"This is a subject of but small importance; and I know not whether it will interest any readers, but it has interested me."-
C. D.
Quick... what was Darwin's most popular book? If you answered The Origin of Species, you were wrong. It was his last book, published the year before he died, The Formation of Vegetable Mould Through the Action of Worms With Observation of Their Habits (
illustrations [
first presented 1 Nov. 1837, as noted in the record of the Royal Geological Society]).
Darwin noted when he was beginning his career that worms churned up soil, causing heavier objects to sink slowly in the soil. He noted that all soil had passed through the alimentary duct of worms. It started off a fashion of cultivating worms by gardeners that continues to the present day. -We recently
learned that we owe an element of our unique cerebral cortex, or pallium to our marine worm ancestors. (
In amphibians, the cerebrum includes archipallium, paleopallium and some of the basal nuclei. Reptiles first developed a neopallium, which continued to develop in the brains of more recent species to become the neocortex of mammals." [&, ultimately, you and you and we]) [more inside]
posted by infinite intimation
on Dec 30, 2010 -
11 comments
Book of the Month is a feature that the University of Glasgow Library has been running for over a decade now. The format is simple, a single book is selected from their collections, written up and accompanied by pictures, maps and photographs scanned from the books. With over a 100 books to select from, it's hard to know where to start, but anywhere is good because they're all lovely. Still, here are a few,
Charles Darwin's The Expression of the emotions in man and animals,
a beautiful 15th century illuminated copy of Livy's Roman history,
Treatises on Engines and Weapons,
Valentines and Dabbities,
The Birds of Australia,
Facts and Observations on the Sanitary State of Glasgow,
Ibn Jazla's The arrangement of bodies for treatment and finally,
The Curious Case of Mary Toft,
MetaFilter superstar.
posted by Kattullus
on Nov 18, 2009 -
6 comments
Former child actor
Kirk Cameron and his friend Ray (
The Banana Guy) Comfort
[previously] seek to distribute the "
correct" (aka
altered) version of Charles Darwin's
Origin of Species to 50,000 students at the nation's top 50 universities as the book is soon to celebrate its 150
th anniversary. Their version includes a 50-page introduction which "...gives the history of evolution, a timeline of Darwin's life, Adolph Hitler's undeniable connection with the theory, Darwin's racism, his disdain for women, and Darwin's thoughts on the existence of God..." Cameron's promotional video for the project: '
Origin Into Schools.' A video response: "
Origin of Stupidity."
[more inside]
posted by ericb
on Sep 24, 2009 -
281 comments
So you'll be ready the next time MeFi goes away for awhile,
Keep Busy. This is a site with thousands of
games and
that'll leave a mark type
videos for the kid in you.
posted by netbros
on Feb 11, 2009 -
8 comments
In a breathless, passionate, yet level-headed 15 part series, YouTube user, paleontologist, ex-Christian, and potential
Space Coyote impersonator
AronRa presents an uncommonly well-written and presented argument against what he identifies as the 14 "Fundamental Falsehoods of Creationism."
[more inside]
posted by Mr. Anthropomorphism
on Jan 13, 2009 -
57 comments
"
Charles Darwin: 200 years from your birth, the Church of England owes you an apology for misunderstanding you and, by getting our first reaction wrong, encouraging others to misunderstand you still." The comments are included on a Church of England website promoting the views of Charles Darwin to be launched on Monday.
posted by finite
on Sep 14, 2008 -
41 comments
Darwin's Surprise. "There may be no biological process more complicated than the relationships that viruses have with their hosts. Could it be that their persistence made it possible for humans to thrive?"
[Via Disinformation.]
posted by homunculus
on Nov 27, 2007 -
63 comments
Darwin's Deadly Legacy illustrates how Charles Darwin caused the Holocaust. This documentary, from
the late Dr. James Kennedy and his Coral Ridge Ministries, features not only rare, Bigfoot-esque glimpses of the notoriously camera-shy
Ann Coulter, but also Francis Collins, the head of the Human Genome Project. Of course,
Dr. Collins hates everything about the documentary and claims that his footage was simply spliced in under false pretenses, and even
Michael Behe distances himself from the entire production, disagreeing as he does with its central tenets. Oh, and the ADL is pissed, but when aren't they? Anyway, not even arch-conservative websites with "We Need Alan Keyes For President" interstitial ads
think the documentary is worth very much.
And it seems that Hitler himself had a grand old time pimping out Christianity and denying that we came from apes. (
More,
more.) So
watch the fucking trailer and
learn yourself some history.
posted by Sticherbeast
on Sep 10, 2007 -
69 comments
Darwin wrote to 2000 people during his life; 14,500 of these letters still survive.
The Darwin Correspondence Project is putting annotated transcriptions of these online, and they've covered about 5,000 so far, including a letter written when he was 12 after he had got into trouble with his sister for
not washing regularly while at school. There's an intro
here. See also
Darwin Online, discussed
here. And the prolific network theorist Albert-Laszlo Barabasi has co-authored a paper on statistical similarities between Darwin's and Einstein's correspondence (
#51 on the list).
posted by carter
on May 16, 2007 -
11 comments
Darwin's God. "A scientific exploration of how we have come to believe in God."
This article tracks the possibility that belief in a higher power is the product of evolution.
posted by inconsequentialist
on Mar 3, 2007 -
50 comments
Last Sunday was the 5th November. Often called Bonfire Night in the UK. That's the evening Brits build a bonfire and set off fireworks. Why? To celebrate the foilng of the dastardly
Gun Powder Plot of 1605.
Some people also drink alcohol. Maybe this soldier did before he launched a
firework from his bottom. He's not well. A nomination for Darwin for 2006? Anyone got any other nominations for aforesaid award?
posted by Mister Bijou
on Nov 9, 2006 -
36 comments
Charlie Darwin joins the fray. Yes,
The formation of vegetable mould, through the action of worms, with observations on their habits is there.
posted by jfuller
on Oct 18, 2006 -
19 comments
RIP Harriet. She passed away overnight from a heart attack. She was 175 years old, the size of a dinner table, and may have known Charles Darwin. She was
Harriet the Tortoise, the world's oldest living animal, and lived a life of quiet dignity.
posted by justkevin
on Jun 23, 2006 -
41 comments
