pharyngula

Stevie C sent along this article on An unusual presentation of supernumerary breast tissue (just what were you googling for, Stevie?), in which a woman reports an annoying growth on her foot, and when examined, is discovered to have a breast growing there, complete with nipple and fatty tissue (…

Members of the Twin Cities Creation Science Association are furious—they've ripped down the posted photos from the 2007 Creation "Science" Fair "Because Some Sick Atheist Used Them To Demean Kids". Before you all jump to any conclusion…I didn't do it. It was Greg. You really have to read the…

Don't neglect to read the essay that goes with the diagram!

The demonization of Pete Stark begins. Wouldn't you know it would be Michelle Malkin ("imprisonment for being brown is OK!"), and it would be in WorldNutDaily (your daily source of raving right wing lunacy), and she's appalled that he has called someone a "fruitcake" in the past. Why, that's a…

Some have complained that my post on the snake slaughter gave them nightmares. If that's you, do not click on this next link! I'm usually fairly tough about seeing grisly gore, but this video of a dolphin harvest in Japan is extremely unsettling. A slaughterhouse is always going to be an ugly piece…

At last, it's time for Encephalon, the carnival of neuroscience. There were a lot of submissions, and I've tried to organize them into four categories: basic and cognitive neuroscience addresses the problem of understanding brains, more medically and psychiatrically inclined work tries to fix…

What do you know…just last week, I posted an article dismissing a creationist's misconceptions about pharyngeal organization and development, in which he asks about the evidence for similarities between agnathan and gnathostome jaws, and what comes along but a new paper on the molecular evidence…

Why not slaughter snakes? The bible says it is their fate to be ground under our heel, after all. Laelaps has a story about a town in Texas that turns butchery into a fun family event — warning, there is a photo, and if you decapitate enough snakes, you can get a lot of blood spattered around. I…

The chat with Lynn Margulis is over; thanks to Dr Margulis and all who participated. I've included the transcript below the fold. [17:08] * Margulis (~pjirc@ZiRC-60364A8F.hsd1.ma.comcast.net) has joined #pharyngula [17:08] <TimMc> oh, right [17:08] <TimMc> ah, there we go [17:08] *…

In case anyone here was still worried about the saga of the rotting bat corpse on some nice furniture, Nic McPhee reports that Goo Gone works like magic.

Chris of Mixing Memory claims that you can make accurate personality assessments about a person just from listening to ten of their favorite songs. OK, let's play that game. Here are ten songs I like. Excitable boy, Warren Zevon Us, Regina Spektor Coming in from the cold, The Delgados…

So today we learn that Rep. Pete Stark admits to being godless. There is only one member of Congress who is on record as not holding a god-belief. Rep. Pete Stark (D-Calif.), a senior member of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, Chair of the Health Subcommittee, and member of Congress…

Lynn Margulis has sent the opening statement for her blog tour below. You should feel free to respond to it, raise other questions of any relevant sort, or say whatever you want in the comments; she'll be along later today to respond to those that interest her. I will be policing the comments, so…

Who do you think the brilliant minds at the Discovery Institute would recruit to review Sean Carroll's new book, The Making of the Fittest: DNA and the Ultimate Forensic Record of Evolution(amzn/b&n/abe/pwll)? Somebody with some knowledge of biology, perhaps, some faint whiff of respectable…

Scalzi makes an impractical, mocking suggestion (hey, isn't that all he does?) for how to teach comparative religion: Incidentally, there's a simple solution to the problem of teaching the history and literature of religions in public schools without "accidentally" tipping over into, you know,…

I was reminded of one of the more comical, but persistent misconceptions by creationists in a thread on Internet Infidels, on The Coelacanth. Try doing a google search for “coelacanth creation" and be amazed at the volume of ignorance pumped out on this subject. I've also run across a more recent…

I like Seattle. I grew up near there. But it's got two things that annoy me: Starbucks coffee (OK, but overpriced and a little too pretentious) and the Discovery Institute (unspeakably vile inanity). Unfortunately, the proximity of those two institutions seems to encourage them to ooze into bed…

Ken Ham and Kent Hovind and their ilk have been trying to appropriate dinosaurs for creationism, so help them out and go along with it. Help yourself to these examples of biblical paleontology. Remember, you don't need to actually know anything to do biblical paleontology—just make it up as you…

Sepiadarium austrinum Figure from Cephalopods: A World Guide (amzn/b&n/abe/pwll), by Mark Norman.

Perhaps your curiosity was aroused by Richard Dawkins' apology: I am distressed to find myself reported as participating in a "literary spat", and as "pouring scorn" on an individual, comedian Peter Kay, for whom I actually feel nothing but goodwill (Heard the one about the atheist who scorned a…

Tikistitch has put up a list of the "Most Significant SF & Fantasy Books of the Last 50 Years" (hey, as old as I am!). Put the ones you've read in bold — I've put my list below the fold. The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien The Foundation Trilogy, Isaac Asimov Dune, Frank Herbert Stranger in a…

From Orcinus, I've learned a useful new term ("spockoed", referring to using aggressive tactics to shame the right-wing extremists) and that Michael Savage and Ann Coulter are suffering for their calumnies, which is always satisfying. There might be a little too much self-satisfaction, though: I…

“Hi, kids! My name is Barbie, and I'm like Britanny's aunt, and I'm a model, you know? And I don't like math? And you know, I never use math? But you know, when you grow up, you can just hire an accountant, so you don't need math! Skip math class and hang out in the girl's room touching up your…

Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, now thinks that high-tech, fetal research is OK — if it leads to a cure for homosexuality. If a biological basis is found, and if a prenatal test is then developed, and if a successful treatment to reverse the sexual orientation…

I just know John Wilkins is going to gasp in horror and write frantic letters to Pieranna Garavaso, the organizer, telling her she's making a horrible mistake, but I'm going to be on a panel at the 31st Midwest Philosophy Colloquium on 26 March, here in Morris, at (zut alors!) the Newman Center…

You're all wondering where the Friday Cephalopod might be…it's delayed. I'm spending my day in seclusion in my secret lair, hammering out some work that's already way overdue, and I don't have access to a scanner or my books or any technology beyond the necessities for writing. I will put it up…

Here are a few carnival announcements, but otherwise talk about whatever comes to mind. I and the Bird #44 Friday Ark #129 Mendel's Garden #12 And remember, on Monday Encephalon will be posted here—so send me links to neuro-related articles. The Tangled Bank will be at Living the…

My kitchen sink has a problem. Something has broken inside the Moen faucet, so that the handle is loose and only marginally effective. I'm thinking I should run down to the hardware store and get a new faucet assembly, and get under the sink with a pipe wrench. It shouldn't be too difficult. Right…

In Serbia, vandals broke into Slobodan Milosevic's tomb and drove a stake through his heart to keep him from "returning from the dead to haunt the country". I think that's utterly charming. When I go, I'd figured the best plan would be to donate my body to science, or to be cremated…but now I'm…

Darwin Dating Ready for another perversion of Darwin's ideas? Take a look at Darwin Dating. Sick of dating websites filled with ugly, unattractive, desperate fatsos? We are. Darwin Dating was created exclusively for beautiful, desirable people. Our strict rules and natural selection process…