Interesting Papers and Temporary Discussion Group Cancellation

I have decided to put the discussion group on hold due to lack of attendance. Two of us did have a good discussion about this week's paper though! Please send me an email when you have a paper suggestion.


Some interesting articles in Nature and Science this week:


Yuan, Xunlai, Zhe Chen, Shuhai Xiao, Chuanming Zhou and Hong Hua. An early Ediacaran assemblage of macroscopic and morphologically differentiated eukaryotes. Nature 470: 390-393.

Wood,  Bernard  and Terry Harrison. The evolutionary context of the first hominins. Nature 470: 347-352.


Ward, Carol V., William H. Kimbel, Donald C. Johanson.  Complete Fourth Metatarsal and Arches in the Foot of Australopithecus afarensis. Science 331: 750-753.

Koji Tamura,*† Naoki Nomura,* Ryohei Seki, Sayuri Yonei-Tamura, Hitoshi Yokoyama. Embryological Evidence Identifies Wing Digits in Birds as Digits 1, 2, and 3. Science 331: 753-757.

Discussion This Week

This week we are discussing epigenetics and the evolution of the placenta in therian mammals.

Kaneko-Ishino, T., and F. Ishino. 2010. Retrotransposon silencing by DNA methylation contributed to the evolution of placentation and genomic imprinting in mammals. Develop. Growth Differ. 52:533-543.

No fossils this week but an exciting paper none the less!

Third Meeting of the New Year

After a delay due to horrible weather we are ready to resume discussions. This week we will be discussing the evolution of the giraffe neck.

Simmons, R. E., and R. Altwegg. 2010. Necks-for-sex or competing browsers? A critique of ideas on the evolution of giraffe. Journal of Zoology 282:6-12.

Reminders: Early registration for the Canadian Society for Ecology and Evolution (CSEE) ends March 1. If you don't want to pay an extra $75 you better come up with an abstract soon!