Although I am heartily sick of the Obamicon and its iterations, I must give high praise to Mike Rosulek for the excellent Darwinia poster. I'll be buying a tshirt from Zazzle because all profits will be donated to The National Center for Science Education (NCSE). As I'm writing this, already over $130 $250 $550 $700 has been raised. Awesome Mike!
The Society for the Study of Evolution, the American Society of Naturalists and the Society of Systematic Biologists will be holding their annual joint meeting this summer in lovely Moscow, Idaho. I received my Master's degree from the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Idaho so the event will be something of a homecoming for me.
The meeting will be held June 12-16, 2009.
The venue of the meeting, Moscow, Idaho, is a western college town situated at the transition between the Northern Rockies and the rolling palouse grasslands of the interior Pacific Northwest. Moscow (pronounced "Mos-coh" by locals) was settled in 1871, and became home to the University of Idaho, Idaho's land-grant university, in 1889. UI and Washington State University (which is only six miles away in the town of Pullman, Washington) form a major center of biological research in the Pacific Northwest. Idaho is the state where protected wildernesses was first created, and within a short drive from Moscow you can enjoy world-class whitewater rafting, fishing, backcountry hiking and mountain climbing; go west and you'll cross the geological marvels of the channelled scablands to reach Washington's premier wine country.
Following the meeting, I am trying to arrange a raft trip to one of the fantastic wild rivers of Idaho: Selway, Lochsa, Salmon or Snake. Failing that, I will backpack in the largest contiguous wilderness area in the lower 48. I am looking forward to the woods almost as much as I am looking forward to the scientific program.
I will be hosting the next edition of The Giant's Shoulders here at The Evilutionary Biologist.
The Giant's Shoulders is a monthly blog carnival dedicated to classic science papers. My original aim when I started The Evilutionary Biologist was to write about one classic biology paper each week. The rationale was three-fold. One, to increase science appreciation by discussing the great science experiments of yesteryear. Two, to foster awareness of the human side of science by highlighting personal anecdotes. Three, to personally learn more about how to do good science by reading the work of the masters. Although my posting has been ever more stochastic due to the constraints of life on the tenure-track, I still post as often as I am able.
I've been a regular participant in The Giant's Shoulders since I found out about it (except for last month's edition), and enjoy learning about the work that others feel is classic. I urge you to participate, write about a science classic that really floats your boat, and submit it at Blog Carnival. Submissions need to be received by March 15th.
“If I have seen a little further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants.” - Isaac Newton, in a letter to Robert Hooke, 1676. (Though the metaphor goes back much further.)
“The Giant’s Shoulders” is a monthly science blogging event, in which authors are invited to submit posts on “classic” scientific papers. Submissions are due on the fifteenth of each month, and entries will be aggregated and linked to on the host blog of the month. Links to entries should be sent to that month’s host blog.
What defines a “classic” paper? This depends upon the field in question, but one expects that the work should have somewhat stood the test of time: we suggest perhaps 10 years old, or more. Contributors should not only describe the research involved but also put it in a broader historical/scientific context: why is the work in question important/groundbreaking/revolutionary/nifty?
Dave Fitch, Sam Datta and I will be speaking about Darwin Sunday at 4PM at Revolution Books in NYC (146 West 26th b/t 6th and 7th Ave).
KNOWING WHAT’S REAL AND WHY IT MATTERS
Hope to see you there!
The latest edition of Giant Shoulders is up at The Questionable Authority.
“The Giant’s Shoulders” is a monthly science blogging event, in which authors are invited to submit posts on “classic” scientific papers. Submissions are due on the fifteenth of each month, and entries will be aggregated and linked to on the host blog of the month. Links to entries should be sent to that month’s host blog. What defines a “classic” paper? This depends upon the field in question, but one expects that the work should have somewhat stood the test of time: we suggest perhaps 10 years old, or more. Contributors should not only describe the research involved but also put it in a broader historical/scientific context: why is the work in question important/groundbreaking/revolutionary/nifty? It should go without saying by the use of the word “classic”, but papers should be in an accepted, established scientific field: contributions promoting non-traditional science and pseudo-scientific ideas are inappropriate. Why restrict yourself to “classic” papers? Entries profiling an important person or concept in the history of science are also acceptable.
This year's Burning Man art theme is Evolution.
The process of trial and error that has made this possible is called Natural Selection. Genetically encoded traits that aid survival tend to spread throughout entire populations. Living entities that bear these genes endure and reproduce, but maladaptive traits are not passed on. This causes species to evolve to better fit the world in which they live. However, this rigorous weeding out of 'unfit' individuals has gradually ceased to occur within our species. Medicine and mutual aid assure that nearly anyone is able to survive and reproduce.
At bottom every man knows well enough that he is a unique being, only once on this earth; and by no extraordinary chance will such a marvelously picturesque piece of diversity in unity as he is, ever be put together a second time.
— Frederick Nietzsche
Now adrift in our own gene pool, we have encountered a new phase of evolution. We've become a conscious breed of culture-bearing animals. Black Rock City is a kind of Petri dish, and Burning Man is an experiment in generating culture. We've learned that culture's a spontaneous phenomenon. It thrives as a result of numberless and unplanned interactions. All that's really needed is a fitting social vessel to sustain it. This happens best within communities that harbor many different modes of self-expression. We've also learned that cultures effloresce when human beings feel free to offer up their gifts.
Our theme this year prompts three related questions: What are we as human beings, where have we come from, and how may we adapt to meet an ever-changing world?
You can apply for a grant to create an evolutionary piece of art here. I'm looking forward to seeing what the creative types come up with.
This is the time of year when the new Annual Reviews are published. Annual Reviews are among my favorite journals because of the timely content, excellent reviews and occasional historical and/or autobiographical papers.
The current edition of the Annual Review of Microbiology contains an excellent autobiographical account by Stanley Falkow.
Stanley Falkow is microbiologist and a professor of microbiology and immunology at Stanford University School of Medicine. He has published prolifically on the pathogenesis of microbial diseases. In 2008, Falkow received the Lasker Prize for being one of the all-time great microbe hunters.
I particularly like how Falkow closes his account,
"Finally, I realized a number of years ago that in life you never get to have as many dogs as you want or to find out how it all turns out. As you get older and are asked to be a keynote speaker or get an award of some kind, you also realize you are being given credit for things you never did and for attributes you never possessed."
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