Making the Moon

Making the Moon

Bovine genomics update: making a cow jump over the moon.

Recent research in bovine genetics has focused on characterization of the biological differences underlying phenotypic variation for qualitative and quantitative traits of economic value in existing cattle populations. The much-anticipated benefits of DNA-based tools to routinely guide selection decisions for more efficient genetic gain and widened profit margins have not been fully met since t...

Howling for the moon.

Rennard and Vestbo have sounded a ringing call to arms. Instead of trying to make minor improvements in the rate of decline of spirometry in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), they call for an all out effort to find a cure. Their arguments have attractions, but we believe that the evidence shows it would be easier to hatch out chickens from a plate of scrambled eggs tha...

Explaining the moon illusion.

An old explanation of the moon illusion holds that various cues place the horizon moon at an effectively greater distance than the elevated moon. Although both moons have the same angular size, the horizon moon must be perceived as larger. More recent explanations hold that differences in accommodation or other factors cause the elevated moon to appear smaller. As a result of this illusory diff...

Making the Moon from a fast-spinning Earth: a giant impact followed by resonant despinning.

A common origin for the Moon and Earth is required by their identical isotopic composition. However, simulations of the current giant impact hypothesis for Moon formation find that most lunar material originated from the impactor, which should have had a different isotopic signature. Previous Moon-formation studies assumed that the angular momentum after the impact was similar to that of the pr...