Episode 46 of the Mindcast is up!
Download it here.
Show topics:
Followup on previous coverage of the Day that Science Stood Still - Senator Rick Santorum says that scientists that want to work on ES cells have no morals, a representative of the Bush Administration agrees that killing embryos is murder - yet gets put in a logical headlock by a question about why they don’t want to close in vitro fertilization clinics, and “M is for Mistake” as White House spokesperson Tony Snow retracts the “Murder” label. Commentary on the indefensible and inconsistent logic used when discussing this issue politically.
Neanderthal Genome to be sequenced, new research on the oldest strata in the world bolsters support for the presence of life, and shows that they may be older than the previously estimated age of 3.8 billion years old, and UF geneticists pin down some of the genetics and cell biology involved in the evolution of fins and limbs - co-option of vertebrae developmental genes to form fins supported. Sounds of Science - mosquitoes falling in love. Bizarre ants feed each other their own eggs as food, bacterial parasite of insects Wolbachia might be useful in fighting 
Malaria in the ongoing Battle for Humanity.
A Wiki Odyssey: Interview with Philip Neustrom, founder of the Davis Wiki, currently the largest city wiki in the world.
Theme = 2001 A space Odyssey.
During the commentary at the beginning of the episode I discussed an exchange between who I now know was Tim Russert and Josh Bolton. Here is a link to the revealing interview.
