Author Archives: whyevolutionistrue

Photos of readers

July 9, 2020 – 2:30 pm

Last September I did a reader’s photo feature on Divy Figueroa, who does veterinary care on exotic animals, and I’m devoting an unprecedented second feature to her because she’s recently sent me photos of one of her new patients. It’s the kitten of a Geoffroy’s cat (Leopardus geoffroyi), a small (house-cat sized) denizen of South […]

Posted in felids, Photos of readers | Comments (16)

Paper retracted for title and wording: “Where there are girls, there are cats.”

July 9, 2020 – 1:30 pm

I haven’t seen the original version of this paper in Biological Conservation, which investigates the correlates of feral cat density in 30 Chinese universities, but a piece in Retraction Watch, below, implies that the title (and perhaps other bits of the paper) caused its retraction by Elsevier (the publisher) until until it was changed. The […]

Posted in felids, Science, science publishing | Comments (29)

Decolonizing evolution (and Darwin) was inevitable

July 9, 2020 – 11:20 am

When I said that “Darwin was next” in the line of statue-removal, renaming, and accusations of racism, I wasn’t kidding. Darwin was an abolitionist, but he did evince some white superiority in his writings and letters, calling blacks “savages” and “barbarians” (I lecture on this). It’s only a matter of time before that bigoted paternalism, […]

Posted in evolution, teaching evolution, wokeness | Comments (126)

Here’s the dragonfly!

July 9, 2020 – 11:00 am

Did you spot the dragonfly in Robert Seidel’s photo this morning? Here’s the reveal and then a closeup.    

Posted in insects, spot the nightjar (and other beasts), spot the ________ | Comments (5)

Jesse Singal on “cancel culture”

July 9, 2020 – 9:00 am

The two noteworthy incidents in Cancel Culture this week—a term that the woke hate but seems pretty accurate to me—were the attempted demonization of Steve Pinker, involving a letter demanding that the Linguistics Society of America rescind two of its honors to Steve, and a letter in Harper’s and four other international magazines calling out […]

Posted in Cancel Culture | Comments (56)

Spot the dragonfly!

July 9, 2020 – 8:15 am

Here’s a photo from Robert Seidel, asking us to spot the dragonfly. Click to enlarge the photo; reveal at 11 a.m. Chicago time today. Robert’s note: I believe this is a female emperor dragonfly (Anax imperator), rightly described as “bulky” by the website I used to check – this one was as large as my […]

Posted in insects, spot the nightjar (and other beasts), spot the ________ | Comments (15)

Readers’ wildlife photos

July 9, 2020 – 7:45 am

Here’s a selection of  lovely insect photos from reader Mark Jones. Stay tuned for his next contribution, “The storks return to England”!  Mark’s notes and IDs are indented: A few more macros, this time a variety of shield type bugs. They are pretty strange looking beasts but as usual the complexity revealed at the macro […]

Posted in insects, photography, plants, Readers' wildlife | Comments (10)

Thursday: Hili dialogue

July 9, 2020 – 6:30 am

Already the “work week” is drawing to an end: it’s Thursday, July 9, 2020: National Sugar Cookie Day. It’s also the day honoring the Martyrdom of the Báb (a day for adherents to the Baháʼí Faith; see below),  well as National No Bra Day. I’ve heard that the pandemic has greatly reduced the use of […]

Posted in Hili Dialogue | Comments (53)

Photos of readers

July 8, 2020 – 2:30 pm

This is the penultimate submission in the tank, so by all means re-form the queue with your own submission. Yesterday’s post featured Steve Reiber, and today we have his wife Gayle. Steve wrote the text but the pictures are of Gayle (and friends): Gayle and I have visited Chiang Mai Thailand 3 times in the […]

Posted in Photos of readers | Comments (9)

The toxic masculinity of architecture: a Guardian article that seems like a spoof but isn’t

July 8, 2020 – 1:15 pm

UPDATE: Reader John sent a counterexample: a hotel in Azerbaijan. Unfortunately, it’s invalid because it was built by Donald Trump! In fact, the Trump Tower Baku never opened. . . __________________________ This is one of those articles so over the top that you don’t know whether it belongs in the Guardian or the Onion.  Unfortunately, […]

Posted in architecture, sex and gender issues | Comments (79)