Pharyngula
Pinker explains Group Selection
Posted by PZ Myers on June 18, 2012 I found this very satisfying: Steven Pinker summarizes all the problems with group selection. It’s a substantial essay, but if you just want the gist of it, here’s the conclusion. The idea of Group Selection has a superficial appeal because humans are indisputably adapted to group living and because some groups are indisputably larger, longer-lived,…
Weird pairing
Posted by PZ Myers on June 18, 2012 All I want to know is…who instigated this unholy coupling? Was it the dolphin getting kinky? Was it the octopus feeling amorous? Or was it possibly a mutually agreed-upon exploration of new sexual frontiers?
Mary’s Monday Metazoan: Protective pappa
Posted by PZ Myers on June 18, 2012 (via NatGeo)
Creationism is a marketing game
Posted by PZ Myers on June 17, 2012 And they know it. Ken Ham has started a new billboard campaign for the creation “museum”, with a variety of different designs, all featuring prehistoric* creatures as draws to get kids and family to attend. Here are some examples: Notice what’s smart about them? They’re focused, featuring an element that they clearly know is a…
Friday Cephalopod: that gentle touch
Posted by PZ Myers on June 15, 2012 (via the Johnsen Lab)
I may have to give up calamari
Posted by PZ Myers on June 14, 2012 Just the title was enough to make me squeamish: Penetration of the Oral Mucosa by Parasite-Like Sperm Bags of Squid: A Case Report in a Korean Woman. It seems the woman thought she was getting dinner; the squid saw a last chance to reproduce. As is common with these kinds of misunderstandings, neither got what…
Art, games, life, obsession
Posted by PZ Myers on June 14, 2012 Jerry Gretzinger has a project, one that never ends. What started as a little doodle has grown into a sprawling, detailed map that is maintained and expanded by following rules — rules that increase complexity organically, using chance. It’s cool and strange at the same time. Jerry’s Map from Jerry Gretzinger on Vimeo. Gretzinger also…
Botanical Wednesday: High times
Posted by PZ Myers on June 14, 2012 Exciting news! Scientists are working on identifying the biochemical pathways that produce a miniscule component of this plant’s chemical defenses!
Science Writing! Online!
Posted by PZ Myers on June 12, 2012 The Best Science Writing Online 2012 can be read online right now — but don’t you want to order your very own precious hard copy, too?
A well informed citizenry is the only true repository of the public will
Posted by PZ Myers on June 12, 2012 Both Andrew Sullivan and Kevin Drum are wrong, but I think Drum is infuriatingly wrong. They’re arguing over a statistic, the observation that about 46% of Americans believe the earth is 6000 years old and that a god created human beings complete and perfect as they are ex nihilo. Andrew Sullivan sees this as a…