Unanswered Questions
19
votes
1answer
938 views
Additive genetic variance components from LMER in R
I've set up some dummy data in R which makes 40 genetically related lines, they are all siblings within a line so are genetically related by a factor of ½ thus additive genetic variance should be ...
16
votes
2answers
490 views
Why are oceans said to have “low productivity” in terms of photosynthesis?
80% of the world's photosynthesis takes place in the ocean. Despite this, oceans are also said to have low productivity - they cover 75% of the earth's surface, but out of the annual 170 billion ...
14
votes
0answers
183 views
What have the L-systems (Lindenmayer systems) been actually used for in biology?
From Wikipedia:
An L-system or Lindenmayer system is a parallel rewriting system and a type of formal grammar.
L-systems were introduced and developed in 1968 by Aristid Lindenmayer, a ...
13
votes
1answer
1k views
Why don't rats have a gallbladder, unlike other rodents?
It has long been known that rats do not have a gallbladder, though other species including humans, monkeys, cows, reptiles, dogs and mice, all have a gallbladder.
In this paper from almost 100 years ...
13
votes
1answer
149 views
What causes the range of severity of neurological deficits in Down's syndrome?
It's known that the severity of symptoms caused by a trisomy 21 varies from individual to individual. Part of the explanation for this range of severity is the finding that 94% of Down's syndrome ...
13
votes
0answers
180 views
Selection for less efficient egg transfer in Human Botfly life cycle
I have heard that the Human Botfly transfers its eggs through other invertebrates, and it strikes my curiosity that if an insect could simply land on its host directly to deposit its eggs, then why ...
12
votes
1answer
225 views
Unilateral damage to vagus nerve
Context:
The vagus nerves supply the neck viscera, heart, lungs and gastrointestinal tract. They join around the oesophagus to form the oesophageal plexus.
Question: Would damage to one vagus nerve ...
11
votes
1answer
177 views
What is going on in these cells?
Here are some pictures of human iPS cells in culture. After several passages, some cells look really weird, can you help me understand what is going on? What am I looking at? What are those blastocyst-...
10
votes
0answers
771 views
Evolutionary reasons why you cannot tickle yourself but masturbate
There are obviously good reasons that explain why you cannot tickle yourself (see e.g. here). This got me thinking why it is possible to masturbate...
Wouldn't it make more sense to not being able to ...
10
votes
1answer
6k views
What “emotions” can a snake feel?
Short:
Thinking in particular of a Royal Python (US: Ball Python) such as some people keep as exotic companion animals, what sorts of "emotions" or "feelings" are they capable of?
Long: http://...
9
votes
1answer
185 views
Standard practice for generating rarefaction curves from Next Generation Sequencing data
We have a few million 18S reads from a particular environment. The reads have been clustered into Operational Taxonomic Unit (OTU), and the OTUs annotated against a reference database.
To generate a ...
9
votes
2answers
554 views
How can I preserve hair or saliva for future genome sequencing?
Suppose I want to preserve myself so that I can be reproduced as best as possible, in future or be simulated in future. At the moment full human genome sequencing is a bit expensive.
One could get ...
9
votes
0answers
133 views
What is basis of multifunctionality of “master glands” in the endocrine system?
I have just started reading about the endocrine system and I am having some difficulty understanding the basis of distribution of glands and associated hormones.
I am using multifuntionality to ...
9
votes
0answers
366 views
Contact Inhibition of Cell Division: Signaling Pathway
The following article refers to contact inhibition of cell division in epithelial cells, specifically MDCK cells: Collective and single cell behavior in epithelial contact inhibition.
In their review ...
9
votes
0answers
175 views
At which step apply a detection filter when preprocessing microarray data? (Before/After normalization, batch effects removal)
I am trying to understand what is the best practice when preprocessing microarray data using a detection filter (on scanner p-value). Suppose I have a microarray dataset that I have to normalize with ...
