New species of fungus identified via Twitter

Post by twic » Sat, May 16, 2020, 3:33 PM UTC

shpongled wrote: post #64

bsaf wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not Latinified, but a key protein in brain and spinal cord development is called sonic hedgehog. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonic_hedgehog The oddest thing was sitting through neuro lectures when this was introduced as if it was the most normal name in the world. We were looking at each other like "are we hearing this right?"

Pretty much all of the proteins that were discovered in fruit flies and have a human ortholog have funny names: frizzled, wingless, piwi, nubbin, etc etc

Post by simonh » Sat, May 16, 2020, 3:38 PM UTC

wltprgm wrote: post #26

simonh wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What sort of consequences do you mean?

sorry my bad, I realized my question was not making sense, I actually mean they can publish research data if the authority does not approve of it?

Post by throw_away » Sat, May 16, 2020, 3:50 PM UTC

Someone wrote: post #7

montenegrohugo wrote: post #4

> the new species has now been given its official name, 'troglomyces twitteri' Academia always seems so mature and serious from outside, nice to know there can be some lighthearted humor there too :) As an aside, do you guys know any other Latin animal names that may have an 'untraditional' origin?

It’s fairly normal for names of things few people are interested in such as insects and fungi. https://www.gadgette.com/2016/02/29/these-are-the-silliest-s... mentions, for example, Pieza pi and Spongiforma squarepantsii . Google easily gives you more examples, for example https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/the-worlds-str... , which explains the rules are not very strict: “The name must not be offensive, m…

Post by bonzini » Sat, May 16, 2020, 4:03 PM UTC

montenegrohugo wrote: post #4

> the new species has now been given its official name, 'troglomyces twitteri' Academia always seems so mature and serious from outside, nice to know there can be some lighthearted humor there too :) As an aside, do you guys know any other Latin animal names that may have an 'untraditional' origin?

Post by goliatone » Sat, May 16, 2020, 4:08 PM UTC

twic wrote: post #71

shpongled wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pretty much all of the proteins that were discovered in fruit flies and have a human ortholog have funny names: frizzled, wingless, piwi, nubbin, etc etc

The gene which, when mutated, makes flies more sensitive to alcohol is called cheapdate.