ushishir:

scientificillustration:

The “Atlas of Creation” is a book by Turkish creationist Harun Yahya (the pen name of Adnan Oktar) it purports to show that fossils are identical to living creatures and so evolution hasn’t happened or something. This book is riddled with bizarre errors for example in the image above, a Fossil crinoid, is shown with recent sabellid fan worms that are presented as being identical even though they don’t even belong to the same phylum (Echinodermata & Annelida respectively).

This image comes from an excellent paper outlining some of Harun Yahya’s errors:

Taxonomy alive and kicking: or how taxonomy can help debunking creationist thinking. Thierry Backeljau, Kurt Jordaens, Antonio M. de Frias Martins. AÇOREANA, 2011, Suplemento 7: 241-291 (Pdf)

If anyone is feeling industrious translating this papers into Turkish would a good thing to do!

See also:

The evolution of Harun Yahya’s “Atlas of Creation”

The Skulls That Make Harun Yahya Look Like a Bonehead 

Good News! One of the authors, Thierry Backeljau, has let me know that there is a Turkish version of the article published in the Journal “Bilim ve Gelecek” :

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/13386315/Backeljau-2012-Bilim%20ve%20Gelecek-100-12.pdf

(via fuckinglovescience)

‘Oxytricha ‘s two macronuclei (green) and micronuclei (blue) are shown schematically over a size-ranked map of all nanochromosomes (alternatively fragmented chromosomes are fuchsia; the 70 kb mitochondrial genome is shown in red for scale)’

‘Like other ciliates, O. trifallax has two nuclei: a micronucleus, which contains its entire genome, and a macronucleus, which houses an edited version of the genetic material that’s used to run the ship. What’s extraordinary about O. trifallax is the degree to which its macronuclear genetic material has been rearranged. Derived afresh each generation from the micronuclear genetic material through an elaborate process that involves chopping up chromosomes, rearranging genes, deleting virtually all of the noncoding DNA, making multiple copies of the various bits, and capping them with telomeres, it ends up with tens of thousands of “nanochromosomes” that then serve as the templates for producing all the proteins that O. trifallax needs to conduct the day-to-day business of being alive.’

See: 

Tantalizing Glimpses into a Fragmented Genome

The Oxytricha trifallax Macronuclear Genome: A Complex Eukaryotic Genome with 16,000 Tiny Chromosomes

The Oxytricha trifallax Mitochondrial Genome

You Have 46 Chromosomes. This Pond Creature Has 15,600

Hi, I’m a Bristol based graduate and have just finished an app to teach anatomy in a new and interactive way - thought it might be something you’re followers would like! You can get the app here: http://bit.ly/163bDX2 or find out more about it here: http://momentumpublishing.co.uk/?p=262

Thanks!

It certainly is, thanks for the submission Emma!

On parameters of the human genome by Wentian Li

“There are mathematical constants that describe universal relationship between variables, and physical/chemical constants that are invariant measurements of physical quantities. In a similar spirit, we have collected a set of parameters that characterize the human genome. Some parameters have a constant value for everybody’s genome, others vary within a limited range. The following nine human genome parameters are discussed here, number of bases (genome size), number of chromosomes (karyotype), number of protein-coding gene loci, number of transcription factors, guanine–cytosine (GC) content, number of GC-rich gene-rich isochores, density of polymorphic sites, number of newly generated deleterious mutations in one generation, and number of meiotic crossovers. Comparative genomics and theoretical predictions of some parameters are discussed and reviewed. This collection only represents a beginning of compiling a more comprehensive list of human genome parameters, and knowing these parameter values is an important part in understanding human evolution.”

An extremely interesting paper that can be read in full here:

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022519311003717

moshita:

Alexandra Baker

“Insects outnumber us by 200 million to one. They thrive in environments where humans wouldn’t last minutes. We mostly perceive them as pests - yet without bugs, entire ecosystems would collapse, crops would disappear and waste would pile high.

The secret of their success? Their incredible alien anatomy.

To reveal this extraordinary hidden world, entomologists Dr James Logan and Brendan Dunphy carry out a complete insect dissection. Cutting-edge imaging technology shows us the beauty and precision of the natural engineering inside even the simplest insects. Stripping back the layers, they uncover ingenious body systems and finely-tuned senses - a bug body plan that is the hidden blueprint behind insects’ ‘global domination’. They also discover how science is now using the secrets of insect anatomy to inspire technology that could save human lives.”

“The cetacean section of the composite phylogenetic hypothesis for Artiodactyla. Thickened colored bars above branches (D–Z and a–j) mark optimizations of various evolutionary changes within Cetacea (see Table 1). The three S = F symbols (blue and brown) are positioned on branches where parallel moves from saltwater to freshwater environments are inferred in the river dolphins – Inia, Lipotes, and Platanista. Thick branches connect extant taxa in the tree, and thin branches represent extinct lineages. The small, inset tree delimits (in gray) the section of the overall composite topology (Fig. 7) that is shown here at a larger scale. Approximate evolutionary time-scale, in millions of years, is at the base of the figure. For the mysticete section of the tree, one of the six minimum length trees derived from the Mysticeti supermatrix is shown. Relationships derived from the Artiodactyla supermatrix (stem Cetacea) and from the crown Cetacea supermatrix (Odontoceti) are based on strict consensus trees. Artwork is by Carl Buell. (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)”

A phylogenetic blueprint for a modern whale. Gatesy J, Geisler JH, Chang J, Buell C, Berta A, Meredith RW, Springer MS, McGowen MR. Mol Phylogenet Evol. 2012 Oct 26. pii: S1055-7903(12)00418-6. doi: 10.1016/j.ympev.2012.10.012. (pdf)

davethebad:

(via Snail 3D Anatomy Model)

Obligatory Anatomy Diagram of the Day:
Fetal and Post-Natal/Adult Circulation in Juxtaposition [x]