Book My species definitions reader is accepted for publication 15 Aug 2007 I have a book forthcoming, Species definitions: a sourcebook from antiquity to today, which gives and commentates definitions of “species” in logic and biology for 2,500 years, from Plato to Templeton and beyond. It’s designed as a reader for scholars to see how the notion[s] have evolved separately in the… Continue Reading
Ecology and Biodiversity New paper by moi 12 Aug 2007 I have a review of the centenary festschrift for Mayr, published by the National Academies of Science, in the latest Biology and Philosophy here. I worked pretty hard on this one, so it’s more than your average dashed off review article… Hey, Jody; Fitch, Walter M.; Ayala, Francisco J., eds…. Continue Reading
Evolution An essay on the evolution of human evolution 12 Aug 2007 Laelaps has a very nice essay that ranges from the number of ribs humans have, the book of Genesis, creationism, and the variety of stories told about human evolution from the nineteenth century to now. Go read it. It’s one of the few blog posts in which you’ll read of… Continue Reading
Ecology and Biodiversity What is an individual? 11 Aug 2007 Rob Wilson has a new entry up at the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, entitled “The Biological notion of an individual”. It discusses an interesting problem, one that goes back to discussions by Julian Huxley in 1911. What is an individual in biology? Continue Reading
Administrative Home again 3 Aug 2007 So I’m home from Ish, and the front part of my brain is giddy and tired while the rest has just shut down. I don’t travel well, I’m afraid. One thing that I came back fired up over are the unfinished projects I have running. So I intend to finish… Continue Reading
Evolution Lateral transfer of genes across the evolutionary tree 18 Jul 2007 In recent years it has becoming increasingly obvious that there is a considerable amount of lateral, or cross phylogenetic, transfer of genetic material. In bacteria, this happens by several mechanisms, such as uptake of gene fragments from cells that have disintegrated, or by mechanisms such as conjugation (“bacterial sex”). Sometimes… Continue Reading
Ecology and Biodiversity Primate researcher in Brazil gets 14 years for a permit problem 7 Jul 2007 Naturalised Brazilian, Dutch biologist Marc van Roosmalen, has been sentenced to 14 years jail in Brazil for running a monkey refuge without a permit from Ibama, the local environmental agency. Not that he didn’t apply, mark you, but Ibama didn’t respond, and the received local wisdom is that if they don’t within 45 days, it’s approved. Continue Reading
Evolution Random things 4 Jul 2007 Back from the drinking sessionconference, with many good thoughts. One in particular is due to the talk by Aiden Lyons at ANU on probability and evolution – after more than two decades trying to figure it out, I had to wait for a grad student to put it all neatly… Continue Reading
Evolution New Philosophy of Biology Forum 26 Jun 20074 Oct 2017 Run by Matt Haber at Utah, it’s a forum for discussions of work in progress, student matters like employment, tech issues and biology and society topics, to mention only a few. It’s in alpha form now, but expect it to grow. The sidebar blurb is this: Continue Reading
Evolution Lewes on Heredity, in 1856 22 Jun 2007 I’m putting this up because I will use it to discuss the history of species definitions in a forthcoming talk. It’s very interesting for a number of reasons, one of which is the species nominalism, and another that Lewes argues from evidence for biparental inheritance some years before Mendel, and… Continue Reading