Monkeys Could Talk, but They Don’t Have the Brains for It

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The New York Times, December 9, 2016

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Primates are unquestionably clever: Monkeys can learn how to use money, and chimpanzees have a knack for game theory. But no one has ever taught a nonhuman primate to say “hello.”

Scientists have long been intrigued by the failure of primates to talk like us. Understanding the reasons may offer clues to how our own ancestors evolved full-blown speech, one of our most powerful adaptations.

On Friday, a team of researchers reported that monkeys have a vocal tract capable of human speech. They argue that other primates can’t talk because they lack the right wiring in their brains.

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A virus, fished out of a lake, may have saved a man’s life — and advanced science

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STAT, December 7, 2016

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Dodge Pond, which sits on the outskirts of East Lyme, Conn., is an ordinary New England lake. It’s home to fish like bluegill and alewife, along with smaller organisms like water fleas, algae, and bacteria. There are viruses in Dodge Pond, too, most of which infect its bacteria. And one of Dodge Pond’s viruses, known as OMKO1, has now earned it a place in medical history.

Earlier this year, in an experimental treatment, doctors put 100 million OMKO1 viruses into a man’s chest to save his life.

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Friday’s Elk, November 25, 2016

Posted on by Matt Kristoffersen

Apologies for the long radio silence. This month has been full of distractions, and not just the election. I went to London for a few days to report on a scientific meeting about evolution and cranking out a story about it. It was published this Tuesday by Quanta.

Seventy years ago, geneticists and other researchers created a new framework for investigating Darwin’s theory of evolution. The Modern Synthesis, as it’s now known, has been a powerful tool ever since. But in recent years, some scientists have argued that it needs an overhaul. They’ve developed a new framework that they call an “Extended Evolutionary Synthesis.” They hold that we need a broader understanding of the causes of evolutionary change. Scientists need to take into account the constraints on development, for example. They need to explore how species shape their environment, which in turn shapes their evolution. Continue reading “Friday’s Elk, November 25, 2016” →

Scientists Seek to Update Evolution

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Quanta Magazine, November 22, 2016

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Kevin Laland looked out across the meeting room at a couple hundred people gathered for a conference on the future of evolutionary biology. A colleague sidled up next to him and asked how he thought things were going.

“I think it’s going quite well,” Laland said. “It hasn’t gone to fisticuffs yet.”

Laland is an evolutionary biologist who works at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. On a chilly gray November day, he came down to London to co-host a meeting at the Royal Society called “New Trends in Evolutionary Biology.”

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Global Warming Alters Arctic Food Chain, Scientists Say, With Unforeseeable Results

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The New York Times, November 22, 2016

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The Arctic Ocean may seem remote and forbidding, but to birds, whales and other animals, it’s a top-notch dining destination.

“It’s a great place to get food in the summertime, so animals are flying or swimming thousands of miles to get there,” said Kevin R. Arrigo, a biological oceanographer at Stanford University.

But the menu is changing. Confirming earlier research, scientists reported Wednesday that global warming is altering the ecology of the Arctic Ocean on a huge scale.

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