DNA
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Sex was invented to queer populations.
The biological function of sex is to create diversity — which helps populations endure, even if this is bad for individuals — so we should expect diversity in the expression of sex.
audio, biological diversity, biological sex, biological sex in the Talmud, biology, biology of gender, biology of sex, categorization, cell division, chromosomes, climate change, cloning, copying DNA, cost of sexual reproduction, costs of sexual reproduction, creation of new species, culture, definition of male, developmental biology, diversity, DNA, DNA replication errors, evolution, gender diversity, gender expression, gender in the Talmud, genderqueer, how DNA works, how evolution works, invention of sex, LUCA, male, maleness, natural history, parthenogenesis, podcast, population dynamics, Queer, queer natural history, queer theory, reproduction, sex and gender, sex determination, sex determining region of the Y chromosome, sex ed in Indiana, sexual develoopment, sexual diversity, sexual expression, sexual reproduction, speciation, SRY, survival of the fittest, Talmud, the invention of sex, types of gender in the Talmud, types of sex in the Talmud, what does it mean to be male, why aren’t we clones, why is there sexual reproduction, Y chromosome
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On bias in (and against!) romance novels.
Romance novels espouse a radical philosophy, that our joy matters as much as power, progress, or fame.
aesthetics of care, AI, AI algorithm, AI algorithms, algorithm, ancestry, artificial neural networks, beach reads, bias, book review, books, Christina Lauren, Ciara Smyth, data training, dating algorithms, dating apps, dating service, DNA, genetic ancestry, genetics, guilty pleasure, happiness, Maggie Nelson, matchmaking, On Freedom, online dating, pleasure, predictive algorithm, prejudice, prejudice against romance novels, reading, romance, romance novel, romance novels, romantic compatability, silent mutations, soulmate, The Falling in Love Montage, the pursuit of happiness, The Soulmate Equation, The True Love Experiment, writing
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On violence and gratitude.
Although I consider myself a benevolent tyrant, some of my cells have turned against me. Mutinous, they were swayed by the propaganda of a virus and started churning out capsids rather than helping me type this essay. Which leaves me sitting at a YMCA snack room table snerking, goo leaking down my throat and out…
animal cruelty, animal life, animal welfare, apoptosis, appreciation, autotroph, biology, biology from a cell’s perspective, cancer, cancer biology, cell biology, cell death, cellular biology, cold, competition, consciousness, cooperation, cost, defection, DNA, do plants have feelings, doom, eat more plants, ethics, farming, gamete, genetics, germ cell, herbivore, heterotroph, immunology, inevitable death, irrationality, metastasis, microbiology, molecular biology, multicellular organisms, other perspectives, photosynthesis, plant-based diet, plant-based lifestyle, programmed cell death, psych experiment, psychology, Richard Dawkins, sacrifice, self sacrifice, selfish gene, sick, somatic cell, Suzana Huculano-Houzel, terrorism, The Human Advantage, the inevitability of death, tyrant, value, vegan, veganism, vegetarian, violence, viral infection, virology, virus, we value what we pay for, wine, wine tasting
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On correspondence.
With vague mail policies, guards can sever people from the world … often those who need help most.
activism, beginning of life, biotech catalogs, books to prisoners, central dogma, church outreach, correspondence, DNA, DOC, drug blotters, drugs, enforcement, Evil Dave versus Regular Dave, filing cabinets, greeting cards, Indiana, Indiana Department of Corrections, Indiana DOC, Indiana Prisoners’ Writing Workshop, K2, LSD, mail, Midwest Pages to Prisoners Project, MWPP, plasmids, poetry, post cards, prison, prison guards, prison mail policy, prison poetry, RNA world, RNA world hypothesis, spice, suboxone, synthetic marijuana, undergrad research assistants, USPS, vague policies, War on Drugs
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On scrutiny.
Nobody’s perfect — if you look hard enough, you will always find flaws. The trick is knowing not to diagnose those flaws as “disease” or signs of criminality.
age-related disease, attention, cancer, cell division, Craig Venter, DNA, DNA replication, greed, greedy doctors, Health Nucleus, image analysis, information inequality, John Steinbeck, olfaction, physical exam, physicals, polymerase, pre-cancer, pre-criminals, prejudice, preschool suspension, school to prison pipeline, sensory overload, The Pearl, tumor
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On how human different humans happen to be (hint: equivalently human).
I finally read some of the initial papers (circa 1981) describing an outbreak of opportunistic infections among previously-healthy homosexual men in the United States. The case studies are harrowing — a dispassionate litany of suffering, ending with death. And, yes, these are papers from before I was born. I should’ve read them already, or at least…
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On Y chromosomes, surnames, and reproduction.
For me, the most interesting section of Christine Kenneally’s “The Invisible History of the Human Race” was the section on Y chromosomes. Because, sure, if I’d spent a moment thinking about it I would have realized that sons of sons of sons carry the same Y chromosomes as their forebears… but it isn’t something I’d…
Frank Brown Cloud 