Speaking of blind biologists, Lamarck spent the last decade of his life without vision. (Riskin 2026, p. 249)

Today, Lamarck is closely associated with giraffes. Yet, he never saw a living one. Great little detail in Jessica Riskin’s new Lamarck book The Power of Life (Riverhead 2026, p. 205)

A remarkable fact about 'Niche Construction: How Life Contributes to Its Own Evolution' (MIT Press, 2024) is that John Odling-Smee wrote it after losing 100% of his vision.

“The man/animal bandwagon, undoubtedly on its way to the bank.” Featuring Konrad Lorenz (leading the way), Lionel Tiger, Robin Fox, Robert Ardrey, and Desmond Morris.

This @sse-evolution.bsky.social review The Crucible of Creation by Andrew Berry is also excellent www.jstor.org/stable/24113...

”Sure facts, speculations, and open questions about X” would make for a great article type at a journal.

How to classify the cladists? Here is Brian Leith in Nature (Vol. 292, 30 July 1981, p. 404)

Are you an early career researcher who want to visit another lab to collaborate on a project on internal conflicts? Apply for our ECR Research Visit Grant! Deadline is April 30.

John Maynard Smith on how to distinguish an eye that had evolved through molecular drive from one that had evolved through natural selection.

More modestly, a first edition of The Selfish Gene, signed by Dawkins and Desmond Morris (whose painting is on the cover) will set you back a mere $12,500. www.raptisrarebooks.com/product/the-...

First edition of The Origin (1/1250 copies) for sale for $400,000. www.raptisrarebooks.com/product/on-t...

Thanks for all the guesses, here and elsewhere! The answer is A.J. Ayer.

Hint: the philosopher once held the Wykeham Professorship in Logic.

Still time to apply for this. Submit by Thursday!

MONDAY TRIVIA Richard Dawkins once told a senior Oxford philosopher that it was only after Darwin that it was possible that to be an intellectually fulfilled atheist. The philosopher argued that Hume was enough. The Blind Watchmaker was partly inspired by the exhange. Who was the philosopher?

Simon Conway Morris has won the 2026 Templeton Prize. A good excuse to re-read the 1998 Natural History exchange between him and Stephen Jay Gould on convergence and contingency in the Burgess Shale and beyond filebin.net/j3l0j47z5uo8...

One more week to apply! For details and the application form see internalconflictsstn.wordpress.com/ecr-research...

Fascinating thread on some of Morris's scientific contributions. Here's another longish obituary www.thetimes.com/uk/obituarie...

Great couple of days in lovely Krakow talking about agency and individuality hosted by Adrian Stencel philevents.org/event/show/1...

Thrilled to have been able to review 'The Paradox of the Organism: Adaptation and Internal Conflict', a volume edited by @arvidagren.bsky.social & Manus Patten. "...the reality that complex organisms function at all feels like pure magic, with the powers of molecular evolution behind the curtain."

Apply today for travel support for our @nitmb.bsky.social workshop!

Travel applications for the ‘Internal Conflicts and Organismal Adaptation: Mathematical Foundations’ workshop are due TODAY! Don’t miss your opportunity to join us in June www.nitmb.org/internal-con...

Don’t miss your chance to join us for the ‘Internal Conflicts and Organismal Adaptation: Mathematical Foundations’ workshops! Travel applications are closing in one week on Wednesday, April 15th www.nitmb.org/internal-con...

Come to Cleveland in June!

Thanks for all the guesses! The answer is George Williams.

A clue is that Daniel Dennett said the following: “[He] showed me for the first time how hard it is to be a good evolutionary thinker, and how easy it is to make simple mistakes.”

MONDAY TRIVIA The literary agent John Brockman described a biologist as follows: “Few laypeople have heard of [him]. Yet nearly all evolutionary biologists, even those who do not agree with him, admire him.” Who was he talking about?

Applications for the ECR research visit grants from the Internal Conflicts and Organismal Adaptation STN are due by the end of the month! €1000 to support visits by ECRs to a laboratory to e.g set up collaborations, learn new techniques, etc. See internalconflictsstn.wordpress.com/ecr-research...

#483 - The Paradox of the Organism: A Dialogue with Arvid Ågren & Manus Patten

This issue is headlined by Perspective Article: Evolutionary transitions and reversions in individuality @martijnschenkel.bsky.social @arvidagren.bsky.social and Manus Patten academic.oup.com/jeb/article/...

Because we mostly see Fisher in black-and-white photographs, often from late in life, it is easy to forget that he had red hair and a red beard. Remembered by E.B. Ford shortly after Fisher’s death. The tapes of Ford’s remarks were lost for many years and only published in 2005 thanks to Jim Crow.

This is a very interesting book. I'll be posting a (rather different) review soon.

“I came away feeling a pleasant discomfort at how complicated the topic is, but enlightened all the same.” Many thanks to @cbo.bsky.social for the kind review of The Paradox of the Organism.

The answer is E.S. Goodrich Anecdote from David Hay’s Alister Hardy biography, p. 75

Hint: The individual initially enrolled at university to study fine arts but later switched to zoology after meeting Ray Lankester, who would go on to become his mentor.

THURSDAY TRIVIA The zoology teaching of which Oxford colleague did Charles Elton describe as ”He made the whole subject seem equally unimportant”.

Explore the implications of within-organism conflicts for organismal biology at our upcoming workshop, ‘Internal Conflicts and Organismal Adaptation: Mathematical Foundations!’ Travel applications are due Wednesday, April 15th www.nitmb.org/internal-con...

Ellen’s book is a fantastic treatment of one of the most fascinating intersections between biology and philosophy.

David Hughes on the advantages of a famous advisor.

Very much looking forward to checking out Jessica Riskin’s new book on Lamarck. We’re long overdue a comprehensive treatment of him in English.

Join us at the NITMB in Chicago next June to talk about internal conflicts! The workshop will feature tutorials, talks, and discussions. Funding is available to provide travel and lodging for some attendees (apply!).

Seeing J.J. Grandville's illustrations always cheers me up. Here reproduced in the Mark Ridley's Nature review of 'From Gaia to Selfish Genes' (1991).

Join us in Chicago in June!

Manus Patten and I talk to Xavier Bonilla at Converging Dialogues about The Paradox of the Organism convergingdialogues.substack.com/p/483-the-pa...

Thank you for all the guesses! The answer is ‘Evolution: The Modern Synthesis’ by Julian Huxley www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...

The Paradox of the Organism brings together leading thinkers to explore how organisms hold together despite constant internal conflict—from competing genes to rogue cells. Sound like something you want to review? Email us at [email protected]. #PhilosophyOfBiology

Wednesday trivia: What 20th century book was described in The American Naturalist as ”the outstanding evolutionary treatise of the decade, perhaps of the century”?

Today! Noon Eastern. Zoom link below.

There is still time to apply for the Evolutionary Medicine Summer Institute. This year’s theme is Climate Change and Health. May 11-15 in Chapel Hill, NC. sites.duke.edu/emsi/