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Some predictions and something else to talk about besides The Trial.

[BostonianRightist]

Science Ping.

[shuckmaster]

How about a layman's translation for a non scientist evo?

[Anthem]

Networks are fascinating things per se. The density of a hub has a tremendous application in economics as well. If a very dense hub changes radically it has a huge mulitplier effect (generally regarded as negative, at least in the short run).

We pause this thread for an Activist message. Avoid your next Brownie moment! The House has passed HR 3132 The Child Saftey Act, which unfortunately had a late amendment by Rep. Conyers (D) that is a Hate Crimes bill. Call your Senator on the phone.

HR 3132 is not yet scheduled for discussion in the Senate, but don't let them sneak it past us because we're not vigilant.

Here are related threads on FR.

H.R.3132 TITLE X--LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT HATE CRIMES PREVENTION

Hate-crime language doesn't belong in bill

Hate Crimes Amendment Passes House

[ml1954]

What determines a gene's evolutionary rate?

Must be the Intelligent Designer, and I don't need to read any further. Once you accept ID 'theory', everything becomes much simpler.

[LiteKeeper]

read later

[Coyoteman]

Fascinating. Thanks!

Placemarker--need to read this one when fresh in the AM.

[phantomworker]

A recent study by Fraser (2005)seems to clarify the issue and provides an intriguing insight into the evolutionary forces that may be at play in network evolution. Fraser partitioned the interaction network hubs into two classes and showed that they dramatically differ in terms of the connection with the evolutionary rate (or, more precisely, the strength of purifying selection measured as the ratio of the rates for synonymous and nonsynonymous positions in coding sequences). It turns out that hubs that interact with numerous partners within a network module (intramodule hubs, also known under the more appealing name of 'party hubs';...

Taken together, these recent studies make, perhaps, relatively small but concrete inroads into the domain of Evolutionary Systems Biology (Medina, 2005). This area of inquiry is just making its baby steps, and the road ahead will be long and hard. ...

It seems intuitively almost obvious that genes with many connections (network hubs) are 'important' and should be essential more often than poorly connected genes; ...

... The current state of Evolutionary Systems Biology is typical of any burgeoning discipline: it is clear that there are important signals out there but our ability to discern and understand these signals is hampered both by inaccuracies and biases in the data and the inadequacy of the existing theoretical models. These difficulties notwithstanding, we should be motivated by the (I believe, reasonable) hope that, as this field matures, our one-dimensional understanding of genome evolution develops into a multidimensional picture of evolution of organisms as systems.

Wow, I thought I was going to have a hard time getting to sleep tonite! This article is actually so facinating how it relates to systems engineering and network centric operations... I'll sleep well now...