Brian Switek
Brian Switek is an ecology & evolution student at Rutgers University.
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Posts by this author
May 6, 2008
The AMNH mount of Apatosaurus, photographed last year.
May 5, 2008
With all my running around this weekend I completely forgot that yesterday was the 183rd anniversary of T.H. Huxley's birth. Unfortunately, however, Huxley is generally regarded as "Darwin's Bulldog" and little else, his other accomplishments and role in the formation of professional science often…
May 5, 2008
As I've learned first-hand during my time in human osteology this semester, identifying bone fragments can be a very tricky process. It is easy to identify the differences between a radius and a fibula or a scapula and a pelvis when you have the whole bones in front of you, but if you only have a…
May 5, 2008
On May 17 I'll be hosting the 20th edition of The Boneyard, but rather than just collecting a group of links from whatever might happen to pop up on the web I've decided to do something a little different. I want to run a contest for anyone who might be interested, and the theme of the competition…
May 5, 2008
Zeff, a 13-year-old Amur tiger (Panthera tigris altaica) photographed taking a drink on a hot day last year at the Bronx Zoo.
May 4, 2008
A spring peeper (Pseudacris crucifer) photographed last year.
May 3, 2008
The latest edition of the Boneyard is up over at Familiarity Breeds Content. The next edition will be back here in two weeks, but it isn't going to be your usual collection of links. The next edition will bring with it the potential to win a copy of Ralph O'Connor's The Earth on Show, Edwin Colbert…
May 3, 2008
A young bullfrog (Rana catesbeiana) photographed at the Delaware Water Gap last year.
May 2, 2008
Over at Darwinian Conservatism, Larry Arnhart recently wrote a post about how Michael Behe, the scientific "star" of the ID movement, seems to have fallen out of favor with the Disco Institute. Almost a year ago his book The Edge of Evolution was published, yet it seemed to have little impact…
May 2, 2008
In 1944, G.G. Simpson published his important (but often overlooked) book Tempo and Mode in Evolution, one of the key works of the Modern Synthesis that attempted to explain the relevance of paleontology to evolutionary studies. In the Introduction, Simpson includes this passage about the lack of…
May 2, 2008
What's a few more cat posts into the mix?
Huxley
Huxley
Huxley
[Just as a side note, my wife took these pictures (and yesterday's video) with a digital camera I bought her last year. I'm still working on getting the insurance money from when I was robbed, but hopefully I'll be able to get…
May 2, 2008
If you're a pied babbler (Turdoides bicolor), you've got a bit to worry about while foraging. It's hard to keep watch for predators and eat your fill simultaneously, and trying to do both yourself would mean that you're either going to spend a lot of time looking for a predator that might not be…
May 2, 2008
An African wild dog (Lycaon pictus) photographed at the Bronx zoo last year.
May 1, 2008
This is Huxley, who will be five weeks old this week. He'll soon be going up for adoption, but he'll still be here for a few more weeks. (Note: For some reason the video makes a high-pitched whine, so be sure to turn down/mute your volume before you play it);
May 1, 2008
I've been really down this week, biting my nails about finals and my academic future (or potential premature end of it). Walking on my way to give a presentation about Sterkfontein & Swartkrans caves ("killer man-apes," leopards, SK 53 and all that), I heard this Ben Folds song on my iShuffle…
May 1, 2008
A cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) photographed at the National Zoo in Washington D.C. last year.
April 30, 2008
This coming Friday will mark the beginning of the summer 2008 movie season, the first big-budget film to make an appearance being Iron Man. What does that mean for the unfunny and atrocious propaganda piece Expelled? If the theaters near me are any indication, it means that Stein's film flunked at…
April 30, 2008
The skull of Paranthropus boisei (AKA "Zinj," "Dear Boy," "Nutcracker Man," etc.). From Ungar et al. 2008.
Ever since the discovery of the hominds we call Paranthropus robustus in 1938 and Paranthropus boisei in 1959, the dietary habits of these "robust australopithecines" have been…
April 30, 2008
The Cape May lighthouse, photographed last year.
April 29, 2008
[Note: Just to put this post in context, today I was feeling extremely frustrated with the seemingly blind acceptance creationism receives because it makes some people feel comfortable. This is surely not my best work, and if anything it represents me trying to sort out the reasons why I keep…
April 29, 2008
Today I've got a human osteology exam, so while I'm trying to make sure I know all my processes, foramina, and sutures things are going to be a bit light here. Still, I've got a few items of interest to unload here before trying to cram more of White's Human Osteology into my brain;
The next…
April 29, 2008
A group of Patagonian maras (Dolichotis patagonum), photographed last year at the Cape May Zoo.
April 28, 2008
As I've said elsewhere, I think that the idea that creationists are master communicators is a myth; they are successful because they are tapping into a religious majority that is feeling antagonized and marginalized by secular culture. Even though most of the population of this country would…
April 28, 2008
A spectacled bear (Tremarctos ornatus), photographed last year at the National Zoo in Washington D.C.
April 27, 2008
If ever there was a documentary that made me want to be a paleontologist when I grew up, it was the Christopher Reeve-hosted Dinosaur! The stop-motion animation by Phil Tippet still looks good, but even though things have changed a bit since the show came out, it's still fun to watch and provides a…
April 27, 2008
After the success of The Lost World: Jurassic Park, the minds behind the franchise were in a bit of a fix. Tyrannosaurus and "Velociraptor"* had the run of the fictional islands for the past two movies; something new was needed to up the ante. The decision was made to make Spinosaurus the new…
April 27, 2008
View from a trail in Bear Mountain State Park, NY.
April 26, 2008
Today I spent the majority of my time at "Ag Day," an annual campus-wide festival at Cook Campus. I'm generally not very interested in most of the activities and events, but I did walk away with a few more used books;
Through the Eyes of the Gods
The God Delusion
Did Man Get Here by Evolution or…
April 26, 2008
A female Western gorilla (Gorilla gorilla) photographed last year at the Bronx Zoo.
April 25, 2008
I might have failed to mention this, but last Tuesday Mishu was adopted. Emma and Elise are still here, and Beatrice has gone back to the adoption center (although I'm sure we'll be seeing her again), but this afternoon Tracey and I got another call that there was a 4 week old kitten that needed a…