More roundup 15 Sep 2008 Mohan Matthen, a philosopher of biology, has a very nice takedown of Thomas Nagel’s qualified support for teaching creationism on his blog. Hat tip Leiter. Richard Losick has an excellent piece on the problems of using cultured lab strains when studying microbes, at Small Things Considered. A new blog on politics and science, A Vote for Science, has started up at the mothership. Hopefully, when the present unpleasantness in the US has concluded for four years, we can get onto some wider and more interesting matters. Wesley Elsberry has a plaintive cri de coeur about the joys of sleep apnea diagnosis. With all that equipment on you, you can’t sleep, I know, which makes the tests somewhat self-fulfilling. Administrative General Science Humor Politics Species and systematics
Biology Speciation – a brief history: Linnaeus 1 Apr 20145 Apr 2014 One of the fundamental aspects of evolution is speciation. This is the process by which more species come into being, and there are many different definitions and mechanisms that have been proposed by biologists in the last couple of centuries. I aim to write an occasional series on what it… Read More
Biology Downward Causation 9 Aug 201122 Jun 2018 The final claim for there being an ontological sense to emergence is “downward causation“, a phrase coined by the evolutionary epistemologist Donald Campbell in the 1970s. The idea here is that emergence is real because higher-level (or bigger, composite) entities cause changes in the properties and dynamics of their parts…. Read More
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… Read More
Your CPAP and You The only advice I can give is, get used to it. Being ready for bed helps a lot. Not fretting about being woken up in the middle of the night because you stopped breathing or can’t breathe helps a lot too. Get used to wearing the mask, be ready for bed, and don’t fret about being able to breathe. That should help. Good luck.
Your CPAP and You The only advice I can give is, get used to it. Being ready for bed helps a lot. Not fretting about being woken up in the middle of the night because you stopped breathing or can’t breathe helps a lot too. Get used to wearing the mask, be ready for bed, and don’t fret about being able to breathe. That should help. Good luck.