Pharyngula
I get email
Posted by PZ Myers on September 2, 2015 I often get requests from students to answer questions about biology — typically, they’ve been told to write to a scientist and get a response, and somehow they’ve picked me. I try to answer them, but due to the number of requests, I usually only give brief answers. Here’s an example: Dear PZ Meyers, Yeah,…
Mary’s Monday Metazoan: Lost in those eyes
Posted by PZ Myers on August 31, 2015 Lomborg is a hack
Posted by PZ Myers on August 31, 2015 Oh, here’s a good takedown of that shill for the petroleum industry, Bjorn Lomborg. Lomborg’s message to the newspaper readers has thus nothing to do with a fair portrayal of how much sea-level rise the scientific community expects. Rather it is a distortion and blatant attempt at downplaying future sea-level rise. Looking at Lomborg’s many…
Who elected Jack D. Ripper?
Posted by PZ Myers on August 31, 2015 Here’s a treat: a congressman who has been in office since 1989, and is on the Committee on Science, Space and Technology. @fullofbalogna claiming Global Warming they create powerful Global gov. Claiming tooth decay they mandate chemical fluoride in our water — Dana Rohrabacher (@DanaRohrabacher) August 30, 2015 claiming Global Warming they create powerful Global…
An innovative NASA would be nice
Posted by PZ Myers on August 30, 2015 NASA has put out a call for novel ideas in space exploration, which I think is an excellent way to do science. More creativity! But this feels like they’re just pandering to me (I know, they’re not): building robotic squid to explore the oceans of Europa? What’s not to love about that idea?
Oliver Sacks has died
Posted by PZ Myers on August 30, 2015 I have been increasingly conscious, for the last 10 years or so, of deaths among my contemporaries. My generation is on the way out, and each death I have felt as an abruption, a tearing away of part of myself. There will be no one like us when we are gone, but then there is…
Friday Cephalopod: Hairy & slimy
Posted by PZ Myers on August 28, 2015 Allonautilus scrobiculatus is a rare species that can be distinguishes from the natty Nautilus pompilius by its hairy, slimy shell. That doesn’t seem like a distinction to be proud of, but I guess it takes all types to fill an ocean.
I am not a number
Posted by PZ Myers on August 27, 2015 I endorse this article: 5 Ways That Science Supports Feminism – Not Gender Essentialism. It’s making the point that when you actually study the relevant sciences, you discover that they fundamentally support a more complex view of sexuality than the usual boy/girl dichotomy. Here, in brief, are the five points it makes: 1. There Are…
Macroevolution explained
Posted by PZ Myers on August 25, 2015 If you’re reluctant to drop $80 on a copy of Zimmer/Emlen’s Evolution: Making Sense of Life, here’s a deal for you: the NCSE will let you download a chapter for free, the one on macroevolution (pdf). That’s a good choice. I run into a fair number of pro-science people who think the macroevolution/microevolution distinction is…