The Ed's Up #116
We Know Almost Nothing About the Animals That Live on Our Faces
"The history of humanity’s grand sweep around the world is recorded in our genes and genealogies, our art and artifacts, our literature and languages. It’s also written in the legions of tiny mites that live, eat, crawl, and have sex on your face. They’ll have accompanied James Cameron to the bottom of the ocean and Neil Armstrong to the moon. They have lived with humans for most of our evolutionary history but they were only discovered in 1841. They are almost certainly the animals that we spend most time with, but they’re largely a mystery." (Image: Alessandro Bianchi)
Clinical Genetics Has a Big Problem That's Affecting People's Lives
"Many geneticists have similar tales where mistakes in the scientific literature have led to wrong—and sometimes harmful—diagnoses. In one study, a quarter of mutations that have been linked to childhood genetic diseases were debatable, based on papers that contained extremely weak evidence, or plain wrong. This is an absurd situation, especially given the stakes. People get abortions on the basis of mutations that are linked to severe congenital diseases. They get mastectomies on the basis of mutations in breast-cancer genes. They get monitoring devices surgically implanted in their chests on the basis of mutations in heart-disease genes. “This is absolutely an issue, and it’s led to all sorts of problematic decision-making,” says Rehm." (Image: Cheryl Ravelo)
How Poaching Destroys Elephant Wisdom
"She was a singular elephant. Even though she had survived a gunshot wound and had lived through the death of three sisters, “she never displayed anger towards us,” says Wittemyer. “She passed down that attitude to her daughters and nieces. Taking her lead, the Hardwoods have become one of the calmest groups in the park.” She was killed in 2011." (Image: Thomas Mukoya)
Tomorrow’s Heart Drugs Might Target Gut Microbes
"If your cholesterol levels are high, your doctor might prescribe you a statin, a drug that blocks one of the enzymes involved in creating cholesterol. But in the future, she might also prescribe a second drug that technically doesn’t target your body at all. Instead, it would manipulate the microbes in your gut." (Image: Krishnendu Halder)
Tool-Using Parrots Use Pebbles to Grind Seashells
"In the spring of 2013, Megan Lambert noticed the greater vasa parrots of Lincolnshire Wildlife Park doing something odd. They looked like they were licking the cockle shells that lined the floor of their outdoor enclosure. But when Lambert looked closer, she noticed that they were holding a pebble or date pit in their beaks, and rubbing these against the shells. They were using tools." (Image: Frank Wouters)
More good reads
- Carolyn Kormann profiles Manu Prakash and his amazing Foldscope for the New Yorker
- An oncologist who fought for physician-assisted suicide faces his own terminal diagnosis. Brooke Jarvis tells his story, beautifully.
- "A few things science doesn’t know about the menopause: what it’s for, how it works, how to treat it." By the wonderful, hilarious Rose George.
- Why You Always Know Where Your Nose Is - a fascinating look at a molecule behind proprioception, by Eben Bein.
- Harrowing story about autism's lost generation--misidagnosed, wrongly drugged, and consigned to institutions. By Jessica Wright
- This is amazing. Jennifer Frazer on jellyfish that evolved into parasites, turning into stars and worms.
- And finally, Cormac McCarthy writes "Home Alone."
More good links will be released in tomorrow's linkfest on Not Exactly Rocket Science.
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And that's it! Thanks for reading.
-Ed