A new philosophy and biology journal 11 Dec 2009 Massimo Pigliucci has just announced Philosophy & Theory in Biology, a new online open access journal. Its stated mission is to bring “together philosophers of science and theoretically inclined biologists to interact across disciplinary boundaries. This interaction fosters a broad conception of what it means to do “theory” in science and to analyze the sciences philosophically. “ It has an associated blog, for discussion of papers. I wonder if it might also be used to do reviews of the papers before they are finalised, like BBS? Biology Ecology and Biodiversity Epistemology Evolution Metaphysics Philosophy Science
Biology Evidence and Evolution 23 Jul 2009 I have just finished doing a review (for Systematic Biology) that took me six months. It was not because I was slack. It was because I had to read it in three page segments. The book is “Evidence and Evolution: The Logic Behind the Science” (Elliott Sober) Read More
Ecology and Biodiversity Hybrid species and conservation 4 Sep 2009 Here’s what Elio Schaechter calls a Talmudic Question – if two endangered species hybridise, are their biodiversities conserved? I ask because this is exactly what happens frequently in, say, birds, and because there are a lot of debates over what hybrid species signify. Read More
Biology Counterintuition: Bdelloid Rotifers 1 Oct 2009 A while back, it was noticed that there was an “ancient asexual scandal” (Judson 1996): Bdelloid Rotifers. These are cool little animals that live in ponds and streams, but which go against the received wisdom that sex is a hedge against environmental challenges that asexual organisms cannot have without some… Read More