thatbiologyg

I'm not a scientist, just one in training I just don't find the idea that a God created the universe to be logical. To me, it seems to be a primitive people's explanation of their existence and a way to attach meaning to their place in the world. Who created God? Who created the being that created God? Is it turtles all the way down? And why not a Goddess instead of a God? I cannot believe in something I simply don't find plausible, no matter how much anyone else wishes I could. But perhaps this is just my belief in non belief But regardless of this, I don't begrudge anyone their beliefs. I just really wish they'd leave my daughter's education out of it. But this is really off topic now, we could start a new thread if you like? This I do not understand. He listed many scientist who falsified their findings (piltdown man etc...) and suggested that because of this all scientists should be classified as frauds. I responded by suggesting that this would be like saying all Christians are hypocritical because a few a hypocritical (Haggart being with a homosexual whilst preaching against homosexuality). I responded: Maybe I took away the wrong message, but Mr Benett seems to be grouping all evolutionary biologists as liars. I can assure you, I did not falsify my Gossypium phylogenies

Oh, Japanese Knotweed is the WORST! It can even grow through concrete. It will grow into your basement if you aren't careful ( ) You can eat it though, apparently it tastes like rhubarb and can be prepared in much the same way. Just pick the young shoots and cut them up, add sugar and you've got a great pie filling. My husband kills them by cutting the shoots to about three inches from the ground and filling the cavity in the stem with round-up. I believe you have to do this several times a year for a few years before the clone will completely die off. You're definitely right about not all non-natives being a problem, its only a small percentage that go crazy and become an issue. Even native species adapted for areas of disturbance can hinder restoration efforts. Here poplar, sassafras, aspen, horsetail and many others are commonly removed from preserves. The trees are a problem because they move into the prairies which don't see fire as they historically would have. At any rate, good luck with your knotweed problem, you'll need it!

Hence the need for massive amounts of caffeine

Oh, I hope so. I visited some around Florida when I was a teenager. They were so magnificent! I'd love to make a mangrove habitat saltwater tank someday... I think in some regions they are a threatened ecosystem though.

ROLF, you're kidding right? It would take days to write all the historical inaccuracies, contradictions and fallacies in the bible here. I'll just link to this site: http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/

A whole zoo devoted to turtles?!?! I have to go there sometime. The picture was taken at our local zoo. They recently acquired some very large, very old Galapagos tortoises and the statue was a donation to commemorate them. As for the picture being me, I can't really prove it and photographic evidence is the worst kind... I could even be a cross dresser LOL But I'm not. Being a female biologist isn't all that odd; at my previous university there were more female majors than male. I wish I had a picture of my old lab desk, that would be the best proof LOL I don't consider myself a scientist even though I've done research in a university setting, even though I've designed research projects and presented the results to my peers. I don't know enough to set up a really great experiment, I still don't understand the ins and outs of MacClade and I don't drink nearly enough coffee. I don't even have my BS yet, even though I've been at it for many years... I get too distracted by great research projects, take a year off to work in a lab and then boom, now I'm a year later in graduating. (taking a year off to have a baby didn't help either). But I LOVE being in college, I LOVE research and I LOVE being the first person to find out something new- knowing even before the PI... it's such a rush. The point I'm trying to make is that you don't have to be a scientist to be interested in science. I think everyone should be interested in science as it affects everyone on a daily basis. Stem cells for instance, I wish the populace was more familiar with the science of this issue. It kills me that there are so many people who are more interested in whether or not big foot exists or how many UFOs have made crop circles in Kansas than they are with understanding RNAi, gene therapy, super strings etc... For instance, the South American group of polyploid (having more than 2 sets of chromosomes) cotton that I worked on has one genome from a diploid South American cotton and one genome from a diploid African species... the most parsimonious explanation for this is that a seed from Africa found its way across the Atlantic ocean, germinated in South American and hybridized with a South American plant! Phylogenetic studies have supported this hypothesis and even suggest that the African plant was the pollen donor. I think this is just incredibly cool, but when I try to talk with other people about it, no one cares (except my husband, it's so nice being married to a fellow science geek). What I'm trying to say, is that we need more people interested in science, not less and I would never make light of a question asked honestly. I'm not a scientist, but I love science. I hope you will all forgive me if I ask simple or foolish questions in the future as well (I'm sure I will) I also hope you'll forgive this off topic rant, I rambled for much longer than I had intended.

I thought this was quite funny: It would probably be more humorous if I weren't married to a restoration ecologist - hits a little to close to home... I can't even have a simple walk in the park without him threatening the trees (Siberian Elm and Callery Pear) with death and destruction

"Science: it's what's for dinner. Technology: it's what's leftover" or... "Ah, what a find day for SCIENCE!" Oh wait... that one is taken. Ummm.... "Science is to Technology as Kumquat is to _____" (sorry to much GRE studying there) OK, but seriously, what about a quote instead of a slogan? "Science is simply common sense at its best--that is, rigidly accurate in observation, and merciless to fallacy in logic." Thomas Huxley "Where there is the necessary technical skill to move mountains, there is no need for the faith that moves mountains." Eric Hoffer "Science and technology multiply around us. To an increasing extent they dictate the languages in which we speak and think. Either we use those languages, or we remain mute." J. G. Ballard "Science... never solves a problem without creating ten more." George Bernard Shaw "We've arranged a civilization in which most crucial elements profoundly depend on science and technology." Carl Sagan "Nothing has such power to broaden the mind as the ability to investigate systematically and truly all that comes under thy observation in life." Marcus Aurelius There are loads more quotes out there, just Google "science quotes" and you'll find thousands.

I'd put them back right away, I just can't stand having a messy workspace. Also, I do have a little one and while she isn't walking yet, I foresee such issues in the future. As for photographic evidence: http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t294/thatbiologygirl/midimommy.jpg Not lewd of course, I'm married woman after all .... ugh though I do look naked without my glasses.

I'm not sure if you still need any help, but in addition to the organisms that Xavier mentioned, you might try looking up mangroves. They have quite a few interesting mechanisms for surviving in saline environments.

I just noticed there's an introduce yourself thread So here goes... My real name is Jessica. I'm married to a fellow biology geek (Restoration Ecologist) and we have a ten-month old chibi geek named Midori. I was majoring in biology at Indiana University but we had to move out of the area for my husband's job. I'll be attending Purdue next fall to finish up my biology degree and I really have no idea where I'm going from there. I've been involved in research projects dealing with such diverse subjects as Hydra population genetics, South American Cotton tetraploid phylogenies (did you know that one genome comes from South America and one comes from Africa!?!?!), Caribbean Drosophila evolution and development and the isolation of microsatellite loci from Acacia species. I take my handle from my time as a supplemental instructor for intro biology. The students used to call me that biology girl and the name kind of stuck I'll be taking the biology GRE as a review this fall; it looks like it will be a great test and I'm looking forward to it Thank you for having me,

I'm female and I can prove it If you want I can start nagging you guys about the state of your lab desks... I don't know why but every male RA I've ever known has a messy lab station. And the only concern I have with my eggs is preventing their fertilization

Starting now would be a bit late but I've been reviewing on my own since early summer. It just occurred to me to ask if anyone else on this forum is taking them as well. Also, I'm not taking any classes at the moment so its all GRE all the time for me

LOL You're just trying to pull more of us out of the woodwork While I can't claim to be extremely bright, I'm definitely an extremely curious person eta: Wow, now that I think of it, "curious" has all sorts of unintended connotations here...

I'm going to be taking the GRE subject test in general biology this fall. If anyone else going to be taking it as well, I'd love to study with you. Though we can't physically get together to study (unless you live in Northern Indiana LOL) I think we could encourage each other to keep on track. Anyway, please PM me if you are interested in forming a biology GRE study group

XX here. I'm mainly a lurker though... Hey, I thought I posted once before.... maybe not. It seems there really aren't that many females here, sad. Maybe I should post more to even things out

Hello all, I'm so glad to have found this forum. I'm an evolutionary biologist, in the past I've worked on Cotton phylogeny and Hydra population genetics. I noticed these books at the Borders the other day (The Politically Incorrect Guide to Science, The Politically Incorrect Guide to Darwinism and Intelligent Design and they really disturbed me. They're published by REGNERY PUBLISHING, a publishing house with a conservative political agenda. Normally I don't really pay a lot of attention to politics. But this really bothers me, science should not be filtered through a political sieve. It seems so wrong that science should be hashed like this. Do they really have to have their science mashed, picked and squeezed so it fits into their world view, can't they look at the primary lit and make up their own freaking mind? And I am frankly appalled that I am being labeled a "left wing radical" simply for studying evolution. I can't help it if my research doesn't allign with someone's religious or political views and I can say with certainty that I'm not spending my nights sitting in a lab scheming of new ways to irritate the religious right. I'm not sure if this is the right forum to post this, I'm sure if it's in the wrong place it will be moved. I really wanted to get some opinions on this. What do you all think of these books? I'm sorry if this is a bit of a ranty first post. Maybe I had to much coffee this morning...