Friday’s Elk, March 3, 2017

Posted on by Matt Kristoffersen

I’m writing to you from the lovely town of La Jolla, California, where I’m participating in Future of Genomic Medicine, a meeting where scientists are talking about how sequencing our DNA is going to affect our lives. I gave a talk yesterday about the experience of getting my genome sequenced. If you’re on Twitter, you can read about the presentations under the hashtag #FOGM17.

From here, I’m heading to Palo Alto. If you live anywhere near Stanford University, please consider joining me for a talk at 1 pm on Monday, March 6, in McCaw Hall. I’m giving the keynote address at the annual meeting of the Stanford Center for Computational, Evolutionary and Human Genomics. Details here. Continue reading “Friday’s Elk, March 3, 2017” →

Scientists Say Canadian Bacteria Fossils May Be Earth’s Oldest

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The New York Times, March 1, 2017

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They are microscopic artwork: tiny tubes and long filaments, strange squiggles etched into some of the most ancient rocks known.

On Wednesday, researchers reported that these may be the oldest fossils ever discovered, the remains of bacteria thriving on Earth not long, geologically speaking, after the very birth of the planet. If so, they offer evidence that life here got off to a very early start.

But many experts in the field were skeptical of the new study — or downright unconvinced.

Continue reading “Scientists Say Canadian Bacteria Fossils May Be Earth’s Oldest” →

Friday’s Elk, February 17, 2017

Posted on by Matt Kristoffersen

Greetings! Here’s a quick update since the last Friday’s Elk.

1. The oceans contain vast underwater prairies known as seagrass meadows. For my column this week in the New York Times, I write about the remarkable services they provide to us–including killing off disease-causing bacteria. Maybe if we come to appreciate their value, we’ll stop destroying them at the rate of a football field every thirty minutes. (Image: prilfish via Creative Commons)

2. Why do we sleep? For my previous “Matter” column, I write about scientists who are inspecting the molecular changes that occur in the brain when we doze. Their results suggest that we prune away some connections between our neurons–sharpening our memories, as it were. Continue reading “Friday’s Elk, February 17, 2017” →

Disappearing Seagrass Protects Against Pathogens, Even Climate Change, Scientists Find

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The New York Times, February 16, 2017

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Every continent save Antarctica is ringed by vast stretches of seagrass, underwater prairies that together cover an area roughly equal to California.

Seagrass meadows, among the most endangered ecosystems on Earth, play an outsize role in the health of the oceans. They shelter important fish species, filter pollutants from seawater, and lock up huge amounts of atmosphere-warming carbon.

The plants also fight disease, it turns out.

Continue reading “Disappearing Seagrass Protects Against Pathogens, Even Climate Change, Scientists Find” →

The Purpose of Sleep? To Forget, Scientists Say

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The New York Times, February 2, 2017

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Over the years, scientists have come up with a lot of ideas about why we sleep.

Some have argued that it’s a way to save energy. Others have suggested that slumber provides an opportunity to clear away the brain’s cellular waste. Still others have proposed that sleep simply forces animals to lie still, letting them hide from predators.

A pair of papers published on Thursday in the journal Science offer evidence for another notion: We sleep to forget some of the things we learn each day.

Continue reading “The Purpose of Sleep? To Forget, Scientists Say” →