Biology Legal metaphysics of genes 13 Apr 2010 The recent decision in the NY district court against the breast cancer gene patent held by Myriad has many interesting aspects, but one that was brought to my attention by John Lunstroth is that the court engaged in a metaphysical dispute: are genes physical things or information? Read More
Biology George C. Williams dies 11 Sep 2010 Few evolutionary biologists have had the impact within and without their field as has George Williams, who died this week. His groundbreaking Adaptation and Natural Selection in 1966 set off the debate over levels of selection, the ubiquity of natural selection and some decent philosophising. It’s no exaggeration to say… Read More
Biology Why is Darwin’s theory so controversial? 24 Nov 2012 So asks this essay and gets the whole thing wrong. Darwin’s theories (plural) are not controversial because they imply that species are mutable. This was a widely held view by preachers, moralists, Aristotelians, naturalists, breeders, formalists, folk biology, and even biblical translators. Darwin was not controversial because he implied racist… Read More
This explains pretty much every single “OMG WE JUST SOLVED BIOLOGY!!1!” paper ever found in physics journals… *cringe* (If I recall, T Ryan Gregory is accumulating quite the collection of “revolutionary” genome papers he finds in physics journals. So revolutionary that no lowly biologist can understand as much as the basic thesis of the paper…)
Reminds me of Fred Hoyle’s rediscovery of population genetics, apparently unaware that it had already happened. And of course his discovery that Archaeopteryx was a hoax. “Most popular Tested Marketing auctions”? Is that a form of spam I have not previously encountered?
There is a form of trackback spamming becoming popular. Mostly I block it via Askimet, but some creeps through.
http://digitalcuttlefish.blogspot.com/2010/09/prolate-spheroids.html OT, I really like the “how scientists think” idea. My alter ego may have to send you something.