News from Ediacara 27 Oct 2008 The Ediacaran period is the era between around 635Mybp and 540Mybp, just before the Cambrian. You pronounce it “ed-ee-ack-a-ran”. It is also the name of a new blog by the inimitable Chris Nedin, erstwhile paleontologist who specialised in the Ediacaran fauna before joining the Dark Side (federal public service) in order to eat. Go read Ediacaran: Past Imperfect and leave some comments. His first post is about why Anomalocaris couldn’t continue to eat trilobites. I guarantee that he will be interesting and informed. Bugger knows way too much anyway… Administrative Evolution Species and systematics
Evolution A prehumous Darwin Award for Michelle Bachmann 2 May 2009 One of the things I don’t like about the Darwin Awards is that it presumes the only way to gain one is to remove yourself from the gene pool directly by dying. But that would be a Wallace Award. Darwin knew, as do we, that there are many ways one… Read More
Biology Darwin and the female body 29 Sep 2009 Paul Griffiths reviews: Natalie Angier Woman: An Intimate Geography, Melbourne, Scribe, 2009 (464 pp). ISBN 9-781-92137-241-4 (paperback) RRP $32.95. Hannah Holmes The Well-Dressed Ape: A Natural History of Myself, Melbourne, Scribe, 2009 (368 pp). ISBN 9-781-92137-252-0 (paperback) RRP $35.00. Read More
Evolution Liveblogging the conference: Piotrowski 14 Mar 2008 Monica Piotrowski (Utah) also is talking about DNA Barcoding. She starts with a child’s coin sorter. Imagine that it’s a bug-sorter, sorting by DNA samples. What does the child now have? She claims Barcoders must have a species concept to measure the success of their practice. They have none, and… Read More