This is an unofficial listing of current posts of a more-than-average substantive nature in the diversity of topics represented on my blog roll.

From a Blog Around the Clock, this is what is new in Open Access.

From Behavioral Ecology Blog:

Is there anyone out there working on a genus level phylogeny of Peromyscus?? It is super annoying that a “super-tree” does not exist…. Argh… I need a tree to proceed with several of the most exciting research questions- and not being a phylogeneticist, the prospects of having to build one myself is slightly daunting..

OK, I admit this may have a very narrow audience, but I applaud Matt for his efforts. Hey, Betsy, if you’re reading this, have a look, we need this.

Tugging at Loose Threads, at A Load of Bright suggests that Christianity, as a belief system, may have the potential to unravel if you, as the title suggests, tug a bit on the loose threads.

Christianity as a belief system offers a wide variety of loose threads to choose from, and once you start pulling it isn’t long before you’re holding a large pile of tangled, knotted wool, as without form as the universe was in Genesis 1:2.

I think I may have made note of this post at Aetiology before, but it is worth noting again.

A perfect winter storm developing? … A few news stories hit my inbox all at once yesterday–and the combination of them doesn’t bode well for childrens’ health; more after the jump.

From The Buzz:

The Minnesota Bigfoot…This spring I read “The Beast of Bray Road,” a book detailing Wisconsin’s history of werewolf encounters (which have become particularly dense recently).

Ever since, I have been more than a little jealous towards the Wisconsinites. This is a new and uncomfortable feeling for me. Why should they get werewolves and dogmen while, just next door, we have to make due with albino squirrels and Paul Bunyan? They shouldn’t. And we won’t.

Click Here to read it all…

Please Tell Me What “God” Means

Via 3quarksdaily, here is Richard Skinner (”poet, writer, qualified therapist and performer”) elaborating on Why Christians should take Richard Dawkins seriously. I would argue that they should take him seriously because much of what he says is true, but that’s not Skinner’s take.

Skinner suggests that Dawkins is arguing against a straw-man notion of God (stop me if you’ve heard this before).

Cosmic Variance details the argument here.

Did you ever wonder…

Although most humans are right-handed, other animals don’t seem to show a similar motoric asymmetry. …even the great apes - our closest relatives in the animal kingdom - tend not to show a right-hand preference unless raised in captivity, suggesting handedness is learned through imitation of caregivers. So why should humans be the only species to show clear manual asymmetry, 9:1 in favor of righties?

Developing Intelligence has the story. Here.

“Did plants die before the Fall of mankind?”

hmmm… the fall of mankind … the colors must have been spectacular! Dinosaurs and the Bible… has the answer here.

Good Math Bad Math discusses the Bible Code Guys

Time for our second visit with old friends. This time, we’re going to check up on “The Lords Witnesses”, the bible code geniuses who made somewhere around a dozen attempts at using their code to nail down a date at which the UN building in NYC would be blown up.. …

God, you’re not a twat, you’re just not there.

I stood in a beautiful old North Yorkshire church today, autumn sunlight streaming in through the stained glass, dappling the sandstone and organ pipes with blurred mosaics of colour. A good man lay dead in the simple coffin, a man we needed around, not a man who should have died aged 47.

Here, at lunartalks.

Why Non-Theism is a More Moral Alternative at Migrations.

The Flying Bluebottle Illusion. Say no more. Mixing Memory

A dose of woo: Martial Idiocy

Recently Orac took apart the findings of another acupuncture study. Those who administer acupuncture typically insinuate that a mysterious vital energy known as “chi” travels along meridians in the body, and that normal flow of chi is necessary for good health. Orac pointed out that this recent study effectively disproved the notion of meridians in traditional Chinese medicine.

Similar woo also permeates the martial arts….

Read it at Neurotrotopia v2.0

Global Warming Delusions at the Wall Street Journal

Daniel Botkin, emeritus professor of ecology at UC Santa Barbara, argues in the Wall Street Journal (Oct 17, page A19) that global warming will not have much impact on life on Earth. We’ll summarize some of his points and then take our turn…

From RealClimate

… That should keep everyone busy for a few days!