Tag Archives: ALLELE
#2016Highlights Month-by-Month: Part 1
Though the end of 2016 was miserable, most of the year was awesome, and it’s important that we have a little perspective. At my house, we have a dinner ritual called “Good Thing/Bad Thing” or GTBT. We each take turns … Continue reading
How to Make the Most of Guest Speakers or, Dinner with Ron Numbers
I wrote this post last fall but never got around to finishing & posting it. It’s dated but has a few valid points still worth putting out there. I always tell my students that I get more out of our … Continue reading
“Huge service to the university and the community more generally”
Again, not to pat myself on the back, but to suggest to others what you can do to fight back against ignorance. There are protests, join them. There are businesses & organizations that are being attacked, support them. And there … Continue reading
A World Famous African-American Scientist Puts the Presidential Election in Perspective: “I Am Not Surprised At All”
On Wednesday, the day after our 2017 presidential election, I dreaded having to put on my host face to go out to dinner with Dr. Joseph Graves, our ALLELE speaker for Thursday. I couldn’t really stand the thought of talking … Continue reading
How Exactly is Evolution a “Crosscutting Concept”? Enter Bill Nye the Science Guy
Finally, Some Evolution Controversy: No Such Thing As Bad Press If you’re like me, you are feeling pretty bummed today about not getting a ticket to see Bill Nye. The fact that only a limited number of students were able … Continue reading
We Need Neandertals or Some as Yet Unknown But Genetically Similar Population Within the Last 100 ky in Our Story
A couple years ago when I first started blogging here, my friend John Edvalson asked me right out of the gate my opinion on the Neandertal-sapiens interbreeding controversy. I think I skirted an answer because, though as a biological anthropologists … Continue reading
Modeling Recent Human Genetic Adaptation
Geneticist Dr. Sarah Tishkoff from the University of Pennsylvania is speaking as part of UA’s ALLELE series today, & EvoS students are reading a recently review she co-authored for Nature with Laura Scheinfeldt for the occasion. The piece, “Recent human … Continue reading
You Can Minor in Evolutionary Studies & Start as an Assistant Professor in a Business School at $150k per Year
After that little bombshell, I just sort of zoned out & walked thru the rest of the day in a dissociative fugue, wondering about how different it would have been had I known that 15 years ago. I would love … Continue reading
Baba does Bama
Hip hop evolutionist & playwright Baba Brinkman performed for the Bama ALLELE series last night. He got one of the best turnouts we’ve had, & I think it was one of our better efforts at promoting evolution education. Unlike many … Continue reading
I Turned into a Werewolf: Flickering Firelight & the Strange-Face-in-the-Mirror Illusion
When I did the strange-face-in-the-mirror illusion, I turned into a frickin’ werewolf! How cool is that? I should back up, right? I teach a course called “Primate Religion & Human Consciousness” & require students to come up with activities to … Continue reading