Articulated abdominal appendages in Sepsidae are one of the most dramatic evolutionary innovations that have occurred relatively recently (in a single dipteran family).  Check out the latest paper on this system.

Take a look:

http://www.plosgenetics.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pgen.1003344

We often talk about how difficult it is to estimate divergence times without an extensive fossil record, and how we essentially don’t a clue when different fly lineages diverged.  Here is a recent paper in MBE that tackles this problem using new data and in a lot more detail than any previous studies.

NIH’s Encylopedia of DNA Elements (or ENCODE) project just published a blitz of papers in Nature. The project is an attempt to characterize all the non-coding elements of the human genome. There are six research articles and a slew of accompanying media. Perhaps fodder for the next WCB meeting?

NIH’s Encylopedia of DNA Elements (or ENCODE) project just published a blitz of papers in Nature. The project is an attempt to characterize all the functional elements of the human genome. There are six research articles and a slew of accompanying media. Perhaps fodder for the next WCB meeting?