Charles Krauthammer remembers Irving Kristol: Having had the undeserved good fortune of knowing him during his 21-year sojourn in Washington, I can testify to something lesser known: his extraordinary equanimity. His temperament was marked by a total lack of rancor. Angst, bitterness and anguish were alien to him. That, of course, made him unusual among… Continue reading

Fascinating look at the attempt to make evolution…go backward. Since the late 19th century, evolutionary biologists have debated whether evolution can go in reverse. If not, then evolution may depend on more than just natural selection. Multiple evolutionary paths could be possible through small chance events. It hasn’t been easy to examine reversibility. Previous studies… Continue reading

Understanding Natural SelectionT. Ryan Gregory’s paper, online. As is true with many other issues, a lack of understanding of natural selection does not necessarily correlate with a lack of confidence about one’s level of comprehension. This could be due in part to the perception, unfortunately reinforced by many biologists, that natural selection is so logically… Continue reading

Jerry Coyne is not impressed by Andrew Sullivan’s response to the Problem of Evil. I don’t think I would be either. I’d suggest Jerry talk to Jack Rushton instead.

This is pretty funny… Hat tip.