Species article online 27 Oct 2008 The NCSE has put up more of its content from it’s excellent, if badly laid out, magazine Reports of the NCSE. As a result, one of my better pieces, on species concepts, is now up, with a list of what I at the time thought were the concepts in the modern literature, derived from Mayden’s 1997 piece. I would revise the phylogenetic concepts somewhat, but the citations are still useful. Also go check out the revised NCSE website. It has lots of useful links about antievolutionism and evolution. And happy birthday to Genie… Evolution History Species and systematics
History On Grayling on the Jesuits 23 Aug 2009 A long time ago I would debate the local Jesuits over scotch, when I was still a Christian theology student. I learned two things: 1. those guys could really hold their liquor (I drank much more sparingly); and 2. Jesuits are really really smart. But as a theolog, I also… Read More
Evolution Teeth and a marsupial lion 16 May 2009 Chris Nedin has another post of great interest (even if it is for a late period, the Pleistocene) which goes into my file of “the older naturalists were great observers”, as he shows how modern chemistry supports Richard Owens’ diagnosis of Thylacoleo as a carnivore, even though it is in… Read More
Evolution ROUS’s? I don’t believe they exist. 15 Jan 2008 Anyone who knows the film The Princess Bride knows what happens next. Westley gets hit hard by a rodent about the size of a pitbull. However, it seems that ROUS’s (Rodents of Unusual Size) actually may have existed, in Uruguay. Nature reports that the skull of one has been discovered,… Read More