Friday, June 29, 2012

Even More Papers!

Recently there have been some especially exciting papers published. I thought I would highlight a few here. Please note this list is not exhaustive and that it is probably biased by my own interests. I am also a little bit behind! I receive way too many paper alerts and can only read so many per day.

Hugall and Stuart-Fox (2012) discuss speciation in birds via colour polymorphism. I find this especially interesting because it has implications (in my opinion) for understanding sympatric speciation. Check out he paper here!
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature11050.html?WT.ec_id=NATURE-20120510

Pierce et al. (2012) discuss the mobility of the limbs of Icthyostega. This letter to nature is exciting and interesting because it has implications for the transition from water to land.
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature11124.html?WT.ec_id=NATURE-20120524

Wolkovich et al. (2012) discuss the fact that climate models do not predict observed phenological (timing) changes in plants. This paper is interesting because it highlights the need for more accurate climate models. This is the subject of some of my own work.
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v485/n7399/full/nature11014.html?WT.ec_id=NATURE-20120524

Bhullar et al. (2012) demonstrate that bird skulls are paedomorphic versions of dinosaur skulls. Evolution and development are tightly linked. This is evident in many groups including ourselves and now birds!
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature11146.html?WT.ec_id=NATURE-20120531

Henry et al. (2012) use several methods including dental wear and phytolith analysis to determine the diet of Australopithecus sediba. This study might highlight the diets of our ancestors!
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature11185.html?WT.ec_id=NATURE-20120628

More to come soon!


Thursday, June 21, 2012

Very Cool Recent Papers

Here are some new papers that I found interesting, surprising or both!

Kinoshita et al. (2012) identify the important of propriospinal neurons for hand dexterity in primates!

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature11206.html?WT.ec_id=NATURE-20120621

Arrigo et al. (2012) describe massive phytoplankton blooms under the sea ice.

http://www.sciencemag.org/content/336/6087/1408.short

Prufer et al. (2012) have sequenced the bonobo genome, finding they are as closely related to use as chimps.

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature11128.html?WT.ec_id=NATURE-20120614

Hooper et al. (2012) study the effect of biodiversity loss on continuing climate change.

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v486/n7401/full/nature11118.html?WT.ec_id=NATURE-20120607

Barnosky et al. (2012) discuss whether ecosystems are at a tipping point and about to make a dramatic shift in state.

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v486/n7401/full/nature11018.html?WT.ec_id=NATURE-20120607

O'Connell and Hofmann (2012) find that vertebrate brain regions responsible for behavior are remarkably conserved.

http://www.sciencemag.org/content/336/6085/1154.short

Shoval et al. (2012) study trade offs between different phenotypes in nature.

http://www.sciencemag.org/content/336/6085/1157.short

Monday, June 18, 2012

Evolution 2012 Update

I have returned from the Big Apple where I was collecting copious amounts of data for my dissertation! I plan to write a couple of posts this week on Evolution 2012 and on some recent papers in Nature, Science, and elsewhere.

For now, you can view the completed talk and event schedule for Evolution 2012 at the following link:

http://www.confersense.ca/Evolution2012/program.htm

I will be presenting on some of my dissertation work on July 9 at 8:45 am (ouch!). Hope to see you there.