Dienekes recently computed an identity-by-state (IBS is his abbreviation, although that means something very different to me) similarity matrix for all the individuals in the Dodecad Ancestry Project. The IBS score is a ratio between individuals that, to my understanding, can be read as a proxy for genetic similarity. He also posted an R object that...

Physiology Opinion: The decline of physiology. Medical schools in the UK are scaling back their basic physiology education in favor of more pathology and clinical courses which skim over the basic physiology needed to understand those situations. If you are a physiologist, the APS encourages you to participate in the comments discussion. Sucked out...

Earlier this week I shared the story of my specific phobia of vomiting, and little did I know that an article would be published in PNAS the next day (open access!) about the efficacy of cortisol supplementation during exposure therapy for specific phobias. Cortisol, which I have blogged about before, is a major endocrine involved in the human stress...

Earlier this year I received Get Me Out: A History of Childbirth from the Garden of Eden to the Sperm Bank by Dr. Randi Hutter Epstein through a Science Online 2011 giveaway contest on Twitter. It took me a while to get around to reading it, partially because I was busy churning out my thesis at the time, but also because it wasn't a topic I found entirely...

Physiology AAPA symposium on Evolution through the Life Course: Why we shouldn't prescribe hormonal contraception to twelve year olds. Can the benefits of hormonal contraceptives seen in adult women be applied to girls as young as 11-12? Can the use of hormonal contraceptives influence the development of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal endocrine...

Cross-posted at Brown Pundits. "Campus Parties After Bin Laden News" - NBC4 Columbus, OH Within an hour of the announcement from President Obama that Osama Bin Laden had been killed, students and other young people began to gather at Mirror Lake on the OSU campus. The traditional place for a rally prior to the annual Ohio State-Michigan football...