Archetype

Blogging at its rawness

Weirdbuglady stuffs a real animal for a change, and shows us the whole process with detail pictures.

Finger puppet!

I agree with her, preparing animals that have the skeleton on the outside is way easier and much more cleaner.

Tags: Skin preparation

Phylogenetics through videoconferencing

Last night I attended a talk in Lisbon given by Ward Wheeler at the AMNH in New York City and moderated by Frederick Matsen from his home institution in Berkeley, California. The talk was the second on a series of talks in phylogenetics held via videoconferencing.

The idea behind phyloseminar.org is to hold regular live online seminars in phylogenetic methodology open to anyone around the globe. This is a challenge given the time zone differences of the possible participants, but it does makes the whole event fun: I watched it after dinner at 9:00pm; the presenter gave it at his 4:00pm; while the moderator was there after lunch at his 1:00pm. I saw at least one person among the audience that watched it from the future after breakfast in New Zealand the next day at 10:00am. › Continue reading

Tags: Direct optimization, Dynamic homology, Frederick Matsen, phyloseminar, POY, Ward Wheeler

The Snodgrass Tapes

Here is a hidden treasure in the web.

Robert E. Snodgrass was an American entomologist who published extensively on arthropod anatomy and evolution during the first half of the twentieth century. He was as knowledgeable about arthropod morphology as he was a superb artist– you can see some of his illustrations decorating the banner of this blog. His name is synonymous with insect morphology: his 1935 textbook on the subject (reedited by Cornell University Press in 1993) is still the main reference for any modern course in entomology.

Snodgrass was a lecturer in the University of Maryland for most of his academic life. In 1960, two years before his death, he gave a series of three lectures that were recorded in audio tape. Fortunately for us Jeffrey W. Shultz, professor of entomology at Maryland, has digitized and made these lectures available through a nicely designed page called The Snodgrass Tapes. › Continue reading

Tags: Roberto E. Snodgrass

Portuguese Evolutionary Biology Meeting- December 21st, 2009

Since I am in the neighborhood:

We are please to announce that the 5th Portuguese Evolutionary Biology Meeting will take place at Instituto Superior de Psicologia Aplicada (ISPA) in Lisbon on December 21st 2009. It is being organized by Unidade de Investigação em Eco-etologia and Centro de Biociências do ISPA (Rua Jardim do Tabaco, 34, Lisbon).

The Portuguese Evolutionary Biology Meetings aim to bring together Portuguese researchers and to promote Evolutionary Biology in Portugal. They are held in late December to allow researchers in foreign institutions to attend, given that many spend their Winter break in Portugal.

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Tags: Meetings

Postdoc postion in beetle morphology/taxonomy

I’m reposting this job announcement here:

The International Institute for Species Exploration (IISE), Arizona State University (ASU), invites applications and nominations for a postdoc available January 1, 2010. Duties include dissections, descriptions, and digital illustrations of beetles for print and Web publications, participating in the Institute team working on various cybertaxonomy initiatives, and supporting the research of the director, currently including taxonomic studies of Eleodes (Coleoptera, Tenebrionidae).

ASU is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer. Women and minorities are encouraged to apply. Submit statement of interest, CV, and names/email addresses of three references to: Quentin Wheeler, Vice President and Dean, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Arizona State University. Please submit electronically to tyna.chu@asu.edu with subject line Morphology Postdoc. Review of candidates will begin immediately and continue until the position is filled.

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Tags: Eleodes, Quentin Wheeler

Eickwort’s Manual of Insect Morphology

George Campbell Eickwort (1949–1994)

The Department of Entomology at Cornell University saw a time of great research and teaching in insect morphology at the end of the Twentieth Century, most of which came from the efforts by two extraordinary systematists: William L. Brown Jr. and George Campbell Eickwort.

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Tags: Cornell University, George Campbell Eickwort, William L. Brown Jr.

Three succinct reasons why scientists should communicate science to the general public

Raghavendra Gadagkar, social insects biologist, writes:

I believe that most working scientists should spend part of their time explaining and discussing their work with a larger audience. There are at least three important reasons for this. One is that science needs to become an integral and essential part of society and not be perceived as an outside force that is at loggerheads with society. Second, scientists need to recruit the best young minds to make up the next generation and that can only happen if we devote time to communicate with the general public. Third, I have no doubt it will help us appreciate our own work better.

From the book review of  Keller, L. & Gordon, É. 2009: The lives of ants. – Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK, XI + 252 pp.¹

Tags: Raghavendra Gadagkar

Spider silk on display

… at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.

Tags: AMNH, Silk, Spider

Cladistics wars 2.0

There is a skirmish going on at Dechronization blog right now¹. This is a coauthored blog about phylogenetics. I like used to like this blog (its was right there on my blogroll —->²). There are surprisingly very few blogs about phylogenetic methods these days, despite the wide use that phylogenies currently have  in evolutionary biology and beyond (e.g., linguistics). I will complain that, for nine authors, they post little, sometimes not a single post during a month.

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Early call from Science

My brother had the courtesy of regressing me to a time in our childhood that may be partially responsible for our choice to become professional scientists. You see, our parents had bought us a Batman comic book that came with an audio cassette. Playing the audio cassette, one could hear the story in voice acting and special effects while following the artwork. A bell ring would indicate when to turn the page.

In the story, “Trumping the Joker”, Batman and sidekick Robin chase after the Joker that had just escaped from Arkham Asylum and stolen a famous Picasso from the Gotham City Museum of Fine Arts. Great story. After apprehending the Joker and saving the Picasso the story ends with a short dialog between our superheroes that includes a profound, final reflection by Batman.

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Tags: Batman, Lobotomy