Size matters 13 Jan 201213 Jan 2012 As always, click on the image to go see the entire Tony Piro goodness Evolution Humor
Evolution Speciation – A brief history: The late eighteenth century 5 Apr 20146 Apr 2014 After Linnaeus had settled on the older mechanism of hybridisation of genera with other genera or with varieties formed by geographical conditions as the cause of new species, the topic began to pick up speed. Hybridisation remained the usual method as late as the 1830s (e.g., in Lindley) but two… Read More
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 Homology 16 Jun 2010 In a recent Nature, R. John Ellis, author of How Science Works, takes exception to Eugenie Scott’s review and says this about her use of “homology”: The word was invented in 1843 by anatomist Richard Owen to mean “the same organ in different animals under every variety of form and… Read More
So why are plantain bigger? And what about pineapple? (there is a joke surrounding fruit size but it’s not PC, and is best told in a pub)