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Melville on Science vs. Creation Myth

From Melville's under-appreciated Mardi: On a quest for his missing love Yillah, an AWOL sailor...

Non-coding DNA Function... Surprising?

The existence of functional, non-protein-coding DNA is all too frequently portrayed as a great...

Yep, This Should Get You Fired

An Ohio 8th-grade creationist science teacher with a habit of branding crosses on his students'...

No, There Are No Alien Bar Codes In Our Genomes

Even for a physicist, this is bad: Larry Moran, in preparation for the appropriate dose of ridicule...

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Michael WhiteRSS Feed of this column.

Welcome to Adaptive Complexity, where I write about genomics, systems biology, evolution, and the connection between science and literature, government, and society.

I'm a biochemist

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Suck It Linus (Pauling)

Suck It Linus (Pauling)

Sep 03 2009 | comment(s)

Antioxidants cause cancer. Or at least that is the headline you may read in some less reputable sources of science news, reporting this study out this week in Nature. Before you go rushing off to toss out your Teavana supercharged antioxidant green tea and your expensive GNC herbal supplements, let's take a closer look at what the research shows. (Well, to be frank, you can go throw out those supplements, and only keep your tea if you enjoy drinking it.)
Creationists on BloggingheadsTV

Creationists on BloggingheadsTV

Sep 03 2009 | comment(s)


What's the quickest way to get scientists and serious science writers to quit coming on your show? Invite the creationists. Discover bloggers Sean Carroll and Carl Zimmer explain what happened:

Sean says:
Morning Science Quote

Morning Science Quote

Sep 03 2009 | comment(s)

... Experiments unguided by an appropriate theoretical framework usually amount to little more than "watching the pot boil."

- John Holland, "Complex Adaptive Systems", Daedalus 121:17-30 (1992)














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How Much Of A Mutant Are You?

How Much Of A Mutant Are You?

Sep 02 2009 | comment(s)

Do you ever wonder how many harmful mutations you carry in your genome? Even if you've never worried about how much of a mutant you are, geneticists have spent a lot of time thinking about this issue. They are interested in a) how much genetic variation is out there, and b) how much of that is potentially harmful and connected to disease? This month's issue of Genome Research has some new research on an individual's personal mutational load.
Complexity, Systems, Emergence, Networks: Keeping It Real

Complexity, Systems, Emergence, Networks: Keeping It Real

Aug 31 2009 | comment(s)

After earning the ire of computational biologists and network theorists last week, it's time to get to the positive side of networks and systems biology. If you hadn't guessed it before, the name of this blog reflects my interest in complex biological systems. When I rant about networks and comp. bio., it's tough love, and I really have the best interests of the field at heart.
Morning Science Quote

Morning Science Quote

Aug 31 2009 | comment(s)

Methinks I am like a man, who having struck on many shoals, and having narrowly escap'd shipwreck in passing a small frith, has yet the temerity to put out to sea in the same leaky weather-beaten vessel, and even carries his ambition so far as to think of compassing the globe under these disadvantageous circumstances.

- David Hume, A Treatise of Human Nature, Of The Understanding, Part 4












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