Clearly these are spherical harmonics...

It's a great time to be studying eukaryogenesis, with so much new experimental data from diverse species. I want to thank several folks with whom I've been discussing these ideas for many years, especially @buzzbaum.bsky.social, @gautamdey.bsky.social, @ishier.bsky.social, @dackslabecb.bsky.social.

Open questions remain. Intracellular membranes have not so far been confirmed in Asgard archaea. And what of the origin of other eukaryotic organelles? Could they be stabilised versions of ancient tubular carriers? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

New preprint: ecoevorxiv.org/repository/v...

A closer look shows that in present-day eukaryotes these Asgard ESPs are involved in the generation of tubular carriers at the ER, endosomes/TGN, and at the plasma membrane. In the review I discuss several new studies showing that Asgard versions of these proteins can indeed generate tubules!

Asgard archaeal genomes encode many eukaryotic signature proteins, previously thought to be restricted to eukaryotes. In modern eukaryotes several of these ESPs are involved in membrane traffic. But Asgard archaea lack canonical vesicle coats. So what were these proteins doing in FECA?

Eukaryotes arose via a merger between archaea and bacteria, with eukaryotic traits emerging gradually on the path from FECA (the archaeal first eukaryotic common ancestor) to LECA (last eukaryotic common ancestor). What if FECA was already an atypical archaeon with rudimentary eukaryote-like traits?

The week after that, I'll be at Statphys29 in Florence.

At both meetings I'll speak about new work on the evolution of complex vesicle traffic networks in proto-eukaryotes.

Looking forward to catching up with many old friends on this trip!

statphys29.org/plenary-and-...

Great puzzle @nedbat.com @wang.social. The trick was to find enough minus signs! Here's the answer: Replace each diagonal with a special point to its top left, and associate ALL edges below with a minus sign. The first three columns are X,Y,Z. This gives coordinates of each cube in the octahedron.

My secret hypothesis

Video of our #blrlitfest panel discussion "Light Year in Lines: How Science Speaks" is now online!

As I started by saying: only in Bangalore would the science session draw a bigger crowd than any other session at a litfest!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Oq0...

Bal Gangadhar Tilak looked to MIT as a model for India to emulate. Many MIT students interacted with Gandhi. MIT helped establish IITs in post-independence India.

These and other chapters in the long engagement between MIT and India are chronicled in Ross Bassett's book "The Technological Indian".

This is the first time the exhibit has been shown outside MIT. It grew out of a collaboration between MIT history professor Sana Aiyar, Ranu Boppana and Nureen Das.

Here's a sample from the exhibit: the 1958 yearbook photo of Almitra Patel, the first South Asian woman to receive a degree at MIT.

Bal Gangadhar Tilak looked to MIT as a model for India to emulate. Many MIT students interacted with Gandhi. MIT helped establish IITs in post-independence India.

These and other chapters in the long engagement between MIT and India are chronicled in Ross Bassett's book "The Technological Indian".

Quintumble - Dec 26, 2024

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Technology shouts for itself; science is more abstract and subtle. We cannot assume that the value of science is self-evident to the public.

In "How Science Speaks", we will hear how scientists and science writers communicate complex ideas about the history and practice of science to non-experts.