by Matthew Cobb
PCC(E) is travelling, so posting will be light.
Meanwhile, in Dobrzyn, Hili and Jerry have been chatting:
Jerry: I’m going to Katowice.
Hili: What for?
Jerry: I’m going to give two lectures there.
Hili: Tell them that I approved the texts.
Jerry: Jadę teraz do Katowic.
Hili: Po co?
Jerry: Będę tam miał dwa wykłady.
Hili: Powiedz im, że je zatwierdziłam.
Two bits of BlueSky news. Firstly, the precise genetic mechanism of the peppered moth story (and many other Lepidopteran coloration examples) has been identified. It is a short piece of RNA called a microRNA. The article just appeared in Science.
Our miRNA story is now in @science.org ! We found a microRNA, not a protein, that finally solved a long-standing evolutionary mystery of wing coloration in butterflies and moths. (1/n)www.science.org/doi/10.1126/…
— Shen Tian 田申 (@tianshenbio.bsky.social) 2024-12-05T21:35:54.747Z
Secondly, if I may be immodest for a moment:
Giving what will probably be my last ever lectures at @officialuom.bsky.social today (I “retired” in September but have given 20 lectures this semester…) One on the history of genetic information, the other, at *5pm on a Friday* on mammals. Both to first year students. Then, that will be that.
Congratulations on your “final” retirement and thanks for the post!
What an amazing surprise – micro RNA!
The peppered moth is such a classic story, wow!
Congratulations on the lecture wrap up – don’t fret though, if you want to do more – everyone just gets a YouTube channel nowadays 😀!
Glad you were allowed to taper off over several months, Matthew; it is very disorienting to suddenly stop what you have done for so many years. I imagine your words reverberating throughout the university but ever-softening over those twenty lectures until the ultimate offering at 5pm on a Friday to first-years fades out and closes the book on a wonderful academic career and life.
You shall now be known as an elder statesman.
Congratulations on your last lecture, Matthew! I remember my last lecture well. It was the last class in my History of the Earth and its Life course. The subject: Human evolution. It was both joyous and sad. Yet somehow, life goes on.
How may we hear that last lecture on mammals? Will it be recorded for public audit?
Enjoy your retirement Matthew! We are loving ours!
I’m not a religious man but anen to that!
I see in the UK,
“Crick: A Mind in Motion” (Hardcover)
by Professor Matthew Cobb (Author)
978-1800811058 Publisher : Profile Books
comes out – 6 Nov. 2025
When does it come out in the US?
Basically, 11 months from now?