Understanding the coevolution of humans, simians, and the H.I.V. virus

You might already know that scientific types are in agreement that H.I.V. was originally spread to humans from monkeys and apes in Africa. The disease S.I.V. (Simian immunodeficiency virus) is prevalent in non-human primates, but unlike the human form of the disease, the mortality rate from S.I.V. is very low - only very weak primates die from this virus.

The theory goes that somewhere along the line, the virus passed from monkey to human, probably via some hunter that cut himself while butchering a monkey, and contaminated his (or her) self with infected blood. In the process, the virus mutated into H.I.V. and became much deadlier as a result.

The questions remain: when did the transmission/mutation event occur? And why are humans so vulnerable to a virus that other primates cope easily with?

New research suggests that African monkeys have been coevolving with the S.I.V. virus for much longer than previously thought, over 32,000 years. And even more primitive strains of the virus have been found in Madagascar lemurs (which we know from lecture are more similar to ancestral primates than old world monkeys and apes) suggesting that this virus may have been evolving with primates for millions of years.

Since H.I.V. crossed over from monkeys to humans relatively recently, our tragic susceptibility to this disease makes sense evolutionarily. However, understanding the evolutionary ecology and history of the virus may assist future efforts in treatment. (ARTICLE AT NY TIMES)

Kansas vs Darwin

In honor of Charles Darwin's birthday (February 12) the producers of the documentary Kansas vs Darwin have provided free access to their award winning documentary on the Kansas school board hearings into whether or not evolution should be taught in the state's public schools.

Even before they took place, the 2005 Kansas school board hearings on evolution were recognized as a pivotal battle in America's ongoing war over teaching evolution in the public schools. Organized by believers in Intelligent Design and convened by creationists, the hearings provided a testing ground for the successful legal and political tactics that drive today's ongoing actions by anti-evolution organizations in the US and around the world. On the pro-evolution side, they inspired a worldwide boycott of the event by mainstream science.

Kansas vs. Darwin reveals the fascinating and sometimes baffling personalities behind the spectacle, with exclusive footage of the hearings and revealing, in-depth interviews with the major figures on both sides. Never revealing their own opinions, the filmmakers allow the characters to fight it out, with emotionally polarizing and often humorous results. The witnesses at the hearings include anti-evolution scientists, educators, and even a middle-eastern journalist. Their opinions are refuted in interviews with their pro-evolution counterparts.

Note: Click on the sunflower on the left to access the movie. It will only be available until march 12.

Rapid Evolution in Response to Pollution

Last time in class we swiftly went over the process of Microevolution, changes in frequency of certain traits within a population. A kind of fish called the Atlantic Tomcod, which is a small bottom-feeder in the Hudson river, has undergone a dramatic change in just the past 50 years. In the 1950s, the tomcods in the Hudson river suffered an onslaught of chemical pollution caused by Electric companies dumping toxic PCBs into the river. Young fish that ate the toxins died of heart defects. However, a small portion of the fishies had a mutation which allowed them to tolerate PCBs. You can imagine that prior to 1950 there would be no real advantage to having such a tolerance, and mutated fish were just as likely to survive and reproduce as the others, and so the trait remained rare. Once PCBs were introduced into the ecosystem, the rare mutation that allowed some fish to survive became very important, because only the baby fish that inherited that trait from their parents could survive in the polluted river. Today, all of the tomcods in the Hudson River are PCB-tolerant, so even though today's tomcods look just like the tomcods from 50 years ago, microevolution has changed this species and its ability to survive in a disrupted habitat.

This article explains the whole thing.