User:TxMCJ

Who I am
Native Texan, Evolutionary Biologist, and WFTDA athlete.

Other Things I Do And Think About
Phylogenetics, cafe racers, the Sea of Cortez, rock 'n' roll, tetrodotoxin, circuit bending, and the Iditarod.

Why I edit Evolution

 * Because I can


 * Because it still gives me chills to read and sense Darwin's profound realizations while writing the first edition of the The Origin


 * Because Science is a Method, not a POV


 * Because Evolution is still not taught widely enough in schools


 * Because popular culture is riddled with inaccurate misconceptions about how Evolution works and what it implies


 * Because "There is grandeur in this view of life"


 * Because integrity and education are the best weapons against agendas and ignorance


 * Because agendas and ignorance abound


 * Because if the history of Life over Deep Time isn't the most interesting thing you can think of, I intend to change that

Five Things that Evolutionary Biology is

 * The study of shared (common) ancestry of all living things


 * The study of organismal change over time


 * The study of the genetic, reproductive, and ecological mechanisms that drive this change


 * The study of how a phylogenetic and evolutionary perspective informs all other fields of Biology


 * A true science, where falsifiable hypotheses are routinely tested

Five Things that Evolutionary Biology is not

 * An "alternative belief system" that can be accepted or rejected based on personal opinion


 * A pending hypothesis awaiting proof or disproof


 * Atheism


 * A field whose conclusions directly address issues of spirituality, first origins, ethics, or the meaning of life


 * A field where the core principles are doubted or debated among scientists

"Why Any God, if S/he or It Exists, Would Want You To Understand That Evolution is True "

 * Coming soon, stay tuned... ;-)