Two books on Darwin

by Greg Mayer For Darwin’s birthday, I thought I’d mention two books about Darwin, both by the noted Darwin scholar John van Wyhe, whom Jerry and I have both had the pleasure of meeting, and who we’ve had occasion to mention here on WEIT a number of times. As anyone with more than a passing … Continue reading Two books on Darwin

A crazed creationist tries to take down evolution because it’s atheistic

I’m not sure who John B. Andelin is, but he appears to be a pathologist in North Dakota. Certainly his 16-minute anti-evolution video below is pathological, for it simply takes quotes out of context, cherry-picks quotes, omits all the really good evidence for evolution, and mocks those Christians, like Ken Miller, who accept evolution. He … Continue reading A crazed creationist tries to take down evolution because it’s atheistic

Condolence letters to Darwin’s family released on the 140th anniversary of his death

April 19 was the 140th anniversary of Darwin’s death, and the wonderful “Darwin Online” project, which presents virtually everything the man ever wrote, has released a bunch of messages received by the Darwin family after his death.  Kudos to John van Wyhe, who curates this project and sent out a notice that this material has … Continue reading Condolence letters to Darwin’s family released on the 140th anniversary of his death

At last! Every every known photograph of Darwin on one wonderful site

John van Wyhe is a historian of science at the University of Singapore, specializing in Darwin and Wallace. Beside his many books he’s known for creating the ultimate Darwin source: Darwin Online, with all of CD’s manuscripts, publications, biographical data—everything but his correspondence, which you can find at Cambridge’s Darwin Correspondence Project. van Wyhe is … Continue reading At last! Every every known photograph of Darwin on one wonderful site

Thread: On the “On the Origin of Species”

As I noted in my Hili post, today is Evolution Day: the anniversary of the day on which Darwin published The Origin in 1859.  It’s one the book I’ve read more than any other: I used to go through it once a year or so, but it’s been about three years now. My copy of the first … Continue reading Thread: On the “On the Origin of Species”

Saturday: Hili dialogue

We’re at Thanksgiving CatSaturday: November 26, 2022: National Cake Day. My favorites in the genre are carrot cake with cream-cheese frosting and pineapple upside-down cake. It’s also Good Grief Day, celebrating the creator of “Peanuts”, Charles Schulz, born on this day in 1922, and Small Business Saturday. And that’s it: a thin day for celebrations. … Continue reading Saturday: Hili dialogue

Saturday: Hili dialogue

Good morning on Cat Shabbos: Saturday, June 18, 2022: International Picnic Day. But no picnics on the Sabbath unless somebody else does all the work! It’s Paul McCartney’s 80th birthday today! (See below.). Stuff that happened on June 18 includes: 1178 – Five Canterbury monks see an event believed to have been the formation of the Giordano Bruno crater on … Continue reading Saturday: Hili dialogue

What I did for Darwin’s Birthday

by Greg Mayer As Jerry noted at the time, this past Wednesday was Darwin’s Birthday. My evolutionary biology class met the previous day, Tuesday, and the first slide I showed for the day was the following. The “click here” in the middle of the slide led to a performance of the Beatles’ song “Birthday”. (For … Continue reading What I did for Darwin’s Birthday

Teaching Evolution: Darwin: Unity of type and adaptation

Note from Jerry: Greg plans to run a mini-MOOC here, so if you want some education in evolution, do the readings and answer the questions (to yourself). This is the first installment. by Greg Mayer This semester I’m teaching BIOS 314 Evolutionary Biology, an upper level undergraduate course. The students are all or mostly biological … Continue reading Teaching Evolution: Darwin: Unity of type and adaptation