Canine Tumor Fuels Up by Stealing Parts From Host, Report Says

Posted on by Lori Jia

The New York Times, January 24, 2011

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When humans domesticated dogs at least 10,000 years ago, an apparent side effect was a bizarre new kind of parasite. A canine cancer gained the ability to spread from one dog to the next, creating new tumors along the way.

Today, it thrives in dog populations around the world. Scientists are now studying canine transmissible venereal tumors (or C.T.V.T.) to uncover the adaptations the disease uses to thrive in its peculiar way. In the current issue of Science, British scientists report that it upgrades its energy supply by stealing new parts from its canine hosts.

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“Treasure your exceptions”

Posted on by Matt Kristoffersen

“If I may throw out a word of counsel to beginners, it is: Treasure your exceptions! When there are none, the work gets so dull that no one cares to carry it further. Keep them always uncovered and in sight. Exceptions are like the rough brickwork of a growing building which tells that there is more to come and shows where the next construction is to be.”

—William Bateson, in The Method and Scope of Genetics, 1908. [pdf]

[Image: National Portrait Gallery]

Originally published January 22, 2011. Copyright 2011 Carl Zimmer.

Synthetic biology documentary in the making

Posted on by Matt Kristoffersen

I don’t usually make pleas on the Loom. It doesn’t suit my journalistic nature, and if I make a plug for one cause, it may seem like I am cruelly indifferent to all the other good causes out there. In this case, I’ll just fall back on self-interest! A few weeks back two young film-makers, Sam Gaty and George Costakis, stopped by my house to interview me about synthetic biology for a documentary they’re making on the subject. They’ve been filming across the country for the movie, but it won’t finished in time for next year’s Sundance unless they can raise a little scratch to get them through the summer. Over at the fund-raising site Kickstarter, Gaty makes the case–and offers a clip about goats making spider silk. If this movie doesn’t get made, I end up on the cutting room floor. Oh, the humanity! (Actually, I think the film would be pretty cool without me–but judge for yourself.)

Originally published January 19, 2011. Copyright 2011 Carl Zimmer.

Seeing the Person Behind the Face

Posted on by admin

Discover, January 19, 2011

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Imagine that an eccentric psychologist accosts you. In his hand is a piece of paper with 20 pictures of roses. One of the pictures shows a rose in the flower bed you just passed, he says, and he asks you to pick its picture out from his lineup. The challenge would seem absurd—but if you were to change the roses to faces, nearly everyone could meet it.

Most of us have a powerful ability to recognize faces, and yet we hardly ever take note of it. We can commit a face to memory with a single viewing, and even if we see that face only once its memory can stay fresh for years. The faces we remember so easily may differ only in subtle tweaks of geometry: the ratio of distances between different landmarks such as the eyes and the mouth, for example.

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