Tag: biology

  • Even Older Family Trees

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    Brendan Barry
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    Yesterday we looked at a graphic about an old family tree, revealed by ancient DNA. But at the end of the day it is a family tree of descent for a human male. But mankind itself fits within a kind of family tree, the circle family tree of life. The tree of life continues to…

  • Viral Mutations

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    Brendan Barry
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    With Covid-19, one of the big challenges we face is the rapid mutations in the viral genetic code that have produced several beneficial—from the virus’ standpoint—adaptations. Several days ago the New York Times published a nice, illustrated piece that showed just what these mutations look like. Of course, these were not just nice illustrations of…

  • The Science Behind the Thoroughbred

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    Brendan Barry
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    I do not know a thing about horses. I leave that knowledge to others in my family. However, this piece from the South China Morning Post explains quite a bit of why the thoroughbred is such a famous type of horse for racing. Credit for the piece goes to Alberto Lucas López.

  • More Evidence on Why You (I) Need a Good Night’s Sleep

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    Brendan Barry
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    The Washington Post looks at sleep and how lack thereof may lead to various health problems, including Alzheimers, diabetes, and others. Maybe this means I have a reason to sleep in the mornings now…probably not. Credit for the piece goes to Bonnie Berkowitz and Alberto Cuadra.

  • Your Central Visual Field

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    Brendan Barry
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    From XKCD comes an informative infographic about your central visual field. As always, it’s quite informative. It’s not quite light hearted for Friday, but you’ll probably get an odd look or a laugh when you move your face really close to your monitor… Also as always, credit for the piece goes to Randall Munroe.

  • Cancer

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    Brendan Barry
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    From the Sydney Morning Herald, we have a link to an interactive infographic published by the Cancer Council of Australia, a non-profit that seeks to reduce the impact of cancer upon Australia. It is not the most graphical by way of charts, but offers the user “playful” interactions with statistics to better inform him or…

  • Where Your Bacteria Live

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    Brendan Barry
    in

    People are nothing more than dirty stinking apes. Especially when it comes to microbes. On Monday the New York Times published an infographic that visualised the data on the prevalence and abundance of different microbes across a sample of over 200 individuals. That is to say the visualisation looks at where microbes are most common…