MigrationsMigrationsCells, birds, and musings from a biologist 
Articles
Quote of the Day
2009-03-05 08:38:00 It is hard to realize that the living world as we know it is just one among many possibilities; that its actual structure results from the history of the earth. Yet living organisms are historical structures: literally creations of history. They represent, not a perfect product of engineering, but a patchwork of odd sets pieced ... More About: Evolution , Quote Of The Day , Quote
Wing-Assisted Incline Running
2009-03-04 12:53:00 I hope no one following this blog missed this little tidbit in this week’s Birds in the News: Ken Dial at The University of Montana has unveiled a major new theory for the evolution of flight that is changing textbooks around the world. It involves wing-assisted incline running and a fundamental bird wing angle. Using high-speed ... More About: Running , Evolution , Wing
Checklist for Birds of Cyprus
2009-03-02 09:51:00 In my free time about a week ago, I put together a handy brochure-type checklist for birdwatching in Cyprus [.doc], especially for those people who keep lists (e.g. life lists, year lists, records of individual field trips, etc.). I used it this past weekend, and intend to share it with others in BirdLife Cyprus. I ... More About: Birds , Birding
The War on Science Goes On?
2009-03-01 16:00:00 In the weeks after the George Will kerfluffle and Bobby Jindal’s ignorance of geology[1], and Sarah Palin’s comment during dissing fruit fly research, we can see that the Republican war on science goes on. Oh, sure, with no more Bush, the top-down political interference is over, no question about it. But when one the voting ... More About: Science , Politics
Bringing Life to Your Yard
2009-02-25 13:16:00 I’ll tell you first upfront, I don’t own a house with a yard. Just a modest flat. But I’ve always rather had the opinion that the well-manicured suburban lawn was unseemly, even though one might be an outcast to let it grow into a jungle. Native plants especially, are always a very welcome sight with ... More About: Life , Biophilia , Yard
Tracking Songbird Migration Routes
2009-02-24 13:43:00 Here’s a very appropriate entry for Migrations - an article published last week and blogged about by Ed Yong at Not Exactly Rocket Science: Light-detecting backpacks record the complete migration routes of songbirds Their backpacks were light-measuring devices called “geolocators”, each about the size of a small coin. By measuring rising and falling light levels, these miniature ... More About: Biophilia , Songbird , Tracking
A Culture of Killing Birds
2009-02-23 15:13:00 Here’s something that struck me as relevant to migrations. No, I’m not living in Malta , nor do I know much about it. But bird hunting and trapping is a very popular thing here in Cyprus as well, I so kinda feel some empathy for the conservationists in Malta. Which brings me to the interesting bit: ... More About: Culture , Conservation , Birds
A History of Greenhouse Gases
2009-02-21 12:56:00 I was recently motivated to re-read some items on the background of greenhouse gases. I was reminded that Chapter 1 (”A Historical Overview of Climate Change Science”) of WG1’s report on the physical basis of climate change in the fourth IPCC assessment report is a very good resource — remember, it’s always good to know ... More About: History , Greenhouse , Gases , Greenhouse Gases
Required Reading for Biology Majors
2009-02-19 11:57:00 A few days ago, Grrlscientist blogged on an interesting meme: Imagine: YOU are asked to assign a half-dozen-or-so books as required reading for ALL science majors at a college as part of their 4-year degree; NOT technical or text books, but other works, old or new, touching upon the nature of science, philosophy, thought, or methodology ... More About: Books , Reading , Biology , Majors
Quote of the Day
2009-02-18 09:40:00 ?The chief reasons why so many people are loath to admit the genetic variability of socially and culturally significant traits are two. First, human equality is stubbornly confused with identity, and diversity with inequality, as though to be entitled to an equality of opportunity, people would have to be identical twins. Human diversity is not ... More About: Evolution , Quote Of The Day , Racism , Quote
Nature Photos in Cyprus
2009-02-17 18:35:00 I’m not involved with the group Friends of the Earth Cyprus , despite several common interests*. So I only just noticed that they did have a very nice photo exhibition and contest at the Art and Literature House in Limassol. The exhibition had a total of 172 photos from 34 photographers from all over Cyprus. The included ... More About: Nature , Photos , Biophilia
Evolution and the Mystery of Mind and Consciousness
2009-02-16 09:25:00 The mystery of consciousness and the tenacity of belief in mind-body dualism is still a very common refuge for theistic evolutionists, IDers, and creationists (the whole spectrum of theists basically). It makes sense too, because the workings of the brain remain the biggest remaining “black box” in biology. Still, we know a lot about it. ... More About: Evolution , Mind , Mystery , Consciousness
Human Genetic History
2009-02-13 09:59:00 “Stolen” from Open Parachute, and originally from the book Deep Ancestry: Inside The Genographic Project, by Spencer Wells. Review from Publisher’s Weekly: In this concise and well-written work, [Spencer] Wells provides an accessible introduction to genetic anthropology, the study of human history using genetic evidence. Wells is the director of the Genographic Project, which collects DNA ... More About: Books , History , Human
What is This Darwin Day Stuff All About?
2009-02-12 12:43:00 A lot of people have heard the news - it’s the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin . Why is there such a big deal being made, many ask. My opinion is that the reason lies in what Charles Darwin and Evolution represent to society. Both the man and the idea have become symbols ... More About: Education , Stuff
Birds Feeling the Effects of Climate Change
2009-02-11 15:29:00 Via Round Robin, the Cornell Blog of Ornithology: 40-Year Study Shows Birds Feeling Climate Change Effects: Perhaps you?ve already heard news of a National Audubon Society report about climate change?s effects on North American birds. Audubon announced on Tuesday that some 177 species of North American birds have shifted their range northward over the last 40 ...
15 Gems of Evolutionary History
2009-02-10 14:21:00 I wanted to link to this for Darwin ’s Day, but would have forgotten if I hadn’t browsed through John Logsdon’s Sex, Genes & Evolution . In the first issue of 2009 of Nature, its editors published a 17-page article entitled “15 Evolutionary Gems “. There’s a whole collection of essays cover a wide variety of ways to ... More About: History
More Thoughts on Race and Humanity
2009-02-08 13:35:00 More links relating to my recent interest in the notion of biological races of our species. I highly recommend following Dienekes’ and John Hawks’ Anthropology blogs for people interested in this topic. Especially these two posts: Debunking the concept of ‘race’ … not and If you are going to “debunk” race with gene testing, please ... More About: Thoughts , Race , Humanity
Spring Alive with Jane Stylianou
2009-02-05 15:02:00 Jane Stylianou is running the Spring Alive program again this year, with information here. She’s also sent out an invitation to the general public to participate, copied below the fold: The start of February saw the launch of the annual ‘Spring Alive’ event by the partners of BirdLife International in Europe. As a contributor to the 2008 Spring ... More About: Cyprus , Jane
Greg Laden: ?You?re a Racist, Dan?
2009-02-04 20:00:00 This is off the usual pattern of the blog (I have posted on “Race” before though), and I don’t have the readership to go up against the great almighty Greg Laden , but I couldn’t resist. The story: apparently, one can speak of the “differences in gene distribution across various geographies” among members of the human ... More About: Racism , Racist
Darwin Day is Coming
2009-02-02 14:21:00 In an age when fully 44% of American adults still believe that God created human beings pretty much in their present form at some time in the last 10,000 years, we find ourselves honoring Charles Darwin . He was born 200 years ago on February 12, and published his most famous thesis 150 years ago. It’s ... More About: Evolution
World Wetlands Day
2009-01-31 12:01:00 February 2nd is World Wetlands Day: Such habitats are important areas for biodiversity and support high concentrations of birds, mammals, reptiles, fish, invertebrates and plants. The Convention originally emphasized wetlands as habitats for waterbirds. Over the years it has broadened its scope to cover all aspects of wetland conservation and wise use, recognizing the importance of ...
Overbye on the Rightful Place of Science
2009-01-28 18:17:00 Elevating Science , Elevating Democracy, excerpted paragraphs: To be honest, the restoration of science was the least of it, but when Barack Obama proclaimed during his Inaugural Address that he would ?restore science to its rightful place,? you could feel a dark cloud lifting like a sigh from the shoulders of the scientific community in this country. The ... More About: Politics , Place
Endangered Species Act
2009-01-23 10:17:00 National Geographic has a very good essay on the Endangered Species Act, accompanied by a photo essay of endangered species in America. From page 2 of the essay: For 35 years, ever since Richard Nixon signed it into law in December 1973, the Endangered Species Act has served as a biological half-way house, a kind of protective ...
Desert Warbler and Gloger?s Rule
2009-01-22 09:03:00 The bird of the month for me was seeing a Desert Warbler, Sylvia nana, with it being the only the eighth recorded bird of its species in Cyprus to date, as I’ve been told. Quite cool, as it simply wanted to hide in the desert shrubs of the area in which it had been hanging ... More About: Birding , Rule
Migration and Cultural Evolution
2009-01-20 17:31:00 A recent installment in Nature’s Being Human series caught my passing interest: Migration: An engine for social change (subscription required, email me for help accessing). The meat of the article however: We believe that immigration generates far more cultural evolution today than does conquest. Flows of migrants are often substantial. Foreign-born people, mainly from Latin America ... More About: Evolution , Cultural
Balancing Economic Growth and Environmental Conservation
2009-01-17 11:02:00 After loaning one of my favorite books for environmental conservationism to a friend, I realized that I have never put up a post referencing this book. For a blog covering this topic, not mentioning Edward Wilson’s The Future Of Life is a mistake. As always, Wilson’s writing is poignant, and he marshals a formidable body of ... More About: Environmental , Conservation , Growth , Economic
The Nature of Scientific Discovery
2009-01-15 17:39:00 This is a repost from Bitesize Bio combining two posts of mine there in recent months: The Nature of Scientific Observation and Science as Progress, and More on the Philosophy of Science. Currently I’m reading Alan Chalmers’ What is this thing called science?, with specific interest in the questions of expertise and the uniqueness of science ... More About: Books , Discovery
Autumn Trapping Figures in Cyprus
2009-01-13 14:43:00 Via BirdLife Cyprus : Alarming Autumn Trapping Figures : CYPRIOT TRAPPERS killed an estimated 776,000 birds this autumn to supply local restaurants with banned ambelopoulia delicacies, a lucrative trade authorities consistently fail to halt, charges local conservation group BirdLife Cyprus. BirdLife Cyprus said the latest findings from its under-cover monitoring of the illegal cull showed a worrying upturn ... More About: Conservation
The Problem with Herring Gulls
More articles from this author:2009-01-11 13:18:00 Back in the States, identifying different species of gulls was a manageable task, and mediocre birdwatcher though I was, I had no difficulty distinguishing the 5 more common gull species in the Mid-Atlantic region. Now, in the Eastern Mediterranean, I’ve been having problems especially with the various types of white-headed gulls. Collectively, they’re referred to ... More About: Problem , Herring 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 |
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