We need to do a better job advertising this, because I’m a scientist and this is the first I’ve heard of it. In the spirit of science literacy, here are a few links to explore.
- Scitable – “a free science library and personal learning tool” from Nature. The current focus is genetics (my favorite topic).
- Women in Science – from the Smithsonian Institution Archives, a collection of “images documenting women scientists and engineers from around the world, most of whom were pioneers in their respective fields, or were the first women to receive advanced graduate degrees in their discipline.” The photo below is of Dr. Mary N. Crawford, who discovered the rare Lutheran a-b- blood type.
Mary N. Crawford
The entire photo collection is an inspiration to women in science.
- Lifeworks E-Mentoring – from the National Institutes of Health Office of Science Education, “a free e-mentoring program that helps high school and college students who are interested in behavioral and social science, biomedical science, dental, and healthcare careers find a mentor.” Sounds like a great place to volunteer if you’re so inclined. What better way to improve science literacy than to help mentor the next generation of scientists?
***
Speaking of science literacy: On the book club front, I’m about 2/3 of the way through January’s book. It’s interesting but dense reading, and I haven’t had as much time to read while nursing as I thought. Baby keeps grabbing the book. It’s easier to read while pumping, but that gives me roughly 30 minutes a day. I have had a couple of long waits at the car shop over the last week, so I’m making good progress. Maybe I’ll be finished by this weekend.
There’s an interesting piece in the most recent issue of Nature. Corie Lok discusses how researchers are dealing with the information firehose that is scientific literature. How big is that firehose?
The 19 million citations and abstracts covered by the US National Library of Medicine’s PubMed search engine include nearly 830,000 articles published in 2009, up from some 814,000 in 2008 and around 772,000 in 2007. That growth rate shows no signs of abating, especially as emerging countries such as China and Brazil continue to ratchet up their research.
With that amount of data overload, how is an established researcher going to keep up with relevant work in their field? Nevermind how a new investigator can a handle on establishing a research focus, or a midcareer scientist switch tracks. That’s where literature mining comes in. There are several start-up services on the web to help scientists find relevant research, make connections, and generate hypotheses. A few of these are discussed in Lok’s article, but there are many others.
PubMed – My default search engine for research papers, this is the first stop for many scientists. So let’s try a little experiment. Searching “alcoholism” generates the following – Results: 1 to 20 of 66827. PubMed does have tools to help you narrow your search. Say I’m interested in the genetics of alcoholism. Searching “alcoholism genetics” returns – Results: 1 to 20 of 5940. A lot of research to go through. Restricting that search to only publications in the last 5 years, in English, and about humans gives Results: 1 to 20 of 1283. Still a lot of literature, even if you’re only reading the abstracts.
That’s where literature mining can really make a difference.
A new study in PLoS Biology suggests one of the most common Western European Y halplogroups, R1b1b2, might have originated in Turkey and radiated into Europe with the spread of agriculture during the Neolithic. This is significant because this haplogroup is the most frequent in Western Europe, and has been posited as a signal from Paleolithic populations who were less impacted by the Neolithic Revolution.
The researchers compared STR variance for this haplotype in several European populations and three Turkish groups, and found a significant correlation (R2 = 0.358; p = 0.004) between that variance and the longitude of the population (i.e., how far east the population was located).
Balaresque et al. Figure 1C. Distribution of haplogroup R1b1b STR variance
From the plot, the greatest variance (indicated by the most intense color) within haplogroup R1b1b2 is found in Turkey. They also calculated the time to most recent common ancestor (TMRCA) using STR variance, and found that the oldest lineages, dated between 7,000-7,989 years, are also in Turkey. The youngest lineage is in Cornwall, dating from 5,460 years ago. The researchers inferred that R1b1b2 originated in Anatolia and spread rapidly into Europe with the spread of agriculture.
Balaresque et al. Figure 1B. Frequency distribution of Haplogroup R1b1b2. More intense color indicate higher frequency.
A couple of things strike me about this study. 1) Haplogroup R1b1b2 reaches it’s highest frequencies in Western Europe, up to 85% of Y-chromosomes in Ireland belong to this haplogroup (Figure 1B). And there are two populations, one in Germany (GE1) and one on the northwest coast of France (FR2), with TMRCA dates in the range of the Turkish dates (7,282 and 7,384 years, respectively). 2) The Turkish data come from Cinnioglu et al. (2004), and consist of samples collected in 90 cities from blood banks, paternity clinics, and university students classified into geographical areas by self-reported “paternal residential heritage” (128). There is the possibility of introducing error into the sample from this self-reported residence. It’s also possible that the high variance present in the Turkish R1b1b2 lineages reflects more recent immigration. In addition, TMRCA applies to the molecule, not the populations in which it is found, so while a particular lineage may be 7,000 years old it does not mean that the population has been in that particular location for that length of time. And the authors note, in the supplemental information, “…there is a tendency for TMRCA to be underestimated when single-haplogroup data are considered.”
It’s an interesting hypothesis, though, and I’m curious to see what analyses with additional populations will show.
–
Balaresque P, Bowden GR, Adams SM, Leung HY, King TE, Rosser ZH, Goodwin J, Moisan JP, Richard C, Millward A, Demaine AG, Barbujani G, Previderè C, Wilson IJ, Tyler-Smith C, & Jobling MA (2010). A predominantly neolithic origin for European paternal lineages. PLoS biology, 8 (1) PMID: 20087410
Cinnioğlu C, King R, Kivisild T, Kalfoğlu E, Atasoy S, Cavalleri GL, Lillie AS, Roseman CC, Lin AA, Prince K, Oefner PJ, Shen P, Semino O, Cavalli-Sforza LL, & Underhill PA (2004). Excavating Y-chromosome haplotype strata in Anatolia. Human genetics, 114 (2), 127-48 PMID: 14586639
William Stukeley
Remember the old story of Newton and the apple? Ever wonder where it came from? Now you can read the original, in William Stukeley’s Memoirs of Sir Isaac Newton’s Life (1752). The Royal Society, the “world’s oldest scientific academy in continuous existence,” had made this manuscript (and others) available as part of their Turning the Pages project.
In Newton’s Life, Stukeley recounts one of the most famous stories in modern science:
After dinner, the weather being warm, we went into the garden and drank tea under the shade of some apple trees; only he and myself. Amidst other discourse, he told me, he was just in the same situation, as when formerly, the notion of gravitation came into his mind. Why should that apple always descend perpendicularly to the ground, thought he to himself; occasioned by the fall of an apple, as he sat in a contemplative mood. Why should it not go sideways, or upwards? But constantly to the earth’s center? Assuredly, the reason is, that the earth draws it. There must be a drawing power in matter. The sum of the drawing power in the matter of the earth must be in the earth’s center, not in any side of the earth. Therefore does this apple fall perpendicularly or toward the center. If matter thus draws matter; it must be in proportion of its quantity. Therefore the apple draws the earth, as well as the earth draws the apple.
Thus by degrees, he began to apply this property of gravitation to the motion of the Earth, and of the heavenly bodies; to consider their distances, their magnitudes, their periodical revolutions: to find out, that this property, conjointly with a progressive motion impressed on them in the beginning, perfectly [soloed] their circular courses; kept the planets from falling upon one another, or dropping all together into one center. And thus he unfolded the universe. This was the birth of those amazing discoveries, whereby he built philosophy on a solid foundation, to the astonishment of Europe (page 16, 42 in the online version).
Sir Isaac Newton
Rather than being conked on the head by an apple while napping, Newton had been thinking in his garden, maybe while drinking tea. Granted, this work was originally published 25 years after Newton’s death, but Stukeley was a friend of Newton, and a fellow member of the Royal Society.
I have waited for this life to be done, as it deserves; and have not been overhasty in printing, what was wrote 27 years ago (page ii, 4 in the online version).
He began recording his memories of Newton before Newton’s death, and now they are available, in their original 18th century manuscript, for anyone with an Internet connection to read. How fantastic to be able to read the actual account of this most famous story for yourself.
–
Images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
