Category: Science

New edited species book

19 Oct 202119 Oct 2021

So, what have I been doing for the Covid Lockdown. Many things. This is one of them. The CRC Press link is here, but I’ll give the table of contents below. The beautiful cover art is by Scott Partridge, an artist in North Carolina. It is entitled Abyssal Zone. Table…

History

Ill of the dead

8 Mar 20218 Mar 2021

I have found it necessary, in the course of this volume, to speak of the departed; for the misgovernment of the Royal Society has not been wholly the result of even the present race. It is said, and I think with justice, in the life of Young inserted amongst Dr….

Ecology and Biodiversity

Virulence and vectors

18 Mar 202018 Mar 2020

Apropos of nothing, I am reminded of Paul Ewald’s book Evolution of infectious disease (1994). Ewald begins with the question of whether parasites and pathogens evolve towards commensuality (the state of being mutually beneficial, which is what, among others, Macfarlane Burnet thought, along with many immunologists and epidemiologists. Ewald points out…

Philosophy

My species book receives a Choice award

11 Feb 202011 Feb 2020

I am delighted to tell you that my book Species: The Evolution of the Idea has received a 2019 Choice Reviews Outstanding Academic Title Award! The book met the meticulous Choice criteria from originality, uniqueness, and importance in building undergraduate library collections, to overall excellence in presentation and value to…

Cognition

My talk online

31 Oct 201931 Oct 2019

I recently gave a fuller version of my talk “Comprehension as Compression”, and I placed the slideshow on Slideshare. You may also download the PDF:

Ecology and Biodiversity

New book contract

29 Jul 201930 Oct 2019

Well CRC Press haven’t learned their lesson yet, and have given me, Frank Zachos (Vienna) and Igor Pavlinov (Moscow) a contract for an edited book of science and philosophy dialogue entitled Species and Beyond. Anyone who wants a particular topic to be covered, leave it in the comments. I won’t…

Creationism and Intelligent Design

John Ray

3 May 20193 May 2019

This has been submitted as an entry in the Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science, and it is offered here for your delectation and delight… Title of entry: John Ray Synonyms: John Wray; Joanne Raio, Joannis Raii [Lat.] Life John Ray (1627/8–1705, known as Wray until 1670) was an English clergyman…

History

In defence of taxonomists [plus ça change]

7 Mar 20187 Mar 2018

I sympathize with the physiologist or ecologist, who after he has written a luminous paper on a Cratoegus or Viola, or Rosa, or Opuntia, endeavors to ascertain the proper name for his plant; but I do not sympathize with his objurgations against the whole tribe of species makers. There is…

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