Why Evolution is True is a blog written by Jerry Coyne, centered on evolution and biology but also dealing with diverse topics like politics, culture, and cats.
We all know by now that foxes not only hear rodents beneath the snow, but appear to use the Earth’s magnetic field to zero in on the hapless prey. This fox, however, miscalculated.
By the way, the US Department of the Interior Twi**er site has some nice stuff.
This fox is having a rough day!
A leap and a miss for a red fox 🐺 @YellowstoneNPS https://t.co/MqRRhoBG7o— US Department of the Interior (@Interior) May 6, 2016
Chief Justice Roy Moore of the Alabama Supreme court has had what can charitably be called a checkered career—all based on his right-wing and hyper-religious views that repeatedly tainted his rulings. In 2003, he was removed as Chief Justice for disobeying a federal court order that he remove a monument to the Ten Commandments from the courthouse grounds. He regained this Chief Justice-ship in 2012 by election, which shows you something about the political climate of Alabama. (The state elects its Chief Justices.)
He hadn’t learned his lesson, though, and didn’t keep his big yap shut. A year later, at a Pro-Life luncheon, he proclaimed that the First Amendment applied only to Christians (see my post here), for, after all, it was God and not Buddha or Mohamed who created us.
And then big trouble: in February of last year, Moore ordered that state employees ignore a federal court ruling that Alabama must issue licenses for gay marriage (see post here). Most employees, however, ignored Moore and issued the licenses anyway.
Now, according to the Montgomery (Alabama) Advertiser (see also yesterday’s article in the New York Times), an inquiry by the state Judicial Inquiry Commission (JIC) has led to Moore’s suspension from the bench, and possibly to his permanent removal as Chief Justice—again! (I don’t know if he faces permanent removal from the court.) He faces charges of not only violating ethical rules, but abrogating other duties:
The Judicial Inquiry Commission accuses Moore of failing to act with impartiality and refusing to follow “clear law” in issuing his Jan. 6 order, which came six months after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down bans on same-sex marriage in Obergefell v. Hodges. Moore is also charged with acting while a lawsuit over the constitutionality of same-sex marriage was pending before the court.
. . . The charges state that Moore “knowingly ordered” the state’s probate judges “to commit violations of the Canons of Judicial Ethics and “abandoned his role as a neutral and detached chief administrator of the judicial system.”
Richard Cohen, president of the Southern Poverty Law Center, which filed the complaint, said the Court of the Judiciary should remove Moore “for the good of the state.”
“Moore has disgraced his office for far too long,” the statement said. “He’s such a religious zealot, such an egomaniac that he thinks he doesn’t have to follow federal court rulings he disagrees with.”
Indeed. The man just can’t stop proselytizing, or tainting his decisions with his faith, completely ignoring what the higher federal courts say. Here’s one example of his inability to control himself and follow the law:
The chief justice, an outspoken social conservative, has made no secret of his feelings on same-sex marriage. In March, Moore said proposed American Bar Association rule change intended to expand protections for LGBT individuals was “subordinating an attorney’s ethical duties to the sexual orthodoxy du jour.”
And from Wikipedia, on the fight over the Ten Commandments monument:
Additionally, Moore acknowledged an explicit religious intent in placing the monument, agreeing that the monument “reflects the sovereignty of God over the affairs of men” and “acknowledge[s] God’s overruling power over the affairs of men.” However, in Moore’s view this did not violate the doctrine of separation of church and state; as the presiding judge later summarized it, Moore argued that “the Judeo-Christian God reigned over both the church and the state in this country, and that both owed allegiance to that God”, although they must keep their affairs separate.
This man, though he may be the Pride of Alabama, is a Disgrace to America. He should not be serving as a justice at all, much less chief justice. His continuing popularity in the state is a source of shame to those Alabamans who maintain any adherence to Enlightenment values.
I hope they dump his sorry tuchus.
Barring unforseen circumstances, this will be the last post I put up about Siddhartha Mukherjee’s misleading article about epigenetics and The New Yorker (see my posts on it here and here).
First, on the website of the Scripps Translational Science Institute, Mukherjee has written a rebuttal, which is not really directed at the posts on this site but to a bunch of emails sent to the New Yorker that criticized his piece. As far as I know, those critical emails were sent directly to the magazine rather than the author, and then the NYer passed them on to Mukherjee. He then wrote a big email response and sent it to the critics (I was not among them, though I eventually saw his response). That email is what Scripps published, so you should consider his rebuttal as a response to the criticisms sent to the New Yorker and not to what I posted.
One example of this difference: in point 8 of his rebuttal, Mukherjee asserts that he did indeed criticize the “epigenetic-Lamarckian” process as being unlikely to cause adaptive evolution. Yes, that’s true—and I said in my original post that I agreed with him, but thought he could have made this point a bit more strongly in the New Yorker piece. Perhaps some other critics faulted him in the emails sent to the New Yorker. So, for the record, let me say this: all of us, including Mukherjee, agree on the gist of what follows (though I don’t know if he’d sign off on this wording):
There is absolutely no evidence for any Lamarckian form of evolution based on “epigenetic” markers on the DNA produced by the environment. Further speculations about this—and claims that it shows that the modern theory of evolution is wrong—are misguided and should be ignored pending some real evidence.
Although I don’t think Mukherjee’s response on the Scripps site is very convincing, nor rebuts the faults of the New Yorker piece enumerated by the various scientists on my site (see especially Ptashne and Greally’s criticisms, and the letters by Madespacher and Henikoff), I’m not going to deal with this further. I will let readers and other scientists judge the entire exchange. The only future posts I will put up about this matter will be notices and comments on any press coverage (see below).
But I do fault the New Yorker for failing to print any criticisms of Mukherjee’s piece, for that piece will then stand unsullied, forever, in its pages. Only those who have read my posts or the press coverage to come (see below) will know of the problem. The New Yorker really needs to look seriously at how it vets its science pieces, and, as I noted before, its entire attitude towards science. But their arrogance suggests that they won’t do this.
Finally, there will be several press pieces about the controversy, as I (and several others, surely including Mukherjee) have talked to reporters. The first press piece, “Right but wrong” (subtitle: “The field of epigenetics is poorly understood by non-scientists. Did a recent New Yorker magazine article help matters?”), was published yesterday by Aleszu Bajak in Undark, an online organ of MIT’s Knight Science Journalism Program. There you can read Mukherjee’s “explanation” of why his New Yorker piece wasn’t a thorough (and I’d add “accurate”) summary of the field. (Hint: not enough space!)
One plaint about the Undark piece (and about the Vox piece that I just saw and will dissect tomorrow): you cannot excuse inaccuracies or misleading information on the grounds that you didn’t have enough space to tell the truth. From Bajak’s conclusions:
At the same time, it’s worth asking if such a thing [providing “an honest explanation of the nuances of gene regulation”] can be done at all, by anyone, in a popular magazine — the goal of which, in any case, is not to mimic a scientific journal, but to communicate to the general public the alluring frontiers of science — in this case, epigenetics (however that might be defined). It’s possible that Mukherjee fell short, but his critics would do well to consider the exceedingly difficult challenge he and his editors sought to undertake.
Sorry, but I’m not sympathatic to the problems of journalists who decide to tell a distorted story because they are either too lazy or don’t have enough space to tell the right story.
In fact, Mukherjee could have told the true story of gene regulation, rather than the cute but incorrect story, in the same amount of space that he had. But of course if he described the real state of the field, he wouldn’t have a novel story to tell.
So listen up, journalists: it’s better to tell the truth than mislead readers with fine words and a false story. Not all scientific explanations are equal, and the first job of a science journalist is to get the facts right. After that you can dress it up with fine words.
As usual, we have three cat-related items today. First, here’s a video of Boomer, a Bengal who’s the recently-acquired companion of Didga, the famous Australian skateboarding cat. For some reason the staff of Didga and Boomer has a remarkable ability to get his moggies to behave in unusual ways: in this case Boomer insouciantly encounters a bunch of dogs.
You can see more videos of Didga and Boomer at the “Katmantoo” YouTube site.
As the staff says, do NOT try this at home, or without cat-training experience:
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From the Torygraph we have the story of Liz Clark, a woman who’s sailing around the world with her cat Amelia. It’s a lovely thought, but I’m quite worried that the unleashed moggie will fall overboard.
Apparently they’ve been on the road (or sea) for ten years.
Parts taken from the Torygraph story are indented:
Clark told BuzzFeed she adopted Amelia when she was only six months old and is now giving her the adventure of her nine lives.
She said: “She has adapted to living surrounded by water. She’s learned to trust that she will be safe with me.”
Liz Clark, originally from San Diego, and now from The Ocean, told the website she had been dreaming of sailing around the world since she was a child.
Setting sail in 2006 from California, Amelia has now traveled along the western coast of Mexico and Central America, as well as to the South Pacific.
Captain Clark has now logged an impressive 18,000 nautical miles.
Clark said Amelia especially enjoys fishing from the boat.“On calm nights, she fishes off of a soft top surfboard attached to the side of Swell with a small light that attracts fish,” the captain explained.
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The title of this cat’s story came from reader Diane G., who found the link to the ASPCA story. Diane notes, “A scary event but with a happy ending and some cute comments about the relationship of a man and his cat. (Plus the moggie is adorable.)”
It’s about Tommy, a cat in Queens, New York, who swallowed a wishbone. Things looked bad, but now he’s all right:
One Sunday evening, Tommy’s pet parent David D. enjoyed a take-out meal of rotisserie chicken in his Queens, New York, apartment. The next morning, David found Tommy crouched in the kitchen corner, bleeding from the neck.
“At first I thought he had fallen,” says David. He then realized that his 10-lb. tomcat had likely torn open the trash and swallowed the leftover chicken—wishbone and all.
The X-ray; arrow shows the ingested wishbone:
David and his mother, Darlene, rushed Tommy to the ASPCA Animal Hospital, where Veterinarian Dr. Yvonne Kline conducted an oral exam and noticed a bone deep inside Tommy’s throat. After sedating Tommy, Dr. Kline plucked out the bone, then cleaned and sutured his wound with 12 stitches. Tommy was also neutered, and the next day, he went home with antibiotics.
Tommy: post surgery. Poor moggie!
“I was glad to have my soul mate back,” says David, who first found Tommy when he was working as shop supervisor for an auto mechanic. “A driver came in complaining that cat noises were coming from the car’s motor bay,” he recalls. “Tommy was behind the gas and brake pedals.”
David adopted Tommy on the spot. “I never even thought of giving him to someone else,” he says. “We relate to each other, and he trusts me. He even has a sense of humor, like me.”
David’s brother Daniel, along with Darlene, brought Tommy back to the ASPCA two weeks later to have his sutures removed. After the re-check exam, veterinarians gave Tommy a clean bill of health.
At home, David reports Tommy is better than ever. “He means so much to me. We were destined to be together.”
Tommy and his staff:
h/t: dd, Barry, Ginger K.
First we’ll put up the last moiety of reader John Phelps’s submission: photos he took in and around Kruger National Park in South Africa. His captions are indented:
White backed vulture (Gyps africanus) – just left a carcass to roost in a nearby tree:
Vervet Monkey (Chlorocebus pygerythrus)– quite a common sighting and the young are amusing. This youngster was putting on a show of Jacko’s Thriller dance moves. . . :
Giraffe Calf (Giraffa camelopardalis) – this was part of a large family group:
God’s Window (two photos)– spectacular views looking eastwards over the Kruger NP towards Mozambique:
Three Rodavals – a feature that looks like 3 traditional African huts standing high above the Blyde River Canon near Graskop:
Dragonfly – taken at Spion Kop Lodge in the Drakensberg region of Natal. Spion Kop was the location of a significant battle in the Angle/Boer War of 1899-1901. The battle is also famous because 3 of the participants were Churchill, Gandhi and Jan Smuts. ‘SpionKop’ also became the name of the famous ‘Kop’ at Liverpool football ground…
Impala (Aepyceros melampus) – very common sighting and the fauns are staple for the medium sized predators:
It’s Saturday, May 7, and today I must get the Ceiling CatMobile emissions tested. This is always a traumatic time, which resembles my exams in college. Will the car pass? It always has but it’s now 16 years old. . . .
But enough First World problems. On this day in 1824, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony was premiered—in Vienna. In 1915, the Germans sunk the Lusitania, and, in 1945, General Jodl signed an unconditional surrender on behalf of Germany, ending the war in Europe. Notable births on this day include David Hume (1711), Johannes Brahms (1833), and, exactly 7 years later, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Gary Cooper was born on May 7, 1901, and Jimmy Ruffin on the same day in 1936. Those who died on this day include Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. (2000).
Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili is relentless in her pursuit of birds, and has all kinds of schemes to catch them:
A: Hili, what are you plotting?
Hili: I’m pretending that I’m practicing yoga. Maybe the bird will be fooled.
Ja: Hili, co ty knujesz?
Hili: Udaję, że uprawiam jogę, może ten ptaszek się nie zorientuje.
Lagniappe: Cat? Or elephant? (h/t: Taskin):
I’ve already posted one of Amy’s versions of this song, but this lively rendition, from the Isle of Wight concert, is better; in fact, that gig is one of her best live performances (I haven’t seen the one at Dingle yet). She appears bright eyed and bushy-haired, not drugged out at all—although she’s swilling something that may be Guinness, or Coke with booze in it. I doubt she ever drank any non-alcoholic beverages on stage. My earlier post explains the song.
By the way, I don’t know who her two backup singers/dancers are (they remind me of the Blues Brothers with the suits and fedora), but they’re superb.
So, to rev you up for the weekend:
What a lovely story from Whittier, California!