Ten best species for the last year 23 May 2009 It’s fun to read, but what it means I am not sure. A bunch of systematists have devised the Top 10 New Species list for 2008. It’s basically a way to promote the need for more conservation and systematics at the species level, and that can’t be a bad thing: The list at the Institute for Species Exploration, centred at ASU, is here. However, I am particularly concerned at the choice of the coffee bean without caffeine. What’s next? Lauding a cacao bean without theobromine? This is just wrong, and they should have hidden the news altogether, lest it become the standard offering at coffee bars. Ecology and Biodiversity Humor Systematics
Epistemology Pattern cladism and the myth of theory dependence of observation 4 Mar 2011 A new paper has been published in the History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences, entitled “Pattern Cladism, Homology, and Theory-Neutrality” by Christopher Pearson. Either the journal has done something horrible to the text, or the author doesn’t know the difference between Willi Hennig and William Hennig, or between Gareth… Read More
Evolution You know you’re a nerd when… 23 Jan 2009 this makes you laugh out loud: It’s even relevant to this blog… Read More
Administrative Academic genealogies 29 Oct 2010 Wasting time usefully with my friend and co-student of Gareth Nelson, Malte Ebach, we wondered what our academic genealogies were. My thesis advisors were Gareth J. Nelson and Neil Thomason. Gary was advised by William A. Gosline (1915-2002), who was advised by George Sprague Myers (1905-1985), who was a student… Read More
A caffeine-free coffee bean might be economically useful – for producing a never-caffeinated subsitute for decaffeinated coffee.