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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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As I told Newsweek, human evolution is not my scientific specialty, so I'm not willing to offer my scientific opinion about whether human beings are descended from apes. I happen to believe for theological reasons that human beings couldn't have evolved from apes, but I don't think that there is solid scientific evidence for such a conclusion, so I don't think that we should teach it in schools, and in any case it is not part of the scientific theory of intelligent design. Those who cite the genetic similarity of human beings and apes as scientific evidence for their common ancestry are no better off than I am, since they find the inference compelling only because they are in the grips of an ideology—naturalism—that is in truth no more scientific than my theological beliefs. Indeed, what we should be telling students is that human beings and apes are genetically similar, but there is a scientific controversy about what accounts for that similarity: common ancestry or common design.
Stephen Meyer, Discovery Institute
Patterning the nervous system with Bmp
Upstream plasticity and downstream robustness in evolution of molecular networks
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June 30, 2008
Category: History
Except, unfortunately, what the heck it was. The Tunguska event was the mysterious explosion of unidentified origin that occured in a remote area of Siberia on 30 June 1908, flattening trees over 2000 square kilometers, but leaving no trace...
Posted by PZ Myers at 11:31 PM • 77 Comments
Category: Religion
I must have a lot of Australian readers, or the few of you are really upset about this, because I'm getting a rising volume of email about World Youth Day. This is a bizarre Catholic get-together for young people...
Posted by PZ Myers at 11:03 PM • 205 Comments
Category: Humor
At least, it beats "Mr Gay", which sounds so frivolous. It seems the American Family Association, which you can tell from the name is yet another institution that has mistaken "patriarchy" for "family"*, was a little overzealous in their use...
Posted by PZ Myers at 7:11 PM • 81 Comments
Category: Genetics
RPM of Evolgen disagrees with my definition of synteny! This is terribly distressing. Especially since, strictly speaking, he is precisely correct. The word has evolved in its usage from the pure form that RPM is describing to a more colloquial,...
Posted by PZ Myers at 6:08 PM • 31 Comments
Category: Weirdness
What? How could Orac pass this story by? A monument to the enema, a procedure many people would rather not think about, has been unveiled at a spa in the southern Russian city of Zheleznovodsk.The bronze syringe bulb, which weighs...
Posted by PZ Myers at 3:55 PM • 72 Comments
Category: Carnivals • Open Thread
I have been very, very bad. I have been neglecting my obligations as a member of the blogosphere to share links to interesting stuff, all because I've been busy with travel and work. I missed the Carnival of the Liberals,...
Posted by PZ Myers at 3:43 PM • 36 Comments
Category: Creationism
The propaganda movie opened in Canada, and the weekend box office numbers are in. $24,374. Nationwide. So Canada is a smaller country in population than ours, and their money is worth a little more than ours, but still…I don't think...
Posted by PZ Myers at 1:15 PM • 156 Comments
Category: Evolution • Molecular Biology • Neurobiology • Organisms • Science
We've heard the arguments about the relative importance of mutations in cis regulatory regions vs. coding sequences in evolution before — it's the idea that major transitions in evolution were accomplished more by changes in the timing and pattern...
Posted by PZ Myers at 12:54 PM • 79 Comments
Category: Pointless polls
It's the nature of these things to trivialize. Yet again, media hysteria fuels the absurd fear that flipping a switch in Switzerland will Destroy The World…and they're running a poll to let non-physicists guess at the risks. This one has...
Posted by PZ Myers at 12:04 PM • 70 Comments
Category: Humor • Skepticism
Posted by PZ Myers at 9:28 AM • 48 Comments
Category: Weirdness
So, what does the promotion of jazz have to do with HP Lovecraft? (This isn't a raven and a writing desk non-connection — there really is a link.)...
Posted by PZ Myers at 9:18 AM • 25 Comments
Category: Environment
If you've got an hour, this conversation between Carl Zimmer and Paul Ehrlich is well worth listening to. Ehrlich has a somewhat controversial reputation as an ecological Cassandra…but remember, Cassandra was right....
Posted by PZ Myers at 7:44 AM • 83 Comments
June 29, 2008
Category: Entertainment
It's a very, very short moment, practically an aside, in a recent Dr Who episode, but there he is. I guess Richard Dawkins has finally made it....
Posted by PZ Myers at 6:05 PM • 529 Comments
Category: Religion
Well now, isn't this special: if you're a religious leader on official business, you can get free parking permits in North London. Mike Freer, leader of the council, said: "The importance of religion to many Barnet residents cannot be underestimated...
Posted by PZ Myers at 5:48 PM • 63 Comments
Category: Communicating science • Weblogs
Blake Stacey, who is a good guy to have by your side in a firefight, has a wonderfully complicated post on this thing called science blogging. He's mostly stating the obvious: it's anarchic, it's very hard to pull out, say,...
Posted by PZ Myers at 5:21 PM • 41 Comments
Category: Administrative
Like the title says, this is your thread to tell me who deserves the Molly award for June. I'll aim to announce the winner on 1 July....
Posted by PZ Myers at 10:17 AM • 85 Comments
YES! Send me a free issue of Seed.
If I like what I see, I'll receive 5 more issues (6 in all) for just $14.95. That's 50% off the cover price! If I'm not completely satisfied, I'll simply write "cancel" on the invoice and owe nothing. The free issue is mine to keep.
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