No simple genetics for thedress - but does color vision affect compensation for lighting?
In my previous post, I asked whether the way that one sees the now famous dress might have a genetic influence and invited people to send me family data. I got data from 28 families (thank you very much!), and have some conclusions. First, this cannot be strictly genetic. There are examples of monozygotic twins that see the dress differently, and there is a significant minority of people who see it differently from one time to another. These observations are inconsistent with a purely genetic basis. In my own data, I have four families where both parents see blue and black; four of the 12 children in these families se...
Source: On Genetics - March 16, 2015 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Tags: 23andMe complex traits optical illusion sex-linked inheritance thedress Source Type: blogs
Could the dress illusion be genetic?
I am very curious about whether the dress illusion might have a genetic basis. I'm referring to differences in the way that people see the dress in this photo:Most explanations of the fact that people see this differently (e.g. Steven Pinker, writing in Forbes) have to do with unconscious compensation for lighting. I'm sure that those explanations are generally correct, but which way you see it (whether and how much you compensate) may still have a genetic basis. The fact that very few people report a change in how they see it is consistent with a genetic (or at least biological) basis.So, I'm trying to find out if how one...
Source: On Genetics - March 1, 2015 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Tags: Mendelian genetics optical illusion thedress Source Type: blogs
Nicolas Wade ’s troubling ideas
< div dir= " ltr " style= " text-align: left; " trbidi= " on " > < div dir= " ltr " style= " line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; " > < span style= " background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; " > Among the popular myths about human genetics left over from the era of eugenics, social Darwinism and racism, two are especially relevant to Nicolas Wade ’s recent book, “A Troublesome Inheritance: Genes, Race and Human History.” &...
Source: On Genetics - August 10, 2014 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Source Type: blogs
Nicolas Wade’s troubling ideas
Among the popular myths about human genetics left over from the era of eugenics, social Darwinism and racism, two are especially relevant to Nicolas Wade’s recent book, “A Troublesome Inheritance: Genes, Race and Human History.” The first is that natural selection has stopped due to advances in health and medicine, and that, as a result, the unfit are now contributing more to each succeeding generation. Early in his Book, Wade disagrees, stating that “human evolution has been recent, copious and regional”, and much of the first part of the book is devoted to this claim. I think this statement is well-suppor...
Source: On Genetics - August 10, 2014 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Source Type: blogs
What is a gene?
A gene is all of the DNA elements required in cis for the properly regulated production of a set of RNAs whose sequences overlap in the genome. I formulated that definition c. 1990, when I started teaching genetics to graduate students. I think that the course I actually taught was quite different from the plans leading to that formulation, but I remember sitting for several hours in a coffee shop in Newark airport and coming up that definition. This was after the discovery of splicing, transposable elements, remote enhancers, overlapping genes, nested genes, long noncoding RNAs and many short noncoding RNAs, a...
Source: On Genetics - January 4, 2014 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Source Type: blogs
Michael Pollan on plant behavior, good and bad
A friend asked my view, so I read the recent article by Michael Pollan in the New Yorker, "The Intelligent Plant."Michael Pollan is a very good writer and he picked an interesting topic. Plant behavior is indeed fascinating and he does a good job of fascinating his readers without obviously going far beyond what can be supported. I also think he does justice to the community of plant biologists by presenting people's views in their own words. However, I fear that he may have incited enthusiasm for bad science. A critical point in the article occurs when he points out that the argument is about language. Many of the s...
Source: On Genetics - January 3, 2014 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Source Type: blogs
This week, it's ancestry
Last weekend there was a lot of buzz about personal genomics (see Genome Technology Daily, " < a href= " http://www.genome-technology.com/issues/blog/general/143452-1.html " > It was a Helluva Weekend for Personal Genomics < /a > " ; or Eye on DNA, " < a href= " http://www.eyeondna.com/2007/11/20/dna-network-members-discuss-personal-genomics-service-providers-23andme-decodeme-and-navigenics/ " > DNA Network Members Discuss Personal Genomics Service Providers 23andMe, deCODEme, and Navigenics < /a > " ; or my previous post). This weekend, it ' s ancestry. Today ' s papers had two interesting features on ancestry testing, ...
Source: On Genetics - November 26, 2007 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Source Type: blogs
' On Genes, " my blog on Nature Network
After commenting on Nature Network ( " < a href= " http://ongenetics.blogspot.com/2007/07/whats-up-with-nature-nature-network.html " > What ' s up with Nature? < /a > " ), I ended up creating a new blog over there. It ' s " On Genes, " and the URL is < a href= " http://network.nature.com/blogs/user/smount " > network.nature.com/blogs/user/smount < /a > . It ' s not clear what I ' ll put there as opposed to here. Perhaps one of the two blogs will die. Right now, the plan is to put more substantial scientific posts here and more news-oriented posts there. < br / > < br / > Along those lines, my first real post on the ...
Source: On Genetics - August 29, 2007 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Source Type: blogs
What's up with Nature? Nature network, screwy renewals, more.
Nature (Nature Publishing Group, to be precise) has been aggressively embracing the internet in new and interesting ways. Their main page at < a href= " http://www.nature.com/index.html " > nature.com < /a > no longer has a list of journals. Instead, journals is just one of many choices (it ' s at the top, to be sure, and they now have no less than 77), including podcasts, gateways (which aggregate related content across journals), feeds, blogs, jobs, society partners, conferences, regional websites and miscellany (which is creatively titled " launch pad " ). It ' s all a bit unfocused, but much of it is very useful. ...
Source: On Genetics - July 21, 2007 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Source Type: blogs
