Resisting the urge to make a bad pun here

Olivia Judson discusses cuckoos and other brood parasites in today's thought provoking column.

Evolution in the Lab

I try to link to pretty much everything that appears in Olivia Judson's Wild Side, but this piece on the implications of the continued evolution of lab animals should be particularly interesting to readers of this site.

A second area where laboratory evolution can be a serious problem is in the study of subjects like the evolution of aging, and the diseases associated with it. For example, the study of laboratory populations may give a misleading impression of how easy it is to extend lifespans: since laboratory organisms tend to have unnaturally short lifespans, discovering ways to make them live longer may not be especially informative. We may simply be reversing the unnatural shortening that we created in the first place, a view supported by the fact that selection to increase lifespan in laboratory populations often simply restores it to levels seen in the wild.

Definitely worth a look.

Let's talk about sex

More cool stuff from the New York Times' best science writer (not that the others have set the bar that high)

Stand and deliver

This article by the gifted Olivia Judson* explores the research about sitting and obesity that Joseph was talking about and makes some interesting suggestions:

Some people have advanced radical solutions to the sitting syndrome: replace your sit-down desk with a stand-up desk, and equip this with a slow treadmill so that you walk while you work. (Talk about pacing the office.) Make sure that your television can only operate if you are pedaling furiously on an exercise bike. Or, watch television in a rocking chair: rocking also takes energy and involves a continuous gentle flexing of the calf muscles. Get rid of your office chair and replace it with a therapy ball: this too uses more muscles, and hence more energy, than a normal chair, because you have to support your back and work to keep balanced. You also have the option of bouncing, if you like.

* and could someone explain to me why the New York Times' best science writer only shows up in the opinion section.