RealClear Defense publishes “Let’s Stop Low-Balling Defense Basic Research,” a short opinion piece by Jesse Ausubel and Paul Gaffney.
News
Mark & Jesse present NOAA ‘Omics seminar on eDNA abundance
Mark Stoeckle and Jesse Ausubel presented in the NOAA ‘Omics Seminar Series on Marine fish eDNA Metabarcoding: Promising Developments and Early Applications. The outline:
–eDNA abundance matters (relevant to detection, quantification, field design, laboratory protocols)
–Adding internal standard to metabarcoding PCRs quantifies eDNA (converts relative sequence reads to absolute eDNA copies)
–Current marine fish metabarcoding protocols ready for wider use (reasonably accurate index of fish abundance, especially for more abundant species)
–eDNA metabarcoding can overcome information hurdles for ecosystem-based management
A recording is here , 40-minute presentation and 20-minute Q&A. Thanks to NOAA’s Katharine Egan and Nicole Miller.
Leonardo in American Academy Bulletin
The Winter 2023 issue of the Bulletin of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences publishes “The Search for Leonardo’s Genome” by Jesse Ausubel. Based on Jesse’s June 2022 talk, this version omits the citations included in Jesse H. Ausubel, The Search for Leonardo’s Genome, Human Evolution 37 (3-4): 221-228, 2022.
Mark’s talk at the 6th Annual Environmental DNA Technical Exchange Workshop (6eDTEW)
On January 24, 2023, Mark Stoeckle presented our recent work on measuring marine fish eDNA abundance at the sixth annual Environmental DNA Technical Exchange Workshop (6eDTEW), sponsored by interagency US Government eDNA Working Group.
Loglet Lab 5 beta available for use
LogletLab 5, now in beta version, offers new web-based features for single and multiple logistics. We welcome feedback. We plan in the spring to release 5.1 with more fitting algorithms and also logistic substitution.
Video of Jesse’s Nierenberg Prize lecture on “Peak Human?”
In this 54″ video made 13 October, 2022 Jesse Ausubel, awarded the 2022 Nierenberg Prize for Science in the Public Interest, discusses whether the human species can continue to improve—much like cars, computers, or other technology—or whether our species has reached its peak.
Another podcast with Jesse about peak human and peak humans
Jesse H. Ausubel joins Jason Spiess on The Crude Life to discuss “Peak Human” and “Peak Humans” in a 34-minute podcast and explore new research showing how humans’ minds and bodies may near their limits and even start on a downward curve. “For 200-250 years humanity has had an incredible run,” Ausubel said. “When you think of your great grandparents, grandparents, parents and you, generally speaking you are going to be better… than they were.”
Iddo publishes article on how complexity threatens the Circular Economy in RCS
New Yates, Stoeckle & Co paper relating eDNA production to surface area of organisms
The journal Environmental DNA publishes open access “Interspecific allometric scaling in eDNA production among northwestern Atlantic bony fishes reflects physiological allometric scaling” by Matthew C. Yates, Taylor M. Wilcox, M. Y. Stoeckle, and Daniel D. Heath. pdf here.
The paper finds that integrating allometry significantly improved correlations between organism abundance and metabarcoding read count relative to traditional metrics of abundance (density and biomass) for bony fishes. Future studies investigating the relationship between eDNA signal strength and metrics of fish abundance could improve by accounting for allometry; to this end, the paper develops an online tool that can facilitate the integration of allometry in eDNA/abundance relationships.
Interspecific allometry eDNA – an online tool
Explore how accounting for allometric scaling in environmental DNA (eDNA) shedding rates influences the correlation with organism count and abundance data. Users can upload their own datasets and use the slider to vary the allometric scaling coefficient (b). Allometry can be applied intra-specifically (among populations) or interspecifically (among species). Size-distribution data supplied to the function can also either be individual-level (e.g. a size distribution of individuals for each population) or population-level (e.g. the mean mass of individuals within a population).
Jesse podcasts on “Peak Human?”
Journalist/author Robert Bryce interviews Jesse Ausubel about PHE’s work on “peak human” and “peak humans.” The interview covers four dimensions of human performance: the physical (how far and fast can we go?), lifetime (how long can we live and how well?), cognitive (measures of intelligence and learning), and immunity (is our resistance to disease waning?). The podcast was recorded on December 7, 2022. For the audio and transcript, see the Bryce website, and also on YouTube.