Sunday 1 July 2012

Carnival of Evolution: catch 49

[note] Due to a late loss of the whole CoE49 post from my blog, I chose to structure the re-make economically. Hence the format of all entries is alike and as follows:
  • Author (Date) Post title (also links to blog post). Blog Name (no link to blog for clarity). Link to source article (when needed).
    My comment will follow in italics, if I have one.
P.S.: I did neither include submissions of posts from March or earlier nor submissions of posts that are only loosely about evolution as in 'evolution' of the solar system or climate. [/note]


Evolutionary studies are rich both in concepts and methods but not dis-integrated. As you will see, there is a common theme. Have fun.


Trees or Networks
Both figures from Gibson (1881). 







Stone or Clay

'Figure-4 trap (Gibson 1881).

Clay rodent trap used by the Tuareg in Niger (Drummond 2005).

The next three entries remained in news media that aren't blogs proper (you cannot comment).



Creative or Selected
Pater Schacht disguised as a mousetrap peddler during a mission in Scandinavia (Tanner 1694).
  • Rosa Rubicondior (5 June) Why evolution is not random. Rosa Rubicondior.
    Debunks a favourite ploy of anti-evolutionists -- the claim that immensely unlikely coincidences are required for adaptation.
  • Larry Moran (9 June) My review of Shapiro’s book is finally published. Sandwalk. Relates to a book review in Reports of the National Center for Science Education.
    Shapiro seems to think that skating along the fringes of established evolutionary biology is a good idea, because the fringe is the frontier. Moran disagrees and thinks he builds up a dated ‘neo-Darwinian’ straw-man and plays into the hands of anti-Darninians.
  • Zen Faulkes (11 June) The biology of Prometheus. NeuroDojo.
    Discusses a movie. Flying over this post, I got the impression the film has been inspired by Intelligent Design.
  • Matt Young (17 June) Evolution and belief: book review. Panda’s Thumb. Reviews the book Evolution and Belief: Confessions of a Religious Paleontologist by Robert J. Asher.
    Matt read the book as though it was a confession towards biologists and is disappointed to find just one accommodationist confession that Asher, nevertheless, believes in God. Creationists, however, will read it as so many confessions of a murder and will need a dictionary of biological terms at the side to even get the evidence.
  • Wiley Miller (18 June) Hey, I’m not the one who …. Non Sequitur.
    A cartoon that neatly sums up the ‘controversy.’
  • Troy Britain (21 June) Creationist horse feathers. Playing Chess with Pigeons.
    Thoroughly debunks creationists' claims about Archaeopteryx and horses. 
  • Adam M. Goldstein (30 June) Forms of accommodationism. The Shifting Balance of Factors.
    Sorts out the different varieties of accommodationism. Besides this, he would like to know who coined the term accommodationism. If I remember correctly, Larry Moran will know. 
 
Individually or in Groups - Few or Many
Tinker traps by courtesy of Jozef Mičieta, mayor of Velke Rovne.

Sexual Reproduction or Not
Claude Mellan (1598-1688) La Sourciére. Look at left margin about shoulder height.
 
Wound Up or Relaxed
Egyptian clap-bow trap (Schäfer 1919)

 
Simple or Complex
William Heath Robinson (1872-1944) Poster commissioned by Procter Bros (Drummond 2005).
 
Red in Tooth and Claw or What?
Mäusekamm by Hubertus Ermecke (Drummond 2005). This is not a hair-slide.
 
Miscellaneous
Workshop with tools adapted for the making of mouse traps. Postcard from Neroth, Germany.
 
Sources or Acknowledgements
Jean Jones (1786) Muscipula.
Thanks to David Drummond and Jozef Mičieta, mayor of Veľké Rovné.  
  • Drummond D. (2005) Mouse traps. A Quick Scamper through their Long History. North American Trap Collectors Association, Galloway, OH.
  • Gibson W.H. (1881) Camp Life in the Woods and the Tricks of Trapping and Trap Making. Harper & Brothers, New York.
  • Hamilton W.D. (1975) Innate Social Aptitudes of Man: an Approach from Evolutionary Genetics. In: Fox R. (ed.) ASA Studies 4: Biosocial Anthropology, pp. 133-153. Malaby Press, London. Reprinted in Narrow Roads of Gene Land, vol. 1, pp.329-351.
  • Neroth, is a German village that became a centre of mouse trap makers and peddlers after Theodor Kläs (*1802) learned the trade during peregrinations and taught it back home after his return in the 1830s. Mausefallenmuseum.
  • Mellan C. (1598-1688) La Sourcière. The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
  • Tanner M. (1694) Societas Jesu Apostolorum Imitatrix ... [previously hard to get, now online].
  • Veľké Rovné lies in the region of Slovakia that used to be a cetre of tinkerers. Some have developed their craft into an art as can be seen at the museum in the castle of Žilina.

End

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