Fossil Friday: The Abrupt Origins of Lagomorphs and Rodents

beavers, Carl von Linné, China, comparative morphology, Cretaceous, Dan Graur, Darwinism, Early Paleocene, East Asia, Euarchontoglires, Evolution, Fossil Friday, fossil record, Glires, guinea pigs, gundis, hamsters, hares, incongruence, Lagomorpha, Lagomorphs, mammals, mice, molecular clock studies, Mongolia, Nebraska, Oligocene, Palaeolagus haydeni, Paleocene, PaleoDB, paleontology, pikas, placental mammals, porcupines, rabbits, rats, Rodentia, rodents, squirrels, Systema Naturae, Tübingen
Molecular biologist Dan Graur mentioned his weird idea that guinea pigs are not rodents at a lecture at my university in Tübingen when I was still a student. Source
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“Lying on the Internet”? Debunking Dave Farina on Stephen Meyer

acritarchs, Avalon Assemblage, bilaterians, body plans, Cambrian Explosion, Carl Zimmer, Caveasphaera, China, Cladonia chlorophaea, Cloudina, cnidarians, Darwin's Doubt, Dave Farina, demosponges, Dickinsonia, Doushantuo fossils, embryos, Eumetazoa, Evolution, fossils, Gregory Retallack, Haootia quadriformis, Helicoforamina, homology, Ikaria, Intelligent Design, Internet, Joe Botting, Kimberella, Lantianella, Megasphaera, Metazoa, microfossils, Nama Assemblage, Namacalathus, New York Times, paleontology, Precambrian animals, Professor Dave, Spiralicellula, sponges, Stephen Jay Gould, Stephen Meyer, straw man, Tribrachidium, Vernanimalcula, White Sea assemblage, Xiuningella, Yilingia, YouTubers
A lot of nonsense gets published in peer-reviewed journals and it needs expertise to separate the wheat from the chaff. Farina lacks any expertise to do this. Source
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This Cambrian Explosion “Explanation” Qualifies as Propaganda

arthropods, brain, Cambrian Explosion, Cambrian News, China, crap theory, Current Biology, Debating Darwin's Doubt, Derek E. G. Briggs, Ediacaran Period, evo-devo, Evolution, fecal material, fossil record, Intelligent Design, Izvestia, Kimberella, morphology, nervous system, newspapers, oxygen level, Palaeophragmodictya, phyla, Pravda, stem taxa, Stephen Meyer, USSR
It’s interesting to see what Derek E. G. Briggs is willing to admit about the Cambrian explosion. Source
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Fossil Friday: Turtles All the Way Down

Acerosodontosaurus, Bavaria, carapax, China, Claudiosaurus, convergence, Eorhynchochelys, Eunotosaurus, Eurysternum wagleri, Evolution, Fossil Friday, fossils, Germany, Intelligent Design, lepidosaurs, Middle Permian, Middle Triassic, Mörnsheim, Neo-Darwinism, Odontochelys, paleontology, Pappochelys, Parareptilia, phylogenetic reconstruction, phylogenomic studies, plastron, Proganochelys, Proterochersis, reptiles, sauropsids, Solnhofen Limestone, tortoises, turtle shell, turtles, Upper Jurassic
Contrary to the gradualistic expectations of Darwin’s theory, the distinct body plan of turtles appeared abruptly in the Late Triassic. Source
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Will Earth BioGenome Project Vindicate Darwin?

agriculture, Big Data, bioindustry, biology, Canis familiaris, chihuahua, China, conservation, Darwin's Dilemma, Darwinism, Earth BioGenome Project, ecology, eukaryotes, Evolution, genomes, Intelligent Design, Life Sciences, Mark Blaxter, mastiff, Medicine, Paul Chien, phylogenetics, PNAS, sequencing, species, Sweden, United States
Compare the latest project to sequence everything to other megaprojects that may or may not answer evolutionary questions. Source
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More Cambrian Woes for Evolution

Andrej Ernst, astrochronology, biology, Bryozoa, bryozoans, budding, Cambrian Explosion, Cambrian News, China, climate change, Evolution, fossil record, hermaphroditism, information, Intelligent Design, Jacob Musser, Jan Audun Rasmussen, Mark A. Wilson, Max Koslov, molecular studies, Nature (journal), Nature News and Views, Ordovician Period, P. gatehousei, paleontology, Sally Leys, Stephen Meyer, UC San Diego, University of Alberta, University of Copehagen, zooids
New fossils continue to put pressure on the evolutionary narrative of gradualism. Source
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Smithsonian Glosses Over the Cambrian Explosion

animals, Anomalocaris, behaviors, brains, Burgess Shale, Cambrian Explosion, Cambrian News, Canada, cell types, Charles Darwin, Charnia, China, Darwin's Doubt, Dickinsonia, Ediacarans, Evolution, Fossil Hall, fossil record, Hallucigenia, Intelligent Design, mollusks, National Museum of Natural History, Opabinia, organs, oxygen, paleontology, Pikaia, Smithsonian Institution, Spriggina, Stephen Jay Gould, Stephen Meyer, Thomas Woodward, tissue types, Tribrachidium, trilobites, Wiwaxia
The nation’s museum cannot ignore the collection of fossils Walcott sent them from the Burgess Shale. But can they explain them away? Source
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The Tragedy of Francis Collins’s Model for Science-Faith Integration 

abortion, Bible, Casey Luskin, China, Christianity, Christianity Today, Culture & Ethics, Darwin Day in America, Darwinian evolution, Downs syndrome, Ed Stetzer, ENCODE, Evangelical Christians, Francis Collins, gain-of-function research, George W. Bush, Intelligent Design, Jonathan Witt, Junk DNA, Karl Giberson, Kenneth Miller, Mark Galli, Medicine, Michael Behe, Michael Carome, National Institutes of Health, Obama Administration, pastores, premature babies, professors, pundists, Science (journal), The Language of God, The New England Journal of Medicine, University of Alabama-Birmingham, vaccination
The depiction of Francis Collins as someone who has developed a good model for integrating faith and science is in many respects a tragic myth. Source
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