Sad, but true much of the time.
See also:
Monthly Archives: August 2009
Journal websites.
Some time ago, I put together a list of websites for the journals I am most interested in. It occurred to me that this could be useful for others. (I am also planning to post some information on how to aggregate journal tables of contents, automatic index searches, and science news).
General
Evolution
Genome biology and evolution
Zoology
Education
Evolution: Education and Outreach vol. 2 iss. 3.
The most recent issue of Evolution: Education and Outreach (vol. 2, issue 3) is now available online. I decided to sit this one out after six consecutive contributions (links below), but I will be back in the next issue with a follow-up to my previous article on selection.
Evolution: Education and Outreach
Volume 2, Issue 3
Editorial
Greg Eldredge and Niles Eldredge
Why I Teach Evolution
Greg Eldredge
Evolution in Biology Education: Sparking Imaginations and Supporting Learning
Kristin P. Jenkins
Evolution Education in Utah: A State Office of Education–University Partnership Focuses on Why Evolution Matters
Jerald B. Johnson, Marta Adair, Byron J. Adams, Daniel J. Fairbanks, Velma Itamura, Duane E. Jeffery, Duane Merrell, Scott M. Ritter and Richard R. Tolman
Why Science Standards are Important to a Strong Science Curriculum and How States Measure Up
Louise S. Mead and Anton Mates
The Growing Visibility of Creationism in Northern Ireland: Are New Science Teachers Equipped to Deal with the Issues?
Conor McCrory and Colette Murphy
Attitudes of Students at a Private Christian Liberal Arts University Toward the Teaching of Evolution
Troy A. Ladine
Addressing Undergraduate Student Misconceptions about Natural Selection with an Interactive Simulated Laboratory
Joel K. Abraham, Eli Meir, Judy Perry, Jon C. Herron, Susan Maruca and Derek Stal
Phylogenetic Analysis: How Old are the Parts of Your Body?
Robert K. Kuzoff, Seth B. Kemmeter, Jeffrey S. McKinnon and Courtney P. Thompson
Using Avida-ED for Teaching and Learning About Evolution in Undergraduate Introductory Biology Courses
Elena Bray Speth, Tammy M. Long, Robert T. Pennock and Diane Ebert-May
Using Inquiry and Tree-Thinking to “March Through the Animal Phylaâ€: Teaching Introductory Comparative Biology in an Evolutionary Context
James J. Smith and Kendra Spence Cheruvelil
“Evolution for Everyoneâ€: A Course that Expands Evolutionary Theory Beyond the Biological Sciences
Daniel Tumminelli O’Brien, David Sloan Wilson and Patricia H. Hawley
Teaching Evolution Concepts to Early Elementary School Students
Louis Nadelson, Rex Culp, Suzan Bunn, Ryan Burkhart, Robert Shetlar, Kellen Nixon and James Waldron
Overcoming the Effect of the Socio-cultural Context: Impact of Teaching Evolution in Tunisia
Saïda Aroua, Maryline Coquide and Salem Abbes
Teaching Evolution with Historical Narratives
Esther M. van Dijk and Ulrich Kattmann
Preservice Teacher Understanding and Vision of how to Teach Biological Evolution
Louis S. Nadelson
Still More “Fancy†and “Myth†than “Fact†in Students’ Conceptions of Evolution
Deborah L. Cunningham and Daniel J. Wescott
Evolution in Lego®: A Physical Simulation of Adaptation by Natural Selection
Jakob Christensen-Dalsgaard and Morten Kanneworff
Does the Segregation of Evolution in Biology Textbooks and Introductory Courses Reinforce Students’ Faulty Mental Models of Biology and Evolution?
Ross H. Nehm, Therese M. Poole, Mark E. Lyford, Sally G. Hoskins, Laura Carruth, Brent E. Ewers and Patricia J. S. Colberg
From Newsroom to Classroom
Anastasia Thanukos
Science Standards Evolve
Eugenie C. Scott
Paleontology and Evolution in the News
Sidney Horenstein
Blogging Evolution
Adam M. Goldstein
Darwin: Origin and Evolution of an Exhibition
Chiara Ceci
In the Wake of Charles Darwin and Beyond: A Tribute to Ernst Mayr
Review of J. Haffer: Ornithology, Evolution, and Philosophy. The Life and Science of Ernst Mayr 1904–2005. Springer-Verlag, Berlin Heidelberg, 2007, 464 pp, $ 119, 00
U. Kutschera
A Permian Murder Mystery
Review of Extinction: How Life on Earth Nearly Ended 250 Million Years Ago, by Douglas H. Erwin. Princeton, Princeton University Press, 2006. pp. vii + 296. S/b $22.95
Matthew Williams
How Charles Darwin’s Early Years Led Him to Revolutionize Biological Thought
Review of The Young Charles Darwin by Keith Thomson. New Haven & London: Yale University Press, 2009, Pp. xii + 276, $28.00
Joel S. Schwartz
The Comparative Biology of Cultural Inheritance
Review of The Question of Animal Culture, Edited by Kevin N. Laland and Bennett G. Galef. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2009. Pp. vii + 351. H/b $45.70
Lauren W. McCall
Nitrogen and the Carrying Capacity of the Earth
Review of Enriching the Earth: Fritz Haber, Carl Bosch, and the Transformation of World Food, by Valclav Smil. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2001
Joseph L. Fail
My earlier articles:
Lamarck in Nature.
In yesterday’s issue of Nature, Dan Graur and co-authors provide a “book review” of Lamarck’s 1809 treatise Philosophie Zoologique. It’s not so much a literary review per se as a brief essay on Lamarck’s unflattering and unwarranted legacy. Lamarck was the first to propose a scientific theory of evolution, and he coined the terms “invertebrate” and “biology”. Unfortunately, Lamarck’s important contributions are often clouded by misconceptions about what he actually said, both by critics and by modern authors who insist on (mis)labeling the inheritance of acquired characteristics as “Lamarckian”, especially when discussing epigenetics research. (For my comment on this, see here and here). Thankfully, Graur et al. hit on both of these issues, and make a much-needed appeal for clarification and recognition of Lamarck’s contributions.
Note the following parts, which are particularly important:
Recently, Lamarck has been invoked once more, again wrongly in our view, in the field of epigenetics — the study of phenotypic and gene-expression changes that occur without a change in the genetic material.
…
Recognition of Lamarck’s contribution is hindered by two persistent misconceptions. First, people wrongly assume that he believed in the direct induction of advantageous hereditary changes by the environment. Yet he writes repeatedly against this notion: “For, whatever the environment may do, it does not work any direct modification whatever in the shape and organization of animals.” The second misconception concerns volition. A popular caricature of Lamarckism depicts an animal, usually a giraffe, wishing to reach the upper branches of trees, and acquiring a long neck through will alone. This error may have originated from the mistranslation of the French ‘besoin‘ — meaning ‘need’ — into the ambiguous term ‘want’, which can mean both ‘desire’ and ‘need’. This poor choice by the 1914 translator was probably influenced by Cuvier’s use of the word “désir” in his damning eulogy.
More Lamarck:
- The imaginary Lamarck by M. Ghiselin
- Shades of Lamarck by S.J. Gould
- Students’ preconceptions about evolution: How accurate is the characterization as “Lamarckian” when considering the history of evolutionary thought? by K. Kampourakis and V. Zogza
- The early history of the idea of the inheritance of acquired characters and of pangenesis by C. Zirkle
- Lamarck, The Founder Of Evolution His Life and Work by Alpheus S. Packard
-
The Spirit of System: Lamarck and Evolutionary Biology by Richard Burkhardt
- Jean-Baptiste Lamarck : works and heritage
Carnival of Evolution #14.
Carnival of Evolution #14 is up at Quintessence of Dust, so go check it out!
Churchill fieldwork 8.
Classic clips!
Well, some of us are back from Churchill while others are still on the road and set to return later this week. As promised, below are some clips of polar bears and belugas from our previous visit to Churchill in 2007. Enjoy.
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Click here for the Churchill fieldwork posts.