> [Robert posted about difficulties in generation of phylogenetic trees]
>Science vol 257, 14 August, 1992 Ann Gibbons:
>
> The Fall From Grace
>
> But when Madison, then a postdoc at Harvard University, took
> a look at the phylogenetic tree, he realized right away that
> something was wrong - the 25 !Kung bushmen of Africa were
> split on the deepest branches of the tree, even though the
> !Kung are closely related. So he contacted Wilson's co-authors
> on the Science paper, Stoneking and Linda Vigilant, now
> at Pennsylvania State University, and got their data. After
> 4500 computer runs, Maddison ended up with thousands of trees
> that were even more parsimonious- and many showed non-African
> roots.
>> Thank you Robert, I will look into this a little more. Jim Foley, do you
>> know anything about this?
No I don't, looks very interesting though. I would guess that the
mathematics and algorithms needed to do this sort of stuff are not yet
very advanced, and that there are pitfalls for unwary investigators,
especially when they're biochemists and not mathematicians or computer
scientists.
-- Jim Foley Symbios Logic, Fort Collins, COJim.Foley@symbios.com (303) 223-5100 x9765 I've got a plan so cunning you could put a tail on it and call it a weasel. -- Edmund Blackadder