Spider web
Photograph by John Trawick.
Photography Contest, Honorable Mention.
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Dolomedes triton
Photograph by Mark Sturtevant.
Photography Contest, Honorable Mention.
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Interview with “Executive CEO” of AIG
Paul Braterman reported earlier that Martyn Iles is the new Executive CEO of Answers in Genesis. Professor Braterman found the appointment of Mr. Iles troubling.
Mr. Iles was interviewed the other day by Jolene Almendarez of the Cincinnati Enquirer. I will admit that I was slightly put off by Ms. Almendarez’s first comment, that “most” reputable scientists and educators debunk AIG’s “controversial” claims about the age of the earth and so on. Nevertheless, it was a good interview which asked pertinent questions – though I fear that it will make Prof. Braterman no less troubled.
An Immense World: newish book
I have been reading, intermittently, I afraid, An Immense World, subtitled “How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us,” by Ed Yong. The book is about senses: vision, touch, pain, hearing, taste, smell, but also heat, vibration, electric and magnetic fields, and echoes and echolocation. I am about up to the part where he tries to tell you, with a sort of apology to Thomas Nagel, what it is like to be a bat.
In the meantime, I heard Mr. Yong interviewed by Arielle Duhaime-Ross last week on Science Friday, under the title, Expanding our Umwelt: Understanding animal experiences. Umwelt is a German word that Mr. Yong borrows to mean “the part of [its] surroundings that an animal can sense and experience—its perceptual world.”
Additionally, The New York Times ran an article, A bird’s-eye view of a Technicolor world, by Emily Anthes. This article shows some videos supposedly demonstrating what the world might look like to a bird whose vision is sensitive to ultraviolet light. There seemed to be an implicit assumption that ultraviolet looked a lot like violet and the birds see the primary colors about the same as we do, but never mind.
Darwin Day is February 12
Darwin Day, that is, the anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth in 1809, is February 12. If you are sponsoring any Darwin Day events, or indeed if you know of any, please submit them to International Darwin Day. As I write, only a half-dozen events are listed, and I am sure that there are many more.
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