archive

The evolution of evolution

From The Guardian, what can Darwin teach us about morality? A debate. Only some species will adapt and evolve to survive climate change; evolutionary biologists are only just beginning to find out why, and now they must figure out which ones are most at risk. Daniel Dennet on Darwin's strange inversion of reasoning. Misunderstanding Darwin: A review of What Darwin Got Wrong by Jerry Fodor and Massimo Piattelli Palmarini (and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more). Where have all the werewolves gone: Did the arrival of Darwin's theory of evolution put paid to a widespread belief in half-human creatures? From New Scientist, Mark Buchanan on the evolution of evolution. Michael Ruse on explaining Richard Dawkins and Edward O. Wilson. Evolutionary theory predicts that species must compete to survive, but often the best chances for survival come when different species work together for the benefit of both. A review of Subjects of the World: Darwin's Rhetoric and the Study of Agency in Nature by Paul Sheldon Davies. A review of The Fossil Hunter: Dinosaurs, Evolution, and the Woman Whose Discoveries Changed the World by Shelley Emling. From Christianity Today, a review of The Great Dinosaur Discoveries by Darren Naish and Dinosaur Odyssey: Fossil Threads in the Web of Life by Scott Sampson. Noted evangelical scholar Bruce Waltke is filmed endorsing evolution — and is promptly forced out of his job. Creationism and ID are products peculiar to US history, the response of Christian fundamentalists to the Founding Fathers’ separation of church and state. Despite the perception that evolutionary science has stripped the meaning from life, recent developments suggest that humans have a central role to play in the future of the universe.