Predicting Who Will Get An Oscar Nomination

Predicting Who Will Get An Oscar Nomination

If you want to know how the Oscar celebrations will stack up, our very own Garth Sundem wrote the definitive Oscartronic equation last year. Bonus: Oscar fashion by the numbers is here as well. But…
Tracing The Evolution Of The CA-MRSA 'Superbug'

Tracing The Evolution Of The CA-MRSA 'Superbug'

Community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) infections are caused primarily by a single strain—USA300—of an evolving bacterium that has spread with “extraordinary…
The Tree of Life Loses A Branch

The Tree of Life Loses A Branch

The Tree of Life has lost one of its branches due to the discovery that two formerly separated branches share a similar evolutionary history. It's more than just re-drawing textbooks. The discovery…
Four Numbers I Love and Hate

Four Numbers I Love and Hate

58132764 72645831 76125483 81274365 I first saw these numbers in the book “Fun with Mathematics” by Jerome S. Meyer, published in 1961. I have had them on my computer terminal at work for years. The…
Bacterial genomes and evolution

Bacterial genomes and evolution

The seminar that I give most often when I am invited to speak at other universities begins with a brief introduction to genomes, sets up some comparisons between bacteria and eukaryotes, and then…
2008 North Carolina Science Blogging Conference

2008 North Carolina Science Blogging Conference

Like last year, the North Carolina Science Blogging conference was a hit. I moderated a session on public scientific data with Xan Gregg. Both of our talks were recorded and available here. (I used…
Indentified: Genes Linked To Lupus In Women

Indentified: Genes Linked To Lupus In Women

An international consortium of scientists has identified multiple genes that are linked to systemic lupus erythematosus, a devastating autoimmune disease that affects between 1 million and 2 million…