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
Evolution Notes on novelty 1: Introduction 14 Dec 201115 Jan 2012 Notes on Novelty series: 1. Introduction 2. Historical considerations – before and after evolution 3: The meaning of evolutionary novelty 4: Examples – the beetle’s horns and the turtle’s shell 5: Evolutionary radiations and individuation 6: Levels of description 7: Surprise! 8: Conclusion – Post evo-devo I like to take the most extreme view I can… Read More
Evolution The two Wilsons on sociobiology 18 Nov 200718 Sep 2017 It’s not often I get to comment on as-yet-unpublished work, but I have been sent a copy of a forthcoming essay by David Sloan Wilson and Edward O. Wilson, two giants of the theoretical evolutionary field, defending and redefining the nature of sociobiology (Wilson and Wilson 2007). As I have… Read More
Creationism and Intelligent Design The tautology problem 20 Aug 2009 A long time ago I wrote a not particularly good piece on the tautology problem: that natural selection is merely circular definition. I was just out of being an undergraduate when it was published, so it was at best an undergraduate piece. I have been unsatisfied with it ever since…. Read More