The Scalpel's Edge: The Culture of Surgeons

The Scalpel's Edge: The Culture of Surgeons. Pearl Katz. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn and Bacon, 1999. xii. 251 pp.     

The Politics of Anti-Creationism: The Committees of Correspondence

When the creationism issue rose to the surface in the late 1970s, an organized opposition to the creationist campaign came from an unexpected source. Local groups of rank and file evolution defenders, led by a retired biology teacher, organized a grassroots network of anti-creationism called the Committees of Correspondence. They basically approached the creationism issue as a political rather than a scientific problem and fought the battle on local fronts, where creationists were heavily engaged in legal campaigns to include their ideas in the public schools. Grassroots anti-creationism was, however, eventually replaced by a centralized national operation with an educational emphasis. In this paper, I will document the development of this neglected part of the creation-evolution controversy and discuss related issues, namely the politics of science that became clearly visible in the course of evolutionists' disputes over anti-creation strategies. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Chapter 1: The Subject of Our Research: The Developed Form of Play

Grasping and locomotion do not long remain independent actions. Long before they are completely formed, they are incorporated into elementary, concrete (object-oriented) actions. Even in the first year, a child doesn't simply grasp objects in order to hold them, but to shake them, throw them, and bang them together. Object-oriented activity begins with elementary manipulations, soon becoming quite varied in form and assuming a leading role in the child's general mental development.     

Question 3: The Problem of Macromolecular Sequences: The Forgotten Stumbling Block

The Author agrees in principle with the question/statement, but states also that an important qualification is needed within this question. In fact, it is not possible by the bottom up approach to find the conditions for the synthesis of our actual proteins—lysozyme, chymotrypsin or the like—however it is possible to show experimentally that co-oligopeptides chains of that length can be produced by prebiotic reactions. Considering such a synthesis, it is important to recall that proteins—and nucleic acids—are not simply polymers, but are co-polymers, and the kinetics and thermodynamics attending the synthesis of copolymers poses stringent constraints for the biogenesis and growth of specific sequences. Such constraints are examined and discussed. Presented at: International School of Complexity–4th Course: Basic Questions on the Origins of Life; “Ettore Majorana” Foundation and Centre for Scientific Culture, Erice, Italy, 1–6 October 2006.     

The Biology of Invasions: The Genetic Adaptation Paradox

One of the most relevant topics in the biology of invasion concerns the genetic changes that occur subsequent to a species invasion, an issue of particular focus among conservation biologists. Colonizing a novel environment presents a genetic challenge to invading species because such species surely have not experienced the selective pressures presented by the environment. Here we ask, by what mechanisms and processes do alien species genetically naïve to their new environment, become successful invaders? We attempt to resolve this paradox by considering the interplay between an invader’s ability to modify its new environment, and genetic modifications imposed by the new environment. We postulate that epigenetic adaptations, and adaptive mutations are likely play a role in enhancing invasion success.