Earlier this morning I gave the final exam for my course "The Tree of Life." Click the image to the right if you'd like to try your luck with the first page of my exam!
Saccularina sp.
1 week ago
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Dechronization is authored by evolutionary biologists interested in the development and application of methods for estimating phylogeny and making phylogeny-based inferences. The goal of the blog is to provide a forum for discussion of the latest research and methods, while also providing anecdotes, tidbits of natural history, and other related information.
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9 comments:
I'm pretty sure I could get the main question, but I can't summon the answers to the extra-credit questions. Could you provide the f#%!ing answer key?
ML?
FIsher?
First, thanks to Poletarac for pointing out the grammatical error in my question: it should read "which method" not "what method." He chose to communicate this to me privately, presumably so he could also insult my Pomeranian heritage in his message without also insulting all the other Pomeranian-American readers of this blog.
Warning: spoiler below
Second, Turelli was referring to independent contrasts when he introduced the students at the Bodega workshop to the "secret f***ing key" a few years back. He referred to it in this way partly because most people who use this method have no idea what the method is doing or what it's assumptions are.
Of course Glor, as you know, I continually refer to your Pomeranian ancestry only because I'm part-Dalmatian.
I think you should invite Turelli to explain the secret fucking key (TFS), or at least paraphrase. Your brief description makes me feel insecure about my own understanding of TFS .
I prefer the term "frakking". OK, but independent contrasts are the secret frakking key to what, exactly? All comparative biology? Life, the universe, and everything? Just how secret is this method, if it's been widely used for the past 20 years or so. And does Felsenstein know this?
It wouldn't be a bad idea to have someone detail the SFK here (how does secret f***ing key translate to TFS?). Ask 10 people who've used independent contrasts to explain how the method works and you'll understand why some might regard it as a persistent secret. It's not that the IC is particularly challenging, just that most people don't have too strong a foundation in the underlying mathematics before they use it. I'll ask Turelli if he wants to share any thoughts on the SFK. Perhaps we can also get a guest post from Justen Whittall, he's taken over Turelli's role explaining the SFK at the Bodega workshop and has a nice series of lessons on the topic.
Harshman - Does your reference to "frakking" indicate that you're a fan of BSG? I saw a bumper sticker on my way to work the other day that said "Don't blame me I voted for Rosalind." I almost fell off my bike laughing.
Discussion of one aspect of the SFK is ongoing at R-sig-phylo . Felsenstein and Garland have already chimed in.
Rich, the title of your course sounds very attractive. Is the syllabus available somewhere online?
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