Pharyngula
Archives for September, 2011
Botanical Wednesday: Is it 4:00 yet?
Posted by PZ Myers on September 21, 2011 I have no idea. I think my clock face is melting. (Also on FtB)
No, no, no — this is not bisexuality or homosexuality
Posted by PZ Myers on September 21, 2011 This is a beautiful illustration of the flaw in applying human sexual conventions to non-human organisms. researchers studying deep-sea squid found that all of the squid, male and female alike, were speckled with sperm packets — the males just flick these things out at any passing squid, on the chance that it’s a female. It’s…
I get email
Posted by PZ Myers on September 21, 2011 I’m not going to post this email I received, simply because it is insanely long, 15,000 words of random caps and peculiar color changes. Just to give you a taste, this is the subject line: Subject: SCIENCE, AND THEOLOGY {{ Cogent Word for the 100′s of new ears in Science and theology we contacted/called last…
Humanity’s recent surge
Posted by PZ Myers on September 21, 2011 Earlier this semester, I gave my first-year students a thought question. I do this now and then just to wake them up and get them thinking and talking — in this case, I wanted them to speculate and also think hard about how they came up with their answers, and how they would try to…
Last chance for Troy Davis
Posted by PZ Myers on September 20, 2011 The state of Georgia is planning to execute a man for murder tomorrow, on the basis of a very shaky case in which most of the witnesses have recanted their testimony, and who have said the police pressured them into their initial accusations. I can’t make any judgments on whether he is guilty or innocent…
Mary’s Monday Metazoan: Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?
Posted by PZ Myers on September 19, 2011 (via National Geographic) (Also on FtB)
What is wrong with these animal rights organizations?
Posted by PZ Myers on September 19, 2011 There is a severe and disturbing disconnect in the minds of the fanatics behind the animal rights groups. First there’s NIO, harassing and threatening students. Now look at what PETA is up to: they plan to launch a porn site to benefit their cause. The nonprofit organization, whose controversial campaigns draw criticism from women’s rights…
Dawkins lionized
Posted by PZ Myers on September 19, 2011 The New York Times has a very nice profile of Richard Dawkins titled A Knack for Bashing Orthodoxy — an an excellent choice of a title, too. (Also on FtB)
Fighting back against creationism
Posted by PZ Myers on September 19, 2011 Creationism is not quite as pervasive a problem in the UK as it is in the US, but it’s still rising…so it’s good to see that British scientists are being aggressive in confronting bad educational policies. A number of prominent scientists, including Richard Dawkins and David Attenborough, have stepped forward to demand that evolution, not…
Remember: it’s International Talk Like a Pirate Day. I have to give a lecture on the evolution of the nervous system today. I don’t think I can do it with a plethora of “arrr’s” unless I drink a lot of rum first. (Also on FtB)