evolvingthoughts

Hard on the heels of the recent media coverage (well done Channel 7!) of the death of a child from Whooping Cough due to antivaccination sentiments in Australia, comes the death of an infant due to homeopathy. The father is a homeopathy quack, and instead of treating his child's eczema with…

One of the things I don't like about the Darwin Awards is that it presumes the only way to gain one is to remove yourself from the gene pool directly by dying. But that would be a Wallace Award. Darwin knew, as do we, that there are many ways one can avoid contributing to the future gene pool, and…

It is often stated in the literature that Linnaeus late in life turned to an evolutionary view based on hybridisation (e.g., Clausen, Keck and Hiesey 1939). I myself have repeated this, but as always it's worth looking at the actual text. Unfortunately I have so little Latin that I can't even use…

... says Linnaeus: False BOTANISTS proclaim the Laws of the Art before they have learned them: Extol absurd Authors, and are jealous of the excellent ones: Steal from others, producing nothing of their own: Boast much of a little knowledge: Pretend they have discovered a natural Method:…

From the New York Times: The Internet is no longer just an essential channel for commerce, entertainment and information. It has also become a stage for state control — and rebellion against it. Computers are becoming more crucial in global conflicts, not only in spying and military action, but…

As I investigate the use of tree diagrams in the nineteenth century, I keep running across things that shouldn't be there. One of them was this book: Herdman, William Abbott. 1885. A Phylogenetic Classification of Animals (For the Use of Students). London; Liverpool: Macmillan & Co.; Adam…

Although Sunday Night did a very good story on the antivaccination campaign's cost in lives, it now looks like they will do a follow up that takes the antivaxxer line, if the appearance in the ads of Australia's least accurate journalist Mike Munro is any guide. Munro is a gutter journalist of UK…

Wilkins is fragile and destablised Intellectual tourist attacks local inhabitants All happy bacteria are alike (or is that like each other?) Australian current affairs gets vaccination right! [That's not a pun, it's an act of God] The original video is here. Evolution does spreadsheets in origin of…

My Synthese essay has finally been published [paywall], in which I argue that on the basis of the more realistic notion of rationality devised by Herbert Simon, called "bounded rationality", certain heuristics are liable to lead people to rationally choose to believe in creationism under the right…

Sorry to sound Tweatish, but I've had about 4 hours sleep in the past 40 (I can't sleep on planes even with chemical assistance). I loved Lisbon, and the people who invited and paid for me to go were amazingly hospitable. I had a great time. One of the hapless audients has blogged it here but it is…

Suppose you have a religion and are interested in science. Do you a. Have to give up your religion b. Have to abandon your effort to find out about the natural world through science c. Try to find some accommodation? Now suppose you are a member of a scientific body, and want to suggest to members…

No. Read this.

"Few topics have engaged biologists and philosophers more than the concept of species, and arguably no idea is more important for evolutionary science. John S. Wilkins' book combines meticulous historical and philosophical analysis and thus provides new insights on the development of this most…

I gave my talk today on tree thinking at the local science museum for kids and the general public, which is amazingly popular. The Portuguese seem to hold science and knowledge in high esteem. Which is great. The Ciências Viva helped pay for my ticket, so I hope they liked my presentation. It will…

I've just spent a hilarious few minutes reading this guy's accounts of the many ways one can injure oneself. It bothers me that I have done so many of them myself (especially the exploding incinerator), and a few he didn't think of (the rocket fuel on a petrie dish that my friend ignited in the…

I sometimes worry about the lack of attention philosophers pay to actual biology, settling instead for purely verbal arguments. I am travelling right now so I don't have time to carefully critique Jerry Fodor's latest attack on "Darwinism", but it seems that he is actually making the argument that…

I don't know if I'll be able to post while I'm en route, so here's a song to listen to while I'm gone, by the great Tom Waits.

Geoffrey Midgley's obit is in the Independent today. A comment online is, I suspect, from one of his sons.

Pam Ayers once noted that in car and hedgehog fights, the hedgehog comes off worse, but what about in python and human fights? It seems they reached a standoff in Kenya recently. He bit the snake on the tail while it tried to eat him. He held off by using a shirt to blog its mouth, and a mobile…

Obama's decision not to prosecute CIA agents who employed torture and illegal rendition is a bad decision. It politicises legal responsibility and does nothing to reinforce the rule of law. Perhaps every single agent who followed orders will be exonerated by these cases, but they ought to face…

Elio Schaechter has a nice piece up on the recent success at growing a pure line of Coxellia pathogens, the cause of Q Fever. I have been told that fewer than 10% of all microbes are able to be grown in cell-free media, so perhaps this will be the start of a new set of methodologies. Doing this…

Yes, I know there are thousands of these this year, and by October we'll all be tired of them, but this one looks like the main game: Darwin/Chicago 2009. I am, of course, upset not to be invited to speak, but there are a few good names there to make up for my absence...

I am briefly back from internetless visits to family in Victoria (my home state), and shortly to fly out to Lisbon where I am to give two talks I have yet to finish writing (of course! Not to worry, I always do this). In the interim I must proof my book and do a thousand things. Once all this is…

Older histories of biology are often full of useful and interesting facts. One of my all-time favourites is Eric Nordenskiöld's history, but I came across an earlier one by Louis Compton Miall in which I found this text: Bonnet in 1745 traced the scale of nature in fuller detail than had been…

A young gorilla escaped from his enclosure at the Melbourne Zoo last night and wandered about for 20 minutes while craven visitors hid out. I would have sat and waited for him to introduce himself. And paid good money for the chance. A moron by the name of Cardinal George Pell, who has a chance at…

It's that time of year, so Happy Spring Festival, Zombie Vampire Death and Raising Weekend, and Escape That Didn't Happen Celebration... [I know, I know, don't blog drunk...]

This is a response to David Brooks' column in the New York Times, today: "The End of Philosophy". Other respondees include PZ Myers, Brian Leiter, James Smith, bottumupchange, Mark Liberman, and chaospet (who does a very nice cartoon summarising many of the problems with Brooks' column). Hume once…

Well, it may be the case that science reporting is dying in English speaking publishing, but it looks like in Brazil, they are still able to do it. I was just interviewed online (good use of the technology) by a reporter from this site, Pesquisa FAPESP. If you do Portuguese, go check it out.

Here is an interesting discussion of a recent paper on the operational and theoretical definitions of "epigenetics". This term - which has a deep history, well before genetics - is interpreted in every manner from inherited histone patterns on chromosomes to parental investment and extrasomatic…

I received this via Channels: Dear Philosophers of Biology, You'll be interested in the first biennial "Philosophy of Biology @ Madison" workshop/conference that we'll be hosting in Madison a year from May. It's a ways off, but note that submitted abstracts are due earlier than you might think:…