Evolution Virgin births 4 Dec 2007 Forget about the season; virgin births can happen any time of year… and anywhere. So there is an Ask a Scienceblogger question about virgin births. In zoology this is called “parthenogenesis” (which means “virgin birth”), and in botany it is either called “vegetative reproduction” (think: cuttings) or “apomixis”, in which… Read More
Evolution The ontology of biology 1 – What an ontology really is 8 Nov 2008 It has become common in recent years for people to use terms of philosophy in distinct contexts, as it has terms of biology. Thus, ontology has gone the way of taxonomy, being dragooned into service of database techniques, to mean something quite the opposite of what it originally meant. I… Read More
Creationism and Intelligent Design Darwin, God and chance 5 Sep 200818 Sep 2017 One of the enduring objections to evolution of the Darwinian variety is that it is based on chance, and so for theists who believe God is interventionist, it suggests that God is subjected to chance, and hence not onmi-something (present, potent or scient). Darwin and his friend Asa Gray debated… Read More
Darwin Day, cool! John, your blurb says you’re looking for a position. Richard Dawkins is stepping down from the Charles Simonyi chair in Oxford. Maybe you should send a CV and apply…..
From Language Log: “Today is the 199th anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln, who freed the slaves, and Charles Darwin, who freed the mind.”