In the mind of a microbial paper 25 Aug 2009 Over at Small Things Considered is a point by point explanation and explication of a recent paper. For us nonscientists it’s a useful guide to how papers come to be written, how techniques and subjects are chosen, and so forth. Peer into the heads of some scientists and read it. Biology
Biology Arsenic and the life extraterrestrial 3 Dec 201022 Jun 2018 Paul Z. Myers, a little known biologist from Minnesota has published a lovely debunking of the hype surrounding the “second life” announcement from NASA. He should do more science-related posts. He’s really good at them. Here are some other excellent pieces: Bytesized Biology, Leaf Warbler, Greg Laden; Wired; and Ed… Read More
Biology The Knight’s Song, or What is a [scientific] theory? 7 Apr 20127 Apr 2012 “Or else it doesn’t, you know. The name of the song is called ‘Haddocks’ Eyes.’” “Oh, that’s the name of the song, is it?” Alice said, trying to feel interested. “No, you don’t understand,” the Knight said, looking a little vexed. “That’s what the name is called. The name really is ‘The… Read More
Biology Are humans just animals? 2 Jul 20133 Jul 2013 Yesterday I heard on the radio a discussion by neuroscientist turned philosopher Raymond Tallis, who was arguing that humans are not just animals, and that consciousness is not just what happens in the brain. He went on at length about “Darwinitis”, a disease of intellectuals who wish to explain everything… Read More
And once you’ve figured out where the proteins are, you’ll have to figure out when they are. The standard of what counts as an explanation keeps getting raised. I recall when a eukaryotic cell (though nobody called ’em that at the time) was just a an irregular circular shape with a smaller circle inside that represented the nucleus. As somebody once remarked to me, Watson and Crick discovered the meaning of life back in ’53 but it was only the meaning of life until the advance of biology upped the ante.