Soon to Come

I've been at a workshop all week on the Chesapeake Bay (it's been good to be on my native Maryland soil because this state is drop-dead gorgeous). The workshop is all about reforming the crappy undergraduate biology education that goes on in this country. It really is crappy. Want evidence of that? Try to explain, REALLY explain the theory of evolution by natural selection including in your explanation the relationship of natural selection to molecular genetics. Now, obviously I don't really expect you to do this but you SHOULD be able to do this because you probably all took an introductory biology course in biology. This is THE fundamental principle of biology and NOBODY (outside of science) understands it. This is why alternative explanations for the diversity of life on earth (ie - creationism) gain traction within the population.

Well, during this week I've been surrounded by 19 other postdocs who all think about very different things than immunity and viruses. Most of them are ecologists and evolutionary biologists. It's been really quite interesting to listen to these people. They think about very different things and their perspectives have been very unique. As part of this workshop, over the next year, we will be developing an introductory level biology course. My group is actually developing a basic biology course, very similar to what you would have taken. Part of that will include a section on genetic inheritance and evolution through natural selection. I volunteered to take that part, not because it's my specialty, but because I find it to be very, very interesting.

So. I'm going to educate you wonderful readers. What you can expect to read here in 2 or 3 days is an intelligent (and correct) rebuttal to the following common misconceptions about/arguments against evolution:

1 - Evolution is just a theory. Ooooh, this one make me want to die inside because it's a complete misunderstanding about science in general.

2 - There are no transitional fossils

3 - If we all evolved from apes, why are there still apes running around?

4 - Natural selection leads to greater complexity

5 - Evolution always promotes the survival of species

6 - Structures that are irreducibly complex could not have developed through a process of natural selection because there would have been no use for intermidiary structures

7 - Evolution violates the 2nd law of thermodynamics

8 - Evolution has never been observed. This is the big one because it's patently false. It HAS been observed, too many times to count.

9 - Evolution means that life changes 'by chance.'

10 - Natural selection involves organisms "trying" to adapt.


You see, these misconceptions stem from a misunderstanding of what the theory of evolution actually says. Because people don't really understand evolutionary theory they are duped by these faulty arguments.

It's gonna be awesome. You'll love it. Especially you Ammon.

The Blog Post That Needs No Title

This is likely to be the only political post I ever write wherein I have nothing negative to say about our president. In fact, I'm very proud of Barack Obama today. But I'll get to him in a minute.



The highest amount of praise is to be given to the awesome US intelligence network that has been working behind the scences for 10 years to nab this creep. I've been listening to NPR interviews with former intelligence guys and it's fascinating to hear about all of the clandestine actions that are taken and how everything needs to fall into place perfectly for something of this magnitude to happen. This is a very important symbolic victory for the United States. I say symbolic because I don't think this really changes much, al-Qaeda is still around and they still are organized well enough to carry out attacks. But this demonstrates that the US is still very active and gaining A+ intelligence, our military is freakin' awesome (don't pretend like there isn't a part of you that wouldn't love to have been in on that raid if you were freakish enough to be a Navy Seal), and that we are capable of winning this. Those in intelligence and in the military who carried this out are national heroes and are unlikely to participate in anything this big, career-wise, ever again.



The president demonstrated excellent leadership here. Obama often has seemed (to me at least) to not be up to the task. He has seemed to be one-step behind and incapable of being decisive and quick to act or respond. Well, when we've needed a decisive and unshakable president the most, he stepped up. Good for him and good for the United States. Sunday's raid has been forming behind the scenes since August according to Obama's message. It was an amazing task and as commander-in-chief, the guy who has to make the final call, he deserves a tip of the hat. I'm proud. There are concerns now that Pakistan was helping to shelter Osama and I'm sure the US government will be asking tough questions and giving them an earful if that turns out to be true but the president's speech Sunday night was very well delivered. It was cautious, deliberate, and aware of the fact that there is still much to learn. He's traveling to New York this week to meet with 9/11 victims' families and that's great. It's a big moment.

And what better way to celebrate a big moment for America than at America's game. This photo comes from a spontaneous, late-inning home run celebration last night by Boston's David Ortiz. David Ortiz was not born in this country, making this display of appreciation for the US military a little more meaningful and highlighting that Bin Laden's death should be welcomed by people the world over because his resume of terror hasn't been limited just to the United States.