Category Archives: Uncategorized

Over the past year I have very much enjoyed posting almost 70 articles on this blog. I have also been happy to see the comments, likes, and post reblogging, and want to say thanks to all of the followers and … Continue reading →

  (With apologies to Wigner) The fact that biology is not rich in theory is well known. Of the theories that do exist (such as Darwin’s theory of evolution), many have never been formulated into mathematical laws. Physics envy is … Continue reading →

Here is the link to my recent talk at the American Scientific Affiliation Washington DC Metro Chapter, on June 24, 2016. Its a bit dark, and its long, but about half of the video is discussion from the audience, which … Continue reading →

Genes are amazing things. They are storehouses of information. They are also able to copy themselves (with some help), and they are the reason I am here typing. In the 1970s, evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins had an insight that propelled … Continue reading →

Well, they aren’t brothers – they just share the same last name. I don’t think they knew each other. I don’t even know if they even knew the other existed. One of them, James is alive and well; sadly the … Continue reading →

Several decades ago, I welcomed a new graduate student to my lab. She had just graduated summa cum laude from a major Ivy League college, and she was as smart as can be. I put her to work on a … Continue reading →

My busy two weeks of meetings and deadlines is now past, and I can devote myself to important stuff like lying on the hammock, watching the garden grow, and blogging. I recently started using Twitter to expand my social network … Continue reading →

I will not be posting here for the next week or so, since I am in the middle of a time crunch, with deadlines and obligations bearing down from several directions. I hope to get back to speed after I … Continue reading →

I have studied many things in my long career in biological research. Most of my work was on applied biology. I worked, published papers, and got grants in environmental health sciences, toxicology, cancer research, molecular epidemiology, population genetics, gene-environment interactions, … Continue reading →

It has become quite popular to doubt the reality of free will. The famous atheist Sam Harris has a book about this, and the claim that free will is nothing more than an illusion can be found throughout modern atheist … Continue reading →