What we're reading

Books - bookcase top shelf
As we head into the weekend, here’s a few things we’ve noticed that might be worth your screen-time:
In the journals
Travisano and Shaw 2012. Lost in the map. Evolution (accepted) DOI: 10.1111/j.1558-5646.2012.01802.x.

Genomics is detailing the molecular signature of effects of these mechanisms on phenotypes, but because numerous distinct evolutionary explanations can produce a given genomic pattern, the molecular details, rather than elucidating process, typically distract from explanatory insight and contribute little to predictive capability. While genomic research has burgeoned, direct study of evolutionary and developmental processes has lagged.

Pavlidis, P., Metzler, D., & Stephan, W. 2012. Selective Sweeps in Multi-locus Models of Quantitative Traits. Genetics 192(September):225–239. DOI: 10.1534/genetics.112.142547.

We conclude that multilocus response to selection may in some cases prevent selective sweeps from being completed, as described in previous studies, but that conditions causing this to happen strongly depend on the genetic architecture of the trait, and that fixation of selected mutations is likely in many instances.

In the blogosphere
Want your theory paper to be read—and cited—by empiricists? Better put all that math in the appendix.
Your h-index is rising in Gemini. Or something.
How the tenure track is like a roller derby.
And now you can plot your course through—or out of—that roller derby with an online career planning tool.

About Jeremy Yoder

Jeremy B. Yoder is an Associate Professor of Biology at California State University Northridge, studying the evolution and coevolution of interacting species, especially mutualists. He is a collaborator with the Joshua Tree Genome Project and the Queer in STEM study of LGBTQ experiences in scientific careers. He has written for the website of Scientific American, the LA Review of Books, the Chronicle of Higher Education, The Awl, and Slate.
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