Greg Laden is a biological anthropologist and science communicator. His research has covered North American prehistoric and historic archaeology and African archaeology and human ecology. He is an OpenSource and OpenAccess advocate. Greg's wife, Amanda, is a High School biology teacher, his daughter Julia is a world traveler and his son Huxley is 2.
Natural Selection is the key creative force in evolution. Natural selection, together with specific histories of populations (species) and adaptations, is responsible for the design of organisms. Most people have some idea of what Natural Selection is. However, it is easy to make conceptual…
A 64-bit version of the Google Chrome browser is now ready, but Windows users will still have some time to wait for their version.
In a mailing list posting this week, Chrome developer Dean McNamee wrote that the Google v8 JavaScript team have working on a 64-bit port. There are now full…
Listen to the long list of Town Hall meetings Bachmann claims to have had or to have planned.
So far, she's only had meetings more restrictive than those Bush has had. The one time she had a public meeting with actual public that I know of was the famous bathroom incident, but that's another…
When it comes to observing nature, it pays to pay attention, and it pays to stay in one place for a while. Coming to "The Lake" many spring, summer, and fall weekends (and now and then in the winter) and paying attention to the wildlife and other aspects of the natural environment allows me to see…
PLoS Currents ... is a Google/PLoS collaborative effort using Knol to consolidate and organize info about H1N1 novel influenza flu.
The key goal of PLoS Currents is to accelerate scientific discovery by allowing researchers to share their latest findings and ideas immediately with the world's…
The only TV series I ever watched (sine being a kid) was The West Wing. I didn't watch the West Wing either. But then I met Amanda, and she was into watching the show, so the two of us took in the last year as it happened, then rented the whole thing and eventually saw it all.
The following,…
Mech originally characterized the "Alpha" pattern of behavior, and has subsequently (over the last forty years) modified this considerably. Science does indeed progress.
However, I hasten to point out that this is a case of inverted skepticism. The change in how we view animal behavioral…
Corporate America removed Bush from office for the pragmatic reason that civilization would have collapsed had they not. Now, with Democrats resting on their laurels and drunk with power, Corporate America seeks to restructure the economy, the regulatory system, and society as benefits them most…
Traditional Islam is so cool because it really sticks with the old ways, and that's quaint. But it should be allowed to do this only in a museum where it might be safely kept away from actual people.
Fathima Rifqa Bary is the 17-year-old girl who converted from Islam to Christianity. She packed…
Another look at falsehoods about evolution.
We previously addressed the falsehood "Evolution has stopped for humans" and concluded that background change in allele frequency independent of natural selection does not just stop for any viable, continuing population. So, no, saying that "evolution…
A few months ago I was contacted by a person I didn't know (but vaguely knew of) about being on a panel to discuss evolutionary biology and blogging and so on. Her name was Carrie Iwan. In fact, I think that still is her name.
We had a number of professional and pleasant interactions via email,…
This is crazy shit, man.
The Heil Hitler Lady who "believes in Biblical values", proves that she is a moron:
Hat Tip Kristine, who has quite a bit more on her post at Amused Muse.
Some time ago I mentioned that there would be an OpEd piece in the New York Times in a couple of days relating recent astroturfing and teabagging activities to a broader, more historical context. Well, the OpEd is out, and as expected, it is quite good.
The Guns of August
By Frank Rich
"IT is time…
There is a good argument here for closing down government programs for monitoring weather. And volcanoes. And stuff. Lou has all the wonderful amazing details here.
So, bad things come in threes, right? Well, no, we don't believe that. This discussion came up after the recent death of Michale Jackson. A rumor of the death of another celebrity came along (that rumor was incorrect) and this somehow sparked a discussion of there "needing to be" a third death…
Dear Rachel,
Apropos this story:
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Rachel, you know I love you, but I have to tell you that you must have your staff put a little more effort into the details of reporting these vitally important stories. In Minneapolis, we…
Teabagger and GOP party chairman Charles McAffee pulled out his piece to intimidate a man who's home he was photographing. McAffee was photographing the man's house on behalf of Wells Fargo bank because of a mortgage related problem. When the man came out to find out what was going on it is said…
Betsy McCaughey (see this) has been receiving $30,000 per year from a medical supply company to be on their "board." This is of course totally unrelated to her efforts to kill health care reform under both the Clinton and Obama administrations. And Pink Unicorns can fly.
The name of the company…
A TEENAGER who posted a death threat on Facebook has become the first person in Britain to be jailed for bullying on a social networking site.
It appears that Keeley Houghton is a bully in real life, and has been bullying one Emily Moore for a few years. In fact, this is her third conviction. She…
Karen Stollznow Soks the Haunted America Tours Blog. Karen came up with a totally lame (yet nonetheless titillating) explanation for sexual arousal, wet dreams, and AM erections, made up a totally fake academic cover, and sent a writeup of this explanation to the ghost blog which, in turn, took…
I had responded to the general in query "Where are you going to look for birds this weekend" by simply noting that we'd be going to "The Lake" (Minnesotan for a particular lake, the exact lake determined by context). But on the way up Amanda had the idea of going into Crane Meadow National…
Don't forget to make use of the Nature Blog Network's blog, which recently posted a list of new nature blogs, and a community bulletin board. Also on NBN you'll find a list of upcoming carnivals and an interview/highlight of a featured blog (currently, Southern Fried Science).
It was important that this man was thrown in jail. It is very bad that he is not spending more time there. Let me tell you why.
The South African man convicted of feeding one of his ex-workers to the lions is due to be freed on parole shortly, after three years in jail.
Mark Scott-Crossley was…
Betsy McCaughey is the wackaloon who invented the idea that the Obama Health Care Plan would involve killing off all the old people. John Stewart and she spent a little time with a draft of the plan, going over details. Below the fold. (This video will probably start automatically)
The Daily…
Last night on a conference call she asked for radical action on a state by state basis, implying that states who do not want health care reform should take arms against the government. Or something like that.
Source: Rumor. So far. If I get more I'll let you know.
