Welcome to the 2014 Carnival of Evolution World Cup of evolution blog posts.It was a tough battle. My own entry, The Function Wars: Part I, had a fairly low score but managed to squeak out a victory in the early rounds in spite of the fact that it had a severe disadvantage (too long).
We have an exciting post ahead of us today where we will find the winner of the inaugural CoE World Cup. Entered posts will be scored based on several parameters, and matches will be determined probabilistically.
The scoring system works like this:
+1 for mentioning "evolution" or "evolve"
+1 for posts about biological evolution
-1 for saying "develop" or "development" when meaning "evolve" or "evolution"
-1 for being very short
-2 for being very long
0 to +5 points based on the interest of the referee (the CoE host)
+2 for posts about peer-reviewed articles
+4 for posts whose authors clearly present opinions of their own
+1 per picture (up to three) included in the post
+1 for attracting any comments
+1 extra for each original picture (max 3)
+3 for showing videos
+25 for reports on rabbit fossils from the Cambrian
-5 for any hint of panadaptationism
-2 for each logical fallacy
-4 for any mention of aquatic ape theory
-7 for agreeing with Lynn Margulis that everything is endosymbiosis
-3 if talking about the work of others without citation
-5 to -1 for any wrong statements about evolution - See more at: http://pleiotropy.fieldofscience.com/2014/07/73rd-carnival-of-evolution-world-cup.html#sthash.75w1XHA6.dpuf
If you want to host a Carnival of Evolution please contact Bjørn Østman. Bjørn is always looking for someone to host the Carnival of Evolution. He would prefer someone who has not hosted before but repeat hosts are more than welcome right now! Bjørn is threatening to name YOU as host even if you don't volunteer! Contact him at the Carnival of Evolution blog. You can send articles directly to him or you can submit your articles at Carnival of Evolution although you now have to register to post a submission. Please alert Bjørn or the upcoming host if you see an article that should be included in next month's. You don't have to be the author to nominate a post.
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Perhaps you will think this off topic. But if the topic is popularization of evolutionary theory, which seems to me to be what the Carnival is about, then this may be of interest?
ReplyDeleteCarl Zimmer did a longish piece on blood types for the BBC (http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20140715-why-do-we-have-blood-types). As I read it I was struck by way it was assumed that there was an adaptive optimization assumed. The very possibility of simple random variation wasn't even clearly stated as an alternative. At any rate, that's the way I read this.
I know the consensus is there is an urgent need to debunk the con men puffing nearly nonexistent "exceptions" to gene selection etc. But to me it seemed as though the neutral mutation revolution has overlooked an enemy hideout or two. Any comments?
I wonder if TV will ever do a piece on cystic fibrosis in Utah. This is the effect in most cases of a simple mutation in the CFTR gene. It's a good example of a flat out _negative_ allele reaching high levels in the population through a strong founder effect and perhaps also some bad luck in the drift that followed. (And maybe nepotism giving the founder's offspring more resources and more wives.)
ReplyDeleteMr Moran,
ReplyDeleteI'm a curious dunce wandering through the combat zones of scientific blogging. It seems to me the scientists who blog much publish little. Do you do any work aside from teaching and blogging? I'm sure you enjoy hockey :-) Can you refer me to your latest greatest work that isn't centered in blog boxing. I'd really appreciate it. I'm pretty prolific at name calling , I'd like to see some free science education. Please.
that would be Dr. Moran... might as well get it right if you seek to access the primary literature.
DeleteLarry, I hope you are just on vacation and not blogging.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure I'm not the only one wondering if you are alright.
Please check in if you've got time.
Some news is better than no news when it can be managed
DeleteVery busy with writing papers, reviews, preparing a new course, interviewing TA's, visiting my granddaughter (with accompanying daughter), etc.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the info. Will keep checking back.
ReplyDeleteYou do, of course, deserve to have a life beyond the 'net.
Take care.
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ReplyDelete