Happy Birthday Mark Twain

Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on or by imbeciles who really mean it. – Mark Twain When I was younger, I could remember anything, whether it happened or not. – Mark Twain Yup, today is Mark Twain’s 174th birthday (if I have done my [...]

Congratulations to the Ladens!

The are the proud parents of Huxley D. Laden. Go congratulate them!

150th Anniversary of The Origin of Species

And what should arrive in my mailbox for review? A copy of Darwin in Galapagos: Footsteps to a New World. Cool! I’ll be reviewing it when time permits. At any rate, here is a bit from The Origin of Species:

Luskin on National Geographics Website? Why?

National Geographic has an Intelligent Design vs. Evolution feature that gives some time to Casey Luskin. One has to wonder why. To their credit National Geographic counters Luskin with Don Prothero. An example, in talking about the evolution of whales we get this nonsensical argument from Luskin:

In Memorium: Dell Hymes

The New York Times is reporting that Dell Hymes has passed away – apparently of complications due to Alzheimer’s. Although Hymes was primarily interested in linguistics, I am most familiar with him through Reinventing Anthropology a book he edited that was quite radical and groundbreaking for it’s time. It still holds up well.

Weird Crocodilyforms of the Sahara

National Geographic has an interesting story about some interesting crocodilyforms that have been found in the Sahara.

Damn! Comfort Is Passing Out Copies of The Origin Early

Apparently Ray’s plans have changed. Anybody out there snag an extra copy that they would be willing to donate to a 3.5-2.8 million year old hominin?

Gompotherium and Clovis

Why I Hate Theropods has an interesting story on two juvenile gomphotheres found in association with Clovis tools. The find dates to ~13,000 years ago. Previous gomphothere finds date to over 100,000 years ago, so the late survival in Mexico is rather unique. Update 1: Found a better link

So, What Did I Miss?

As you all know, I have been away from the internet for a while. Any interesting science stories pop up while I was away?

I’m Home Now, Thank You For All Your Kind Wishes

They let go a little bit a go. I’d like to thank all the people who responded so kindly to my daughter’s post. First thing I did when I got home was take a loooong hot shower. So here is the story. Along about Wednesday of last week I started coming down with what I [...]

Afarensis is in the hospital

This is Afarensis’ youngest daughter. My dad got sick last week and kept getting worse and worse until finally my mom took him to the ER. Unfortunately he has Pneumonia and possibly Swine Flu so he won’t be home until Friday.

In Memorium: Claude Levi-Strauss

Via Hawks comes the news that Claude Levi-Strauss has died. MSNBC has more: The French intellectual was regarded as having reshaped the field of anthropology, introducing structuralism — concepts about common patterns of behavior and thought, especially myths, in a wide range of human societies. Defined as the search for the underlying patterns of thought [...]

The Genomics and Phylogenetics of Leprosy

Nature Genetics has an interesting research paper on leprosy. I haven’t had a chance to read it yet, but the PhysOrg.Com summary is fascinating:

Something’s Missing From Comfort’s Version of On the Origin of Species

Genie Scott has the story: