Here I will place posts that are primarily about recent observations in (primarily) molecular biology that while interesting in and of themselves (at least to a molecular biologist), also impact teaching.
W. F. R. Weldon’s Critique of Mendel’s Work: Biological Relevance and Context. What was missing from Mendel as generated by ChatGPT (with edits by Mike Klymkowsky)
Molecular bumper cars (RNA polymerase-ribosomal interactions): their (unexpected) functional effects and how to control them. Inspired by thoughts on the mechanisms behind biological behaviors and the paper by Wee et al (2023).
Determinism versus free will, a false dichotomy . You might be constrained and contingent on past events, but you are not determined! (that said you are not exactly free either).
Making sense of noise: introducing students to stochastic processes in order to better understand biological behaviors (and even free will). Students are rarely introduced to the ubiquitous role of stochastic processes in biological systems, and how they produce unpredictable behaviors. Here I present the case that they need to be and provide some suggestions as to how it might be approached.
Sounds like science, but it ain’t …. We are increasingly assailed with science-related “news” – stories that too often involve hype and attempts to garner attention (and no, half-baked ideas are not theories, they are often non-scientific speculation or unconstrained fantasies).
Biology education in the light of single cell/molecule studies: Or how the ability to characterize at gene expression at the single cell level or image individual molecules changes the way we design courses. 30 October 2016.
Thinking about biological thinking: Steady state, half-life & response dynamics: Insights into student thinking & course design, part of the biofundamentals project. – 13 April 2020
Conceptual simplicity and mechanistic complexity: the implications of un-intelligent design – 26 December 2019
Is it possible to teach evolutionary biology “sensitively”? Aren’t all scientific ideas inherently unsetting to some one (or all of us)?– 10 June 2019.
Avoiding unrecognized racist implications arising from teaching genetics – 4 September 2019
Can we talk scientifically about free will? Is it even possible to answer the question, or does the answer reveal our predilections – and what are the socio-political implications of our answer? – 15 September 2018
Genes – way weirder than you thought. The ability to sequence the RNAs synthesized in a cell, and to identify the various (small) polypeptide made, we are beginning to appreciate the real complexity of the functional genome. 9 July 2018
When is a gene product a protein when is it a polypeptide? As we learn more and more the various gene products made in cells, the complexity of biological systems because more readily appreciated. 14 May 2018
Visualizing and teaching evolution through synteny. Using genomicus and synteny to illustrate evolutionary relationships and processes. 10 July 2017
Is it time to start worrying about conscious human “mini-brains”? As cerebral organisms get increasingly complex, will be able when they actually started to be aware of themselves? 1 August 2017
Humanized mice & porcinized people 30 September 2017 (updated)
bioliteracy / biofundamentals 