It was 150 years ago today …

How did I not know until this year that my birthday was also the birthday of “On the Origin of Species,” the coolest non-fiction book of the past 200 years or so?

It’s survived lots of attacks, including a recent one disguised as a book giveaway, and even though modern scientists know a lot more about evolution than Darwin did, nearly all of his original ideas have survived to hold a place in the foundations of modern evolutionary theory.

I remember the first time I saw the above diagram from “Origin of Species” (it was a slide in a talk by Niles Eldredge). “Oh my god, it’s a cladogram!” I said.

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The origin of “Origin”

Darwin’s First Clues National Geographic uses annoying 9-page format for a nice piece by David Quammen, IMO the best living science/nature writer, throwing light on what really got Darwin thinking about evolution (in contrast to the usual story about the finches):

Darwin’s first real clue toward evolution came not in the Galápagos but three years before, on a blustery beach along the north coast of Argentina. And it didn’t take the form of a bird’s beak. It wasn’t even a living creature. It was a trove of fossils. Never mind the notion of Darwin’s finches. For a fresh view of the Beagle voyage, start with Darwin’s armadillos and giant sloths.

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Charles in charge

While “Creation” wouldn’t have been my choice for a title, it’s cool that they’re making a movie about Darwin, scheduled for September release. Apparently it focuses on the conflict that grew between the agnostic Darwin and his religious wife as he pursued his theory, but I guess it would be too much to expect a movie to try to grapple with the scientific concepts in an intelligent manner (2 hours just isn’t enough time, really).

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Jesus or Darwin?

Cheese toast sandwich shows image of … ? The woman who made the sandwich says it’s Jesus, but to me it looks more like this guy:

(Cheese toast pic via Arbroath, Darwin pic via General-Anaesthesia.com)

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Darwin was wrong

Darwin was wrong At least that’s what it says here: Publishing in the Journal of Evolutionary Diversions, the major journal in the field, Professor Augustus P. Rillful and his colleagues of the paragenetics laboratory at the University of Münchhausen in Germany have shown experimentally that the ability of DNA to cross species boundaries at any distance makes the origin of species a solved problem, only it is solved in a way that Darwin never envisaged.

Apparently it’s going to be published in New Scientist, the April 1 edition.

(Seriously, I wonder how long it will take before a creationist cites this without realizing it’s a joke. It wouldn’t be the first time.)

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Happy Darwin Day!

 

Blogging the Origin 

If you want the experience of reading Darwin’s “Origin of Species,” but don’t want to slog through 450 pages of Victorian prose (in print or online), this might be a decent substitute.

And if you want to digest Darwin’s “one long argument” in modern writing with more modern examples, try Steve Jones’ “Darwin’s Ghost.”

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