Science through EBay

The wolly mammoth genome was released today in the prestigious scientific journal Nature. And while this represents an amazing and wonderful success, I'm not going to mention the contents of the paper.

Instead I'm going to comment on what the researchers said while being interviewed on the science podcast.

Apparently they bought the mammoth hair that they used to isolate the DNA from EBay!!! Now scientists have long used ebay as a source for used scientific equipment - I myself bought a microscope and a few objectives through ebay (and got a steal of a deal on it too). But this ahs to be the first time I've heard of anyone buying a reagent from ebay; nevermind a piece of a mammoth.

In fact, I'm 99% sure you're not supposed to sell biological materials via ebay.

Its science wierdness at its best. If you're interested in the interview, you can use the player below to listen to it. The mammoth interview runs from 1:25 to 10:51; the ebay bit is at 2:10-2:3:20.



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Ignorence wins, freedom and equality looses

So like every one else in the world, I'm going to blog on the results of the US election.

But I'm not saying a thing about Obama, McCain, or the senate.

Instead I'm going to write about the death of equality in the US. Tragically, proposition 8 passed in California; meaning it is once again illegal for homosexuals to be wedded in the Garden State.

Many have claimed that this will have no effect; they can still have civil unions. You'd think after the 1960's civil rights movement this kind of crap wouldn't stand. After all, it used to be "equal" to have separate water fountains for blacks and whites. It used to be "equal" to have bus seats for blacks and whites. It used to be OK to be "separate but equal".

Everyone today knows that's all bullshit, that "separate but equal" actually means "discrimination with a smile".

And yet, once again, "separate but equal" has reared its ugly head. And this time its affecting one of the largest legal statuses an individual has. With marriage comes power of attorney over an incapacitated spouse, joint property rights, tax benefits, inheritance rights, and a whole whack of other legal rights and responsibilities.

Last night, those rights and responsibilities were arbitrarily stripped from numerous couples, all because some people decided that bronze-age mythology should rule over the concepts of equal treatment for all that the USA was supposedly built upon.

Most tragically, this morning numerous loving couples who have committed to live their lives together awoke to find their marriages nullified - without their consent, and without recourse.

Congratulations California - you've taken one huge step back towards the dark ages.

Image from Liberty Unbound.