corneliabl: January 2011

Monday, January 31, 2011

Support Corporations: Wear the Flower

Read about Raffelesia and wear the flower to support free enterprise and profit making.

Support People for Corporate Tax Cuts.

People for Corporate Tax Cuts

The recent economic downturn was caused by the private sector, especially big banks and investment companies. As an average citizen and public sector employee, I was happy to help out by giving the private sector bundles of taxpayer money in order to rescue them from their own greed. After all, that's what the public sector is for—to support free enterprise with government money.

Private companies need your help more than ever. They need corporate tax cuts. You can't expect them to support corporate welfare payments with high corporate tax rates. That would be like giving money to themselves and they don't teach that in business school, do they?

Support People for Corporate Tax Cuts.

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Archaeology of Karanis, In Progress

Lively Bones: The Karanis Cemetery Survery Project

by Anne Austin

The Final Curtain Call: the Abandonment of Karanis and the Presence of Late Roman Amphora
by Sonali Gupta-Agarwal,

Out of Africa, but When?

I'm very uncomfortable with popular claims about the migration of modern humans into Asia and Europe. You often see the date as 50,000 years ago and most people seem to think that this was a sudden event associated with the destruction of ancient hominids (Neandertal, Homo erectus) who lived in Asia and Europe at this time.

The recent date was based largely on mitochondrial DNA sequences and it required a reliable time reference that just wasn't there. As other nuclear genes were analyzed the dates indicated much older migrations. Then there's the fossil evidence. I'm not able to judge that evidence but it didn't seem to me to be as neat and tidy as a sudden exodus at 50,000 years ago would require.

Fortunately we have John Hawks, a scientist who's area of expertise covers archeology AND population genetics. He thinks that the date for "Out of Africa" should be older and he can back up his skepticism with evidence. Read his latest posting at: Jebel Faya and early-stage reduction. Will the new date end up being 100,000 years ago—or maybe even 150,000 years ago?

Since John doesn't allow comments on his blog I thought I'd open up some discussion here. John, aside from the question of modern Homo sapiens, when did Neandertals leave Africa and when was the migration of Homo erectus? How secure are those dates?

P.S. As I was about to publish this post I did a quick check to see when the movie was released. It was 1985. This means that none of the students in my molecular evolution class were alive when it came out. I feel old.

[Image Credit: The map is from The Human Journey.]

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Are the "Good Guys" Losing in America?

The battle between science and religion has been going on for centuries. Part of the conflict is over the teaching of evolution in American public schools. Religious parents don't want their children exposed to ungodly evolution and the most vocal of them want creationism taught as part of the science curriculum.

Now you might think that that this particular battle has been decisively won by the "good guys" because of all the court victories. Not so. The results in the classroom reveal that evolution is not being taught except in the most liberal states and a substantial number of teachers are teaching creationism in spite of the law.

You can read postings on The Panda's Thumb [Who controls America’s schools? Who should?] and on Pharyngula [Bad science education in the US]. Each of these authors has their own take on the issue.

I want to raise another question. What good has it done to win all the court cases? Has it prevented an even worse disaster? Has relying on lawyers to defend evolution been the right strategy or should more emphasis have been placed on promoting good science instead of the American Constitution?

There's one point that few people raise. Evolution is taught badly even in universities—and so is everything else. You might think that by the time a student graduates with a degree from university he or she will be knowledgeable enough to reject superstition and rely on critical thinking. If we can't even do a good job of teaching adults in university then how can we expect public school teachers to do any better? In an ideal world every parent who is a university graduate should be an ally of their child's teacher when it comes to supporting good science education.

PZ Myers on TVOntario

PZ Myers gave a talk at the Atheist Alliance International meeting in Montreal last October. It was taped for TVOntario's "Big Ideas" show and it will air tomorrow (Sunday, January 30, 2011) at 5:30 pm.

Or, you can watch it right now on the TVO website at PZ Myers on Science and Atheism: Natural Allies. Even better, here's the YouTube version for your immediate viewing pleasure.

WARNING: PZ Myers is one of those Gnu Atheists and some people may find it offensive to have their cherished beliefs questioned.¹

1. As Ricky Gervais said recently, "Just because you're offended doesn't mean you are right."

Friday, January 28, 2011

Zoë Walks

I hope you all appreciate the fact that I've not been inundating you with photos and videos of my granddaughter, Zoë. You probably don't share my view that she's the third most wonderful girl in the world.

Anyway, just in case you were feeling neglected, here's Zoë taking her first steps. She was almost walking during her visit at Christmas but now she's really a toddler.

Thursday, January 27, 2011

More Prebiotic Soup Nonsense

There's another round of nonsense under way, fueled by the discovery that chemical trickery can lead to a slight excess of L-amino acids over D-amino acids. There's a BBC News story about it at: 'Life chemicals' may have formed around far-flung star. The story is reproduced without comment on RichardDawkins.net.

The press reports refer to an article published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters [NON-RACEMIC AMINO ACID PRODUCTION BY ULTRAVIOLET IRRADIATION OF ACHIRAL INTERSTELLAR ICE ANALOGS WITH CIRCULARLY POLARIZED LIGHT]. Here's the abstract.

The delivery of organic matter to the primitive Earth via comets and meteorites has long been hypothesized to be an important source for prebiotic compounds such as amino acids or their chemical precursors that contributed to the development of prebiotic chemistry leading, on Earth, to the emergence of life. Photochemistry of inter/circumstellar ices around protostellar objects is a potential process leading to complex organic species, although difficult to establish from limited infrared observations only. Here we report the first abiotic cosmic ice simulation experiments that produce species with enantiomeric excesses (e.e.'s). Circularly polarized ultraviolet light (UV-CPL) from a synchrotron source induces asymmetric photochemistry on initially achiral inter/circumstellar ice analogs. Enantioselective multidimensional gas chromatography measurements show significant e.e.'s of up to 1.34% for (13C)-alanine, for which the signs and absolute values are related to the helicity and number of CPL photons per deposited molecule. This result, directly comparable with some L excesses measured in meteorites, supports a scenario in which exogenous delivery of organics displaying a slight L excess, produced in an extraterrestrial environment by an asymmetric astrophysical process, is at the origin of biomolecular asymmetry on Earth. As a consequence, a fraction of the meteoritic organic material consisting of non-racemic compounds may well have been formed outside the solar system. Finally, following this hypothesis, we support the idea that the protosolar nebula has indeed been formed in a region of massive star formation, regions where UV-CPL of the same helicity is actually observed over large spatial areas.

The authors assume that the primodial soup speculation about the origin of life is the most reasonable explanation. According to this widely believed scenario, life originated in a soup of organic molecules that supplied most of the molecules of metabolism such as glucose and amino acids (and nucleotides?). Presumably once life got underway these molecules were used up and only then did metabolic pathways evolve to synthesize these molecules.

The competing hypothesis is Metabolism First [Metabolism First and the Origin of Life]. In this scenario, the first steps involved the establishment of simple oxidation-reduction reactions across a "membrane" using inorganic molecules. Once this supply of energy was in place the first pathways led to synthesis of simple organic molecules like acetate and glycine.

What's wrong with the Primordial Soup model? Well, for one thing, it's awfully hard to imagine how incoming asteroids could supply enough material to make a difference. The maximum concentration of all amino acids in the ocean, for example, could never have been more than 10-100 pM and that's optimistic [Can watery asteroids explain why life is 'left-handed'?].¹

Instead of trying to prove that asteroids could carry a slight excess of L-amino acids, I wish these workers would apply a bit of healthy skepticism to the subsequent steps of the scenario. It's not reasonable to assume that minute quantities of amino acids could ever fuel the origin of life. Incidentally, the Primordial Soup Hypothesis also imagines that early cells used exogenous glucose as a fuel. This implies that the glycolysis pathway is more primitive that the gluconeogenesis pathway for synthesis of glucose. Unfortunately the data disproves this prediction. Gluconeogenesis is more ancient and glycolysis evolved later [Aldolase in Gluconeogenesis & Glycolysis]. A nasty little fact.

The real problem is not that metabolism firstists such as Bill Martin are right and soupists are wrong—although that's a very real possibility.

The problem is that most scientists are not thinking critically about the origin of life. There are several possibilities and none of them are particularly convincing. However, the Primordial Soup Hypothesis has a number of glaring weaknesses that need to be addressed honestly and it doesn't do anyone any good if scientists sweep these weaknesses under the rug.

1. We're talking about a primordial soup where the concentration of L-alanine might be 0.50 pM and the concentration of D-alanine might be 0.49 pM. That's supposed to be enough for life based on amino acids to evolve and to lead to the subsequent preference for synthesizing exclusively L-amino acids. How, exactly, does that work?

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

What Should Replace Religion?

Here's Daniel Dennett speaking in Montreal last October. He addresses the "problem" of what should replace religion once we get rid of it. You may wonder what "problem" he's referring to. After all, when you visit countries in Europe you don't see a pressing need to come up with some institutions that replace religion.

Here's a list of good things that religion provides according to Dennett: hope, love, beauty, joy, and moral teamwork. These are the things we get from organized religion.

Really? I haven't noticed that these things are missing in the lives of my atheist friends. Nor have I noticed that the people of Denmark or Belgium are loveless, joyless and incapable of moral teamwork. What the heck is he talking about? What he's talking about is the idea that a church is "the place where if you have to go there they have to take you in."

... churches do that very well. They are a safety net of last resort for many people, and not just poor people, ... churches open their doors to these people and they can do a better job at this than government agencies.

He's talking about churches as safety nets and sources of social support. What he's talking about is the (possible) necessity of churches in a country that rejects socialism. He's talking about America but he doesn't admit it.

You can watch the faces of this mostly Canadian audience, as I did, to see how well Dennet's ideas are being received. There's a lot of puzzled looks as you might expect in a country where socialized medicine is a universal right. Why do you need churches for those things that any just society must provide? Why do you need churches when you have publicly funded community centers where you can hang out with your friends and neighbors?

Things go rapidly downhill from that point on (about 12 minutes into the talk). The next part of the talk is about religious music. It includes some truly excruciating atheist gospel songs that the audience is subjected to. (They cut out a large part of that from the video.) The remainder of the talk has very little to do with the necessity of religion.

Monday, January 24, 2011

LECTURES & SEMINARS ON PARALITERARY PAPYRI, Barcelona

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE JORNADAS INTERNACIONALES
CODEX: MATERIA DE ESCRITURA
7 to 11 February 2011 Del 7 al 11 de febrero de 2011

LECTURES FOR HUMANITIES STUDENTS
7th February, Monday.
16.00 h. Dr. Alberto Nodar (Universitat Pompeu Fabra): Del rollo al códice: la aparición del “libro” en la historia cultural europea (From roll to codex: the appearance of the “book” in Europe’s cultural history).

17.00 h. Dr. Francisco del Río (Universitat de Barcelona): La tradición del códice árabe y hebreo en Europa (Arabic and Hebrew codices in the European tradition).

18.00 h. Coffee break

18.30 h. Dra. María Morrás (Universitat Pompeu Fabra): Forma literaria y materialidad en las literaturas romances (Literary form and materiality in Romance Literatures).
8th February, Tuesday.

17.00 h. Dr. Ángel Escobar (Universidad de Zaragoza): El mundo de los palimpsestos: recuperación digital de antiguos textos ocultos (The world of palimpsests: digital recovering of ancient hidden texts).

18.00 h. Coffee break

18. 30 h. Round table, with all participants in the conference.

SEMINARS ON PARALITERARY P APYRI
FOR PAPYROLOGISTS AND GRADUATE STUDENTS

8th February, Tuesday
11.00 h – 13.30 h. Seminar: Dr. R. Martín (Universidad Complutense): Tipología y edición de los textos mágicos en papiro (Typology and edition of magical texts on papyrus).

9th February, Wednesday 11.00 h - 13.30 h. Seminar: Dr. D. Obbink
(University of Oxford): Ancient novel on papyrus.

16 h – 18.30 h. Seminar: Dr. D. Colomo (University of Oxford): The tools for public speaking: rhetorical texts on papyrus I.

10th February, Thursday

11.00 h – 13.30 h. Seminar: Dra. Marie-Hélène Marganne (Université de Liège): Textes médicaux sur papyrus I.

16.00 h – 18.30 h. Seminar: Dr. D. Colomo (University of Oxford): The Tools for Public Speaking: Rhetorical Texts on Papyrus II.

11th February, Friday

11.00 h – 13.30 h. Seminar: Dra. Marie-Hélène Marganne (Université de Liège): Textes médicaux sur papyrus II.

13.30 h. Closing of the conference by the rector of the Universitat Pompeu Fabra Dr. Josep Joan Moreso
Attendance to seminars is limited, please contact alberto.nodar@upf.edu in order to register. A certificate will be given to participants at the end of the seminars on proof of attendance at 80% of the teaching sessions. On request, a certificate may be given to students attending the lectures, on proof of attendance at 80% of the lectures, of which they will provide a summary. Students wishing to obtain it should notify it by mail at alberto.nodar@upf.edu before the beginning of the sessions

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Aegyptus Anno LXXXVIII (2008),

Raccolta di scritti dedicati a Orsolina Montevecchi - I

Sommario:
C.Balconi, Orsolina Montevecchi

K.Jaros, Ein Fragment des Lukasevangeliums aus der Privatsammlung De Hamel in Cambridge: Gk MS 386

A.Martano, Note di esegesi anacreontea antica: P.Oxy. 3722 e Anacreonte, fr.82 Gentili

M.C.Scappaticcio, PL III/504: Virgilio, la dialysis e un'ignota Ars Grammatica

M.Stroppa, Lista di codici tardoantichi contenenti hypomnemata

K.Jaros, Zur Textueberlieferung des Markusevangeliums nach der Handschrift P.Chester Beatty I (P45), zu 7Q5 und zum "Geheimen Markusevangelium"

D.Minutoli, Ordine di pagamento: PL III/343

R.Pintaudi, SB V 7633: registro di terreni

G.Casanova, "A caval donato ...": P.Hib. II 274 riesaminato

D.Colomo, Proposte di integrazione a P.Laur. IV 167: frammento di resoconto sulla manutenzione delle dighe

G.Nachtergael, Une stèle funéraire d'Alexandrie

L.Migliardi Zingale, Sui papiri "ravennati", punto di incontro tra Occidente ed Oriente: alcune riflessioni

E.Lucchesi, Hymnes de Sévère et sur Sévère

A.Delattre, Un ostracon copte d'Antinoé

E.Lucchesi, "Nachtrag" à l'édition du "P.Vat.Copt.Doresse 7"

P.Grossmann, Antinoopolis Oktober 2007. Vorlaeufiger Bericht ueber die Arbeiten im Herbst 2007

P.Grossmann, Antinoopolis Januar/Februar 2008. Vorlaeufiger Bericht ueber die Arbeiten im Fruehjahr 2008

R.Sousa, The Papyrus of Nesipautitaui (SR 1025): an iconographical reading

J.R.Aja Sanchez, El "rio de Nun" y el "(César) Nilo de Egipto": del mito egipcio a la concordia politica romana. La insercion de JE 48862 y P:Brooklyn 47.218.84 en el tema

Recensioni

Notiziario

Libri ricevuti

APF 55.2 (2009)

183

Vorwort

Abstract

185

1. Bericht über einen Versteigerungskauf

Charikleia Armoni