Tangled Bank 17

It is time again for the bi-weekly collection of Tangled Bank Submissions. I will apologize in advance for not writing any of the articles collected here; I've done lots of science writing in the past two weeks, but none of it is palatable for human consumption (really, do you want to read about my isolation of the lux operon? It's well written, but still . . . ). Thanks for visiting, and I hope you enjoy the wonderful articles collected here.

From Jenn at the Invasive Species Weblog, we have a followup about invasive beetles discovered in artificial Christmas Trees (with links to previous information).

An article about the meaning of the word evolution, and the connotations thereof, can be found at Reed’s site, De Rerum Natura.

Dr. Thomas Boyle at CodeBlueBlog puzzles out the last two weeks of Yassir Arafat’s life – and the mistakes made by the French doctors – given the medical reports.

Over at Inkstain, John starts “a discussion of … research on the perceptions of climate change among residents of northern Ethiopia compared to the changes actually recorded by the region's rain gauges.” The psychology of climate change perception is actually quite interesting.

For Chris at Creek Running North, “a hike in the California oak forest prompts some reflection on cynipid wasp galls.”

PZM at Pharyngula blogged about the potential evolutionary advantages to bipedal motion, and how that relates to the human ability for marathon running.

Mike at 10,000 Birds encourages us to get involved with Audobon’s Christmas Bird Count. It sounds cool, and I wish I was a better birder, but I can barely identify the acorn woodpecker on my school’s campus.

Thoughts from Kansas, by Josh, brings us brings us a vision of hope for the future; ”let's build a nation of explorers and discoverers.”

Even at Rhosgobel, the good things must come to an end, and thus Rhadaghast writes one final installment of the Manduca sexta caterpillar saga.

Next week’s host will tentatively be Dr. Thomas Boyle at CodeBlueBlog. Thanks for tuning in, and I hope all of you will find your way to Tangled Bank in two weeks.

Comments

[ian]

maybe i asked you this before and it's somewhat out of the blue but...
i'd be very curious to find out what you think about John Polkinghorne and his work. I just read "Belief in God in Age of Science", and I found it quite compelling. (it was also, at a mere 120 pages or so, quite an easy read.)