

Pre-modern human ménage à trois

In 2008, Svante Pääbo and colleagues discovered hominoid fragments at Denisova Cave in southern Siberia. Most importantly, an intact 10mg finger bone fragment that allowed scientists to perform extensive DNA testing on this previously undiscovered species. Using new methods, the fragment was scanned thirty times and the genome is likely more accurate than that of most modern human samples we have. We now know that this group was part of an extinct group of humans, as closely related to modern humans as Neandertals. Go back and read that again. An undiscovered group of modern-day humans. It blows my mind how little we actually know about our species' ancestors. It's equally as exciting, though, that we're still filling in the path we took to become what we are today.

There she is, the fragment that's telling us all.

So why do we care that there were other groups of humans similiar but distinct from modern humans floating around at the same time? Well for one, modern-day human ancestors were getting freaky with Denisovans AND Neandertals. This solidifies the idea that the path of species evolution is more like a branching tree, with overlapping subspecies and those with a common ancestor living at the same time. Evolution is not a straight-forward path where an previous species must die out for the next to succeed. Other similar groups of humans lived concurrently with modern-day human ancestors. Ahh, so now you're asking, why did the other groups die out? That's one of science's biggest questions. Why did "we" succeed while other groups eventually disappeared?  With the entire genome of these other groups sequenced, we can directly compare them to modern-day humans. This can be done by potentially cloning Denisovan and Neandertal DNA (Finally, some cloning I can actually get behind!). This will give us insight as to what changed that allowed modern humans to evolve and spread out of Africa approximately 100,000 years ago. Another potential goldmine, we can use the genome of related humanoid species to determine the genetic differences that have allowed human-specific diseases to arise in the population. Scientists studying HIV, polio, and smallpox, for example, may be able to deduce how these diseases evolved and potentially how to cure them.

One of the most exciting pieces of this story is that the group that did the initial research is making their results open to the public. Anyone who wishes to use the sequenced genome can go online and download it for free. This flies in the face of the typical competitive, closed-door policy many researchers have  of carefully guarding their findings. I applaud this approach to open science and using information toward the greater good. If you'd like to see what a genome sequence looks like (even if you don't have ANY idea what the hell it means), check it out here. It'll give you a good idea of just how complex we really are. 

Oh, I just play with uranium ore in my free time, nbd

This story about boy genius Taylor Wilson is so amazingly good that I read it through twice without stopping. It sounds like the plot to a Chuck Palahniuk book: Wunderkinder fascinated with radioactivity decides to build a nuclear reactor. However, instead of then massacring a small city, he successfully finds a team of supporters in his parents, the University of Nevada, and even the Department of Homeland Security. Typically, I'd be envious of this kid's miraculous intelligence and drive to succeed. But I'm not. I cannot even imagine the struggle Taylor had trying to find ways to entertain and challenge himself in public school. Usually these stories are sad because the protagonist is socially awkward and unable to express and explain their desires to us "normal" folks. Taylor Wilson, though, is sociable AND a genius. I'm in awe and it gives me hope that people like this come along at all, love science, and have the brains and the drive to change the world. 

Read the full article from PopSci here.