In previous posts, I discussed, respectively, the use of selection to generate an antibody of potential value in treating influenza A virus infections (1) and the relevance of protein dynamics to the evolution of protein function (2). A recent paper in Science (3) offers evidence suggesting that internal protein dynamics play a crucial role in [...]
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In an 1858 humorous poem The Deacon’s Masterpiece, or the Wondeful One Hoss Shay, Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. described a carriage so artfully constructed as to have no weakest link. The carriage ran smoothly for exactly a hundred years, and then one day
it went to pieces all at once, –
All at once, and nothing first, [...]
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According to both academic lore and history (Paulos, 1985; Ryerson, 2004), the late Sidney Morgenbesser, a professor of philosophy at Columbia and a renowned conversationalist and wit, was once listening to an Oxford colleague, J. L. Austin, lecturing on the philosophy of language. The eminent Professor Austin proceeded to claim that while a double negative [...]
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I recently saw the movie, “The Blind Side,” based on a book of almost the same name (“The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game”) by author, Michael Lewis. The reference to “evolution” in the book title refers to the adaptations necessitated in the (American) game of football on the offensive line, especially at the left tackle [...]
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Posted in Good Questions, Trade-offs on Jun 11th, 2008
The human appendix has long fascinated both biologists and physicians. A recent bout of appendicitis has heightened my interest in this organ and has stimulated me to write about it. Because of its small and variable size, an
The human vermiform appendix (image from the Talk Origins Archive; www.talkorigins.org)
d its apparent uselessness, Darwin (1871) believed that [...]
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