Evolved birthday

 Happy Darwin Day! On this day each year, I mark the birth in 1809 of the man who would lay down the foundation of biology.  It was on this day, 217 years ago that Charles Darwin was born, along with some chap in the USA named Abraham Lincoln, who would amount to something later in life as well.  After an astonishing voyage of discovery on HMS Beagle, Darwin would dither and procrastinate for many years before finally publishing his world changing ideas.  More than two centuries later, there are those (many in the area of the country where I live) who remain stubbornly resistant to the clear truth of science that Darwin and others first elucidated.  But those of us who can recognize reality will today celebrate the birth of the man best known for providing the core tenants of the life sciences.  Happy Birthday Charlie!

Darwin Day

 On this day in 1809. Charles Darwin was born.  His life's work gave us the essential foundation principle of all biology.  Or, as the great scientist Theodosius Dobzhansky put it, "Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution."  And yet, over 200 years after Darwin's birth, a significant number of people can't accept reality and his scientific conclusions which have been supported by steadily growing mounds of evidence.  There was a time when I tried to reason with people like that and bring them to the evidence-based conclusions that science provides.  But there is something in human nature that means that certain individuals will stubbornly reject reality in favor of their own fables.  So today I will simply celebrate the remarkable mind that pulled together disparate observations to give us the foundation of biological science.  Happy birthday Charles, and thanks.

Blinded by science

As my day job is working as a research scientist, I find it important to live by decisions based on empiric evidence.  Living in the USA, and especially in the Deep South, that's not always easy.  This is, after all, the region of the nation best known for discarding settled science in favor of various flavors of religion.  Alabama still requires disclaimers in school science textbooks that claim the principle of evolution is somehow still unproven.  Many other similar topics are disputed by those who can't or won't accept the scientific method:  climate change, the age, and even the shape of the earth.  Fortunately, these misguided individuals can be refuted by a most infallible authority- the slogan t-shirt.  In my collection, I have multiple shirt that proclaim "science doesn't care what you believe."  That is to say, science is true, whether or not you find it convenient to accept it.  This adage is most apropos throughout and after our most recent global pandemic.  For selfish personal and political reasons, many people chose to blame various parties for the origins of the deadly virus, despite having little or no evidence to support their claims.  Early on in the struggle with the new virus, there was little real evidence to be had that supported anyone's claims.  But that has slowly changed, and today another convincing piece was added to the pile.  The prestigious science journal Cell published a paper with strong evidence that the virus arose from a food market in the Chinese city of Wuhan.  This adds to previous work that suggests the most likely source of the virus was a natural spillover from animals sold as food in the market.  Not an accidental escape from a lab.  Not a deliberate pathogen released to target specific populations.  Not any other fanciful theory concocted without evidence and repeated by those with crackpot political views.  As far as humankind is able to determine at this moment in history, this is the best explanation of the pandemic's origin.  Of course, that's not to say future, better evidence will change things if and when it comes to light.  But that's how science works- more and better data improve our understanding of all things.  And as always, one's personal opinions, or religion, or politics don't matter, because science doesn't care what you believe.

 

Names from the past

 I just saw a name in the news that brought back some very old memories.  It seems that a prominent scientist, Leonard Hayflick has died at the ripe old age of 98.  As a very young graduate student back in 1987, one of my faculty advisors gave me a scientific paper to read that Hayflick had written.  It was already a classic paper that was part of the basic knowledge all bioscientists must learn.  Hayflick had found that individual cells can be grown in the lab, in artificial conditions, but without any special modifications they had a strictly limited lifespan.  A given cell would divide to give two cells, and those divide, and so forth.  But no matter how well they were cared for in the lab conditions, they would only divide a certain number of times.  My faculty advisor, Dr. Jerry Thompson, introduced me to this basic tissue culture principle at the very beginning of my career in science.  I'd spend a little over five years as a graduate student.  Another four or so as a postdoctoral fellow, and then another 25 as a working scientist.  But I still remember Dr. Thompson, Dr. Hayflick's paper, and the principles of biology I learned by reading that paper (and it was actually a printed piece of paper, in the days before .pdf or indeed, the internet.)  What hadn't occurred to me was that Dr. Hayflick was still alive.  Or was until very recently.  (Dr. Thompson died suddenly many years ago.)  Such a blast from the past.  Here's to you, Dr. Hayflick.

Writer's brain

 In this digital age, the art and skill of handwriting has quickly faded.  In many schools, students are no longer taught how to write in cursive.  And despite a more recent backlash to the anti-cursive trend, handwriting in any form is becoming a lost art.  This, despite the growing evidence that handwriting is useful, and important in brain development.  It seems that typing words on a keyboard doesn't promote the kind of memory and linguistic skills that forming letters by hand with pen and paper does.  The evidence seems clear- to really learn something, write it down by hand.  Your brain will thank you.  Maybe even in cursive.

Pandemic memories

 In the corner of the entrance to my laboratory building lies a neglected and forgotten relic of the recent worldwide pandemic.  This month, four years ago, the saga of Covid began in this country and would severely test the social structure of the nation.  That first weekend of March 2020, my wife and I were on one of our frequent long weekend trips to New York city to see a Broadway show.  Early news stories at that time had just begun to describe a new viral illness, with cases being detected on the west coast, and mere days before our trip, in upstate New York.  With little concern, we went ahead with the trip and spent several days roaming around Manhattan taking few additional precautions over our normal routines.  We enjoyed being in the audience of a performance of The Lehman Trilogy, viewing what would be virtually the last performance of that wonderful show.  The Monday after that first March weekend, we flew home.  Less than a week later, Broadway closed and the city of New York locked down.  Thus began a public health crisis that would test the nation's resolve and resourcefulness.

Today, happily, the situation is much improved.  The past four years seem to be both a blink of the eye and an eternity.  The anachronistic sign that stands forgotten in a corner of my building is a souvenir of those difficult days as we struggled to deal with this new illness.  What the crisis revealed about society is both heartening and dismaying.  We saw the endless and largely unappreciated dedication of healthcare workers on the front lines of the fight against this new, insidious illness.  We also came to belatedly appreciate the value of the unsung members of society, the grocery store workers, restaurant servers, and all those in constant contact with the public who provide crucial services.  With more disappointment, however, we saw with clear vision the utter and complete moral and intellectual bankruptcy of the Republican party.  From the party leader and nation's president on down to local government, the GOP failed the nation with its endless obstruction of virtually every public health measure from masks to vaccines to social distancing, the vilification of scientists as they struggled valiantly (and sometimes imperfectly) to understand this new pathogen, to the belligerent, cultish adoption of unproven treatments and medications that were mere defiant emblems more than they were useful countermeasures to the disease.  So now, four years later, the nation and the world stands, scarred but hopefully wiser and better prepared for challenges to come.

Devolution

 A man, learning that astronomers had just announced that a huge asteroid would soon destroy the earth, promptly moved his family to Alabama.  "What's the point of this, if the earth will soon end?", asked his wife.  "Because everyone knows Alabama is always years behind the rest of the world," he replied.

This article, posted yesterday, illustrates how doggedly Alabama resists advancement.  The Alabama Board of Education announced they will continue to cling to their ridiculous disclaimer that is a forced addition to statewide science textbooks.  It misinforms children that natural selection and Darwinian evolution are "only a theory" and are a "controversial" one, at that.  The disclaimer was inserted into school science texts beginning in 1995, and with small changes remains there to this day.  Never mind that legitimate scientists are in near-unanimous support of the principle of evolution to explain the development of life on this planet.  "Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution", wrote famed Columbia University biologist Theodosius Dobzhansky.  The controversy exists only in the mind of biblically informed creationists, like the current Speaker of the US House of Representatives, who insist that bronze age fables explain the nature of life on earth better than the modern scientific method.  In this case, the Alabama BOE continues to deliberately misinform and mis-educate the students in its charge, as well as to violate the nation's laws and numerous high court precedents.  An Alabama science educator, Dr. Amanda Glaze wrote in 2016 that the textbook disclaimer only damages Alabama students. 

It is Alabama's students who are the victims here. Students who have little chance to attain a proper understanding of evolution are at risk of not attaining a basic level of scientific literacy. And because understanding evolution is practically important, in such fields as medicine, biotechnology, and agriculture, they are also at risk in their future careers.  

Glaze recognized, years ago, that the misguided policies of theocratic politicians are a perpetual drag on Alabama and on larger society.  Only when the public finally manages to throw off the theocratic anchor holding it back can real human progress occur.

Scientia potentia est

 Just a few days ago, it was announced that the government would resume sending free Covid home test kits to all households, free of charge.  By applying online here, one can receive four free tests to have on hand when needed.  This valuable program helps prevent a resurgence of the disease by giving a quick, convenient diagnosis at home.  When positive, individuals can isolate early to prevent transmission to others, and in appropriate cases begin medication that is most effective when taken early in the course of the illness.  There is also a new and improved vaccine now available that better protects against newer variants of the virus.  I'm a supporter of all these new developments.  Although the pandemic has waned, the disease, for certain individuals, is a significant threat to health.  Due care must still be taken to avoid contracting and spreading a virus that, despite improvements in treatment and growing immunity, can prove fatal for some.  It should be no surprise that as a scientist, I base my actions on fact-based knowledge.  Not religion-driven contrariness or politically emblematic knee-jerk opposition.  Truly sensible individuals will not panic, but will adopt common sense measures to reduce disease and further suppress what has been one of the greatest health emergencies in generations.