I n his recent, marvelous must-read book,  Naturalists in Paradise , about the major explorers of the Amazon (Wallace, Bates, and Spruce), J...

O n Nov 8, here , I wrote about Darwin's work on the forms and evolution of barnacles.  I asserted that he had a deterministic view of t...

I n what sense--what scientific sense--does the future resemble the past?  Or perhaps, to what extent does it?  Can we know?  If we can'...

People say we’re the storytelling ape. I hear that. Though conjuring fiction is beyond me, and I only remember the worst punchlines, I love ...

C harles Darwin had incredible patience.  After his many-year, global voyage on the HMS Beagle , he nestled in at Down House, where he was s...

I t looks like a food-fight at the Precision Corral!  Maybe the Big Data era is over!  That's because what we really seem to need (of co...

W e often want our accounts in science to be consistent with the facts.  Even if we can't explain all  the current facts, we can always ...