Paul Z. Meyers
pharyngula
Posts by this author
October 21, 2015
Obvs, he did it.
Larry Moran discusses some apologetics from Jonathan McLatchie, in which McLatchie briefly argues for intelligent design. I think the fact that it's in the context of Christian apologetics already gives away the store, but at least he gives a succinct definition of intelligent…
October 19, 2015
There's an interesting conversation in the New York Times: a neuroscientist, Kenneth D. Miller, argues that brain uploading ain't gonna happen. I agree with him, only in part because of the argument from complexity he gives.
Much of the current hope of reconstructing a functioning brain rests on…
October 17, 2015
We need more of these, and here's another: Great Adaptations: A Fantastical Collection of Science Poems. It contains short rhyming summaries of scientists' work on adaptations, all nicely illustrated.
Here's one from Sarah Hrdy's work on empathy and cooperation.
Doesn't that make you want to run…
October 16, 2015
Knobby Argonaut, Argonauta nodosa
Also, what's Brian Switek doing, writing about cephalopods? He's supposed to be writing about dinosaurs
!
But first impressions can be deceiving. In truth, as I later learned from Klug, the paper nautilus is not a close relative of today’s pearly nautilus, nor…
October 15, 2015
Sadly, a young man in England has been diagnosed with stage IV cancer -- and he really is an atheist in a metaphorical foxhole, and it hasn't changed his opinion of religion.
Between now and last Wednesday I’ve worried about various things, but one thought that stands out is religion. Before I go…
October 9, 2015
Sanity-saving tip: never visualize a nautilus from the perspective of its prey.
Fact Zoo
October 7, 2015
This retracted article is proof that there is a diversity crisis in Silicon Valley.
Forbes has removed a contributor piece titled "There Is No Diversity Crisis in Silicon Valley" after being hit with a barrage of criticism from readers, including many leading the tech industry's movement to hire…
October 7, 2015
Last year, Nature Chemistry published an article by Alexander F. G. Goldberg and CJ Chemjobber titled "A comprehensive overview of chemical-free consumer products". Everyone should read it. It's a thorough description of all chemical-free products, and the paper itself is a free download. Here's…
October 5, 2015
Roger Holmes
October 4, 2015
It will be a fine day to be glued to the computer, because TONMOCON VI is happening, and this year they'll be broadcasting it on the internet.
Some day I will be there, when I'm not stretched thin and tied down with classes.
October 2, 2015
Pacific striped octopuses like to get up close and personal when intimate. Can you blame them?
Oooh, cephaloporny.
October 2, 2015
Stop me if you've heard this one before: yet another creationist has disproved evolution. This one has a site called creationdino.blogspot.com -- he thinks dinosaurs are evidence against evolution -- and calls himself "@BeholdBeast" on Twitter, and is actually named David Wilson. He thinks he has…
October 1, 2015
Bill Nye talks about the realities of reproduction, and the right wing completely loses its shit.
It is not Nye at his most eloquent, but…he's actually right about everything important. Read this title for an example of the inanity of far right responses, titled WATCH: Bill Nye, Science Guy Makes…
September 23, 2015
The tobacco industry knew that cigarettes were both addictive and carcinogenic. They sold them anyway, and hired professional obfuscators and lobbyists to bury the truth.
Now we know that the oil industry is the same way. Exxon knew how much carbon was buried in oil reserves. They knew how much…
September 23, 2015
The Intelligent Design Creationists are always getting annoyed at the third word in that label -- they're not creationists, they insist, but something completely different. They're scientists, they think. They're just scientists who favor a different explanation for the diversity of life on Earth…
September 21, 2015
Sharifa Jinnah
September 21, 2015
John Hawks makes a very good case that Homo naledi is a distinct species from H. erectus. He persuaded me, anyway, and it's well worth reading.
Also entertaining. There is some savage snark in there aimed at Jeffrey Schwartz (oh, man, I've long known Schwartz as a hack, not for his anthropology,…
September 18, 2015
I stared at this for a while, trying to sort out what was what, and my mind began to slip into madness, so I figured it was perfect for Pharyngula.
Ily Iglesias
September 17, 2015
He has announced that Dr. Mehmet Oz is changing the direction of his show! No more quackery for him!
The entire upcoming season of The Dr. Oz Show — which kicks off Monday, September 14 — will focus on the mind-body connection and feature a partnership with former U.S. Surgeon General David…
September 15, 2015
This video includes snippets showing exactly what it was like to crawl through those narrow tunnels to get at the Homo naledi fossil site.
No, thank you. Can we get one of those big subway tunnel excavators to the cave? It needs widening.
September 14, 2015
Bill Nye has a new book coming out in November, Unstoppable: Harnessing Science to Change the World. In it, he's going to write about climate change, among other subjects.
This has Ken Ham annoyed. Don't you know that if you look at everything through the lens of the Bible, you don't have to worry…
September 14, 2015
Kevin Folta, a critic of the Food Babe, has been sent a list of demands for his email correspondence under the Freedom Of Information Act. I'm all in favor of transparency, and I can see where FOIA requests can be used to uncover conspiracy or expose intent, but this is a case where Folta has been…
September 12, 2015
I must have been taking a nap a couple of years ago. I just found this interesting discussion of EP by a psychologist, and I agree very much with it.
Evolutionary psychologists believe that the human mind works much like the body… that it is an information-processing system, with pre-specified…
September 11, 2015
This is an octopus eye:
This is an octopus brain:
I have to point this out because the creationist Eric Metaxas said a remarkable thing:
But the octopus isn’t the only such miracle. “Convergent evolution” is all over nature, from powered flight evolving three times to each continent having its…
September 11, 2015
I quite annoyed one of the authors of that "Kill All The Predators argument, who butted heads with me on Twitter and told me I had to go read this longer essay by Jeff McMahan which would address all my objections, because philosophers all seem to think that if they can babble long enough, they'll…