Observing the hot 17 Mar 2008 The ever-interesting blog of Moselio Schachter, Small Things Considered has another post of thought-provoking microbes: hyperthermophiles. These wee beasties live at 90°C in anoxic conditions. I particularly liked the passing comment: Growth and division of these organisms was observed at 90°C under anoxic conditions using a dark-field light microscope (which takes quite a set-up). Um yes. I’m betting that was a Herculean effort! In particular this is interesting because there is a bias in identifying microbes that do not culture in ordinary lab conditions. These researchers are to be congratulated for going to such lengths. Ecology and Biodiversity Evolution General Science Species and systematics
Ethics and Moral Philosophy Researchers teach gorilla existential angst 31 Mar 2010 I love The Onion. They even get the species right. Read More
Evolution Popper peeps papally at UD 15 Aug 2007 Popper’s view of science has been supplanted by a number of later views, not least being the sociological accounts of Kuhn and Lakatos, which, being sociological, don’t tell us what is science but only how it proceeds descriptively. Prescriptive views of science are much more nuanced than Popper these days, and they lack a simple slogan like the cry of “falsifiability!” They typically focus on the heuristics (rules of inference) and how they have developed overall and in particular disciplines. If you want to argue that ID is science, go read van Fraassen, or Hacking, or Giere, or Laudan and get back to me. Read More
Evolution ID not OK in UK 26 Jun 2007 The Register is reporting that the UK government has ruled that intelligent design is not acceptable in science classes. [via Slashdot] Read More