thoughts on science, history, and teaching
John M. Lynch is an Honors Faculty Fellow at Barrett the Honors College at Arizona State University. He's also affiliated with ASU's Center for Biology & Society. When he's not an historian of anti-evolutionism, he's an evolutionary morphologist. Much to his surprise, in 2007 he was named the Arizona Professor of the Year. No doubt his students were surprised as well.
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January 31, 2008
Category: Carnivores • Mammals
A recently published study has used microsatelite markers to discover that domesticated cats originated in the Middle East, a finding that reinforces earlier archeological research. The abstract reads: The diaspora of the modern cat was traced with microsatellite markers...
Posted by John Lynch at 10:55 PM • 0 Comments
Unlike Razib, my reading of Gould’s The Structure of Evolutionary Theory isn’t progressing. This is for a number of reasons but primary among them is a busy week service-wise coupled with other reading that must take priority if I’m going...
Posted by John Lynch at 10:23 PM • 0 Comments
Category: Mammals
This is a grey-faced sengi, Rhynchocyon udzungwensis, a new species of giant elephant shrew that has been described in the February issue of Journal of Zoology (Lond.) (on whose editorial board I sit). It's a 700g beastie, so it...
Posted by John Lynch at 2:06 PM • 3 Comments
Category: Life Science
Just a brief notice that my ASU colleague Quentin Wheeler has named a species of whirligig beetle after Roy Orbison. Orectochilus orbisonorum, which resides in India "is unique among Indian Gyrinidae and Orectochilus lacordaire, in general, since the ventral surfaces...
Posted by John Lynch at 12:53 AM • 0 Comments
Category: History and Philosophy (often of Science)
Posted by John Lynch at 12:34 AM • 0 Comments
January 30, 2008
Category: Evolution
DESIGNING DARWIN - Prize competition Organized by the British Society for the History of Science Outreach & Education Committee The year 2009 sees both the bicentenary of Charles Darwin’s birth (on 12th February) and the 150th birthday of his most...
Posted by John Lynch at 7:55 PM • 0 Comments
Category: Anti-evolution • In Their Own Words • Intelligent Design
Apparently there are some questions you just can’t ask. The cdesign proponentsists maintain that the truth is being stifled by their not being allowed ask "difficult" questions of evolutionary biology. Yet we need to remember that supporters of intelligent design...
Posted by John Lynch at 10:36 AM • 5 Comments
Category: History and Philosophy (often of Science)
Razib notes "I’m sure you know that Marx was a keen follower of Darwin’s theory." Eh, no. Not so much....
Posted by John Lynch at 9:03 AM • 2 Comments
Category: History and Philosophy (often of Science)
Posted by John Lynch at 12:07 AM • 0 Comments
January 29, 2008
Category: History and Philosophy (often of Science)
Posted by John Lynch at 12:04 AM • 0 Comments
January 28, 2008
Category: Evolution • History and Philosophy (often of Science)
Razib is reading Stephen Jay Gould’s monumental The Structure of Evolutionary Theory. I have to admit that I bought it when it appeared nearly six years ago and, as yet, have not managed to get beyond the first ninety-odd...
Posted by John Lynch at 11:38 PM • 14 Comments
Category: Monday Mustelid
Northern River Otter Lontra canadensis Schreber, 1777. [picture source]...
Posted by John Lynch at 6:11 PM • 2 Comments
Category: History and Philosophy (often of Science)
Posted by John Lynch at 2:30 AM • 1 Comments
January 27, 2008
Category: Weirdness
Meet William Torres and his slippers. William was arrested while driving in Allentown (Pa) on two counts of homicide and was known to be dealing coke and heroin from his home. More interestingly, William was pulled over while wearing...
Posted by John Lynch at 1:47 AM • 2 Comments
Category: History and Philosophy (often of Science)
Posted by John Lynch at 1:23 AM • 0 Comments
January 26, 2008
Category: Politics
Anyone who knows Arizona politics won’t be surprised by another dumb proposal being put forward by Thayer Verschoor and Karen Johnson. Both are Republicans. Both have problems with evolution - Verschoor turned up at an Answers in Genesis fundraiser a...
Posted by John Lynch at 4:17 AM • 20 Comments
