Bugs online 9 Aug 2008 This is cool. I always like to find historical documents online; even better when they’re free. The Society for General Microbiology has scanned its journal International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology (IJSEM) back to the first edition in 1951 and made the archival articles free to all. Since the discovery of organisms is a once-off affair, subsequent researchers need access to the item that announced it in peer-reviewed print to be able to be sure they are working on the right species. So more than most sciences, taxonomy is a historical science, and since bugs (the technical term for bacteria, algae, and other microbes) have only really been deeply and widely studied in the past 60 years or so, this counts as “historical material”. Congrats to the SGM, and now for the other professional publishers… Ecology and Biodiversity History Species and systematics
Evolution The cultural canoe 19 Feb 200818 Sep 2017 A new paper, unfortunately not yet available to nonsubscribers on PNAS‘s Early Edition, has done some remarkable work on the evolution of canoe designs, putting some meat onto cultural evolutionary models. Read More
Evolution No, it’s not an ancestor either (probably) 19 May 200918 Sep 2017 In addition to the “missing link” trope that is being dished out about the new primate fossil, is another one, more subtle and insidious: it’s the ancestor of all primates. How do they know that? Consider a biologically realistic scenario: at the time there were probably hundreds of species of… Read More
Academe My book is published 1 Dec 20131 Dec 2013 See the book at the right entitled The Nature of Classification? According to the website you go to when you click on the cover, it has now been published. I haven’t seen a copy yet, but I’m hopeful… anyway, there’s your stocking filler for the philosopher of science in your… Read More
Now THAT is just plain beautiful. This is one journal that lack of free access to has been irritating me, so I’m excruciatingly happy to see them opening up…
Now THAT is just plain beautiful. This is one journal that lack of free access to has been irritating me, so I’m excruciatingly happy to see them opening up…