MigrationsMigrationsCells, birds, and musings from a biologist Articles
Presidential Science Debate?
2007-12-11 16:40:00 … maybe a science test would be more appropriate. The whole point is to show which candidates have a rudimentary level of understanding of science. I imagine that few of the contenders would pass such a test, which is pathetic. Science impacts just about every aspect of governing, as does economics and ... More About: Politics , Presidential , Debate
Across the Pond
2007-12-05 20:50:00 My wife’s dissertation defense went marvelously well on Monday, which isn’t a surprise given how hard she’s worked and how meticulous she has been in her research over the past few years. Now that she’s done, we’re moving! To Cyprus (the Greek/EU side), just in time for New Years there. We plan ... More About: Administrative , Pond , Acro
External Delivery and the Delivery Institute
2007-12-04 15:54:00 Lacie Cuskin has a ground-breaking new scientific theory out just in time for the holidays, presented at External Delivery the Future: What is External Delivery? External delivery refers to a scientific research program as well as a community of older kids, teachers, and other adults who seek evidence of external sources of Christmas presents. The theory of ... More About: Humor , Creationism , Institute
Sociobiology and Group Selection
2007-11-29 16:44:00 Relating to my thoughts on religion and ethnocentrism: is religion adaptive? from back in August, John Wilkins has a five-part series of blog posts up, dealing with sociobiology and multi-level selection theories. The series was spurred on by a book coming out soon by David Sloan Wilson and Edward O. Wilson. At the center of ... More About: Philosophy , Evolution , Group , Selection , Biol
Science is Definitely NOT Faith-Based
2007-11-26 16:17:00 Science most definitely is not based on Faith (i.e. belief in something without evidence). But that’s just what Paul Davies is suggesting. I have just two words for that patently absurd suggestion: epistemology and empiricism. Alex gives a succinct reaction to Davies along those lines. How on Earth does Davies get off calling ... More About: Science , Religion , Humanism
Climatic Impacts on Ocean Ecosystems
2007-11-20 16:46:00 Climatic impacts on ocean ecosystems: A study of climate variability and conservation oceanography That’s the title of my wife’s dissertation. Her public defense will be on Monday, December 3rd, at 1:30pm, in 2146 Snee Hall at Cornell University (Ithaca, NY). She’ll be talking about her two projects. The first one has been on ... More About: Climate Change , Administrative , Biophilia , Ocean , Ecosystems
The Design Matrix, or the Persistence of Theological Thinking
2007-11-19 20:54:00 MikeGene of Telic Thoughts has a book out - The Design Matrix : A Consilience of Clues. I haven’t read it, nor do I think that it will be all that interesting from a scientific standpoint, so I probably won’t read it. For instance, the “design matrix” is itself described as: The Design Matrix is ... More About: Creationism , Persistence , Thinking
Atheist Quotes of the Day
2007-11-16 16:20:00 A couple good ones: “Science should be taught not in order to support religion and not in order to destroy religion. Science should be taught simply ignoring religion.” — Steven Weinberg “I am an atheist, out and out. It took me a long time to say it. I’ve been an atheist for years and years, but ... More About: Atheist , Quotes , Quotations , Theist
The Arc: Blog on Human Evo and Migration Relating to Shore Life
2007-11-15 21:44:00 Via a comment of a relatively old post of mine, I came across an interesting blog: The Arc Interesting, because the topic (Human evolution and migration relating to shore life) is right at the convergence of my own interests in “anything in science or nature that moves,” human societies, conservation, and my wife’s graduate student ... More About: Life , Blog , Shore , Marine Science
Progressive and Proud of it
2007-11-15 04:03:00 … or liberal, or humanist, or Democrat, for that matter. They’re pretty much interchangeable in my opinion. (HT: Crooks and Liars) More About: Progressive , Politics , Humanism , Proud
Macroevolution and Microevolution
2007-11-14 20:51:00 Via Greta: In other words, microevolution + time = macroevolution. Larry Moran takes issue with this, citing Gould, Eldredge, and the concept of “Species sorting.” Somehow, despite requests for explanation, Larry will not or cannot explain how species sorting cannot be explained by microevolutionary mechanisms of species competition. Eldredge (1995) defines “species sorting” ... More About: Evolution , Acro
Agency and Theory of Mind
2007-11-10 21:25:00 On Theology and Falsification, the discussion came down to the overriding questions of the Universe’s origins. John commented: I conclude that the existence of an algorithmic structure in the universe capable of generating life is a sign that intelligence is built in right from the start. In this sense knowledge (or the capacity for knowledge to ... More About: Religion , Agency , Humanism , Theory , Mind
Free from Supersition
2007-11-10 06:28:00 “This is one of the great social functions of science - to free people from superstition.” - Steven Weinberg More About: Free , Quotations
Theology and Falsification
2007-11-07 15:55:00 Given the article in the NY Times on Ex-Atheist Anthony Flew, I thought it appropriate to reprint the essay which made him famous as an atheist philosopher: Theo logy and Falsification (1950). Flew was a precocious 27 when he delivered the paper at a meeting of the Socratic Club, the Oxford salon presided over by C. S. ... More About: Philosophy , Religion
Waterboarding is Torture
2007-11-06 05:29:00 Keith Olberman says it like it is: our President is not merely impeachable, he is a criminal on the loose. Via Crooks and Liars, an excerpt: The presidency of George W. Bush has now devolved into a criminal conspiracy to cover the ass of George W. Bush. More About: Politics , Torture , Waterboarding
An Interesting Question, Based on a Flawed Premise
2007-11-05 19:43:00 The NY Times has an interesting, if suspicious, Opinion piece titled Suffering, Evil and the Existence of God. The topic is the existence of suffering and evil in a world presided over by an all powerful and benevolent deity, and focuses on the intersection of a theist-turned-agnostic and a atheist-turned-theist relating to said topic. ... More About: Religion , Interesting , Question , Humanism , Remi
Evening Grosbeaks
2007-11-03 22:20:00 Today I had a chance to go birdwatching, and took advantage of directions posted to the Cayuga Bird Club’s email listserv for a chance to see Evening Grosbeaks (Coccothraustes vespertinus). The directions took me to a private residence north of Summerhil State Forest near the northern edge of Fall Creek’s drainage, and the owners ... More About: Birding
Cells Weekly #47
2007-10-26 19:05:00 My biweekly survey of blogs relating to cell and molecular biology will no longer be posted here. (sorry) - but it is being continued at BiteSizeBio, for your reading pleasure. Check it out! More About: Weekly
Remembering an Icon in Progressive Politics
2007-10-26 05:16:00 PZ said it well - where are all the progressive politicians like this? Dennis Kucinich and Russ Feingold come to mind, but Paul Wellstone was more outspoken on his principles. More About: Progressive , Politics , Icon , Progressive Politics , Remembering
Tagged by a Mutant? Meme, that is
2007-10-26 02:01:00 Darn - tagged again. And this meme is a strange one! Kind of like a story that evolves as it passes through a series of chain-mails, this one is changing, and even has its own genealogy. Rules: There are a set of questions below that are all of the form, ?The best [subgenre] [medium] in ... More About: Meme , Tagged , Mutant
Flunked
2007-10-24 05:39:00 In this interview and his upcoming movie, Expelled, Ben Stein says that Freedom of Speech is being shut down, that he just wants to be allowed to talk, that creationists are being persecuted, etc. What a contemptuous lie! These cretins aren’t being censored, they’re not being persecuted, and there’s no inquisition going on here. ... More About: Creationism
Why Non-Theism is a More Moral Alternative
2007-10-21 17:56:00 Why There Really Is No God - On the podcast Point of Inquiry, a half-hour interview with Edward Tabash. Edward Tabash is a constitutional and civil rights lawyer, and explains himself as one who grew up theistic. Growing up, he says he quickly realized that (for various reasons that he mentions in the ... More About: Religion , Alternative , Humanism , Theism , Moral
Moving the Science Blogging to BiteSizeBio
2007-10-17 16:18:00 Administrative change: starting soon, you can look for my writing on cell and molecular biology at a new online magazine for molecular biology (and cell biology for perspective), called Bite SizeBio.com. Check the site out. Migrations will remain active, with posts on nature and other miscellany, although it will probably drop off a bit. And ... More About: Science , Blogging , Moving , Administrative
Our Bodies are Nothing More than? Cells
2007-10-17 13:10:00 Normal and malignant cells know how to build. Each carries its own agenda that tells it when it should grow and divide and how it should aggregate with other cells to create organs and tissues. Our bodies are nothing more than highly complex societies of rather autonomous cells, each retaining many of the attributes of ... More About: Quotations , Bodies , Dies , Bodie
Intellectual Bloggers
2007-10-16 19:06:00 John the Evilutionary Biologist kindly tagged me with an Intellectual Blogger Award. He writes that my blog “is an interesting blend of the macro and the micro.” And I do try to put a lot of thought into most of my posts, so I appreciate the recognition. Other blogs put the same ... More About: Bloggers
Weinberg on Metastasis: ?The Last Frontier in Cancer Research?
2007-10-16 12:05:00 Via ScienceFriday on NPR this past Friday (10/12), a Cancer Update with Robert Weinberg : In this segment, Ira talks with cancer researcher Robert Weinberg about what he calls the last frontier of cancer research. Weinberg has been instrumental in studies of oncogenes, genes that can spark the rapid cell multiplication associated with cancerous tumors. Now, in ... More About: Research , Cancer Research , Metastasis
Interview with Seymour Garte, Author of Where We Stand
2007-10-15 17:36:00 Recently I was given the chance to review a copy Where We Stand , including an email interview (10 Q’s) with the book’s author. Great book, offering a great perspective. If you’re at all interested in science, the environment, and perceptions of the state of both in society at large, this is a great ... More About: Science , Books , Interview , Author
Blog Action Day - Environment
2007-10-15 12:34:00 It’s Blog Action Day today! (Oct. 15) To support this occasion, here’s a repost relating to migration and the environment: I’m concerned about this. Are you? Why or why not? Depending on the findings of the coming study (described below), what prospects for species recovery strategies do we have? Mystery shrouds loss ... More About: Environment , Envi
Printing Living Cells
2007-10-14 19:37:00 Via ScienceFriday on NPR this past Friday (10/12), scientist Paul Calvert describes efforts to convert the common home office technology of inkjet printing to manipulate living cells: In this segment, we’ll look at new research into using inkjet technology to build artificial tissues. Writing in the journal Science, Paul Calvert describes efforts to convert the common ... More About: Cell Biology , Living , Printing
Cells Weekly #46
More articles from this author:2007-10-14 17:50:00 In the interests of promoting science posts relating (however broadly) to my interests of cell and molecular biology, here?s my biweekly installment of ?Cells Weekly ,? a showcase of topical blog posts by others from the past week. Robert Hooke’s Long Lost Notes Published Online - Mo announces the online publishing of these notebooks, which include the ... 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 |
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