Is the domestication bottleneck a myth?

Investigation of the bottleneck leading to the domestication of maize.

Maize (Zea mays ssp. mays) is genetically diverse, yet it is also morphologically distinct from its wild relatives. These two observations are somewhat contradictory: the first observation is consistent with a large historical population size for maize, but the latter observation is consistent with strong, diversity-limiting selection during maize domestication. In this study, we sampled sequen...

Is the rheumatoid ulcer a medical myth?

Jill Firth is a Rheumatology Nurse Specialist at Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. She is currently taking a full-time PhD at the University of Leeds after being awarded a Smith & Nephew foundation doctoral studentship Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic disease that is often associated with an increased prevalence of wounds and delayed healing. Use of the terminology ‘rheumatoid ulcer’ may ...

The perfect parent is a myth.

Disembodiment in Cyberspace Is Not a Myth

After reading the article " Disembodiment is a Cyberspace Myth: Discourse and the Self in Real Space, " by Steve Stanley, I was struck by a number of issues. 1 I did not think the author proved conclusively (or in any way) that dis-embodiment is a cyberspace myth. The techniques and methodology did not prove this point, although he raised a number of interesting questions. One central issue is,...

Mental illness is indeed a myth

This chapter offers a novel defence of Szasz’s claim that mental illness is a myth by bringing to bear a standard type of thought experiment used in philosophical discussions of the meaning of natural kind concepts. This makes it possible to accept Szasz’s conclusion that mental illness involves problems of living, some of which may be moral in nature, while bypassing the debate about the meani...