laelaps | June 3, 2008
A group of turkey vultures (Cathartes aura) hanging out on the dunes. Photographed May 17, 2008 at Cape Henlopen State Park, Delaware.
laelaps | June 2, 2008Of all the concepts of nature I have so far encountered in my research on the history of evolution as an idea, few (if any) are as virulent as the Great Chain of Being. Although Stephen Jay Gould claimed that White's 1799 book An Account of the Regular Gradation in Man, and in Different Animals and Vegetables represents the last gasp of the Great Chain of Being the idea was not simply discarded or forgotten. While the concept ultimately failed to make sense in terms of the ordering of nature it found a refuge in evolutionary theory, particularly in considerations of how humans are related to…
laelaps | June 2, 2008
Who knew wearing paisley would be so controversial? A screen-grab of Rachel Ray from the Dunkin' Donuts commercial that's causing such a fuss amongst some conservatives.
I don't often write about politics on this blog (at least politics not associated with science policy & education), but I'll make an exception in this case. TV personality Rachel Ray recently did a commercial for Dunkin' Donuts in which she wears a black & white fringed paisley scarf. It reminds me of a scarf that was tied around the neck of a stuffed peccary my mother once bought at a Texas airport, but I fail to…
laelaps | June 2, 2008My time writing was cut a little short this weekend (my wife rescued me from the doldrums by suggesting we take a late-night trip to the beach) but I still was able to flesh out the sections dealing with the early history of paleoanthropology. I have the feeling that I'm going to have to edit both down (I'm already at the 19 page mark for the chapter and I haven't even gotten to A. afarensis yet, much less Orrorin and Sahelanthropus) but I'm going to leave that for another time. Indeed, the human evolution chapter may end up splitting into two at some point as there is so much material to…
laelaps | June 2, 2008
Part of the head-shield of a horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus). Fragments of the carapaces of horseshoe crabs littered the entire length of the beach. Photographed May 17, 2008 at Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge, Delaware.
laelaps | June 1, 2008When I was in high school I used to spend my Saturday mornings making mix tapes to play in my 1990 Pontiac Bonneville when I went out on Saturday night. Sure, iPods and other devices that you can dump all your favorite music onto are convenient but there are few things more personal than a mix tape. (Anyone who has made one for a special someone knows what I mean.) Now there's a program that lets you make "mix tapes" that you can put on your blog and I just couldn't resist.
laelaps | June 1, 2008Some of you might have noticed a new blog in the feeds; the ScienceBlogs Book Club. The blog will feature discussions about the book Microcosm by my fellow Scibling Carl Zimmer, John Dennehy, PZ, Jessica Snyder Sachs, and Carl himself all offering up commentary. The discussions will unfold over the course of the next two weeks, so if you're interested in joining in head on over and check out the new blog!
I haven't read Microcosm yet (I'm still working on The Simian Tongue and Fossil Horses just came in the mail), but I am looking forward to seeing what people have to say about Carl's new…
laelaps | June 1, 2008Those of you who stopped by this blog on Friday afternoon might have quickly glimpsed a post that is now missing. There's a good reason for that. I had noticed that in May at least three books about theistic evolution/the "theology of evolution" were released (Creation and Evolution: A Conference With Pope Benedict XVI in Castel Gandolfo, The Deep Structure of Biology: Is Convergence Sufficiently Ubiquitous to Give a Directional Signal, and Saving Darwin: How to Be a Christian and Believe in Evolution) and I made a few snarky comments about them. Being that I haven't read any of them I didn't…
laelaps | June 1, 2008
Two horseshoe crabs (Limulus polyphemus) spawning at high tide. Other than one other solitary crab they were the only healthy individuals I saw. Photographed May 17, 2008 at Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge, Delaware.
laelaps | May 31, 2008"Do we really need another book about evolution?" I ask myself this question almost every day as I pore over the stacks of books and papers cluttering my apartment, the masses of literature forming a sort of scientific strata. It has been about two years since I first started saying that I was working on a book about evolution (I figured that if I believed I could do it I would eventually become motivated enough to do something about it) but for much of that time my efforts at actually producing anything were pitiful. It is true that I had more enthusiasm than knowledge during the first…
laelaps | May 31, 2008
Even though I didn't frame this laughing gull (Larus atricilla) exactly right I still think that this is a pretty cool picture. Photographed May 17, 2008 at Cape Henlopen State Park, Delaware.
laelaps | May 30, 2008The probable role of fossils in giving rise to myths and legends has been recognized since the 19th century, but it has only been recently that the connection between giant bones & footprints and mythology has been appreciated as a subject worthy of detailed study (see The First Fossil Hunters, Fossil Legends of the First Americans, and American Monster). It should be kept in mind, however, that there are modern legends just as there are ancient ones, and even during the age of major discoveries some fossils still seemed to throw support that the ancient world was inhabited by giants and…
laelaps | May 30, 2008Finding old technical literature can be maddeningly difficult. There are many important papers that are not readily available as journals have gone under or access to those publications is limited despite the research being so old that copyright no longer applies, but thankfully there is a move to make older work more freely available. One such effort, just launched, is The Theropod Archives, a collection of classic papers and links to more recent ones. My hard drive has already become saturated with the available material and I'm sure there's more to come, so make sure you keep checking back…
laelaps | May 30, 2008Like rotting, festering zombies, some creationist tricks just won't die. Even though every case of supposed "human tracks" found near dinosaur tracks in Mesozoic rock that I can think of has been disproved (the tracks often being little more than the result of some creative chiseling) the idea that traces of humanity have been found alongside non-avian dinosaurs continues on. The most famous case is that of the tracks found near Glen Rose, Texas (see the numerous Talk Origins pages about the find and the book Bones for Barnum Brown by R.T. Bird), the human tracks being sculptures or…
laelaps | May 29, 2008Over at Cocktail Party Physics Jennifer Ouellette has a two-part interview (1 and 2) with Eric Roston, author of the upcoming book The Carbon Age. It's definitely worth a look, and you can definitely expect to hear a bit more about The Carbon Age here in the not-too-distant future (~next Sunday, A.D.). Eric also has his own blog, Carbon Nation, and I definitely recommend that you check it out.
laelaps | May 29, 2008Over the past several months many people (myself included) have been anxiously awaiting the ruling of the Society for Vertebrate Paleontology ethics committee on the controversy informally known as Aetogate, and on May 23 the SVP committee released their decision (if you need to catch up, see Mike Taylor's site and my posts here, here, here, here, and here). The ruling was a mixed bag, although it does have some broader implications for how paleontologists conduct research and publish their work. (You can see the documents released by the committee, including recommendations as to "best…
laelaps | May 29, 2008Even though my brain was a bit heat- and math-addled by the time I got home from class last night (I spent all day at a baseball game the organization I work for took us out to and then spent the time between 6 and 8:30 PM in math class) I still managed to add a few more historical tidbits to my book. (I didn't expect to get so sunburned at the ballpark. I seem to have developed a strange sort of countershading where my arms are red on top and white on the bottom.)
The first new section I added dealt with some of the earliest discoveries of fossil humans in Europe, particularly the "Red Lady…
laelaps | May 29, 2008The next edition of the Boneyard will go up on June 7th at The Flying Trilobite. Rumor has it that it may be a special paleo-art-themed edition, although I'll post more details as we approach June 7th.
Also, not all the winning contestants in the Boneyard XX competition have e-mailed me to claim their prizes. If you're a winner, please e-mail me asap if you haven't already done so.
laelaps | May 29, 2008
I forgot to prepare a new photograph from my Delaware trip this morning, so here's something "old" instead. This is the fountain at the Philadelphia Zoo.