A review [PDF] of Roy Davies’ The Darwin Consipracy by a creationist, and Davies’ response.
Darwin tours at the Wellcome Collection in London.
Darwin Now, an exhibit about evolution, biology, and medicine, from the British Council and the NMNHS.
Putting more blame on Darwin.
Darwin Trails, a recent expedition in Brazil to celebrate Darwin and science education (Randal Keynes took part). See pictures here.
Letters to Linnaeus, a new volume which “reveal Linnaeus’ personal impact, advances and developments in science since his death, the profound impact he has had on generations of naturalists and what we might expect in the next 250 years.”
Article froms Rhetorica and Endeavour:
James Wynn
, Department of English, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213-3890, USA.
Abstract Historians of science resist recognizing a role for mathematics in The Origin of Species on the grounds that Darwin’s arguments are inductive and mathematics is deductive, while rhetoricians seem to oppose the idea that deductive mathematical arguments fall within the jurisdiction of rhetorical analysis. A close textual analysis of the arguments in The Origin and a careful examination of the methodological/philosophical context in which Darwin is doing science, however, challenges these objections against and assumptions about the role of mathematical warrants in Darwin’s arguments and their importance to his rhetorical efforts in the text.
J.F. Derry, Institute of Evolutionary Biology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Ashworth Labs, King’s Buildings, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JT, Scotland, UK
Abstract The long-term marital dance of Emma and Charles Darwin was set to the routine beat of an almost daily piano recital. Emma was a proficient pianist, and so a quality instrument was a welcome and appropriate house-warming present for their first marital home in London. That same piano accompanied the Darwins on their move to Downe before being upgraded for a newer model, which is still there, whilst another, cheaper piano may have played in Charles Darwin’s work, particularly on earthworms. Whilst he lamented his own lack of musicality, Darwin revelled in his wife’s prowess, a capacity that he recognised could be inherited, not least through observation of his own children. The evolution of musicality, he reasoned, was rooted in sexual attraction as a form of communication that preceded language.
