Stalfie

I spent perhaps a bit too much of the days bandwidth allocation on this conversation myself, but I'll see if I can find the time during the week to summarize it in case anyone's interested.

Also I would have loved to attend your conference, and its actually during a quiet part of my holiday, but unfortunately I think the 15 hour transatlantic flight might be a little bit too steep of a threshold 😅

Your point about the dominance dynamic partially being about coordinating the release of one ovum is an excellent one, and depending on the degree to which that is true it might unravel much of the underpinnings of my argument. Although I find it somewhat unlikely that follicular selection would take the particular shape that it has if there's not a significant element of selection. But I don't really have a reference frame for the possibility space of available strategies for such coordination procedures. Are there any other mammals that do not have folli... (read more)

Sorry, I typed the first version of my comment on the go, so it wasn't the best.

I did a pass to clarify my points and improve the language a bit. I significantly altered some sections, in particular about selection pressures. Can you have a look and see if that clears things up?

I suspect we differ mainly on the weight we assign to the significance of the follicular selection process. I don't know how familiar you are with the details of the process, and for me it's been over a decade since I had to study it so some details are hazy. But it's a whole thing,... (read more)

All good points, I have a few comments on some of them:

"This could also still be selection effects, if mitochondrial diseases are common causes of fertility challenges."

I forgot to write this, but the clincher was that the rate of increase in mitochondrial disease was relatively higher than the corresponding increase in genetic diseases in children born to IVF (although it is a weak signal on top of a shoddy research methodology). It is hypothetically possible that mitochondrial diseases are disproportionately more likely to cause infertility than geneti... (read more)

Quick question, I've been fascinated by the book "The Vital Question" by Nick Lane for a while, especially his theory that the fact that there are two genders is the result of needing different mechanisms to preserve eukaryotic and mitochondrial DNA within the same cell (while also allowing for some degree of mutations).

This theory tracks with my knowledge of ovarian follicle maturation, in which several follicles go through a competitive growth spurt, and only the "winning" follicle matures into an egg that is released. Basically, the ovaries conduct a mo... (read more)