Evolutionary biology

Tuesday

James Bradley

What sea slugs can teach us about organ transplants

From our UK edition

While they may be outnumbered and outweighed by insects, the terrestrial world is really the kingdom of the vertebrates. Mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians dominate most ecosystems. Yet, as Drew Harvell points out in her fascinating new book, the seeming diversity of the terrestrial vertebrates is deceptive. In fact all are contained within just one of the 34 groups of animals that live on our planet, and their many designs are really variations on a quite narrow set of themes. This means that all share bilateral symmetry – heads with eyes and brains atop bodies with four limbs that contain their organs. By contrast, the other 33 groups of animals, the invertebrates, are astonishingly various in their design, with arsenals of adaptations and biological tricks.

Tuesday

Roger Kimball

What Charles Darwin got wrong

Have you noticed that whenever the conversation turns to the subject of Charles Darwin, an extraordinary amount of dogmatism is often on view?  What’s curious is that the dogmatism is patent on both sides of the debate, on the side of the Darwinists just as much as the side of Darwin’s critics.  I have often noted with amusement how sensitive to criticism the Darwinian faithful are. Any hint of a shadow of dissent and they rush for the garlic, the wooden stake and a signed copy of On the Origin of Species. I think I understand the psychology of the response. They are terrified lest acknowledging the strength of this or that criticism start them down the road toward creationism and teaching the Book of Genesis in Biology 101. Where does the truth lie?

charles darwin