Per dilettare i mammiferi, creazionisti compresi, Science pubblica tre ricerche sulla
evolutionary history of this respiratory pigment (mioglobina, gli altri due studi riguardano l’emoglobina, ndt) over 200 million years of mammalian evolution to elucidate the development of maximal diving capacity during the major mammalian land-to-water transitions.
Nella “prospettiva“, Enrico Rezende conclude con un caveat che mi sembra riguardare sopratutto il modello di evoluzione basato sulla mioglobina
The association between enhanced oxygen delivery and increased performance seems to be a recurrent theme, and illustrates how a mechanistic understanding of extant organisms can provide insight into the past. Nonetheless, sloths and koalas remind us that selection often favors slower lifestyles, and that highly derived forms may be inadequate to understand the factors that have shaped the evolution of their ancestors. In the absence of direct physiological and ecological evidence from the fossil record, establishing associations between different lifestyles and various aspects of performance in ancestral lineages remains a major challenge.
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Dall’Economist
– “Planets of the Apes“, sulla personalità complessa degli scimpanzé risultata da un questionario per badanti, e pubblicata da Hani Freeman et al. sul numero speciale dell’American Journal of Primatology;
– “The Cost of Living“, raccomandato alle Ong, sull’AIDS in India e perché il valore di una vita salvata ripaga con interessi il prezzo di un test diagnostico somministrato a tutti gli adulti se volontari. Basato sul paper in open access di Kartik Vankatesh et al.
In India, voluntary HIV screening of the national population every five years offers substantial clinical benefit and is cost-effective. Annual screening is cost-effective among high-risk groups and in high-prevalence districts nationally. Routine HIV screening in India should be implemented.
Ma l’analisi costi-benefici non calcola il costo della corruzione e – semmai – dei controlli per prevenirla/reprimerla…