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Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal
Site URL: freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula
Feed URL: freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/feed
Posts: 26
Followers: 5
My grandfather, in WW2
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/08/31/my-grandfather-in-ww2/
Published: August 31, 2025 17:07
I just found a photo of my maternal grandfather, Paul Clarence Westad. The patch on his arm says he was an Army technician, 5th class — that meant he served in a non-combat role, but had specialized skills. He was a farm boy straight out of northern…
A historical perspective, and the long view
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/08/31/a-historical-perspective-and-the-long-view/
Published: August 31, 2025 14:03
Andrea Pitzer examines our prospects — what is likely to happen when Trump drops dead (the sooner the better), and how we’ll have to struggle to overcome his legacy. I don’t know — it’s a depressing story, but somehow it ends on a note of optimism. Yes,…
I tried sorting out spiders. They were not cooperative.
Published: August 30, 2025 21:21
This afternoon, I tried to sort out the newly emerged Bold Jumper spiderlings, with limited success. Unfortunately, they were faster and more eager to flee than I expected. I got most of them, but a few are now living in my house. (The video will premiere…
I kinda like Quakers…but not all of them
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/08/30/i-kinda-like-quakersbut-not-all-of-them/
Published: August 30, 2025 13:29
Quakers are just one step removed from humanists, but with an even greater commitment to social justice. I like that, although I could never join a group with any vestige of god-belief. Still, I appreciate them. The Quakers in Britain have been promoting…
I didn’t even know she was pregnant
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/08/29/i-didnt-even-know-she-was-pregnant/
Published: August 29, 2025 15:46
It’s Friday, feeding day in the lab, and I went in this morning to throw wingless flies and mealworms at the horde, all the Steatoda borealis and Latrodectus mactans. I also have one adorable little Bold Jumper, Phidippus audax, that I keep around not…
Prepare for chaos
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/08/29/prepare-for-chaos/
Published: August 29, 2025 13:22
Donald Trump is clearly not healthy — the rapid cognitive decline, his terrible appearance, I can believe he’s going to be dead in the next few years, or so incapable of doing his job that he’ll have to be declared incompetent and replaced. I wouldn’t be…
Good news on the autism front!
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/08/29/good-news-on-the-autism-front/
Published: August 29, 2025 12:52
Within a month, we’ll know definitively what causes some forms of autism. RFK jr says so. We’re finding certain interventions now that are clearly, almost certainly causing autism, Kennedy said. We’re going to be able to address those in September. That’s…
I told you I was going to check out the front yard today
Published: August 28, 2025 16:34
Mary found this lovely lady hiding in the shrubbery — it’s the shamrock orbweaver, Araneus trifolium, and it was sheltered inside a folded leaf stitched together with silk.
They’re not hiring the best
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/08/28/theyre-not-hiring-the-best/
Published: August 28, 2025 15:39
Do you like NASA and space research? Sorry, it’s all going away. The man in charge is not qualified, as if that is any surprise. Sean Duffy, the acting administrator of NASA for a little more than a month, has vowed to make the United States great in…
Church shooting in Minneapolis
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/08/28/church-shooting-in-minneapolis/
Published: August 28, 2025 13:14
Another mass killing, this time at the Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis. It was horrifying: the killer opened fire at a group of kids in the school, killing two and injuring 17 before they killed themselves. No more horrifying than every other…
Some people think the innocent are still criminal
Published: August 27, 2025 18:58
Someone named Dewey took exception to my article about a prison being reopened, and quickly fired off a “rebuttal”. Aw, cry more. Criminals belong in prisons. People who illegally enter homes belong in prison. People who illegally enter businesses belong…
I ventured into the jungle…I mean, garden
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/08/27/i-ventured-into-the-junglei-mean-garden/
Published: August 27, 2025 15:58
I was feeling a bit robust this morning, and managed to hobble all the way out to the backyard, where I could explore the fauna thriving there. Mary was hovering at my elbow to make sure I didn’t topple over, but I did OK — another week or two, and I might…
ICE is digging in like a tick, I see
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/08/27/ice-is-digging-in-like-a-tick-i-see/
Published: August 27, 2025 13:29
I thought all we were getting for sacrificing science was a paint job for the border wall, but no! We’re getting more prisons! Overall, crime is down significantly, but we’re expanding the prison system. There is a small town about 45 minutes south of me…
Maybe I should lighten up on the AI contempt
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/08/26/maybe-i-should-lighten-up-on-the-ai-contempt/
Published: August 26, 2025 16:08
It turns out humans don’t need AI to say incredibly stupid, ignorant things.
There’s a reason Lindsay Ellis is a master of the video essay
Published: August 26, 2025 15:23
She has a new fundraiser-essay, “The Unforgivable Sin of Ms Rachel”. I’ve only seen a half hour of it so far, but it’s magnificent — she is discussing the importance of empathy in raising children and normal human interactions, and is exposing the horrible…
Baby black widows!
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/08/26/baby-black-widows/
Published: August 26, 2025 15:02
Finally, the black widow egg sacs have released their hordes! Here’s a close-up of one of the spiderlings. Black widows start off with more spectacular patterns — as they mature, they’ll get red and yellow bands and racing stripes, before turning solid…
It’s never going to end…
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/08/26/its-never-going-to-end-2/
Published: August 26, 2025 11:56
I’m the executor for my late mother’s estate. Last week I thought I had completed all of my duties. I had liquidated all of my mother’s assets over the course of the past year, and then the final step was calculating the distribution of money, which was…
We traded cancer research for a fancy new paint job
Published: August 25, 2025 16:37
The US gutted research institution this year — so far, it has cost us $3.8 billion. What a savings! What shall we do with all that money instead? How about repainting the border wall? (Which, according to the Cato Institute of all places, doesn’t work.)…
Monarchs like our house
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/08/25/monarchs-like-our-house/
Published: August 25, 2025 15:51
Mary has planted lots of milkweed in our yard, and it’s paying off. We keep finding more caterpillars, and we’ve seen as many as a half-dozen butterflies at once fluttering over the tasty field of monarch food growing here. It’s nothing compared to the…
Sure, go ask Google
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/08/25/sure-go-ask-google/
Published: August 25, 2025 13:30
Google is pushing hard to get us to use AI for all kinds of things. We should just ask Google our questions about biology! After all, I, as a biologist have so much confidence in the power of AI to address difficult questions about biology. For instance,…
Complacency will not defeat stupidity
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/08/25/complacency-will-not-defeat-stupidity/
Published: August 25, 2025 12:56
Dietrich Bonhoeffer saw the problem clearly in the 1940s. It’s the stupidity, stupid, and stupidity is more subtle and complex than you might think. Keep the MAGA movement in mind while reading this. Stupidity is a more dangerous enemy of the good than…
I thought I was going to miss out this year
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/08/24/i-thought-i-was-going-to-miss-out-this-year/
Published: August 24, 2025 15:23
The peak season for Argiope is late summer, and I’ve been physically wrecked for all of August, so I’d resigned myself to not seeing any of these big beautiful spiders this year. Then Mary went out to the garden to pick tomatoes, and there, right there in…
An exciting Friday morning!
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/08/22/an-exciting-friday-morning/
Published: August 22, 2025 15:06
I got to go outside! Actually, I had to go outside, since I have a ravenous population of spiders in my lab that must be fed, or there will be consequences. The one problem is that I’m still stuck in a wheelchair, which turned out to be almost no problem…
Slimy underbelly #2: Jillian Michaels
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/08/22/slimy-underbelly-2-jillian-michaels/
Published: August 22, 2025 12:53
On an episode of “CNN NewsNight with Abby Philip,” the topic being discussed was a serious one: the Trump administration’s current program to purge the Smithsonian, and other museums, of exhibits that painted white Americans in an unflattering light. In…
Avi Loeb loses a soccer match
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/08/21/avi-loeb-loses-a-soccer-match/
Published: August 21, 2025 20:35
Tragic. Avi Loeb lost the annual soccer match at his institution! Last night, we held the annual soccer cup match between the faculty and the students at Harvard’s Institute for Theory & Computation, for which I serve as director. Although I scored 2 goals…
Focus on this, you dead turd
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/08/21/focus-on-this-you-dead-turd/
Published: August 21, 2025 16:57
James Dobson, founder of that evil group, Focus on the Family, is DEAD. Good. Rot in hell, you monster. The best reaction so far comes from DrSkySkull.