Todd's Blog

Big news for Galapagos fans:  The last remaining Pinta Island giant tortoise, dubbed "Lonesome George" died.  He was really old (maybe 100 years).  Check out the full report from the AP, courtesy of Feedback? Email me at toddcharleswood [at] gmail [dot] com.

PNAS  published another special evolution issue this week, focusing on the nervous system.  I'm looking forward to checking out quite a few of these, especially Zakon's look at sodium channels (because I'm a biochemist) and  Herculano-Houzel's brain paper (because I think my brain is pretty special).  Here's the table of contents: In the light of evolution VI: Brain and behavior Georg F. Striedter, John C. Avise, and Francisco J. Ayala       Functionalization of a protosynaptic gene expression network Cecilia Conaco, Danielle S. Bassett, Hongjun Zhou, Mary Luz Arcila, Sandie M. Degnan, Bernard M. Degnan, and Kenneth S. Kosik Adaptive evolution of voltage-gated sodium channels: The first 800 million years Harold H. Zakon Evolution of centralized nervous systems: Two schools of evolutionary th...

I just found out that there has been some kind of ongoing bug in the Saturday registration ("Bronze ticket") for Origins 2012.  It is now fixed.  Please send the word far and near that registration for the general Saturday conference is currently available. Also, this year, we put out a call for abstracts in the area of theology.  We didn't get a very big response, but here are the titles that have been accepted for the technical session on Friday (remember, there will be additional plenary presentations on Saturday): Hesiod’s Succession Narrative Adversarial Relationship to Genesis 1-11 - McRoberts The Nimrod-Like Figures of Ninurta and Hercules - Weekley This should be great!  We haven't yet had a session focused explicitly on theology and biblical studies. Early registration is still available through July 6. Feedback? Email me at toddcharleswood [at] gmail [dot] com.

Here's a quick post to tell you that we've extended early registration for Origins 2012 by two weeks.  You can now register at the reduced rates any time before July 6, 2012.  After that, the rates go up.   Register soon! Here are the titles of the technical talks from the Creation Geology Society: A Review of Extinction Patterns across the K-Pg Boundary - Clarey and Heim The Physics of Form: Morphology, Energy, and Iterative Evolution - Kucks and Doran A Preliminary (Re)Estimation of the Ark-borne Animals - Beech and Ross The Significance of Soft-Sediment Deformation in the Permian Deposits in the Vicinity of Sedona, Arizona - Whitmore and Forsythe I'll be back early next week with a list of abstracts from the Creation Biology Society, and I should have a full schedule next week also.  Stay tuned! Feedback? Email me at toddcharleswood [at] gmail [dot] com.

This week, I'm having a great time here at Summit Ministries in Manitou Springs, CO!  For any of you Summit students stopping by, welcome! In our Q&A session, I mentioned three books about creationism that I recommend, and here they are: Leonard Brand's Faith, Reason and Earth History Kurt Wise's Faith, Form, and Time Paul Garner's The New Creationism I've also written a book, but it's out of print.  You can still find copies on Amazon, but I recommend used ones (they're cheaper): Understanding the Pattern of Life It's ten years out of date, but for what it is, it's not too bad. Speaking of Paul Garner, he's got an interesting new post on his blog about microbial deposition of dolomite .  Trust me, that's a lot more interesting than it sounds. In other news, the bonobo genome is out.  Bonobos are a cousin of the chimpanzee, and this is (I think) the last of the great ape genomes to be published.  I'm sure there are cr...

Some folk might be wondering if I'm really what I claim to be.  I know there are those who think I'm unwittingly an evolutionist.  They just can't fathom someone who says that there's evidence for evolution even though I'm still a creationist.  So here's an independent testimony: Et Homo Factus Est As you'll read in that story, a group of UTK students came down from Knoxville to check out the creationist at Bryan College, and it went better than either of us expected.  Those kind of visits make me feel like I'm living in a Huxleyan savage reservation , but everyone was real nice.  It was no big deal. Feedback? Email me at toddcharleswood [at] gmail [dot] com.