Society of Systematic Biologists

My response to Tim Sandefurs opening entry in our discussion of the pros and cons of government funding for basic science research is now available At The Questionable Authority. In addition, hes posted a response to some of the comments on his original post

Timothy Sandefur's Reply... at The Questionable Authority : ...in our ongoing debate about government funding for scientific research is now available at his blog Freespace. I'm a bit tied up with other things today and tomorrow, so it may be Friday before I get a chance to post a response. In the meantime, since his

Why it's good for us to fund scientific research. at The Questionable Authority : Tim Sandefur and I don't agree about the proper role of government when it comes to funding scientific research. He fairly strongly believes that there are many reasons why it's wrong for the government to fund scientific research. Tim's provided a number of

Should Government Fund Science Research?: A Debate at The Panda's Thumb : Reeds recent post urging support for informing people about the stimulus bill has inspired a debate between me and Mike Dunford over the proper role of government in funding scientific research. Since Pandas Thumb is not a political blog, well be debating this

Should the State Pay for Science? at The Questionable Authority : Timothy Sandefur and I recently wound up arguing the pros and cons of government funding for basic scientific research. We've decided to take our discussion from email to our blogs. Tim is a libertarian, and it's safe to say that he's not the world's largest

My response to Tim Sandefurs opening entry in our discussion of the pros and cons of government funding for basic science research is now available At The Questionable Authority. In addition, hes posted a response to some of the comments on his original post

Timothy Sandefur's Reply... at The Questionable Authority : ...in our ongoing debate about government funding for scientific research is now available at his blog Freespace. I'm a bit tied up with other things today and tomorrow, so it may be Friday before I get a chance to post a response. In the meantime, since his

Why it's good for us to fund scientific research. at The Questionable Authority : Tim Sandefur and I don't agree about the proper role of government when it comes to funding scientific research. He fairly strongly believes that there are many reasons why it's wrong for the government to fund scientific research. Tim's provided a number of

Should the State Pay for Science? at The Questionable Authority : Timothy Sandefur and I recently wound up arguing the pros and cons of government funding for basic scientific research. We've decided to take our discussion from email to our blogs. Tim is a libertarian, and it's safe to say that he's not the world's largest

The Conyers bill (a.k.a. Fair Copyright in Research Works Act, HR 801), is back. Despite all the debunking it got last time around, and despite the country having more important problems to deal with right now, this regressive bill, completely unchanged word-for-word,

Comments on the Conyers bill #2 at Open Access News : Here are some more comments from the press and blogosphere on the re-introduction of the Conyers bill (a.k.a. Fair Copyright in Research Works Act, HR 801), which would overturn the OA policy at the NIH.  Also see our first collection of comments.From

Its been a long road, but men are finally going to be able to get Johnson & Johnsons premature ejaculation drug dapoxetine — at least in Sweden and Finland. J&Js Janssen-Cilag unit announced today that the two Nordic countries have greenlighted

Regulators approve premature ejaculation pill at Chemistry World blog : Women of Finland and Sweden are rejoicing as the first premature ejaculation (PE) drug that can be taken as a tablet has been approved for use in men aged between 18 and 64. The drug, Johnson & Johnson’s Priligy, dapoxetine, was rejected by US regulators

As you may know, I have be (re-)reading the On the Origin of Species as part of a small discussion group made up of students from my most recent evolution course. I am always struck by how much Darwin knew, not only in terms of his enormous collation of specific

Much ado about Darwin at Laelaps : There has been an awful lot of hand-wringing going on over Charles Darwin lately. Some have picked up a long-running meme and proclaim "One hundred fifty years without Darwin is too long!" while others declare that we should kill every Darwin we meet. Just

On His Birthday, A Call to End Darwin Worship at Framing Science : In an essay today at the NY Times, Carl Safina pinpoints one of the lingering challenges in communicating about evolution: what he calls the "cult of Darwin." If we would only stop focusing so much on the man, and more on evolutionary science, then it might

What Darwin didn't know. at Genomicron : As you may know, I have be (re-)reading the On the Origin of Species as part of a small discussion group made up of students from my most recent evolution course. I am always struck by how much Darwin knew, not only in terms of his enormous collation of specific

I strongly disagree with the arguments of this essay by Carl Safina, "Darwinism Must Die So That Evolution May Live", even while I think there is a germ of truth to its premise. It reads more like a contrarian backlash to all the attention being given to Darwin

Jerry Coyne on Darwinism at Sandwalk : Jerry Coyne is an adaptationist. Thus, it comes as no great surprise that he is comfortable with equating evolutionary biology and Darwinism. Here's what he writes in defense of Carl Safina's New York Times article [Darwinism must die????]. Well, how much confusion

Kill all the science writers? at Sandwalk : Several bloggers are upset enough at Carl Safina that they have posted detailed critiques of his article in the New York Times: Darwinism Must Die So That Evolution May Live. I not so upset. In fact I mostly agree with the opening paragraphs of Safina's article

Darwin is already dead, and we know it at The Panda's Thumb : I strongly disagree with the arguments of this essay by Carl Safina, "Darwinism Must Die So That Evolution May Live", even while I think there is a germ of truth to its premise. It reads more like a contrarian backlash to all the attention being given to Darwin

Where Is This "Cult of Darwinism" I've Been Hearing So Much About? at The Scientific Activist : Evolution is an established scientific idea, the unifying theme of biology, and an important field of study. "Darwinism", on the other hand, is a term used misleadingly by creationists to attack ideas they can't counter on fact alone and misguidedly by journalists

Darwinism Must Die So That Evolution May Live at GreyThumb.Blog : Interesting point here. Focusing on Darwinism tends to miss 150 years of advancement, and therefore makes creationism more palatable. "By propounding 'Darwinism,' even scientists and science writers perpetuate an impression that evolution is about one man,

On His Birthday, A Call to End Darwin Worship at Framing Science : In an essay today at the NY Times, Carl Safina pinpoints one of the lingering challenges in communicating about evolution: what he calls the "cult of Darwin." If we would only stop focusing so much on the man, and more on evolutionary science, then it might

Darwinism Must Die So Evolution Can Live at Slashdot: Science : Pickens writes "MacArthur fellow Carl Safina, an adjunct professor at Stony Brook University, has an interesting essay in the NYTimes that says that equating evolution with Charles Darwin opened the door for creationism by ignoring 150 years of discoveries,

What Darwin didn't know. at Genomicron : As you may know, I have be (re-)reading the On the Origin of Species as part of a small discussion group made up of students from my most recent evolution course. I am always struck by how much Darwin knew, not only in terms of his enormous collation of specific

The anti-Darwinists are ticking me off at John Hawks Anthropology Weblog : Now, usually if I were to say "anti-Darwinists", I'd be talking about some kind of creationism or intelligent design. But noooooo. This week, the anti-Darwinists are all otherwise respectable evolutionary biologists using the occasion of Darwin's bicentennial

Post-Darwinian evolution? at Gene Expression : Carl Safina has a provocative essay in The New York Times, Darwinism Must Die So That Evolution May Live. I'm sure others will jump all over this, so I'm not going to go exegetic on the essay. Though I disagree with the overly broad assertions, it is elegantly

Jerry Coyne is an adaptationist. Thus, it comes as no great surprise that he is comfortable with equating evolutionary biology and Darwinism. Here's what he writes in defense of Carl Safina's New York Times article [Darwinism must die????]. Well, how much confusion

Sheer Stupdity at Astroblog : I'm not in a very good mood at the moment, so when Bishop Tom Frame, professor of Theology at Charles Sturt University says this unmitigated nonsense:A dedicated Darwinian would welcome imperialism, genocide, mass deportation, ethnic cleansing, eugenics, euthanasia,

Jerry Coyne on Darwinism. at Genomicron : It's great to know that Jerry Coyne has a blog -- I certainly plan to read it and you should too.However, I have to confess that I tend not to agree with him on a lot of points. His criticism of evo-devo, his opinion that punctuated equilibria is saltationist,

The theological mindset at Evolving Thoughts : Theologians can be monumentally stupid when they look at things through their doctrinal spectacles, especially when it comes to science. Since they think everything is theological, it must have a theological standing, either good or bad, and so they will undergo

What Darwin didn't know. at Genomicron : As you may know, I have be (re-)reading the On the Origin of Species as part of a small discussion group made up of students from my most recent evolution course. I am always struck by how much Darwin knew, not only in terms of his enormous collation of specific

The other side of the coin at Pharyngula : The other problem with media coverage is that certifiable idiots get to open their mouths and their noise goes unquestioned in print. Here's a regrettable example of an ignorant opinion piece, one so egregiously stupid that even Ian Musgrave is reduced to indignant

Don't Call It "Darwinism" at Sandwalk : Eugenie C. Scott and Glenn Branch have written an article for the latest issue of Evolution: Education and Outreach in which they urge everyone to talk about evolutionary biology but Dont Call it Darwinism. Using Darwinism as synonymous with evolutionary biology

Because of the fallout from the revelation by Brian Deer that very likely Andrew Wakefield, hero of the antivaccine movement but, alas for his worshipers, one of the most dishonest and incompetent scientists who ever lived, had almost certainly falsified data

Bishop Williamson: Cake or Death? at Dispatches from the Culture Wars : I'm really finding this story about the Pope rescinding the excommunication of holocaust-denying bishop Richard Williamson amusing, especially now that his own order has gotten involved. He's been fired:The English Roman Catholic bishop who denies that the

State senator Stephen Wise plans to introduce a bill requiring balanced treatment for intelligent design whenever evolutionary science is taught in Floridas science classrooms.Of course, balanced treatment and equal time bills for creation science led to the

Florida to Get ID Bill at Dispatches from the Culture Wars : A Florida state legislator wants ID taught in public schools:State Sen. Stephen Wise, a Jacksonville Republican, said he plans to introduce a bill to require teachers who teach evolution to also discuss the idea of intelligent design... Wise, the chief sponsor

"If you're going to teach evolution, then you have to teach the other side so you can have critical thinking." at Dr. Joan Bushwell's Chimpanzee Refuge : These are the words of, in no particular order, a Christian, a halfwit, and a Florida state senator. Stephen Wise (and God sure does have a sense of irony when He hands out surnames, don't He?), who represents the district that includes one of the fifteen most

Here we go again — Florida's turn! at Pharyngula : How do these yahoos get elected? We've got another dumb-ass bill about to emerge from the state of Florida:State Sen. Stephen Wise of Jacksonville announced through an article in the Florida Times Union that he plans to file a bill this legislative session

Julian Villegas commented on the 4th World Congress on Conservation Agriculture, which we nibbled last week. We’re elevating his comment to a guest post.I was on that conference last week (the conservation agriculture one). Surprisingly, all people there

Vegetarians against climate change at The Island of Doubt : A member of the audience at one of my climate change slide shows asked me why I hadn't mentioned the benefits of switching to vegetarianism when it comes to things we can do to lower our carbon footprint. I replied that I thought eating less meat will be as

Up on Drudge Report right now is this red banner:"'NATIONAL COORDINATOR OF HEALTH INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY' SLIPPED IN TO STIMULUS..."It links to a story at Bloomberg.com, also covered by Rush Limbaugh today entitled "Ruin Your Health With the Obama Stimulus

Public Service Announcment at Gene Sherpas: Personalized Medicine and You : I am all for the support from this administration towards Personalized Medicine, but perhaps this may be a little too heavy handed....From Bloomberg:Betsy McCaugheyBloomberg Feb. 9Feb. 9 (Bloomberg) Republican Senators are questioning whether President Barack

From its earliest conception, gene therapy held the promise of correcting inherited diseases by inserting a normal copy of the relevant gene into somatic cells.(Donald B. Kohn and Fabio Candotti)This beautiful concept was working perfectly fine in many animal

Sanofi Heart Drug Poised for a Comeback at WSJ.com: Health Blog : Remember Multaq?The FDA and European Medicines Agency are expected to decide in the coming months whether to allow Sanofi’s drug for atrial fibrillation, or AF, onto the market. If they do, it could be big bucks for Sanofi; about 7 million people in the

Eugenie C. Scott and Glenn Branch have written an article for the latest issue of Evolution: Education and Outreach in which they urge everyone to talk about evolutionary biology but Dont Call it Darwinism. Using Darwinism as synonymous with evolutionary biology

Sheer Stupdity at Astroblog : I'm not in a very good mood at the moment, so when Bishop Tom Frame, professor of Theology at Charles Sturt University says this unmitigated nonsense:A dedicated Darwinian would welcome imperialism, genocide, mass deportation, ethnic cleansing, eugenics, euthanasia,

Jerry Coyne on Darwinism. at Genomicron : It's great to know that Jerry Coyne has a blog -- I certainly plan to read it and you should too.However, I have to confess that I tend not to agree with him on a lot of points. His criticism of evo-devo, his opinion that punctuated equilibria is saltationist,

Darwin is already dead, and we know it at The Panda's Thumb : I strongly disagree with the arguments of this essay by Carl Safina, "Darwinism Must Die So That Evolution May Live", even while I think there is a germ of truth to its premise. It reads more like a contrarian backlash to all the attention being given to Darwin

Where Is This "Cult of Darwinism" I've Been Hearing So Much About? at The Scientific Activist : Evolution is an established scientific idea, the unifying theme of biology, and an important field of study. "Darwinism", on the other hand, is a term used misleadingly by creationists to attack ideas they can't counter on fact alone and misguidedly by journalists

The theological mindset at Evolving Thoughts : Theologians can be monumentally stupid when they look at things through their doctrinal spectacles, especially when it comes to science. Since they think everything is theological, it must have a theological standing, either good or bad, and so they will undergo

Darwinism Must Die So That Evolution May Live at GreyThumb.Blog : Interesting point here. Focusing on Darwinism tends to miss 150 years of advancement, and therefore makes creationism more palatable. "By propounding 'Darwinism,' even scientists and science writers perpetuate an impression that evolution is about one man,

On His Birthday, A Call to End Darwin Worship at Framing Science : In an essay today at the NY Times, Carl Safina pinpoints one of the lingering challenges in communicating about evolution: what he calls the "cult of Darwin." If we would only stop focusing so much on the man, and more on evolutionary science, then it might

10 simple ways to honor Charlie D (aka Darwin) at The Tree of Life : If you do not know, Thursday is a big day - Darwin Day 2009. A global celebration in honor of the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth. Today I am making a suggestion of 10 simple things you can do to honor Darwin:Read one of his books OTHER than Origin

What Darwin didn't know. at Genomicron : As you may know, I have be (re-)reading the On the Origin of Species as part of a small discussion group made up of students from my most recent evolution course. I am always struck by how much Darwin knew, not only in terms of his enormous collation of specific

The anti-Darwinists are ticking me off at John Hawks Anthropology Weblog : Now, usually if I were to say "anti-Darwinists", I'd be talking about some kind of creationism or intelligent design. But noooooo. This week, the anti-Darwinists are all otherwise respectable evolutionary biologists using the occasion of Darwin's bicentennial

Darwin, still relevant at Gene Expression : Nick Wade's Darwin, Ahead of His Time, Is Still Influential is a good complement to the strained Darwin-skepticism I pointed to earlier. From the perspective of this weblog this comment was interesting:Darwin is still far from being fully accepted in sciences

Post-Darwinian evolution? at Gene Expression : Carl Safina has a provocative essay in The New York Times, Darwinism Must Die So That Evolution May Live. I'm sure others will jump all over this, so I'm not going to go exegetic on the essay. Though I disagree with the overly broad assertions, it is elegantly

The other side of the coin at Pharyngula : The other problem with media coverage is that certifiable idiots get to open their mouths and their noise goes unquestioned in print. Here's a regrettable example of an ignorant opinion piece, one so egregiously stupid that even Ian Musgrave is reduced to indignant

Don't Call It "Darwinism" at Sandwalk : Eugenie C. Scott and Glenn Branch have written an article for the latest issue of Evolution: Education and Outreach in which they urge everyone to talk about evolutionary biology but Dont Call it Darwinism. Using Darwinism as synonymous with evolutionary biology

It's great to know that Jerry Coyne has a blog -- I certainly plan to read it and you should too.However, I have to confess that I tend not to agree with him on a lot of points. His criticism of evo-devo, his opinion that punctuated equilibria is saltationist,

Myths about Darwin at Evolving Thoughts : We are going to hear a lot about Darwin this year, especially this month for his birthday (happy 200th, Chas. You don’t look a day over 150) and in November for the sesquicentenary of the publication of On the Origin of Species. And you will hear or read

Darwin's Tree of Life at Sandwalk : On reading Origin of Species one can't help but be struck by Darwin's insight and intellect. His description of the tree of life from the summary of Chapter 4: Natural Selection is just one example. As you read the passage, note how Darwin emphasizes competition

Reposted from ScienceDebate:(February 6, 2009) - Well it's been a long, long day with thousands of emails and phone calls, but we are happy to report that your efforts, and those of the rest of the U.S. science and technology community, have paid off in a big

Urgent Action on Science Stimulus Package at The Intersection : We're pleased to repost the latest email from ScienceDebate:Dear Friend,Last Friday you and others in the science community took action and helped to restore $3.1 billion in cuts to science that had been planned in the Senate compromise version of the stimulus

Update on research funding in the US at Open Access News : Here are three recent developments on US research funding.  The OA connection is indirect:  where we have OA mandates in place, such as the NIH, then higher funding translates into new OA literature and lower funding reminds us of the need to maximize

Science and the Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Act at THE ART OF TEACHING SCIENCE : The US Senate is working on the Economic Recovery and Reinvestment bill, and as of today, it appears that it will be approved in the Senate, perhaps on Tuesday.However, Shawn Otto has been in contact with citizens that are members of the ScienceDebate2008.

Update To Supporters On The Senate Stimulus Package Science Restoration Initiative at The Intersection : Reposted from ScienceDebate:(February 6, 2009) - Well it's been a long, long day with thousands of emails and phone calls, but we are happy to report that your efforts, and those of the rest of the U.S. science and technology community, have paid off in a big

Reuters has a little story about CT scans of Lucy, done at the University of Texas by John Kappelman and colleagues:Scientists hope studying a "virtual" Lucy will offer further clues about the human ancestor's lifestyle. Lucy, found in Ethiopia in 1974, is

Lessons from Lucy at Cosmic Log : Donald JohansonIts been 35 years since anthropologist Don Johanson found the fossilized skeleton of Lucy, the worlds best-known ancestor of modern humans, but Johanson says his 3.2 million-year-old girlfriend from Ethiopia still has lessons to teach."I never

Don Johanson interview at John Hawks Anthropology Weblog : Alan Boyle, who writes the "Cosmic Log" feature for MSNBC, has a long interview with Don Johanson. It's a nice read, which touches on many paleoanthropological topics as well as Johanson's soon-to-be-released book with Kate Wong, Lucy's Legacy: The Quest for

Casey Luskin Visits Lucy at Afarensis : I always get a great deal of amusement when Luskin writes about paleoanthropology.His latest effort is no exception. Casey, you see, has been studying about Lucy and of fossils pertaining to human evolution for years, and even links to the dreck he published

eLucy! at Laelaps : Now this is pretty cool. Since 2007 the Australopithecus afarensis skeleton AL 288-1, that's "Lucy" to you and me, has been on tour in an exhibit called "Lucy's Legacy - The Hidden Treasures of Ethiopia." I don't know if the exhibit is going to come close enough

Lucy Goes Digital at Afarensis : Back in January of 2008 I mentioned the eLucy - part of the eFossils website created by the University of Texas at Austin. Well, they have struck again. While in Texas, Lucy was CT scanned:For 10 days the university team worked around the clock to scan all

Fish Food Easily Distracted"Let me add to the Stanley Fish is just kind of pathetic dogpile a bit here. In many ways, Fishs latest column kind of reveals just how naked the emperor has become when it comes to hack complaints about the leftist intolerant

links for 2009-02-11 at Uncertain Principles : Fish Food Easily Distracted"Let me add to the Stanley Fish is just kind of pathetic dogpile a bit here. In many ways, Fishs latest column kind of reveals just how naked the emperor has become when it comes to hack complaints about the leftist intolerant

Twitter. It’s a buzzword but it’s also an extremely puzzling site. The usual response to Twitter explanations is “I don’t get it”. So instead of telling you what it is I’ll start by telling you what it does. Twitter lets

Selection of My Twitter Favorites, Edition 40 at Clinical Cases and Images - Blog : Twitter is a microblogging service where people answer the question "What are you doing?" via 140-character messages from their cellphone, laptop or desktop. You can select the messages (called "tweets") that you find useful, amusing, or both. Here is the 40h

Selection of My Twitter Favorites, Edition 39 at Clinical Cases and Images - Blog : Twitter is a microblogging service where people answer the question "What are you doing?" via 140-character messages from their cellphone, laptop or desktop. You can select the messages (called "tweets") that you find useful, amusing, or both. Here is the 39th

For the first time, the US Food and Drug Administration approved the release of a drug made from genetically engineered animals, boosting confidence in the science of gene manipulation. The drug ATryn (GTC Biotherapeutics) was approved on February 6 for the

FDA Approxes ATryn, First Drug from a Genetically Engineered Animal at The Biotech Weblog : The Food and Drug Authority has approved ATryn, the first ever transgenically produced therapeutic protein and the first recombinant antithrombin approved in the U.S. ATryn is indicated for the...

So, heres a question for you: just how long is Roche going to keep their offer open for Genentech? They left their friendly-in-retrospect offer on the table for quite a while, until it was clear that nothing was going to happen. So how long are they prepared

Roche and Genentech: As the Deal Turns at SeekingAlpha Biotech Stocks : What's $23 between friends, er, sparring business partners? The question brings back memories of my grandfather who was of the generation that would hold a grudge for years against a distant relative who still owed him a small amount of money. Anyway, in the

Roche's Race for Genentech is On at SeekingAlpha Biotech Stocks : Well, so much for that "no deadline" statement from Roche (RHHBY.PK) the other day. It turns out that the tender offer for Genentech (DNA) shares expires on March 12 - and if you want to read the whole thing, you can find it here (pdf file). That

How Long Will Roche Wait for Genentech? at SeekingAlpha Biotech Stocks : So, here’s a question for you: just how long is Roche (RHHBY.PK) going to keep their offer open for Genentech (DNA)? They left their friendly-in-retrospect offer on the table for quite a while, until it was clear that nothing was going to happen. So how

The $23 Gap Between Roches Bid and Genentechs Ask at WSJ.com: Health Blog : It’s a long way from the $89 a share Roche initially offered to pay for Genentech to the $112 a share Genentech said it was worth.The tender offer document Roche put out late yesterday tells the story of months of standoffish negotiations, and gives a

How Long Is Roche Prepared to Wait? at In the Pipeline : So, heres a question for you: just how long is Roche going to keep their offer open for Genentech? They left their friendly-in-retrospect offer on the table for quite a while, until it was clear that nothing was going to happen. So how long are they prepared