T. Ryan G. posted an article on
Genomicron
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Feb 9, 2012, 1:08 pm
Well, it finally happened. I received a copyright notice from a publisher about reprints that are posted on my lab website. I actually thought most publishers were sympathetic to the realities of scientific communication and let that sort of thing slide, but apparently not. I’m particularly disapp... Comment - Like
T. Ryan G. posted an article on
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Jan 26, 2012, 10:02 pm
If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you’ll know that I often feel frustrated by press releases that are overhyped, misleading, and/or laden with buzzwords and cliches. Today I received by email the most over the top press release I have ever seen. It’s the sort of thing one might exp... Comment - Like
T. Ryan G. posted an article on
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Dec 7, 2011, 10:42 am
PZ Myers, who apparently has a blog or something, gave a talk about junk DNA.
Favourite part: the Onion test followed by a Simpsons reference (at 37:00). Can’t ask for more than that! (Incidentally, PZ gets the onion test right — it’s about onions vs. humans AND onions vs. other onions; see a... Comment - Like
T. Ryan G. posted an article on
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Nov 17, 2011, 8:11 am
It has been a common tactic among creationists to attempt to discredit scientific ideas by linking them to the horrific actions of the likes of Hitler and the Nazis. The scientific merits of a theory do not rest on its societal implications, of course, but there is also the issue that the Nazis did ... Comment - Like
T. Ryan G. posted an article on
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Nov 11, 2011, 11:21 am
In high school, I gave a presentation on the poetry of Wilfred Owen (1893-1918) about the First World War. His most famous poem, and one that I still think of often, especially at this time of year, is Dulce et Decorum Est. The poem was published posthumously, as Owen died in combat in France at th... Comment - Like
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Nov 11, 2011, 9:59 am
(This post was first written in 2007, but I don’t think I can do better and thought it appropriate to re-post it today on Remembrance Day 2011).
In Canada, as in many countries around the world, November 11 is a day of remembrance for the sacrifices made during wartime. In Canada, this refers in... Comment - Like
T. Ryan G. posted an article on
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Oct 12, 2011, 9:08 pm
Head on over to Sandwalk to see Larry Moran’s superb clarification of the Onion Test, which seems to be a source of confusion for some.
Larry Moran clarifies the Onion Test. is a post from Genomicron. Comment - Like
T. Ryan G. posted an article on
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Oct 12, 2011, 4:42 pm
Haven’t been blogging much recently due to being busy and other excuses. But here’s a quick post that highlights something I did learn early on as a faculty member: students will often read a fair bit into your emails. For example, I discovered that “Please come to my office.” is a terrifyin... Comment - Like
T. Ryan G. posted an article on
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Aug 3, 2011, 8:38 am
Carnival of Evolution #38 is now posted over at Sandwalk. Larry has put together a massive collection, well worth checking out!
Mega Carnival of Evolution at Sandwalk. is a post from Genomicron. Comment - Like
T. Ryan G. posted an article on
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Jun 30, 2011, 8:32 am
FUN FACT: Someone elected this person to congress. And she’s a contender for the presidential nomination.
Someone elected this person. is a post from Genomicron. Comment - Like
T. Ryan G. posted an article on
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Jun 29, 2011, 7:57 am
The first clip is a series of responses to the question “Should evolution be taught in school?” by the 2011 Miss USA contestants. If you can’t get through the whole thing (I couldn’t), don’t worry — you’ll get the gist of it quickly enough.
The second clip is a spoof of the first. Enj... Comment - Like
T. Ryan G. posted an article on
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May 3, 2011, 7:07 pm
Like most Canadians, I am disappointed at the results of yesterday’s election.
But wait! Didn’t the Conservatives win a large majority? How can I say that “most Canadians” don’t support this?
1. Seats vs. popular vote.
The parliamentary system plus first-past-the-post contests in each r... Comment - Like
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Apr 18, 2011, 4:43 pm
Hey young people of Canada: Vote! It really, really does matter.
Young people should vote. is a post from Genomicron. Comment - Like
T. Ryan G. posted an article on
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Mar 27, 2011, 12:17 pm
Over the upcoming 6 weeks of the election campaign, Canadians will no doubt hear the Conservative Party talking point about a “coalition” being bad and scary and undemocratic. Here’s a quick reminder of recent history, which the Conservatives seem to have forgotten.
1. The Conservative Party... Comment - Like
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Mar 26, 2011, 2:35 pm
September 9, 2004
Her Excellency the Right Honourable Adrienne Clarkson,
C.C., C.M.M., C.O.M., C.D.
Governor General
Rideau Hall
1 Sussex Drive
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A1
Excellency,
As leaders of the opposition parties, we are well aware that, given the Liberal minority government, you could b... Comment - Like
T. Ryan G. posted an article on
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Mar 26, 2011, 9:42 am
Listening to current Prime Minister Stephen Harper repeat the Conservative talking point that the Liberals, NDP, and Bloc Quebecois will form a coalition if the Conservatives earn only a minority government yet again after the election in May. It’s amazing how on-message the Conservatives have be... Comment - Like
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Feb 14, 2011, 8:02 am
I already called this one out, but it gets even worse.
William Raillant-Clark’s Summary
In one sentence: I work with media professionals to ensure they have an opportunity to report on the world-class scientific research undertaken at the University of Montreal.
A typical example:
1. I take th... Comment - Like
T. Ryan G. posted an article on
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Feb 12, 2011, 11:04 am
The Colbert Report
Tags: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive
Colbert’s pep talk for a fellow journalist. is a post from Genomicron. Comment - Like
T. Ryan G. posted an article on
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Feb 10, 2011, 4:52 pm
Busy, but need to vent a little about these stories.
1. New evolutionary research disproves living missing link theories
Evolution is not a steady march towards ever more sophisticated beings and therefore the search for the living “missing links” is pointless, according to findings publishe... Comment - Like
T. Ryan G. posted an article on
Genomicron
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Feb 7, 2011, 12:47 pm
Take it easy on Christina Aguilera, everybody. She only got asked to sing the national anthem at the Superbowl because, sadly, Enrico Pallazzo was not available.
The Star-Spangled Banner. is a post from Genomicron. Comment - Like
T. Ryan G. posted an article on
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Feb 6, 2011, 8:53 am
Bill O’Reilly is curious about how tides work, why we have a moon, and where the sun came from. All of which are deep mysteries for which no answers can be found. Unless you look them up, of course. (When I was an undergraduate, Wikipedia didn’t exist yet, so I had to learn this stuff the old ... Comment - Like
T. Ryan G. posted an article on
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Feb 5, 2011, 8:29 am
Example headline: Massive Daphnia genome leads to understanding gene-environment interactions
Photo by Paul Hebert
It’s a cool species, an important addition to the cadre of species whose genomes have been sequenced, it has a notably large number of genes (>30,000, according to the current annot... Comment - Like
T. Ryan G. posted an article on
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Feb 3, 2011, 7:44 am
This is about a previous storm, but it seems apt in light of the much-hyped “Snowmageddon” we were expecting yesterday (which actually didn’t happen).
Snow. In Toronto. is a post from Genomicron. Comment - Like
T. Ryan G. posted an article on
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Feb 2, 2011, 12:44 pm
Thanks to Larry at Sandwalk, I caught this clip from the Bill Maher show in which panelists were discussing climate change and evolution.
The woman in the discussion is Kim Campbell, former Prime Minister of Canada. Some caveats, though: she wasn’t elected Prime Minister but assumed the role whe... Comment - Like
T. Ryan G. posted an article on
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Dec 17, 2010, 12:55 pm
I love Dropbox. If you haven’t started using it, you should. (If you use this referral link it will give both of us some bonus storage space free).
Anyway, the program is now available in full final release 1.0 (it was beta previously). Apparently there are various improvements, but it was excell... Comment - Like
T. Ryan G. posted an article on
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Dec 17, 2010, 8:48 am
It’s late in the season, but you might still be able to get Evolver Zone gear in time for the holidays.
Visit the EZ shop for lots more!
EZ gift ideas. is a post from Genomicron. Comment - Like
T. Ryan G. posted an article on
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Dec 5, 2010, 12:18 pm
I enjoyed Jerry Coyne’s book Why Evolution is True (though I don’t care for the title — Why Evolution is a Scientific Fact would have been much more accurate). The one complaint I had was that Coyne is a serious Darwinian (up to an including calling evolution “Darwinism”). That is, he inte... Comment - Like
T. Ryan G. posted an article on
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Nov 22, 2010, 9:14 am
Baba Brinkman, evo-rapper extraordinaire, is looking for support to finish an exciting project to create videos for his Rap Guide to Evolution. Most of the funding has come from the Wellcome Trust, but the last of the production costs are being assembled through Crowdfunder. Help if you can!
Here... Comment - Like
T. Ryan G. posted an article on
Genomicron
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Nov 20, 2010, 7:57 pm
Evolution: Education and Outreach
Volume 3, Number 4 / December 2010
489-490
Editorial
Niles Eldredge and Greg Eldredge
491-494
How Systematics Became “Phylogenetic”
Niles Eldredge
495-498
Introduction to the Special Issue
Sagas of the Children of Time: The Importance of Phylogenetic... Comment - Like
T. Ryan G. posted an article on
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Nov 10, 2010, 5:28 pm
I am very pleased to note that my former undergraduate thesis advisor and influential early mentor, Dr. Chris Wood, has been named a winner of the prestigious Nature award for mentorship. I wrote about my experience in the lab in a blog post last year here. Now that it’s all official, I don’... Comment - Like
T. Ryan G. posted an article on
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Sep 29, 2010, 5:15 pm
This is BRILLIANT. From The Lay Scientist by Martin Robbins at The Guardian.
This is a news website article about a scientific paper
In the standfirst I will make a fairly obvious pun about the subject matter before posing an inane question I have no intention of really answering: is this an impo... Comment - Like
T. Ryan G. posted an article on
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Sep 10, 2010, 9:13 am
D2L, which I believe stands for “Desire 2 Launch-this-learning-management-system-from-a-catapult”, is the current LMS we are using on campus. I won’t go into all the reasons I find it frustrating, except to say that every time anyone talks about trying to do something with it, it’s always ... Comment - Like
T. Ryan G. posted an article on
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Sep 3, 2010, 10:40 am
The September 2010 issue of the journal Biology and Philosophy is all about the Tree of Life metaphor, especially in the light of horizontal gene transfer in bacteria.
Biology and Philosophy vol. 24, n0. 4
Special Issue: The Tree of Life
Guest Edited by M.A.O`Malley
The tree of life: introducti... Comment - Like
T. Ryan G. posted an article on
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Sep 1, 2010, 10:14 am
Probably the stupidest quote I have seen in recent memory. From a participant at Glenn Beck’s “Restoring Honor” church rally in Washington, DC:
Asked what had inspired her to fly to the capital from Colorado, Andrea Carrasco started with God and ended with light bulbs.
She came, Carrasco sa... Comment - Like
T. Ryan G. posted an article on
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Sep 1, 2010, 10:04 am
I love this term introduced by Ed Yong in his post Do new discoveries ever “rewrite evolutionary history”?, which opens with:
You can’t go for a month without seeing a claim that some new discovery has rewritten evolutionary history. If headlines are to be believed, phylogeny – the busines... Comment - Like
T. Ryan G. posted an article on
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Aug 31, 2010, 7:11 pm
Wrong this time, PHD Comics! I don’t even have my own lab coat anymore.
Lab coat rack. is a post from Genomicron. Comment - Like
T. Ryan G. posted an article on
Genomicron
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Aug 31, 2010, 2:58 pm
In case you haven’t been following the series of posts by evolutionary biologist Dr. Arlin Stoltzfus posted on Sandwalk, here is a list hosted at his own site:
The Curious Disconnect: Introduction (March 19, 2010).
The Mutationism Myth 1. The Monk’s Lost Code and the Great Confusion (March 29, ... Comment - Like
T. Ryan G. posted an article on
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Aug 30, 2010, 1:55 pm
Over at the Evolver Zone store, there is an exciting new line of T-shirts featuring a “word cloud” of the most common gene products in nature — the most abundant of which is transposase encoded by transposable elements. If you’re a TE Geek, check them out.
Click here to check out the new s... Comment - Like
T. Ryan G. posted an article on
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Aug 28, 2010, 12:33 pm
From Musselp:
I have my agents in Zambia looking to identify and acquire a specimen for me, but does anyone happen to know the name of this plant?
Name this flower. is a post from Genomicron. Comment - Like
T. Ryan G. posted an article on
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Aug 21, 2010, 7:20 pm
Here is a video posted by the Centre For Inquiry Canada of a talk I gave in Toronto a few months ago. Larry Moran was my gracious host, and there were some good discussions over beer not captured on camera. :-)
The links mentioned in response to a question:
Evolver Zone
Understanding Evolution
... Comment - Like
T. Ryan G. posted an article on
Genomicron
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Aug 21, 2010, 11:12 am
For some time, I have wanted a new term for the broad category of DNA otherwise commonly referred to as “junk DNA”, i.e., everything other than genes and gene regulatory elements. “Non-coding DNA” is about the best option I have seen, in that it refers to DNA that does not e... Comment - Like
T. Ryan G. posted an article on
Genomicron
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Aug 6, 2010, 12:16 pm
I love Dropbox. I use it to back up and synchronize all my important files, and it has pretty much replaced my need for external hard drives and USB keys. I also use it to share specific folders with co-authors or students so that any changes they make or files they add are synchronized automatical... Comment - Like
T. Ryan G. posted an article on
Genomicron
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Aug 5, 2010, 7:51 pm
The discussion about my usage of the term “professional scientist” has raised a lot of objections. Mostly I think these have been emotional, and in fact it’s pretty clear what is happening. People are using equivocation to take advantage of the different narrow vs. broad definitio... Comment - Like
T. Ryan G. posted an article on
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Aug 5, 2010, 8:19 am
Brian Switek has a paper coming out in Evolution: Education and Outreach that discusses the nonsense surrounding Darwinius, dubbed hyper-hypefully “the link”, and the contribution that blogs played in setting the record straight. Check it out.
Switek discusses the Darwinius fiasco. is ... Comment - Like
T. Ryan G. posted an article on
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Aug 4, 2010, 8:41 pm
If I were to put together a respectful, short, easy to follow resource of major evolutionary concepts that science writers could consult whenever they wrote a piece involving evolutionary aspects, would they use it? Would my friends in the science writer world promote it, refer colleagues to it, se... Comment - Like
T. Ryan G. posted an article on
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Aug 4, 2010, 7:15 pm
Two students and I currently have a paper in review on genome sizes in sponges, but whether it is accepted or needs major revisions, we will have to update the reference list. This is because the genome sequence of the sponge Amphimedon queenslandica was just published. This is very cool, and allow... Comment - Like
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