Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal
PZ Myers is a biologist and associate professor at the University of Minnesota, Morris.
…and this is a pharyngula stage embryo.
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Atheism is a non-prophet organization.
George Carlin
Polar lobes and trefoil embryos in the Precambrian
Symmetry breaking and genetic assimilation
Chance and regularity in the development of the fly eye
Upstream plasticity and downstream robustness in evolution of molecular networks
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June 30, 2007
Category: Science
Peggy has an excellent discusion of the peculiar attitudes towards biology held by physicists and engineers, which includes this wonderful complaint by Jack Cohen: In summer 2002, I was at the Cheltenham Festival of Science. Lots of biologists presenting, for...
Posted by PZ Myers at 2:00 PM • 283 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Administrative • Personal
Yes, I am away for this week — I'm off wearing flannel, listening to grunge, and drinking coffee as I chop down trees in the rain (did I miss any stereotypes?). Updates to Pharyngula will still happen, though, so...
Posted by PZ Myers at 12:30 PM • 23 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Creationism • Kooks
I have to go catch a plane to Seattle, so I'll leave you all with a little exercise. This random bit of creationist email just sailed in over the transom—it's simple and to the point, and isn't even afflicted with...
Posted by PZ Myers at 12:00 PM • 60 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Evolution
What properties should we expect from an evolved system rather than a designed one? Complexity is one, another is surprises. We should see features that baffle us and that don't make sense from a simply functional and logical standpoint. That's...
Posted by PZ Myers at 8:10 AM • 49 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Carnivals • Open Thread
Carnivals! We're hawking Carnivals! Carnival of Mathematics XI Friday Ark #145 I and the Bird #52 The next Tangled Bank will be held on Wednesday, the 4th of July, at Aardvarchaeology. Send those patriotic, all-American links in to the Swedish...
Posted by PZ Myers at 7:43 AM • 20 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
June 29, 2007
Category: Creationism
A rather unsavory character, Dr Johannes Lerle, was jailed in Germany for violating their laws against neo-Nazism and Holocaust denial. I discussed this earlier this week, and as Gerard Harbison and Andrew Brown have recently pointed out, he was not...
Posted by PZ Myers at 5:05 PM • 61 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Creationism
You may recall that I'd mentioned how Cheri Yecke was hiring a company called "reputationdefender" to expunge unflattering references from the net. One of her targets was Wesley Elsberry, who had reported that she was in favor of allowing local...
Posted by PZ Myers at 3:38 PM • 32 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Weblogs
The ScienceBlogs buzz today is on Atheism and Civil Rights, and the opening blurb gets it wrong. Richard Dawkins and other contemporary atheists have argued recently that America's faithless are subject to discrimination akin to that faced by women, racial...
Posted by PZ Myers at 2:10 PM • 14 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Religion • Weirdness
I guess y'all are having a drought, and your farmers are worried. I sympathize, and I do hope you get some good healthy summer storms soon. But, well, your governor is a dufus. With the state's weather forecasters not delivering...
Posted by PZ Myers at 12:48 PM • 87 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Academics
The Nevada System of Higher Education wants to arm their faculty. That's insane. We have rare instances of students going on a shooting spree; I don't see how turning the classroom into a firefight is going to stop that, and...
Posted by PZ Myers at 12:28 PM • 176 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Organisms
Mrs Tilton, meet Warren. Warren, this is Mrs Tilton....
Posted by PZ Myers at 11:41 AM • 7 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Godlessness
At last, I get it. I understand what "framing" is. It's pandering to the status quo, the petty conventions, and the bigotry of the majority. It means don't rock the boat, don't be different, don't stand up for your beliefs....
Posted by PZ Myers at 10:00 AM • 98 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Fossils
…you'll like this paleontological flickrset....
Posted by PZ Myers at 9:24 AM • 20 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Cephalopods • Organisms
Enteroctopus dofleini, the giant Pacific octopus Figure from Cephalopods: A World Guide (amzn/b&n/abe/pwll), by Mark Norman....
Posted by PZ Myers at 7:00 AM • 8 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Cephalopods • Humor
removed at the request of Gary Larson Figure from Bride of the Far Side(amzn/b&n/abe/pwll), by Gary Larson....
Posted by PZ Myers at 6:00 AM • 9 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Molecular Biology
Albert Mohler might be freaking out at some of the new biotechnologies, but he missed a big one, one that might give him nightmares: synthetic biology. This week's Nature has a very fine editorial on a subject that's probably...
Posted by PZ Myers at 12:00 AM • 51 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
