New evolutionary blogger 27 Oct 2009 Sean Stan Rice, an evolutionary biologist at Southeastern Oklahoma State University, has started a blog: Honest-Ab (which he has named after a weed he once used in experiments; not noticing that it is named also after Theophrastus, Aristotle’s student who founded botany). Put it in your reader and watch it. Rice is the editor of the Encyclopedia of Evolution, so he may be presumed to know a thing or two… Evolution
Ecology and Biodiversity What is “life”, again? 8 Sep 200718 Sep 2017 Now we turn to the modern accounts of life. In 1828, Friedrich Wöhler produced uric acid without using “kidney of man or dog”. Prior to that time, there was considered to be something different between organic chemistry and inorganic chemistry. Living things had some “vital fluid” that other things lacked…. Read More
Evolution The Place of Science in Society 24 Jan 2009 It came as an email. Then it was on the Seed Bloggers Forum. Now it’s on my frigging Facebook – they really want me to answer this: In his first speech as President-elect last November, Barack Obama reminded us of the promise of “a world connected by our own science… Read More
Evolution Species, framing, and stuff 24 Mar 2008 So here’s a neo-Thomist talking about species, and not getting it due to (i) prior metaphysical commitments, and (ii) not understanding Aristotle – dude, he never called anything a species, not in the biological sense. Eidos and genos were just ordinary words he coopted for the Metaphysics and Posterior Analytics…. Read More