O blog não é científico, mas é o preferido das universidades nacionais e internacionais

Como já mencionei aqui, este blog não foi aceito pelo Research Blogging como blog científico porque não atendia determinados requisitos deles. Minha conta NeddyBR foi EXPELLED de lá. Eu não resisti, gente, e chorei as pitangas!

Todavia, eu já me recuperei emocionalmente, pois estou vendo que a cada dia que passa, mais e mais este blog é o preferido das universidades nacionais e internacionais:


Fonte.

edu.pt FCCN - Fundacao para a Computacao Cientifica Nacional, Coimbra, Portugal

ttu.edu Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas

utl.edu Universidade Técnica de Lisboa, Portugal

Alguns computadores da USP não mostram seu IP, mas é possível identificá-los:

usp.br 143.107.228.# Universidade de São Paulo - SP

cf.ac.uk University of Wales College of Cardiff, País de Gales

ufsc Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, SC

ufms Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul, Campo Grande, MS

unesp.br Universidade Estadual Paulista, São Paulo, SP

uenf.br Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense, Campos, RJ

Não dá para explicar as visitas a este blog de universidades ao redor do mundo e este blog não ser considerado científico.

Tem alguma coisa errada: ou com este blog, ou com os critérios do Research Blogging.

Você leitor, já decidiu: são mais de 265 mil visitantes!

Muito obrigado pela sua deferência!!!

Claudio Angelo, da Folha de São Paulo, embevecido com a prosa dawkinsiana em "O Maior Espetáculo da Terra"

São Paulo, sábado, 28 de novembro de 2009 Folha de São Paulo Ilustrada

Obra traz Dawkins na melhor forma

"O Maior Espetáculo da Terra", que sai agora no Brasil, é um "tour de force" darwinista, sem mau humor de livros anteriores

Biólogo britânico seduz o leitor com racionalidade e dialoga com ele o tempo todo ao desfilar amostra das evidências da evolução

CLAUDIO ANGELO
EDITOR DE CIÊNCIA

Richard Dawkins atende a ligação do jornalista, algo que não faz com frequência. Como a entrevista é para falar do livro "O Maior Espetáculo da Terra", que acaba de sair no Brasil, o biólogo britânico se resigna a concedê-la. Mas se vinga do repórter pela impertinência.

Responde ora com monissílabos ("É."), ora com instruções ("Olhe no meu site."). Questionado sobre os neolamarckistas, seus adversários intelectuais, o maior divulgador de ciência vivo encerra o tema com a menos científica das atitudes: "Não quero discutir isso". No total, respondeu a 15 questões em 13 minutos. O leitor será poupado da transcrição da entrevista.

Ainda bem que Dawkins não depende de simpatia para vender livros. Seria uma pena que o público deixasse de ler "O Maior Espetáculo da Terra" devido à inteligência emocional do autor. Porque o livro não é só bom: é um "tour de force" darwinista, que vem a calhar no ano em que se celebra o bicentenário de nascimento de Charles Darwin (1809-1882), pai da teoria evolutiva, e os 150 anos de "A Origem das Espécies".

Na nova obra, Dawkins desfila uma pequena (mas significativa) amostra das evidências em favor da evolução. Como Darwin, começa explicando a seleção artificial, processo pelo qual escolhas humanas são capazes, por exemplo, de criar a couve-flor, o brócolis e a acelga a partir de um único ancestral -um tipo de repolho selvagem.
Depois, põe-se a explicar como a natureza faz esse mesmo serviço, transformando as espécies em intervalos (em geral) imensos de tempo por meio principalmente da seleção de variações geradas ao acaso numa população. Todos os conceitos fundamentais do pensamento evolutivo são apresentados por Dawkins, que diz ainda como e por que os cientistas sabem que é tudo verdade.

O álibi do autor para escrever a obra é converter criacionistas. Desculpa esfarrapada: antes mesmo de publicar o anterior, o libelo ateísta "Deus, um Delírio", o inglês já era o inimigo número 1 dessa turma. "Deus, um Delírio" ataca as religiões com tanta virulência que os criacionistas, se pudessem ser convertidos, não ouviriam argumentos de Dawkins.

"O Maior Espetáculo da Terra" traz a verve dawkinsiana em sua melhor forma (perdida no chatérrimo "A Grande História da Evolução", de 2004). É uma leitura leve, em que Dawkins seduz o leitor com racionalidade e dialoga com ele o tempo todo. A certa altura, recomenda que feche o livro e só o retome se estiver descansado, porque será obrigado a explicar conceitos difíceis. Mas a explicação a seguir é tão boa que a dificuldade desaparece.

Os fãs de Dawkins notarão a ausência da rabugice característica do autor. Em vez de chamar o leitor de idiota, Dawkins faz piadas. O repórter impertinente questiona se tanto bom humor é efeito da aposentadoria, em 2008. O biólogo protesta: diz que "Deus, um Delírio", é um livro bem-humorado, tá? Puxa, que bom que ele avisou.

O MAIOR ESPETÁCULO DA TERRA

Autor: Richard Dawkins
Tradução: Laura Teixeira Motta
Editora: Companhia das Letras
Quanto: R$ 53 (440 págs.)

Fonte

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NOTA IMPERTINENTE DESTE BLOGGER:

Comprar este livro é perder R$ 53,00. Razão? Se estes são os melhores argumentos de Dawkins a favor do fato da evolução, esqueça. Eu estou devendo uma resenha sobre este livro cujo livro me reporta ao maior circo que já vi na minha vida:

Fonte.

e me fez lembrar a seguinte frase: viúva é como café requentado, é bom, mas café novo passado na hora é muito melhor. O livro de Dawkins repete o mantra, oops o café requentado: a evolução é um fato, Fato, FATO!

NOTA MAIS DO QUE IMPERTINENTE DESTE BLOGGER:

Ironia do destino: no ano de Darwin 200, este livro de Dawkins não fez parte da lista dos 10 melhores livros de 2009 do The Times Literary Supplement. Sabe onde? Lá na terra de Darwin e Dawkins. Sabe qual foi um dos livros escolhido por Thomas Nagel, um ateu? Signature in the Cell, de Stephen Meyer, um dos teóricos do Design Inteligente.

60 artigos on-line comemorando 350 anos da Royal Society em 2010

A Royal Society vai completar 350 anos em 2010. Para comemorar isso, a RS lançou um site onde 60 artigos foram selecionados do período de 1665 a 2010.

Clique aqui.


Foto

Descoberta a base biológica do 'Sistema Imunológico Bacteriano'

Biological Basis of 'Bacterial Immune System' Discovered

ScienceDaily (Nov. 28, 2009) — Bacteria don't have easy lives. In addition to mammalian immune systems that besiege the bugs, they have natural enemies called bacteriophages, viruses that kill half the bacteria on Earth every two days.

Still, bacteria and another class of microorganisms called archaea (first discovered in extreme environments such as deep-sea volcanic vents) manage just fine, thank you, in part because they have a built-in defense system that helps protect them from many viruses and other invaders.


Bacteria and archaea (first discovered in extreme environments such as deep-sea volcanic vents, such as the one shown above) manage to survive thanks in part to a built-in defense system that helps protect them from many viruses and other invaders. (Credit: OAR/National Undersea Research Program (NURP); NOAA)

A team of scientists led by researchers at the University of Georgia has now discovered how this bacterial defense system works, and it could lead to new classes of targeted antibiotics, new tools to study gene function in microorganisms and more stable bacterial cultures used by food and biotechnology industries to make products such as yogurt and cheese.

The research was published November 26 in the journal Cell.

"Understanding how bacteria defend themselves gives us important information that can be used to weaken bacteria that are harmful and strengthen bacteria that are helpful," said Michael Terns, a professor of biochemistry and molecular biology in UGA's Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. "We also hope to exploit this knowledge to develop new tools to speed research on microorganisms."

Other authors on the Cell paper include Rebecca Terns, a senior research scientist in biochemistry and molecular biology at UGA; Caryn Hale, a graduate student in the Terns lab at UGA; Lance Wells, an assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular biology and Georgia Cancer Coalition Scholar at UGA and his graduate student Peng Zhao; and research associate Sara Olson, assistant professor Michael Duff and associate professor Brenton Graveley of the University of Connecticut Health Center.
The system, whose mechanism of action was uncovered in the Terns lab (Michael and Rebecca Terns are a husband-wife team), involves a "dynamic duo" made up of a bacterial RNA that recognizes and physically attaches itself to a viral target molecule, and partner proteins that cut up the target, thereby "silencing" the would-be cell killer.
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Read more here/Leia mais aqui.

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Cell
Volume 139, Issue 5, 25 November 2009, Pages 945-956

RNA-Guided RNA Cleavage by a CRISPR RNA-Cas Protein Complex

Caryn R. Hale1, Peng Zhao1, Sara Olson3, Michael O. Duff3, Brenton R. Graveley3, Lance Wells1, Rebecca M. Terns1, , and Michael P. Terns1, 2, ,

1Departments of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA

2Department of Genetics, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA

3Department of Genetics and Developmental Biology, University of Connecticut Stem Cell Institute, University of Connecticut Health Center, 263 Farmington Avenue, Farmington, CT 06030, USA


Received 15 October 2008; revised 13 April 2009; accepted 17 July 2009. Published: November 25, 2009. Available online 26 November 2009.

Summary

Compelling evidence indicates that the CRISPR-Cas system protects prokaryotes from viruses and other potential genome invaders. This adaptive prokaryotic immune system arises from the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPRs) found in prokaryotic genomes, which harbor short invader-derived sequences, and the CRISPR-associated (Cas) protein-coding genes. Here, we have identified a CRISPR-Cas effector complex that is comprised of small invader-targeting RNAs from the CRISPR loci (termed prokaryotic silencing (psi)RNAs) and the RAMP module (or Cmr) Cas proteins. The psiRNA-Cmr protein complexes cleave complementary target RNAs at a fixed distance from the 3′ end of the integral psiRNAs. In Pyrococcus furiosus, psiRNAs occur in two size forms that share a common 5′ sequence tag but have distinct 3′ ends that direct cleavage of a given target RNA at two distinct sites. Our results indicate that prokaryotes possess a unique RNA silencing system that functions by homology-dependent cleavage of invader RNAs.

Author Keywords: RNA; MICROBIO

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Professores, pesquisadores e alunos de universidades públicas e privadas com acesso ao site CAPES/Periódicos podem ler gratuitamente este artigo da Cell e de outras publicações científicas.

O circo dos anéis das árvores do CRU: quem 'revisa' os 'revisores'?

"The trouble with outsourcing your marbles to the peer-reviewed set is that, if you take away one single thing from the leaked documents, it’s that the global warm-mongers have wholly corrupted the “peer-review” process. When it comes to promoting the impending ecopalypse, the Climate Research Unit is the nerve-center of the operation. The “science” of the CRU dominates the “science” behind the UN’s IPCC, which dominates the “science” behind the Congressional cap-and-trade boondoggle, the upcoming Copenhagen shakindownen of the developed world, and the now routine phenomenon of leaders of advanced, prosperous societies talking like gibbering madmen escaped from the padded cell, whether it’s President Obama promising to end the rise of the oceans or the Prince of Wales saying we only have 96 months left to save the planet. But don’t worry, it’s all “peer-reviewed.”…



Here’s what Phil Jones of the CRU and his colleague Michael Mann of Penn State mean by “peer review.” When Climate Research published a paper dissenting from the Jones-Mann “consensus,” Jones demanded that the journal “rid itself of this troublesome editor,” and Mann advised that “we have to stop considering Climate Research as a legitimate peer-reviewed journal. Perhaps we should encourage our colleagues in the climate research community to no longer submit to, or cite papers.” So much for Climate Research.

When Geophysical Research Letters also showed signs of wandering off the “consensus” reservation, Dr. Tom Wigley (“one of the world’s foremost experts on climate change”) suggested they get the goods on its editor, Jim Saiers, and go to his bosses at the American Geophysical Union to “get him ousted.” When another pair of troublesome dissenters emerge, Dr. Jones assured Dr. Mann, “I can’t see either of these papers being in the next IPCC report. Kevin and I will keep them out somehow — even if we have to redefine what the peer-review literature is!”

Source/Fonte

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NOTA IMPERTINENTE DESTE BLOGGER:

A julgar pelo andar da carruagem - já deleteram vários documentos - acho que a Nomenklatura científica vai terminar o caso em pizza a la políticos brasileiros, e a Grande Mídia vai limpar a boca como se nada de criminoso tivesse ocorrido.

Uma despudorada relação incestuosa!

Notebooks de Darwin online

Darwin's notebooks go online on 150th anniversary of 'Origin of the Species'

On the 150th anniversary of the publication of On the Origin of the Species, the 15 field notebooks that underpinned Charles Darwin's theory of evolution are going online.

At the same time, English Heritage is appealing for help in locating one crucial notebook, written by Darwin in the Galapagos, that went missing decades ago, The Times of London and the BBC report.

The missing work, with entries from 1835 when Darwin was in Chile, Peru, the Galapagos and Tahiti, includes Darwin's description upon encountering a giant tortoise and notes on local birds. Click here for details on the search for the missing notebook.

The contents of the notebooks, including the missing one, were put on microfilm years ago and are part of the online material now available. Click here to read them.
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Read more here/Leia mais aqui.

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NOTA DESTE BLOGGER:

Para ler os notebooks é preciso instalar o Microsoft Silverlight para os seguintes browsers:

Internet Explorer 6, 7 e 8

Firefox 2 3

Safari 3 e 4

O link deste site foi colocado na lista de sites preferidos deste blogger.

Transplante sob perspectiva brasileira

Transplante sob perspectiva brasileira
30/11/2009

Por Fábio de Castro

Agência FAPESP – O livro Transplante de células-tronco hematopoiéticas, editado por Julio Cesar Voltarelli, professor titular do Departamento de Clínica Médica da Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto da Universidade de São Paulo (FMRP-USP), é o primeiro tratado brasileiro completo sobre o tema.


Transplante de células-tronco hematopoiéticas, editado por Julio Voltarelli, professor da FMRP-USP e coordenador do Centro de Terapia Celular, atualiza conhecimento internacional e descreve experiências brasileiras na área

Lançada no dia 12 de novembro durante o Congresso Brasileiro de Hematologia, em Florianópolis, a obra foi coeditada por Ricardo Pasquini, professor emérito da Universidade Federal do Paraná (UFPR), e por Euza Ortega, ex-coordenadora da equipe de enfermagem do Serviço de Transplante de Medula Óssea do Hospital das Clínicas da UFPR.

Voltarelli, que coordena o Centro de Terapia Celular (CTC), um dos Centros de Pesquisa, Inovação e Difusão (Cepids) da FAPESP, é um dos principais especialistas brasileiros no tema. Ele lidera, desde 2003, um experimento inovador de tratamento de pacientes de diabetes tipo 1 fundamentado em altas doses de quimioterapia e no transplante de células-tronco extraídas de seus próprios organismos.

Segundo Voltarelli, o livro de quase 1,3 mil páginas apresenta uma ampla revisão sobre o tema do transplante de células-tronco hematopoiéticas – aquelas que têm potencial para formação de sangue – e revela a experiência brasileira na área, descrevendo os transplantes realizados no Brasil para cada doença.

“É o primeiro livro brasileiro completo sobre o transplante. Já houve outras obras produzidas por equipes multidisciplinares, mas com o caráter de manuais. Esse é um tratado completo que aborda todos os aspectos do transplante. Em quase todos os capítulos apresentamos experiências brasileiras”, disse à Agência FAPESP.

O livro é dirigido para o público que tem interesse em se informar sobre as células hematopoiéticas e, em especial, aos estudantes e pesquisadores envolvidos com transplantes. “Há muitos autores, de praticamente todos os centros de transplante de células-tronco do Brasil. Há contribuições estrangeiras também”, contou.

Voltarelli explica que a obra faz uma revisão atualizada do que está sendo feito na área em todo o mundo. “É importante destacar que a obra não se resume a um relato da experiência brasileira. Mostramos o panorama do que está sendo realizado no mundo em relação a cada uma das doenças. A diferença em relação a outros projetos estrangeiros é que essa revisão é acompanhada dos experimentos nacionais”, disse.

Entre outros trabalhos, o cientista também já realizou experimentos importantes com transplante de células-tronco hematopoiéticas para o tratamento de pacientes com esclerose múltipla – doença neurológica crônica de causa ainda desconhecida.

Em parceria com pesquisadores de diversos países, Voltarelli conseguiu reverter déficits neurológicos em estágios iniciais em pacientes com a doença, usando as células-tronco dos próprios indivíduos para “reinicializar” seus sistemas imunológicos.

Regulamentação

Os 57 capítulos do livro estão distribuídos em três seções: “Bases históricas, científicas e legais do transplante de células-tronco hematopoiéticas”, “Aspectos clínicos do transplante de células-tronco hematopoiéticas” e “Aspectos multidisciplinares e perspectivas futura do transplante de células-tronco hematopoiéticas”.

“Na parte das bases científicas, abordamos aspectos como a imunologia médica e a biologia da célula-tronco. Na parte clínica, apresentamos a experiência nacional com transplantes. Não se trata, evidentemente, de casos individuais, mas de grupos de casos em que as técnicas foram aplicadas para determinada doença. Na terceira parte, abordamos o aspecto multidisciplinar, descrevendo o papel da enfermagem, da psicologia e da nutrição, por exemplo”, explicou Voltarelli.

Outro diferencial da publicação, de acordo com o professor da FMRP, consiste em incluir aspectos da legislação brasileira em transplantes de células-tronco hematopoiéticas.

“O livro apresenta a nova regulamentação do Ministério da Saúde para os transplantes de células-tronco hematopoiéticas, publicada em outubro de 2009. Além disso, traz um resumo das diretrizes brasileiras para o transplante, decididas em uma reunião de consenso realizada em junho de 2009”, disse.

Transplante de células-tronco hematopoiéticas
Organizadores: Júlio Voltarelli, Ricardo Pasquini e Euza Ortega
Lançamento: 2009
Preço: R$ 447,30
Mais informações: www.atheneu.com.br

BPE terá somente solicitação eletrônica

BPE terá somente solicitação eletrônica
30/11/2009

Agência FAPESP – A FAPESP informa que a partir de 1º de dezembro de 2009 a solicitação de Bolsas de Pesquisa no Exterior (BPE) deverá ser feita exclusivamente por meio do Sistema de Apoio a Gestão (SAGe).

Nessa modalidade, que pode ter duração de até 12 meses, agora também é possível ao candidato solicitar recursos para manutenção de dependente quando for o caso.


A partir de 1º de dezembro a solicitação de Bolsas de Pesquisa no Exterior da FAPESP deverá ser feita exclusivamente por meio do SAGe (foto: Eduardo Cesar)

A solicitação da bolsa pode ser feita em qualquer época do ano. Os formulários eletrônicos estarão disponíveis no SAGe, no endereço: www.fapesp.br/sage.

São requisitos dos candidatos ter título de doutor ou qualificação equivalente, comprovada por sua súmula curricular, ter vínculo com instituição de pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo e ter produção científica ou tecnológica.

A manutenção para o bolsista é de US$ 2.200,00 por mês ou fração. A manutenção para os dependentes que permanecerem com o bolsista durante todo o período da bolsa será de US$ 300 por mês ou fração para um dependente, US$ 550 por mês ou fração para dois dependentes, US$ 750 por mês ou fração para três dependentes ou US$ 900 por mês ou fração para o máximo de dependentes.

No caso de bolsistas que desenvolverão projetos em países na Europa e na Ásia, será concedido um adicional de 20% no valor supramencionado da bolsa e da manutenção dos dependentes.

Mais informações: www.fapesp.br/bpe.

No instante do laser

No instante do laser
30/11/2009

Por Alex Sander Alcântara

Agência FAPESP – A revista Optics & Photonics News, da Sociedade Óptica da América, anunciou na edição de novembro o ganhador do 4º Concurso de Imagens Fotográficas realizado anualmente pela revista.

O físico Ricardo Elgul Samad, do Instituto de Pesquisas Energéticas e Nucleares (Ipen), ficou em primeiro lugar com uma foto feita no Laboratório de Lasers Compactos de Altíssima Potência da instituição.


Pesquisador do Ipen ganha prêmio de fotografia da revista Optics & Photonics News ao registrar o momento em que o laser com pulsos ultracurtos de alta intensidade atinge pedaço de papel (foto: R. Samad)

A foto de Ricardo Samad registra o momento em que pulsos lasers ultracurtos de alta intensidade – cerca de mil pulsos por segundo – interagem com um pedaço de papel, rapidamente movido, gerando um efeito de cores surpreendentes.

“Coloquei a máquina fotográfica no tripé, deixei a íris aberta registrando as imagens durante 1 segundo. Peguei um cartão de visitas, segurei na frente da lente e passei o cartão da esquerda para a direita. Quando o laser fica focalizado, ele ‘queima o ar’, criando um plasma [gás ionizado constituído de elétrons livres, íons e átomos neutros], que gera feixes de várias cores que se propagam”, disse à Agência FAPESP.

Fundada em 1916, a Sociedade Óptica da América publica vários periódicos científicos, entre ela a OPN. Entre os colaboradores da revista destacam-se pesquisadores no campo da óptica, jornalistas e profissionais que trabalham na área.

Na revista, os jurados salientam a beleza da imagem. “O padrão produzido movendo a folha do papel é muito bonito”, disse o canadense François Busque, especialista em óptica. “Ao olhar de relance, a foto exige do observador que estude seus detalhes”, acrescentou Brian Monacelli, do Centro de Pesquisa e Educação em Óptica e Lasers da Universidade da Flórida, nos Estados Unidos.

Para a quarta edição do concurso, a revista recebeu 81 inscrições, duas vezes mais que as dos anos anteriores. O segundo lugar ficou com Jeffrey W. Nicholson, da companhia OFS Laboratories, e o terceiro com Mike Kudenov, da Universidade do Arizona, ambos nos Estados Unidos.

“A ideia da foto surgiu juntamente com a de uma outra publicada em reportagem da revista Pesquisa FAPESP. Tínhamos uma noção do que íamos encontrar. Foi uma mistura de ideias. Tirei algumas fotos, mas essa foi a mais surpreendente”, contou Samad.

Segundo ele, o laboratório do qual faz parte desenvolve pesquisas básicas e de aplicações em várias frentes. Uma parte do trabalho é desenvolver um laser de alta potência, baseado em cristais de Cr: LiSAF que apresenta ampla emissão espectral e longo tempo de vida. “Desenvolver esse laser foi o objetivo do meu doutorado”, disse Samad.

Várias frentes de pesquisa desenvolvidas no laboratório compõem o Projeto Temático FAPESP “Implementação de um sistema laser de terawatt e suas aplicações”, concluído em 2007 e coordenado por Nilson Dias Vieira Junior, superintendente do Ipen e membro do Conselho Superior da FAPESP de 2000 a 2006.

O Laboratório de Lasers Compactos de Altíssima Potência do Ipen é o primeiro no hemisfério Sul capaz de obter pulsos lasers com potências de pico próximas de 1 terawatt, abrindo espaço para pesquisas com aplicações práticas nas áreas da saúde, meio ambiente, nanotecnologia, entre outras.

Mais informações: www.osa-opn.org/Gallery/Default.aspx

Intercâmbio internacional na Unesp

Intercâmbio internacional na Unesp
30/11/2009

Agência FAPESP – A Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp) assinou convênio com a Associação Brasileira de Intercâmbio Profissional e Estudantil (Abipe) para garantir o intercâmbio cultural de 200 alunos durante o ano de 2010.

Os estudantes selecionados participarão do programa de bolsas de estágio da Associação Internacional para o Intercâmbio de Estudantes e Estágios Técnicos (Iaeste). Fundada há 60 anos, a entidade não tem fins lucrativos e promove a mobilidade estudantil entre jovens universitários nos cinco continentes.


Acordo com Abipe prevê a oferta de 100 bolsas para brasileiros no exterior e outras 100 para estrangeiros cumprirem estágios na Unesp (foto: Iaeste)

Serão 100 bolsas destinadas a alunos da Unesp que poderão estagiar em 80 países conveniados à Iaeste. As outras 100 são destinadas a estudantes estrangeiros que farão um estágio de dois meses em unidades da Unesp. O número de vagas faz da universidade a maior parceira da Iaeste no Brasil.

Uma novidade do convênio é a reserva de vagas para 20 alunos de mestrado da Unesp.

Os candidatos devem ter entre 18 e 28 anos, possuir pelo menos o nível intermediário de inglês, espanhol ou alemão e estar matriculado em um curso da Unesp de graduação, mestrado ou especialização.

Segundo a Unesp, se o candidato não restringir os países nos quais gostaria de estagiar e conseguir boa pontuação, terá mais chances de conseguir um estágio.

Os interessados devem entrar em contato com a Abipe, por meio dos telefones (11) 3371-2885 ou (11) 3371-2885 ou pelo site www.abipe.org.br.

Climategate: o pior escândalo científico de nossa geração

NOTA IMPERTINENTE DESTE BLOGGER:

A Grande Mídia tupiniquim está 'suavizando' este escândalo de corrupção entre os cientistas. Dois pesos, duas medidas: fosse um teórico do Design Inteligente envolvido, a GMT cairia de pau sem dó nem piedade [sei do que estou falando], e com manchetes de primeira página, editorial na Folha de São Paulo, y otras cositas mais.

Lá na Inglaterra parece que a mídia está tendo outro comportamento e prática de jornalismo objetivo: chamando os cientistas corruptos de corruptos e escândalo de escândalo.

A GMT recebe comunicados à imprensa como este que nem o blogger aqui...

"NÃO DAMOS ESPAÇO!!!"

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Climate change: this is the worst scientific scandal of our generation

Our hopelessly compromised scientific establishment cannot be allowed to get away with the Climategate whitewash, says Christopher Booker.

By Christopher Booker
Published: 6:10PM GMT 28 Nov 2009

A week after my colleague James Delingpole, on his Telegraph blog, coined the term "Climategate" to describe the scandal revealed by the leaked emails from the University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit, Google was showing that the word now appears across the internet more than nine million times. But in all these acres of electronic coverage, one hugely relevant point about these thousands of documents has largely been missed.


CO2 emissions will be on top of the agenda at the Copenhagen summit in December Photo: Getty

A week after my colleague James Delingpole, on his Telegraph blog, coined the term "Climategate" to describe the scandal revealed by the leaked emails from the University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit, Google was showing that the word now appears across the internet more than nine million times. But in all these acres of electronic coverage, one hugely relevant point about these thousands of documents has largely been missed.

The reason why even the Guardian's George Monbiot has expressed total shock and dismay at the picture revealed by the documents is that their authors are not just any old bunch of academics. Their importance cannot be overestimated, What we are looking at here is the small group of scientists who have for years been more influential in driving the worldwide alarm over global warming than any others, not least through the role they play at the heart of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

The reason why even the Guardian's George Monbiot has expressed total shock and dismay at the picture revealed by the documents is that their authors are not just any old bunch of academics. Their importance cannot be overestimated, What we are looking at here is the small group of scientists who have for years been more influential in driving the worldwide alarm over global warming than any others, not least through the role they play at the heart of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
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Wesley Smith sobre "A Nova Inquisição": a ideologia da corrupção da ciência

Wesley J. Smith tem uma postagem excelente [em inglês] no seu blog First Things sobre como o recente escândalo do ClimateGate como sendo apenas um sintoma de um problema muito maior envolvendo a corrupção ideológica da ciência:

"O aquecimento global não é a única área na qual nós temos testemunhado este tipo desavergonhado de corrupção ideológica da ciência nos anos recentes years. Eu tenho visto esta mesma abordagem ser tomada repetidamente contra os pontos de vista heterodoxos na controvérsia da clonagem humana/pesquisas com células-tronco embrionárias, a ponto de aquelas pessoas terem sido mandadas embora das faculdades ou serem negadas estabilidade. Os meus colegas no Discovery Institute enfrentam uma serra circular semelhante no seu empenho em favor da hipótese do design inteligente, e depois eles servem de motejo dos censores por não terem sido publicados em journals científicos com revisão por pares. Na verdade, quando Richard Sternberg publicou um artigo a favor do DI, ele foi atacado e vilipendiado tão implacavelmente pelos darwinistas, que isso mandou uma mensagem clara e ameaçadora para todos os demais editores de journal que publicassem artigos a favor do DI correndo o risco de suas carreiras." [1]

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NOTA IMPERTINENTE DESTE BLOGGER:

Quando eu mencionei aqui estes aspectos bem destacados por Wesley Smith, a Galera dos meninos e meninas de Darwin disse que isso é a 'teoria da conspiração', mesmo tendo apresentado as evidências de que tais fatos assim se sucederam.

Como foi bom ter sido vindicado por esses hackers [não endosso o que fizeram]: há algo de podre na Nomenklatura científica, e determinadas teorias científicas são defendidas, não cientificamente, mas IDEOLOGICAMENTE.

E na defesa de uma ideologia vale tudo maquiavelicamente: sonegar informações, distorcer evidências, perseguir e, se possível, eliminar os 'diferentes' [dissidentes e céticos].

Enfim, fazer a caca que esta turma do CRU fez. Agora, na pressa de fazer valer sua agenda $$$ sobre os males do aquecimento global ser provocado antropogenicamente, Al 'Apocalipse' Gore vai comer CRU! [Não pude resistir!].

NOTA

1. "Global warming isn’t the only field in which we have witnessed this kind of brazen ideological corruption of science in recent years. I have seen the same approach taken repeatedly against heterodox views in the human cloning/ESCR controversy, to the point that people have been driven off of faculties or denied tenure. My colleagues at the Discovery Institute face a similar buzz saw in their pursuit of intelligent design hypothesis, and then are taunted by the censors for not being published in peer reviewed journals. Indeed, when Richard Sternberg published an ID article, he was attacked and slandered so mercilessly by the Darwinists, that it sent a clear and threatening message to all other journal editors that they publish ID-oriented papers at peril to their own careers."

Estados Unidos 7 x Federação Russa 1 (visitantes deste blog)

Fonte.

USA: 7%
Portugal: 5%
Russian Federation: 1%

'Consenso' a favor de Darwin não significa rejeição do Design Inteligente

Pro-Darwin consensus doesn't rule out intelligent design
By Stephen C. Meyer, Special to CNN
November 23, 2009 11:10 p.m. EST

Editor's note: Stephen Meyer is director of the Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture, which supports research challenging "neo-Darwinian theory" and supports work on the theory of "intelligent design." He is the author of "Signature in the Cell: DNA and the Evidence for Intelligent Design." He received his Ph.D. in the Philosophy of Science from Cambridge University.

(CNN) -- While we officially celebrate the 150th anniversary of the publication of Charles Darwin's "On the Origin of Species" on November 24, celebrations of Darwin's legacy have actually been building in intensity for several years. Darwin is not just an important 19th century scientific thinker. Increasingly, he is a cultural icon.
Darwin is the subject of adulation that teeters on the edge of hero worship, expressed in everything from scholarly seminars and lecture series to best-selling new atheist tracts like those by Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens. The atheists claim that Darwin disproved once and for all the argument for intelligent design from nature.

And that of course is why he remains hugely controversial. A Zogby poll commissioned by the Discovery Institute this year found that 52 percent of Americans agree "the development of life was guided by intelligent design." Those who are not scientists may wonder if they have a right to entertain skepticism about Darwinian theory.

Read a leading Darwin proponent's view that evolution leaves no room for intelligent design theory

We are told that a consensus of scientists supporting the theory means that Darwinian evolution is no longer subject to debate. But does it ever happen that a seemingly broad consensus of scientific expertise turns out to be wrong, generated by an ideologically motivated stampeding of opinion?

Of course, that does happen. Many ideologically driven crusades in science -- the earth-centered solar system and eugenics, for example -- survived long after supposed evidence for these ideas evaporated. And precisely the same thing is happening today in the ideologically charged field of evolutionary biology. Indeed, there are strong scientific reasons to doubt the consensus about Darwin's theory and what it allegedly proved.

Contrary to Darwinian orthodoxy, the fossil record actually challenges the idea that all organisms have evolved from a single common ancestor. Why? Fossil studies reveal "a biological big bang" near the beginning of the Cambrian period (520 million years ago) when many major, separate groups of organisms or "phyla" (including most animal body plans) emerged suddenly without clear precursors.
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NOTA IMPERTINENTE DESTE BLOGGER:

Consenso não é coisa saudável em ciência, mas em política. Se houver consenso, não é ciência. Além disso, todas as vezes que você ouvir a palavra 'consenso' em ciência, procure por sua carteira epistêmica: ela está sendo 'tungada' pela Nomenklatura científica que, através deste expediente maroto, oops científico, procura 'blindar' os paradigmas 'consensuais' mais queridos dos naturalistas filosóficos.

Naturalismo filosófico não é CIÊNCIA é IDEOLOGIA.

A Megan 'falou e disse': ausência de publicações deve ser considerada cum grano salis

A Nomenklatura científica preza muito o processo de pesquisas e artigos passarem por revisão por pares. Isso é bom e é ruim para a ciência conforme já destacamos neste blog. Mas há um tipo de atitude perversa em relação aos críticos e dissidentes de paradigma: os revisores por pares deixam a sua função original e boa para servirem de guardas-cancelas para proteger o paradigma de quaisquer críticas.

Ao impedirem os céticos e dissidentes de publicarem seus artigos em revistas e publicações científicas, a Nomenklatura científica usa o argumento de ausência de publicações com revisão por pares como sendo uma prova definitiva do caráter pseudocientífico das novas ideias propostas.

Bem, com o escândalo do Climagate, Marcelo Leite, da Folha de São Paulo, trouxe esta pérola que servirá de munição apologética deste blogger:

"De todo modo, é bom seguir o conselho da economista Megan McArdle em seu blog no sítio da revista "The Atlantic": tomar com um grão a mais de sal, de ora em diante, o argumento "ausência de publicações". in Climagate [Requer assinatura da FSP ou do UOL]

Detestei o neologismo criado por Leite. Por uma simples razão: Watergate não foi traduzido por Águagate!!!

Abaixo o texto da Megan:

Scientists are human beings. They react to pressure to "clean up" their graphs and data for publication, and they gang up on other people who they dislike. Sometimes they're right--there's a "conspiracy" to keep people who believe in N-rays from publishing in physics journals, but that's a good thing. But sometimes they're wrong, and a powerful figure or group of people can block progress in science.

I'd say that the charge that climate skeptics "are not published in peer reviewed journals" just lost most of its power as an argument against the skeptics.

Climategate

Foto da Megan McArdle

Serra 'falou e disse': um bom debate não existe no Brasil porque é reprimido ideologicamente

Serra reclama da falta de "um bom debate" e diz que essa prática é "algo interditado no Brasil de hoje": "Infelizmente esse debate não existe, está obscurecido e até reprimido, não pela força, mas reprimido ideologicamente".



Caracas, mano. Eu acho que o Serra lê este meu blog: um bom debate é uma prática inexistente, é obscurecido e reprimido, não pela força, mas pela ideologia. Traduzindo em graúdos: a atitude absurda da Nomenklatura científica em não reconhecer que a teoria da evolução é uma teoria em crise [contexto de justificação teórica], mais a máxima de "NÃO DAMOS ESPAÇO" de Marcelo Leite (Folha de São Paulo), em encerramento de conferência sobre a evolução na Fac. de Medicina da USP, em 2006, reflete muito bem esta realidade quando a questão é Darwin e as novas ideias teóricas: a REPRESSÃO É IDEOLÓGICA, NÃO É CIENTÍFICA!!!

Folha de São Paulo [Requer assinatura da FSP ou do UOL]

Foto de Serra.

Extinção em massa: por que metade dos maiores mamíferos da América do Norte desapareceu entre 40.000 e 10.000 anos atrás?

Mass Extinction: Why Did Half of N. America's Large Mammals Disappear 40,000 to 10,000 Years Ago?

ScienceDaily (Nov. 27, 2009) — Years of scientific debate over the extinction of ancient species in North America have yielded many theories. However, new findings from J. Tyler Faith, GW Ph.D. candidate in the hominid paleobiology doctoral program, and Todd Surovell, associate professor of anthropology at the University of Wyoming, reveal that a mass extinction occurred in a geological instant.


Artist's rendering of a woolly mammoth family. (Credit: iStockphoto/KIM FREITAS)

During the late Pleistocene, 40,000 to 10,000 years ago, North America lost over 50 percent of its large mammal species. These species include mammoths, mastodons, giant ground sloths, among many others. In total, 35 different genera (groups of species) disappeared, all of different habitat preferences and feeding habits.

What event or factor could cause such a mass extinction? The many hypotheses that have been developed over the years include: abrupt change in climate, the result of comet impact, human overkill and disease. Some researchers believe that it may be a combination of these factors, one of them, or none.
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Synchronous extinction of North America's Pleistocene mammals

J. Tyler Faith a,1 and Todd A. Surovell b

- Author Affiliations

aHominid Paleobiology Doctoral Program, Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, Department of Anthropology, The George Washington University, 2110 G Street NW, Washington, DC 20052; and

bDepartment of Anthropology, University of Wyoming, P.O. Box 3431, 1000 East University Avenue, Laramie, WY 82071

Edited by Steven M. Stanley, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI, and approved October 12, 2009 (received for review July 27, 2009)

Abstract

The late Pleistocene witnessed the extinction of 35 genera of North American mammals. The last appearance dates of 16 of these genera securely fall between 12,000 and 10,000 radiocarbon years ago (≈13,800–11,400 calendar years B.P.), although whether the absence of fossil occurrences for the remaining 19 genera from this time interval is the result of sampling error or temporally staggered extinctions is unclear. Analysis of the chronology of extinctions suggests that sampling error can explain the absence of terminal Pleistocene last appearance dates for the remaining 19 genera. The extinction chronology of North American Pleistocene mammals therefore can be characterized as a synchronous event that took place 12,000–10,000 radiocarbon years B.P. Results favor an extinction mechanism that is capable of wiping out up to 35 genera across a continent in a geologic instant.

climate change extraterrestrial impact overkill Quaternary extinctions radiocarbon dates

Footnotes

1To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: tfaith@gwmail.gwu.edu

Author contributions: J.T.F. and T.A.S. designed research; J.T.F. and T.A.S. performed research; J.T.F. and T.A.S. analyzed data; and J.T.F. wrote the paper.

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

This article is a PNAS Direct Submission.

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PDF GRÁTIS

Rede de RNA visto pela primeira vez em células bacteriais vivas

RNA Network Seen in Live Bacterial Cells for First Time

ScienceDaily (Nov. 28, 2009) — Scientists who study RNA have faced a formidable roadblock: trying to examine RNA's movements in a living cell when they can't see the RNA. Now, a new technology has given scientists the first look ever at RNA in a live bacteria cell -- a sight that could offer new information about how the molecule moves and works.


These are fluorescent images of E. coli bacterial cells with visualized RNA. The bar denotes 2 microns. (Credit: Image courtesy of Natalia E. Broude, Ph.D. / Department of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University)

Interest in RNA, which plays a key role in manufacturing proteins, has increased in recent years, due in large part to its potential in new drug therapies. RNA localization and movement in bacterial cell are poorly understood. The problem has been finding a way to mark RNA in a living cell so that scientists can track it, says Natasha Broude, a research associate professor at Boston University's Department of Biomedical Engineering.

"You can label any protein within the cell and watch what it is doing," says Broude, a senior researcher on the new study, published in a recent issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "For RNA it was much more difficult because RNA is more mobile and less stable than both proteins and DNA."

Before now, scientists used green fluorescent protein (GFP) to label RNA in a cell. But proteins were also tagged with GFP and their fluorescence was so bright, it drowned out the glow from the RNA. "The initial idea was to do something to allow us to decrease background fluorescence," Broude says.

In 2007, Broude and her colleagues developed a system to persuade a cell to synthesize protein in two fragments rather than a whole, which made the protein inactive. They then modified an RNA molecule, adding a small tail of RNA sequence that works like a handle, grabbing the fragments and pulling them together, which makes the protein active -- and glow bright green. The scientists can then follow the RNA as it moves through the cell.
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Spatiotemporal patterns and transcription kinetics of induced RNA in single bacterial cells

Maria Valencia-Burton a, Ankita Shah a, Jason Sutin a, Azra Borogovac a, Ron M. McCullough b, Charles R. Cantor a,b, Amit Meller a and Natalia E. Broude a,1

+ Author Affiliations

aCenter for Advanced Biotechnology and Department of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, 36 Cummington Street, Boston, MA 02215; and
bSequenom, Inc., 3595 John Hopkins Court, San Diego, CA 92121
Contributed by Charles R. Cantor, July 17, 2009 (received for review May 5, 2009)

Abstract

Bacteria have a complex internal organization with specific localization of many proteins and DNA, which dynamically move during the cell cycle and in response to changing environmental stimuli. Much less is known, however, about the localization and movements of RNA molecules. By modifying our previous RNA labeling system, we monitor the expression and localization of a model RNA transcript in live Escherichia coli cells. Our results reveal that the target RNA is not evenly distributed within the cell and localizes laterally along the long cell axis, in a pattern suggesting the existence of ordered helical RNA structures reminiscent of known bacterial cytoskeletal cellular elements.

fluorescent protein live E. coli cells protein complementation RNA visualization

Footnotes

1To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: nebroude@bu.edu

Author contributions: C.R.C., A.M., and N.E.B. designed research; M.V.-B., A.S., J.S., A.B., and R.M.M. performed research; M.V.-B., A.S., A.M., and N.E.B. analyzed data; and A.M. and N.E.B. wrote the paper.

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/0907495106/DCSupplemental.

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PDF GRÁTIS

Ecologistas descobrem nova solução para o monitoramento de espécies crípticas

Ecologists Sound out New Solution for Monitoring Cryptic Species

ScienceDaily (Nov. 28, 2009) — Ecologists have at last worked out a way of using recordings of birdsong to accurately measure the size of bird populations. This is the first time sound recordings from a microphone array have been translated into accurate estimates of bird species' populations. Because the new technique, reported in the British Ecological Society's Journal of Applied Ecology, will also work with whale song, it could lead to a major advance in our ability to monitor whale and dolphin numbers.

Developed by Deanna Dawson of the US Geological Survey and Murray Efford of the University of Otago, New Zealand, the technique is an innovative combination of sound recording with spatially explicit capture-recapture (SECR), a new version of one of ecologists' oldest tools for monitoring animal populations.

Birds communicate by singing or calling, and biologists have long counted these cues to get an index of bird abundance. But it is much harder to work out the actual density of a bird population because existing methods need observers to measure either the distance to each bird, or whether they are within a set distance from the observer. This is straightforward if birds are seen, but difficult when birds are heard but not seen.

According to Dawson: "We devised a way to estimate population density of birds or other animals that vocalise by combining sound information from several microphones. A sound spreading through a forest or other habitat leaves a 'footprint'. The size of the footprint depends on how quickly the sound attenuates. Mathematically, there is a unique combination of population density and attenuation rate that best matches the number and 'size' of the recorded sounds. We used computer methods to find the best match, and thereby estimate density."
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Journal Reference:
Deanna K. Dawson and Murray G. Efford. Bird population density estimated from acoustic signals. Journal of Applied Ecology, 2009; DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2664.2009.01731.x

Bird population density estimated from acoustic signals

Deanna K. Dawson*1 and Murray G. Efford 2

1 USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, 12100 Beech Forest Road, Laurel, MD 20708, USA and 2 Zoology Department, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin 9010, New Zealand

*Correspondence author. E-mail: ddawson@usgs.gov

KEYWORDS

acoustic localization • bird counting • density estimation • microphone array • passive acoustic methods • sound attenuation • spatially explicit capture–recapture

ABSTRACT

1. Many animal species are detected primarily by sound. Although songs, calls and other sounds are often used for population assessment, as in bird point counts and hydrophone surveys of cetaceans, there are few rigorous methods for estimating population density from acoustic data.

2. The problem has several parts – distinguishing individuals, adjusting for individuals that are missed, and adjusting for the area sampled. Spatially explicit capture–recapture (SECR) is a statistical methodology that addresses jointly the second and third parts of the problem. We have extended SECR to use uncalibrated information from acoustic signals on the distance to each source.

3. We applied this extension of SECR to data from an acoustic survey of ovenbird Seiurus aurocapilla density in an eastern US deciduous forest with multiple four-microphone arrays. We modelled average power from spectrograms of ovenbird songs measured within a window of 0·7 s duration and frequencies between 4200 and 5200 Hz.

4. The resulting estimates of the density of singing males (0·19 ha−1 SE 0·03 ha−1) were consistent with estimates of the adult male population density from mist-netting (0·36 ha−1 SE 0·12 ha−1). The fitted model predicts sound attenuation of 0·11 dB m−1 (SE 0·01 dB m−1) in excess of losses from spherical spreading.

5. Synthesis and applications. Our method for estimating animal population density from acoustic signals fills a gap in the census methods available for visually cryptic but vocal taxa, including many species of bird and cetacean. The necessary equipment is simple and readily available; as few as two microphones may provide adequate estimates, given spatial replication. The method requires that individuals detected at the same place are acoustically distinguishable and all individuals vocalize during the recording interval, or that the per capita rate of vocalization is known. We believe these requirements can be met, with suitable field methods, for a significant number of songbird species.

Received 19 December 2008; accepted 9 October 2009 Handling Editor: Esteban Fernandez-Juricic

DIGITAL OBJECT IDENTIFIER (DOI)
10.1111/j.1365-2664.2009.01731.x About DOI

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Pesquisadores, professores e alunos de universidades públicas e privadas com acesso ao site CAPES/Periódicos podem ler gratuitamente este artigo do Journal of Applied Ecology e de outras publicações científicas.

Estudo coloca homem contra a máquina na montagem de um quebra-cabeça de 425 milhões de anos

Study Pits Man Versus Machine in Piecing Together 425-Million-Year-Old Jigsaw

ScienceDaily (Nov. 27, 2009) — A new study pitting academic expertise against a computer in recreating a 425 million-year old jigsaw puzzle has discovered that there is no substitute for wisdom born out of experience.

The research tested the reliability of expert identification versus computer analysis in reconstructing fossils. The investigation, based on fossil teeth from extinct vertebrates, found that the most specialized experts provided the most reliable identifications.


These are four different types of conodont teeth from different species -- pieces from different puzzles -- mounted on a pinhead. (Credit: University of Leicester)

University of Leicester researcher Dr Mark Purnell said: "Being a palaeontologist can be fun, but sometimes it isn't easy. Take vertebrates, the group to which we belong. When a vertebrate animal dies, whether it's a fish, a sabre-tooth cat or a dinosaur, the flesh rots away and the bones of the skeleton are usually scattered before being fossilised. In order to interpret them correctly, the palaeontologist must piece them back together, or at least work out which bits are which.

"This is difficult enough when you have modern relatives for comparison; but what if there's nothing alive today that's remotely like the extinct animal you need to analyse? It's exactly like doing a jigsaw puzzle without a picture."

This is what faces palaeontologists who study conodonts. Lead author David Jones, who carried out the study while at the University of Leicester, explains: "Earth's oceans teemed with conodonts for 300 million years; they were the most common vertebrates around, and they were the first to evolve teeth. In fact the conodont skeleton was all teeth: a basket of hacksaw-shaped blades which was extended out of the mouth to grab prey, behind which lay pairs of slicing blades and crushing teeth -- a set of gnashers straight out of Alien."

Ancient marine rocks are often packed with hundreds or thousands of scattered conodont teeth, with many species jumbled up together.

"To make matters worse, within any one animal, teeth from different parts of the skeleton looked almost identical! Now we have a jigsaw puzzle with no picture, where each piece could go in different places. But just so it's not too easy, conodont teeth are also microscopic, "said Dr Purnell, of the Department of Geology.
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Journal Reference:
Jones et al. Morphological criteria for recognising homology in isolated skeletal elements: comparison of traditional and morphometric approaches in conodonts. Palaeontology, 2009; 52 (6): 1243 DOI: 10.1111/j.1475-4983.2009.00915.x

Morphological criteria for recognising homology in isolated skeletal elements: comparison of traditional and morphometric approaches in conodonts

by DAVID JONES*,‡, MARK A. PURNELL* and PETER H. von BITTER†

*Department of Geology, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK; e-mails david.jones@bristol.ac.uk; map2@le.ac.uk

†Palaeobiology Division, Department of Natural History, Royal Ontario Museum, and Department of Geology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada M5S 2C6; e-mail peterv@rom.on.ca

‡Current address: School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC 3800, Australia

KEYWORDS

homology • morphometrics • skeleton • conodont • Wurmiella excavata

ABSTRACT

Abstract: Accurate hypotheses of primary homology are fundamental to many aspects of the systematics and palaeobiology of fossils. They are particularly critical for conodonts: virtually all areas of conodont research are underpinned by homology, yet the majority of conodont taxa are found only as disarticulated skeletal elements, and hypotheses of element homology are inferred from morphological comparisons with complete skeletons. This can cause problems in taxa where more than one location within the conodont skeleton is occupied by elements with similar morphology. In such cases, morphological comparisons can yield equivocal or erroneous hypotheses of homology of isolated elements. The Eramosa Lagerstätte of Ontario (Silurian, Wenlock) preserves both isolated skeletal elements and articulated conodont skeletons. The latter provide a topological context within which to test hypotheses of element homology and allow blind testing of qualitative discrimination of elements. When applied to P1 and P2 elements of Wurmiella excavata, this revealed inaccuracy and inconsistency in distinguishing these P element types. Standardised morphometric protocols were used to further test the efficacy of those characters used in traditional qualitative identification of P element homology, revealing that, individually, none of these characters provides an effective discriminator between P element types. Principal components and discriminant function analyses of ten 'traditional' morphological variables combined can distinguish P1 from P2 elements with a similar success rate to expert identification. Eigenshape and elliptic Fourier analyses of element outlines proved less effective at capturing shape differences that allowed for discrimination between P1 and P2 elements. Analysis of both traditional and outline data demonstrates that in some individuals P1 and P2 elements are morphologically distinct from one another, while in others they are almost indistinguishable. These results demonstrate that although qualitative assessments of homology can be prone to error, especially when undertaken by inexperienced researchers, the morphometric and analytical protocols used here provide effective additional tool for discriminating morphologically similar but non-homologous elements. These methods thus hold promise of broad application to other conodont taxa where identification of element homology in collections of isolated specimens is problematic.

Typescript received 9 April 2008; accepted in revised form 15 March 2009

DIGITAL OBJECT IDENTIFIER (DOI)
10.1111/j.1475-4983.2009.00915.x About DOI

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Pesquisadores, professores e alunos de universidades públicas e privadas com acesso ao site CAPES/Periódicos podem ler gratuitamente este artigo do Palaeontology e de outras publicações científicas.

Tornando verde os desertos

Parte 1



Parte 2



Parte 3

Greening the Desert II: Greening the Middle East from Craig Mackintosh on Vimeo.

Eu sempre me maravilhei com o que os israelenses fizeram em Israel: tornaram verdadeiros jardins o que antes tinha sido deserto. Não sabia desta experiência de Craig Mackintosh na Jordânia.

Mais informações sobre este grupo e o Permaculture Research Institute aqui.

Eu penso que esta abordagem de recuperação de solos áridos pode muito bem ser aplicada na região do agreste, do semi-árido e de áreas de desertificação do nordeste do Brasil.

Cientistas corruptos destruíram as provas do seu crime

Quando a questão é ideológica favorecendo o materialismo filosófico, a Nomenklatura científica vive uma despudorada relação incestuosa com a Grande Mídia. É a síndrome ricuperiana: "O que Darwin tem de bom, a gente mostra; o que Darwin tem de ruim, a gente esconde." Traduzindo em graúdos: "Não damos espaço!" (Marcelo Leite, Folha de São Paulo, em encerramento de conferência sobre evolução na Fac. de Medicina da USP, 2006)

Quando hackers tornaram público o comportamento aético de alguns cientistas, a Grande Mídia tupiniquim nada publicou, e quando publicou, publicou atrasada, pois os blogs como este aqui, botaram a boca no trombone, e os Römmels da vida tiveram que ceder e publicar algo a respeito.

Eu ainda não li os jornais de hoje (29/11), mas fui informado de que as provas deste escândalo -- para mim, muito maior do que o escândalo recente de Hwang Woo-suk (células-tronco embrionárias, Coreia do Sul) que boa parte dos documentos que tinham sido prometidos de ser entregues, foram destruídos!

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From The Sunday Times
November 29, 2009
Climate change data dumped
Jonathan Leake, Environment Editor

SCIENTISTS at the University of East Anglia (UEA) have admitted throwing away much of the raw temperature data on which their predictions of global warming are based.

It means that other academics are not able to check basic calculations said to show a long-term rise in temperature over the past 150 years.

The UEA’s Climatic Research Unit (CRU) was forced to reveal the loss following requests for the data under Freedom of Information legislation.

The data were gathered from weather stations around the world and then adjusted to take account of variables in the way they were collected. The revised figures were kept, but the originals — stored on paper and magnetic tape — were dumped to save space when the CRU moved to a new building.

The admission follows the leaking of a thousand private emails sent and received by Professor Phil Jones, the CRU’s director. In them he discusses thwarting climate sceptics seeking access to such data.

In a statement on its website, the CRU said: “We do not hold the original raw data but only the value-added (quality controlled and homogenised) data.”

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NOTA IMPERTINENTE DESTE BLOGGER:

Eu queria ver agora a cara do Al 'Apocalipse' Gore e quadrilha, bem como a máfia da Grande Mídia internacional e tupiniquim que suprime informações dos leitores. Especialmente quando a questão é Darwin.

Depois do Climategate e outras fraudes perpetradas em nome da ciência, eu estou acreditando muito mais na honestidade de prostitutas e ladrões do que em cientistas! Mas posso mudar de opinião...

Por que os tubarões martelo têm a cabeça no formato de martelo?

Why the hammerhead shark got its hammer

15:05 27 November 2009 by Shanta Barley

It's one of evolution's most eccentric creations: a head shaped like a hammer. Now, a study suggests that the hammerhead shark may have evolved its oddly shaped snout to boost the animal's vision and hunting prowess.

For over a century, scientists have speculated why hammerheads evolved such an odd shape and whether having eyes so far apart would enhance their vision. In 1942 a leading authority on sharks, Gordon Walls, suggested the position of the shark's eyes prevented it from having binocular vision. But others have argued exactly the opposite, saying the animals must have enhanced eyesight.


Improved vision (Image Brian Skerry/NGS/Getty)

Now, hammerhead sharks have had their first eye examination, and it has laid the debate to rest. Sharks with wider heads have better binocular vision – all the better to track fast-moving prey like squid with far more accuracy than sharks with close-set eyes.

The research also shows that hammerheads – among other sharks – have a 360-degree view of the world in the vertical plane, allowing them to simultaneously see prey above and below them.
...

Read more here/Leia mais aqui.

Journal reference: The Journal of Experimental Biology, vol 212, p 4010

First published online November 27, 2009
Journal of Experimental Biology 212, 4010-4018 (2009)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2009
doi: 10.1242/jeb.032615

Enhanced visual fields in hammerhead sharks

D. M. McComb1,*, T. C. Tricas2 and S. M. Kajiura1

1 Biological Sciences, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL 33431, USA
2 Department of Zoology and Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA

* Author for correspondence (dmccomb@fau.edu)

Accepted 9 September 2009

Several factors that influence the evolution of the unusual head morphology of hammerhead sharks (family Sphyrnidae) are proposed but few are empirically tested. In this study we tested the ‘enhanced binocular field’ hypothesis (that proposes enhanced frontal binocularity) by comparison of the visual fields of three hammerhead species: the bonnethead shark, Sphyrna tiburo, the scalloped hammerhead shark, Sphyrna lewini, and the winghead shark, Eusphyra blochii, with that of two carcharhinid species: the lemon shark, Negaprion brevirostris, and the blacknose shark, Carcharhinus acronotus. Additionally, eye rotation and head yaw were quantified to determine if species compensate for large blind areas anterior to the head. The winghead shark possessed the largest anterior binocular overlap (48 deg.) and was nearly four times larger than that of the lemon (10 deg.) and blacknose (11 deg.) sharks. The binocular overlap in the scalloped hammerhead sharks (34 deg.) was greater than the bonnethead sharks (13 deg.) and carcharhinid species; however, the bonnethead shark did not differ from the carcharhinids. These results indicate that binocular overlap has increased with lateral head expansion in hammerhead sharks. The hammerhead species did not demonstrate greater eye rotation in the anterior or posterior direction. However, both the scalloped hammerhead and bonnethead sharks exhibited greater head yaw during swimming (16.9 deg. and 15.6 deg., respectively) than the lemon (15.1 deg.) and blacknose (15.0 deg.) sharks, indicating a behavioral compensation for the anterior blind area. This study illustrates the larger binocular overlap in hammerhead species relative to their carcharhinid sister taxa and is consistent with the ‘enhanced binocular field’ hypothesis.

Key words: binocular vision, elasmobranch, eye, pupil dilation, Sphyrnidae, winghead shark

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Professores, pesquisadores e alunos de universidades públicas e privadas com acesso ao site CAPES/Periódicos podem ler gratuitamente este artigo do The Journal of Experimental Biology e de outras publicações científicas.

Darwin e a popularização da evolução

Darwin and the popularization of evolution

Bernard Lightman*

- Author Affiliations

309 Bethune College, Department of Humanities, York University, 4700 Keele Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M3J 1P3
*lightman@yorku.ca

Abstract

Evolution was popularized from 1860 to 1900 in the USA and Britain in a wide variety of media. Here I investigate traditional texts associated with the intellectual elite, including philosophical or scientific monographs, sermons, and published lectures. Evolution was rarely popularized in ways that reflected Darwin's major contribution to biology, his theory of natural selection. This meant that the reading audience more often encountered an alternative to Darwin's naturalistic, non-directional and non-progressive evolutionary perspective. There were at least four different versions of evolution circulating in the period from 1860 to 1900, and only one conformed to Darwin's vision.

popularization evolution Darwin
Footnotes

↵1 Frederick Burkhardt, Duncan M. Porter, Joy Harvey and Jonathan Topham (eds), The correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 10 (1862) (Cambridge University Press, 1997), p. 589.

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FREE PDF GRÁTIS

A seleção natural é incapaz de gerar complexidade estrutural

Natural selection in relation to complexity
Source Artificial Life archive
Volume 14 , Issue 3 (Summer 2008) table of contents
Pages 363-374
Year of Publication: 2008
ISSN:1064-5462
Author
Stanley N. Salthe

ABSTRACT

Structural complexity characterizes our representations of dissipative structures. As a mechanistic concept, when referred to natural systems it generates perplexity in the face of logically sound models. Natural selection is a simple mechanistic concept, whose logic is well exemplified in genetic algorithms. While biological traits and functions do appear to have been subjected to selective culling, current neo-Darwinian theory is unable to account for the evolution of traits or functions when many of these are taken as the separate objects of independent fitness functions. Soft selection, acting in a phenotypically holistic manner, does model selection acting upon structurally complex systems with many traits and functions, but does not account for the evolution of specific traits or functions. It is further suggested that selection cannot be other than a weak force in the early, generative stages of complex life histories, and that this is a good thing, preserving their generativity. I conclude that natural selection theory by itself cannot account for increases in structural complexity.

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Professores, pesquisadores e alunos de universidades públicas e privadas com acesso ao site CAPES/Periódicos podem ler gratuitamente este artigo do journal Artifical Life e de outras publicações científicas.

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NOTA IMPERTINENTE DESTE BLOGGER:

A seleção natural é incapaz de gerar complexidade estrutural. Gente, onde é mesmo que nós lemos a respeito disso?

Salthe não faz parte dos teóricos e nem do movimento do Design Inteligente. Ele é simplesmente um cientista que segue as evidências aonde elas forem dar.

Problemas da macroevolução do ponto de vista hierárquico

American Zoologist 1975 15(2):295-314; doi:10.1093/icb/15.2.295
© 1975 by The Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology

Problems of Macroevolution (Molecular Evolution, Phenotype Definition, and Canalization) as Seen from a Hierarchical Viewpoint

S. N. SALTHE
Department of Biology, Brooklyn College C.U.N.Y., Brooklyn, New York 11210

As seen from a hierarchical viewpoint, macroevolution is neither a functional process nor a series of events in the past. It is a record only. For this reason macroevolutionary laws are all statistical laws.

Natural selection is a process that operates from one generation to the next at the population level in the hierarchy. Yet structures at the organism level are found to "evolve." It is possible to formulate only a tautological form of the concept of natural selection at the population level alone; the bridge between levels in this case is the phenotype. The phenotype (i) exists at the boundary between the organismic and population levels of the hierarchy; (ii) is a functional manifestation of the interaction between the genotype and the local environment only during the period of a single generation; (iii) should ideally be defined so as to exclude traits not reviewed by natural selection; (iv) is factorable into many individual functional traits if one views viability selection as being instituted by a sequence of environmental catastrophes, each of which emphasizes a particular set of traits as being temporarily important to survival.

It is reemphasized that the action of natural selection on continuously distributed, nonpolymorphic traits curtails variability in proportion to the intensity of selection. The necessity for coadaptation within the organism imposes a bell-shaped curve upon surviving variability. Canalizing selection is proposed as the process that modifies these bell-shaped curves into lognormal parametric distributions. It is also proposed that the per cent variability of the sample populations can serve as a measure of the intensity of natural selection (normalizing and directional together) that has most recently been acting upon the traits in question in the populations used to establish the parametric distributions.

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Professores, pesquisadores e alunos de universidades públicas e privadas com acesso ao site CAPES/Periódicos podem ler gratuitamente este artigo do journal American Zoologist e de outras publicações científicas.

Salthe e a seleção natural: mito de origem e incapaz de explicar a evolução orgânica

Analysis and critique of the concept of Natural Selection (and of the
neoDarwinian theory of evolution) in respect (Part 1) to its suitability as part
of Modernism’s origination myth, as well as (Part 2) of its ability to explain
organic evolution

(update March, 2006) S.N. Salthe

I would point out here that, despite the widespread conflation of the concept of evolution with the Darwinian theory to explain it (we now begin to hear phrases like “natural evolution”, which tends to forge a conflation with natural selection), the following remarks apply strictly to the neoDarwinian theory.

FREE PDF GRÁTIS

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Stanley N. Salthe
Ph.D. Zoology, 1963, Columbia University.
Professor Emeritus, Brooklyn College of the City University of New York
Visiting Scientist in Biological Sciences, Binghamton University
Associate Researcher of the Center for the Philosophy of Nature and Science Studies of the University of Copenhagen.

Revisão por pares é bom, pero no mucho!!!

Cooking the books on climate

By MARK STEYN
2009-11-27 09:58:25

My favorite moment in the Climategate/Climaquiddick scandal currently roiling the "climate change" racket was Stuart Varney's interview on Fox News with the actor Ed Begley Jr., star of the 1980s medical drama "St Elsewhere" but latterly better known, as is the fashion with members of the thespian community, as an "activist." He's currently in a competition with Bill Nye ("the Science Guy") to see who can have the lowest "carbon footprint." Pistols at dawn would seem the quickest way of resolving that one, but presumably you couldn't get a reality series out of it. Anyway, Ed was relaxed about the mountain of documents recently leaked from Britain's Climate Research Unit, in which the world's leading climate-change warm-mongers e-mail each other back and forth on how to "hide the decline" and other interesting matters.

Nothing to worry about, folks. "We'll go down the path and see what happens in peer-reviewed studies," said Ed airily. "Those are the key words here, Stuart. 'Peer-reviewed studies.'"

Hang on. Could you say that again more slowly so I can write it down? Not to worry. Ed said it every 12 seconds, as if it were the magic charm that could make all the bad publicity go away. He wore an open-necked shirt, and, although I don't have a 76-inch HDTV, I wouldn't have been surprised to find a talismanic peer-reviewed amulet nestling in his chest hair for additional protection. "If these scientists have done something wrong, it will be found out and their peers will determine it," insisted Ed. "Don't get your information from me, folks, or any newscaster. Get it from people with Ph.D. after their names. 'Peer-reviewed studies' is the key words. And if it comes out in peer-reviewed studies."

Got it: Pier-reviewed studies. You stand on the pier, and you notice the tide seems to be coming in a little higher than it used to and you wonder if it's something to do with incandescent light bulbs killing the polar bears? Is that how it works?

No, no, peer-reviewed studies. "Peer-reviewed studies. Go to Science magazine, folks. Go to Nature," babbled Ed. "Read peer-reviewed studies. That's all you need to do. Don't get it from you or me."

Look for the peer-reviewed label! And then just believe whatever it is they tell you!

The trouble with outsourcing your marbles to the peer-reviewed set is that, if you take away one single thing from the leaked documents, it's that the global warm-mongers have wholly corrupted the "peer-review" process. When it comes to promoting the impending ecopalypse, the Climate Research Unit is the nerve-center of the operation. The "science" of the CRU dominates the "science" behind the United Nations IPCC, which dominates the "science" behind the Congressional cap-and-trade boondoggle, the upcoming Copenhagen shakindownen of the developed world, and the now-routine phenomenon of leaders of advanced, prosperous societies talking like gibbering madmen escaped from the padded cell, whether it's President Barack Obama promising to end the rise of the oceans or the Prince of Wales saying we only have 96 months left to save the planet.

But don't worry, it's all "peer-reviewed."

Here's what Phil Jones of the CRU and his colleague Michael Mann of Penn State mean by "peer review". When Climate Research published a paper dissenting from the Jones-Mann "consensus," Jones demanded that the journal "rid itself of this troublesome editor," and Mann advised that "we have to stop considering Climate Research as a legitimate peer-reviewed journal. Perhaps we should encourage our colleagues in the climate research community to no longer submit to, or cite papers."

So much for Climate Research. When Geophysical Research Letters also showed signs of wandering off the "consensus" reservation, Dr. Tom Wigley ("one of the world's foremost experts on climate change") suggested they get the goods on its editor, Jim Saiers, and go to his bosses at the American Geophysical Union to "get him ousted." When another pair of troublesome dissenters emerge, Dr. Jones assured Dr. Mann, "I can't see either of these papers being in the next IPCC report. Kevin and I will keep them out somehow – even if we have to redefine what the peer-review literature is!"

Which, in essence, is what they did. The more frantically they talked up "peer review" as the only legitimate basis for criticism, the more assiduously they turned the process into what James Lewis calls the Chicago machine politics of international science. The headline in the Wall Street Journal Europe is unimproveable: "How To Forge A Consensus." Pressuring publishers, firing editors, blacklisting scientists: That's "peer review," climate-style. The more their echo chamber shriveled, the more Mann and Jones insisted that they and only they represent the "peer-reviewed" "consensus." And gullible types like Ed Begley Jr. and Andrew Revkin of the New York Times fell for it hook, line and tree-ring.

The e-mails of "Andy" (as his CRU chums fondly know him) are especially pitiful. Confronted by serious questions from Stephen McIntyre, the dogged Ontario retiree whose "Climate Audit" Web site exposed the fraud of Dr. Mann's global-warming "hockey stick" graph, "Andy" writes to Dr. Mann to say not to worry, he's going to "cover" the story from a more oblique angle:

"I'm going to blog on this as it relates to the value of the peer review process and not on the merits of the mcintyre et al attacks.

"peer review, for all its imperfections, is where the herky-jerky process of knowledge building happens, would you agree?"

And, amazingly, Dr. Mann does!

"Re, your point at the end – you've taken the words out of my mouth."

And that's what Andrew Revkin did, week in, week out: He took the words out of Michael Mann's mouth and served them up to impressionable readers of the New York Times and opportunist politicians around the world champing at the bit to inaugurate a vast global regulatory body to confiscate trillions of dollars of your hard-earned wealth in the cause of "saving the planet" from an imaginary crisis concocted by a few dozen thuggish ideologues. If you fall for this after the revelations of the past week, you're as big a dupe as Begley or Revkin.

"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?" wondered Juvenal: Who watches the watchmen? But the beauty of the climate-change tree-ring circus is that you never need to ask "Who peer-reviews the peer-reviewers?" Mann peer-reviewed Jones, and Jones peer-reviewed Mann, and anyone who questioned their theories got exiled to the unwarmed wastes of Siberia. The "consensus" warm-mongers could have declared it only counts as "peer-reviewed" if it's published in Peer-Reviewed Studies published by Mann & Jones Publishing Inc. (Peermate of the Month: Al Gore, reclining naked, draped in dead polar bear fur, on a melting ice floe), and Ed Begley Jr. and "Andy" Revkin would still have wandered out, glassy-eyed, into the streets droning "Peer-reviewed studies. Cannot question. Peer-reviewed studies. The science is settled ... ."

Looking forward to Copenhagen, Herman Van Rumpoy, the new president of the European Union and an eager proponent of the ecopalypse, says 2009 is "the first year of global governance." Global government, huh? I wonder where you go to vote them out of office.

Hey, but don't worry, it'll all be "peer-reviewed."

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Source/Fonte

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Esta reação que Mark Steyn teve em relação ao Climategate já foi feita, em termos mais gerais por Frank Tipler no artigo Refereed Journals: Do They Insure Quality or Enforce Orthodoxy?. Tipler é Professor de Matemática Física na Tulane University
New Orleans, LA 70118 USA. PDF grátis aqui.

Miguel Aceves Mejía - Un chorro de voz - 1953

Todas estas canções por Miguel Aceves Mejía são para a memória de meu pai: um homem que me ensinou a não ter medo de ninguém e a ser justo para com todos.

Miguel Aceves Mejía - Cielito Lindo

Miguel Aceves Mejia - Amor Se Dice Cantando

Miguel Aceves Mejia con el mariachi Vargas - El aguacero