The central dogma of biology is often simplified to say that DNA codes for RNA, which codes for protein; or that the genome leads to the proteome; or that ones phenotype can be determined by one's genotype ( Read more... )

Some of you may recall an entry of mine a few years ago in which I described research that shows that the dogma of biology that says that who we are comes primarily from our genes is lacking. A new field of "epigenetics" has been started to study changes in expression of genes as opposed to simply whether genes are there or not. (In other words, ( Read more... )

I don't usually talk about homosexuality or transgenderism on my blog. They are very touchy topics for most people, and it would take too much effort for what would likely be of little benefit to either my readers or myself. But recently, a certain aspect of the issue has come up on more than one occasion, and it regards sexuality and/or gender ( Read more... )

Dr. Paul Bloom returned to our campus to speak his third out of four lectures. Previously, he spoke on "moral circles".[1, 2, 3] His topic this time around was "Religion Is Natural ( Read more... )

On Thursday, in a second attempt at exploring into other departments' seminar series[1], I snuck into a cognitive science department's talk that proved to be absolutely amazing to me.

(Pay attention triphicus.) The speaker was Dr. Paul Bloom from Yale. (Apparently, this was his second talk of four. I almost cried that I missed his first talk, "Bodies and ( Read more... )

One of my pet-peeves is good science getting bad press. (I still have not written on this as thoroughly as I would like.)

Another is bad science getting good press.

Here is a recent example: Reuters articleFor those of you not wanting to read the whole article, I shall summarize ( Read more... )

Continuing from my last entry, I feel that our culture wrongly associates sexuality as a fundamental aspect of being human ( Read more... )

Last time around, I listed common statements made about the "soul" and my responses to them. This time around, I think I shall be brief and just make short statements of my current thoughts on the "soul", organized and cross-linked for your reading pleasure.

• Anything with higher brain function has a "soul".[0] This higher brain function includes ( Read more... )

I've seen a few articles recently on the new field of epigenetics (in Discovery and The ScientistWhat is it ( Read more... )

I could not think of anything to post. Once again, browsing the "news" remedied that....

It is commonly known that I dislike teenagers as a subculture[1]. Individual teenagers -- even individual groups of teenagers -- may well be wonderful people that I enjoy being around and even hanging out with ( Read more... )