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Am I an evolutionary ideologue?

Regular readers of this blog may know of “Will”, a frequent commenter on my posts about evolutionary biology and intelligent design who seems to disagree with absolutely everything I say. Some would, and have, called him a troll – I’m a little more lenient in my descriptions, but I usually restrain from responding to him too much, given that his comments are often filled with semi-decipherable appeals to “natural genetic engineering” and consciousness in bacteria and other organisms. In short, I really don’t have time to wade through the murky [...]

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Tabletop Transitional – Comedian Louis C.K. on evolution

What? You1 haven’t heard of Louis C.K.? Really? Then you’ve been missing out on one of the best stand-up comedians alive today. His bits on the inquisitiveness of young children and why the world is amazing, yet nobody cares were formative in my appreciation of good comedy. He’s a comedy [...]

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While I was gone… (aka. Having compound eyes isn’t all it’s cracked up to be)

Really, truly, I didn’t mean it. Life gets busy, you know? Er, I mean, the Men-in-Black arrested me and wiped my memory; my cat ate my laptop; the Tasmanians invaded; the Internet in Australia was shut off for two weeks; I was turned into a horrible Drosophila ananassae/Homo sapiens hybrid in a freak lab accident involving PCR, a papercut and a dodgy pipette: mix and match your favourite (far more exciting) excuses for my absence.

Anyway, the point is, I was gone for a while. But the Internet stops for no [...]

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How To Reclaim A Derogatory Nickname, with Michael Egnor

The Novellatron1 – the skeptical, alien-made robot also known as Dr. Steven Novella – has many detractors in the worlds of pseudoscience and antiscience, but none that I would call his nemesis: other than perhaps that of Dr. Michael Egnor, conservative Catholic neurosurgeon and ID proponent. Hmm, then again, maybe “nemesis” is too strong [...]

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The burden of (exams and) proof

Don’t worry, I’m still alive! It’s nearing the end of my exam period, with three exams already done and dusted. My last exam – Principles of Genetics – is on Friday, and then I’m free. Stress levels haven’t been too bad, but as you’re probably aware, it’s taken the wind out of my blogging. Oof!1 I’ve also learnt that I’m not a huge fan of medical microbiology, especially when it comes to memorising specific antibiotics. Why would [...]

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If Casey Luskin wants an ID dialogue parody, I’ll give him an ID dialogue parody

Intelligent design-inspired hip-hop wasn’t the only thing of note I found in a recent trawl of the now-defunct blog ID Arts. Oh no, I stumbled upon this gem written by the Discovery Institute’s very own Casey Luskin back in July of 2008: a parody template of a generic conversation between a “Darwinist” and an “ID Proponent”.

Here’s a taste1:

ID Proponent: Judge ignored pro-ID research. [...]

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Monday Science Link – QualiaSoup’s excellent science communication videos

Today’s science link is the YouTube channel of QualiaSoup.

Science and critical thinking communication can be tough through the medium of text. Sure, you can have a few pictures in there now and again, but the majority of the information must be absorbed through people sitting there and actively reading what has been written. While that’s legitimate and all well and good, it’s obvious that most people would prefer to watch a visually-stimulating and entertaining video than read text, no matter how well written it is.

[...]

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A more accurate way to think about evolutionary change

What’s this? Science blogging on Pharyngula? I never thought I’d see the day when PZ Myers blogged about science!

I’m kidding, but it is true that most of his posts aren’t strictly about science, and when they are they’re usually not educational on any meaningful level. This is probably due to the sheer volume of posts he churns out – he can’t write educational pieces about science for every post – however, when he does get around to clarifying a scientific issue, usually biological in nature, he always writes [...]

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Tabletop Transitional - SMBC on education standards

Education, people! IT MATTERS.

Replace the movie with a biology test about evolutionary theory, and if the Discovery Institute gets its way, similar problems might occur: “Not phylogenetic analysis! Homology is the work of design, not a natural biological process!”

Is Ablettogenesis a smooth or crunchy process?

Gary Ablett Sr. is truly a paragon of the modern age. An AFL football star, a public figure who speaks out against drug use, and now, revealed for the first time ever in the Herald Sun newspaper yesterday, an expert in organic chemistry, geology and evolutionary biology.

Ablett’s article, entitled “What kind of world do we want to live in?”, attacked the notion of “humanism in schools” and the recent Global Atheist Convention in Melbourne, as well, funnily enough, evolution and abiogenesis as scientific [...]

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