Paul Z. Meyers
pharyngula
Posts by this author
September 5, 2014
Project Noah
September 5, 2014
That's my hypothesis, and I'm sticking to it. My obnoxious, curmudgeonly ways must be an adaptation, selected by evolution over many generations to optimize my mating opportunities by forcing stupid people to flee from my presence.
Hey, that's as good as the explanation that PMS evolved to drive…
September 4, 2014
JBS Haldane is said to have responded to a question about how evolution could be disproved by saying, "A Precambrian rabbit". What was meant by this, of course, is any substantial discovery that greatly disrupted the evidence for the chronological pattern of descent observed in Earth's life. That…
August 31, 2014
I made the mistake of reading some of the comments on those last youtube videos. There were some good ones, but they were also laced with the usual grunting assholes complaining about gays and "trannies" and quoting the Bible and making racist remarks about Africans. Let us pass over those…
August 29, 2014
What an awful name for such a graceful animal.
August 29, 2014
The context of this graph isn't entirely clear, but it's from Jeffrey Ross-Ibarra of UC Davis, and it's from a poll of 800 first year students, so I presume it's the results of a survey of their incoming class?
Maybe one of the things we need to do as part of popularizing science to the general…
August 28, 2014
Sometimes, people email me with good questions. Here's one.
When I was a kid, my own visualization of evolution was Lamarckism.
But I didn't know it. In reading Dawkins and others, I know it doesn't exist. But it seems this article is claiming it does to some extent. Can you comment? I'm…
August 26, 2014
The anti-vaxxers are excited. A recent paper, Measles-mumps-rubella vaccination timing and autism among young african american boys: a reanalysis of CDC data, claims that there is evidence that vaccinations cause autism. Only one problem: it's a crappy paper.
Orac has covered it to an Oracian level…
August 25, 2014
The New Yorker has a fascinating article on Vandana Shiva, a crusader against GMO crops. I'd never heard of her before, but apparently she has charisma and cult-like followers who hang on her every word, and her word is a rather religious opposition to scientific agriculture. Weirdly, I can agree…
August 21, 2014
Kim Goodsell was not a scientist, but she wanted to understand the baffling constellation of disease symptoms that were affecting her. The doctors delivered partial diagnoses, that accounted for some of her problems, but not all. So she plunged into the scientific literature herself. The point of…
August 21, 2014
How about another of those non-awkward Dawkins Twitter questions? Although this one actually is kind of awkward, in a non-offensive way. I don't quite know what it means.
Does evolution rely upon digital genetics? Could there be an analogue genetics? What features of life have to be true all over…
August 20, 2014
Susan Blackmore always lectures entertainingly -- really, if you get a chance to hear her, you should -- so I can guess how surprised she was when students claimed offense and walked out on her talk. They were religiously indoctrinated, and simply shut down their brains when the word "evolution"…
August 18, 2014
I think this is rather awesome: a detailed examination of the Cambrian fossil Hallucigenia, specifically an examination of the fine structure of its claws, has revealed clear affinities of the long extinct form to this adorable little guy, the velvet worm.
August 18, 2014
It's another Dawkins question!
Why do cave-dwellers lose their eyes? They’re useless, but are they harmful? Costly to make? Or eroded by rain of uncorrected mutations?
I thought I'd already addressed this in a blog post long ago, but I searched, and I didn't -- it was my inaugural column in sadly…
August 17, 2014
Ophelia has summarized a series of science questions Richard Dawkins asked on Twitter. Hey, I thought, I have answers to lots of these -- he probably does, too -- so I thought I'd address one of them. Maybe I can take a stab at some of the others another time.
I like this one, anyway:
Why do cells…
August 11, 2014
But Mary tells me I have to post a picture of a British bulldog puppy anyway.
My Nice Doggy
August 8, 2014
We know a lot about the sexy bits of male cephalopods — ask about hectocotyl arms and spermatophores sometime — but would you be surprised to learn that we don't know much at all about squid ladybits? Of course you wouldn't.
August 4, 2014
It's been 25 years since Gould's Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History crystallized the debate over the importance of contingency in evolution, most famously illustrated by his metaphor of "replaying the tape of life". If we could roll back the history of life on earth and…
August 4, 2014
xkcd
We do, however, require a formal seminar of our biology undergraduates in their senior year. We must make sure none of them ever see this comic!
August 4, 2014
We've been invaded by a pair of groundhogs who have taken up residence under our deck, and are apparently dining grandly on our weedy overgrown backyard. They're evasive, though, and I've only got this one poor shot of one of them resting in the dappled shade.
OK, here's a clearer shot of what…
August 2, 2014
A while back, I responded to Behe/Luskin's claim that his model proving the impossibility of evolution of chloroquinone resistance was vindicated. I pointed out (as did Ken Miller) that showing that a particular trait required multiple point mutations did not affect the probability in the naive way…
August 2, 2014
Take a look at the kind of profit you can make from various businesses. This is pretty good money.
We all know Apple's business model is to build cool gadgets with high end stuff inside that it then sells at a high markup for premium design and ease of use -- they're at least creating something…
August 1, 2014
Kate Clancy comments on a 'satire' published in a serious journal.
Genome Biology published a satirical piece by Neil Hall today, and since I’m American and he’s British I don’t find it funny. No wait, it’s that I’m female and he’s male. Or maybe that I’m junior and he’s senior. I’ve got it, it’s…
August 1, 2014
We're doomed. The Pacific striped octopus is exhibiting complex social behaviors.
Panamanian biologist Aradio Rodaniche first reported the Pacific striped octopus in 1991 off the coast of Nicaragua, noting its strange behavior—living in groups of possibly up to 40, laying multiple egg clutches,…
July 30, 2014
Next week, I think I will!
Oxford Botanical Garden