This post is part of a series on The Origin Of Species. It was originally posted on the old blog in feb 2009, during the Darwin 200 celebrations. What’s all this backlash nonsense about? We’re getting essays telling us to forget about Darwin (ironic coming from Steve Jones, who has […]
This post is part of a series on The Origin Of Species. It was originally posted on the old blog in feb 2009, during the Darwin 200 celebrations. It has been noted enough times now that Darwin knew nothing of genetics, and I already described Darwin’s bizarre Lamarckian hypothesis for […]
This post is part of a series on The Origin Of Species. It was originally posted on the old blog in feb 2009, during the Darwin 200 celebrations. I’ve not been up to writing anything new and insightful today. I’ve not been feeling so good or thinking so efficiently, after […]
This post is part of a series on The Origin Of Species. It was originally posted on the old blog in feb 2009, during the Darwin 200 celebrations. Chapter four is supposed to be the big reveal of natural selection, the solution to one of nature’s greatest problem. Trouble is, […]
This post is part of a series on The Origin Of Species. It was originally posted on the old blog in feb 2009, during the Darwin 200 celebrations. In addition to The Origin, over the past few months I have been slowly working through an anthology of Darwin’s letters, which […]
This post is part of a series on The Origin Of Species. It was originally posted on the old blog in feb 2009, during the Darwin 200 celebrations. Chapter 3 is the struggle for existence. If The Origin had been written a hundred and twenty years later than it was, […]
This post is part of a series on The Origin Of Species. It was originally posted on the old blog in feb 2009, during the Darwin 200 celebrations. Chapter 2 is “variation in nature”. You can’t solve a problem without first defining terms, so if the problem is the origin […]
This post is part of a series on The Origin Of Species. It was originally posted on the old blog in feb 2009, during the Darwin 200 celebrations. In Chapter one of the Origin, Darwin discusses inheritance and variation. It’s an interesting choice for a starting point, because as everyone […]
This is an archival repost from the old blog. Like many science bloggers, it is my intention to blog about evolution and/or Darwin every day this month. One thing that I will be blogging is The Origin Of Species. It will hard work: fifteen chapters of Victorian prose to get […]
This is another archival repost from the old blog, originally from january 2009. I’ve heard it said several times. Usually it’s when I scold an acquaintance for being in possession of a copy. They will say something like, “I only bought it because it’s a convenient size,” or, “I just […]
Michael Retsky, William Hrushesky, and Isaac Gukas have an interesting article relating to angiogenesis in the evolution of tumours published in BMC Cancer today.[1] It’s only an hypothesis, but it covers an area of cancer biology that I have been meaning to blog about for a long time now. Angiogenesis […]
This is another archival repost from the old blog, this time from jan 2009. Catching up on the week’s feeds, and the CiF piece from Edinburgh climate scientist Thomas Crowley caught my eye. Perhaps it’s the headline editor’s fault, but really — “Science can’t explain the big bang – there […]
This is another archival repost, originally written on the old blog in Nov 2008. I’m on the train! Yay for the Eee PC! In between distractions from the frosty countryside and industrial heritage of Yorkshire, Durham and Northumberland, let me share the essentials of setting up your new Eee, should […]
This is an archival repost of something I wrote on the old blog in october 2008. This week, I am mostly clearing my Google Docs of old half-written blog posts which I never got around to publishing… From the discussions in the publishing/OA blogosphere, one would get the impression that […]
This is another archival repost from the old blog. At the age of ten, nearing the end of the final year of primary school, we, the class, were sent for a week to Brenscombe Farm, near Poole Harbour, on the coast of Dorset. One of the days was devoted to […]
This is another archival repost, originally written for the old blog in september 2008. There are differing opinions in the blogosphere over the merits of calling out bullshit. Does one feed the troll? Is it ever acceptable to sink to ad hominin attacks? I try to stay civil, and I […]
This is another archival repost from the old blog, originally from september 2008. It’s a right good science fest on Radio 4 at the moment. If you missed it, you must listen to Physics Rocks (available until 17/9). It’s Brian Cox talking to comedians about their enthusiasm for science. It’s […]
This is another archival repost originally written for the old blog in 2008. I am satisfied with the mystery of life’s eternity and with a knowledge, a sense, of the marvelous structure of existence – as well as the humble attempt to understand even a tiny portion of the Reason […]
This is another archival repost, originally written in september 2008. It was great to meet everybody at the London Science Blogging Conference. Before my dissection of what I thought were the important themes, I should just apologise for the accident with my facial hair — it was only this morning […]
This is another archive repost from the old blog, written in aug 2008. The psychologist Oliver James was on The Late Edition a couple of weeks ago.[1] His argument was unconvincing and his behaviour unimpressive. So I took a quick look at his website. He offers for download a Radio […]
This is another archival repost from the old blog — this time from July 2008. So, the following video was brought to my attention, and I was so impressed that I had to share. Admittedly, it took me some time to getting around to the sharing bit: it’s difficult to […]
This is an archival repost originally written on the old blog in 2008. Hah! Made you look! No, but seriously… The schizophrenic argument of the creationists goes something like this (my paraphrasing): How can we believe anything these scientists say when they keep changing what they say to accommodate the […]
This is another archival repost, originally written for the old blog in May 2008. Darwin’s 1837 phylogeny, with root and branches. I’ve talked about Horizontal Gene Transfer (HGT) on the blog a few times before, particularly in the context of bacteria acquiring genes for things like antibiotic resistance, and in […]
Humphrey Lyttelton, 1921 – 2008 Humph tells me he has to leave us now as he’s been invited to a club night by St Peter, and this is something of a climax for him. He’ll drop everything to be taken to heaven by St Michael. He says he can’t wait […]
This is another archival repost from the old blog — this one from feb 2008. Somebody in the Nature Podcast editorial team is clearly not a fan of “new atheists”. The “guest rant” spot, or whatever it is they call it — podium, I think — has been given to […]