Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has failed to distinguish between smaller gut regions and larger haemal sinuses in sea urchins (Echinodermata: Echinoidea)

A response to Ziegler A, Faber C, Mueller S, Bartolomaeus T: Systematic comparison and reconstruction of sea urchin (Echinoidea) internal anatomy: a novel approach using magnetic resonance imaging. BMC Biol 2008, 6: 33

Taste and Smell: A Unifying Chemosensory Theory

Since antiquity, the sense of smell (olfaction) is considered as a distance sense, just like sight and hear- ing. Conversely, the sense of taste (gustation) is thought to operate by direct contact, similarly to touch. With the progress of natural sciences, information at molecular, anatomical, and neurobiological levels has also contributed to the taste-smell dichotomy, but much evidence inconsistent with a sharp differenti- ation of these two senses has emerged, especially when considering species other than humans. In spite of this, conflicting information has been interpreted so that it could conform to the traditional differentia- tion. As a result, a confirmation bias is currently affecting scientific research on chemosensory systems and is also hindering the development of a satisfactory narrative of the evolution of chemical communi- cation across taxa. From this perspective, the chemosensory dichotomy loses its validity and usefulness. We thus propose the unification of all chemosensory modalities into a single sense, moving toward a synthetic, complex, and interconnected perspective on the gradual processes by which a vast variety of chemicals have become signals that are crucially important to communication among and within cells, organs, and or- ganisms in a wide variety of environmental conditions

Taste and Smell: A Unifying Chemosensory Theory

Since antiquity, the sense of smell (olfaction) is considered as a distance sense, just like sight and hearing. Conversely, the sense of taste (gustation) is thought to operate by direct contact, similarly to touch. With the progress of natural sciences, information at molecular, anatomical, and neurobiological levels has also contributed to the taste-smell dichotomy, but much evidence inconsistent with a sharp differentiation of these two senses has emerged, especially when considering species other than humans. In spite of this, conflicting information has been interpreted so that it could conform to the traditional differentiation. As a result, a confirmation bias is currently affecting scientific research on chemosensory systems and is also hindering the development of a satisfactory narrative of the evolution of chemical communication across taxa. From this perspective, the chemosensory dichotomy loses its validity and usefulness. We thus propose the unification of all chemosensory modalities into a single sense, moving toward a synthetic, complex, and interconnected perspective on the gradual processes by which a vast variety of chemicals have become signals that are crucially important to communication among and within cells, organs, and organisms in a wide variety of environmental condition

Precis of Vaulting Ambition: Sociobiology and the Quest for Human Nature

The debate about the credentials of sociobiology has persisted because scholars have failed to distinguish the varieties of sociobiology and because too little attention has been paid to the details of the arguments that are supposed to support the provocative claims about human social behavior. I seek to remedy both dcfieieneies. After analysis of the relationships among different kinds of sociobiology and contemporary evolutionary theory, I attempt to show how some of the studies of the behavior of nonhuman animals meet the methodological standards appropriate to evolutionary research. I contend that the efforts of E. O. Wilson, Richard Alexander, Charles Lumsden, and others to generate conclusions about human nature are flawed, both because they apply evolutionary ideas in an unrigorous fashion and because they use dubious assumptions to connect their evolutionary analyses with their conclusions. This contention rests on analyses of many of the major sociobiological proposals about human social behavior, including: differences in sex roles, racial hostility, homosexuality, conflict between parents and adolescent offspring, incest avoidance, the avunculate, alliances in combat, female infanticide, and gene-culture coevolution. Vaulting Ambition thus seeks to identify what is good in sociobiology, to expose the errors of premature speculations about human nature, and to prepare the way for serious study of the evolution of human social behavior

On some taxonomie categories which have been proposed for the classification of large gastropod genera

Volume: 9Start Page: 141End Page: 14