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<!DOCTYPE HTML> <html lang="en-US"> <head> <meta charset="UTF-8" /> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width,initial-scale=1" /> <title>The Panda’s Thumb</title> <meta property="og:site_name" content="The Panda's Thumb" /> <meta property="og:type" content="article" /> <meta property="og:title" content="The Panda’s Thumb" /> <meta property="og:url" content="https://pandasthumb.org/" /> <meta property="og:image" content="https://pandasthumb.org/media/roar.jpg" /> <link rel="stylesheet" type='text/css' href="/css/normalize.css" /> <link rel="stylesheet" type='text/css' href="//fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Source+Sans+Pro:300,400,600,700,400italic,700italic|Source+Code+Pro:400,700" /> <link rel="stylesheet" type='text/css' href="/css/gridism.css" /> <link rel="stylesheet" type='text/css' href="/css/style.css" /> <link rel="stylesheet" type='text/css' href="/css/github.css" /> <link rel="icon" type="image/x-icon" href="/favicon.ico" /> <script type="text/javascript" src="//code.jquery.com/jquery-3.1.1.min.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="https://use.fontawesome.com/e6a24c6dde.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" async src='https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/mathjax/2.7.1/MathJax.js?config=TeX-AMS-MML_HTMLorMML'></script> <script src="/js/local.js"></script> </head> <body class="wrap"> <div class="grid page-fill"><div></div></div> <header class="topbar"> <div class="grid no-gutters"> <div class="banner unit whole"> <img src="/media/banner.jpg" alt="The Panda's Thumb" /> </div> <nav class="main-nav unit whole align-center"> <ul> <li><a href="/" title="Main Page"><i class="fa fa-home" aria-hidden="true"></i> Main</a></li> <li><a href="/archives/index.html" title="Archives"><i class="fa fa-book" aria-hidden="true"></i> Archives</a></li> <li><a href="/search.html" title="Searching Panda's Thumb"><i class="fa fa-book" aria-hidden="true"></i> Search</a></li> </ul> </nav> </div> </header> <section class="main"> <div class="grid item"> <div class="unit whole"> <article class="blogpost"> <header> <h1><a href="/archives/2024/12/ellipes-minuta.html">Ellipes minuta</a></h1> <div class="byline"><i class="fa fa-user-circle" aria-hidden="true"></i> By Matt Young</div> <div class="attrline"><i class="fa fa-clock-o" aria-hidden="true"></i> <span><time pubdate="pubdate" datetime="2024-12-09T12:00:00-07:00">December 9, 2024 12:00 MST</time></span> <span><i class="fa fa-comments" aria-hidden="true"></i> <a href="/archives/2024/12/ellipes-minuta.html#disqus_thread" data-disqus-identifier="/archives/2024/12/ellipes-minuta" class="disqus-comment-count">0 Comments</a></span> </div> </header> <p>Photograph by <strong>Mark Sturtevant</strong>.</p> <p>Photography Contest, <strong>Honorable Mention</strong>.</p> <figure> <img src="/uploads/2024/Sturtevant.Pygmy_mole_cricket.jpg" alt="Pygmy mole cricket" /> <figcaption><i><a href="https://bugguide.net/node/view/110363">Ellipes minuta</a></i> – pygmy mole cricket. Dr. Sturtevant notes, "This insect is a small oddity. Despite its name, the diminutive pygmy mole crickets are not true mole crickets, or even crickets for that matter. They are classified as belonging in the same sub-order as grasshoppers." </figcaption> </figure> </article> </div> </div> <div class="grid item"> <div class="unit whole"> <article class="blogpost"> <header> <h1><a href="/archives/2024/11/confidence-scientists.html">Confidence in scientists rises</a></h1> <div class="byline"><i class="fa fa-user-circle" aria-hidden="true"></i> By Matt Young</div> <div class="attrline"><i class="fa fa-clock-o" aria-hidden="true"></i> <span><time pubdate="pubdate" datetime="2024-11-26T10:34:00-07:00">November 26, 2024 10:34 MST</time></span> <span><i class="fa fa-comments" aria-hidden="true"></i> <a href="/archives/2024/11/confidence-scientists.html#disqus_thread" data-disqus-identifier="/archives/2024/11/confidence-scientists" class="disqus-comment-count">0 Comments</a></span> </div> </header> <figure class="on-the-left-side" style="margin-top: 10px; margin-right: 40px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 10px;"> <img src="/uploads/2024/AIP_Pew_Views_Of_Scientists_Fig_1.jpg" alt="Public's views of scientists." /> <figcaption><a href=""></a>Figure 1. Intelligent, but closed-minded. Not entirely flattering. </figcaption> </figure> <p>According to the Pew Research Center, confidence in scientists has ticked up slightly, though it remains lower than it was before the pandemic. That is one of the conclusions of a report, <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2024/11/14/public-trust-in-scientists-and-views-on-their-role-in-policymaking/">Public Trust in Scientists and Views on Their Role in Policymaking</a>, by Alec Tyson and Brian Kennedy. Pew surveyed nearly 10,000 US adults in October and discovered that Americans (mostly) perceive scientists as intelligent, honest, and focused on real-world problems. They see communication as a weak area and think that we are good at working in teams, though how they know about teamwork is a puzzle to me.</p> <p>At least they think we are reasonably bright; they also find us socially awkward, cold, superior, and closed-minded. Figure 1 shows how these perceptions break down according to political party: Democrats and their fellow travelers (whom I shall call Democrats) have a considerably more favorable view of scientists than Republicans and their fellow travelers (whom I shall call Republicans). I was somewhat bemused by the claim of roughly half of Republicans that scientists "[d]on't pay attention to moral values of society," and wondered precisely what and whose moral values they have in mind.</p> <p>Pew notes, somewhat to my surprise,</p> <p class="morelink"><a href="/archives/2024/11/confidence-scientists.html#more">Continue Reading</a> <i class="fa fa-arrow-circle-o-right" aria-hidden="true"></i></p> </article> </div> </div> <div class="grid item"> <div class="unit whole"> <article class="blogpost"> <header> <h1><a href="/archives/2024/11/bombus-mixtus.html">Bombus mixtus</a></h1> <div class="byline"><i class="fa fa-user-circle" aria-hidden="true"></i> By Matt Young</div> <div class="attrline"><i class="fa fa-clock-o" aria-hidden="true"></i> <span><time pubdate="pubdate" datetime="2024-11-25T12:00:00-07:00">November 25, 2024 12:00 MST</time></span> <span><i class="fa fa-comments" aria-hidden="true"></i> <a href="/archives/2024/11/bombus-mixtus.html#disqus_thread" data-disqus-identifier="/archives/2024/11/bombus-mixtus" class="disqus-comment-count">0 Comments</a></span> </div> </header> <p>Photograph by <strong>Ken Phelps</strong>.</p> <p>Photography Contest, <strong>Honorable Mention</strong>.</p> <figure> <img src="/uploads/2024/Phelps_Bombus_mixtus_Spring_Rain.jpg" alt="Bumblebee" /> <figcaption><i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombus_mixtus">Bombus mixtus</a></i> – bumblebee, photographed on a thistle immediately after a spring shower. The hairs on the abdomen are wetted where a raindrop hit. Located Nanaimo Lakes, Vancouver Island. Canon 20D, 100 mm macro. </figcaption> </figure> <p><i>To see comments on this post click below:</i></p> <p class="morelink"><a href="/archives/2024/11/bombus-mixtus.html#more">Continue Reading</a> <i class="fa fa-arrow-circle-o-right" aria-hidden="true"></i></p> </article> </div> </div> <div class="grid item"> <div class="unit whole"> <article class="blogpost"> <header> <h1><a href="/archives/2024/11/every-living-thing.html">Every Living Thing: book report</a></h1> <div class="byline"><i class="fa fa-user-circle" aria-hidden="true"></i> By Matt Young</div> <div class="attrline"><i class="fa fa-clock-o" aria-hidden="true"></i> <span><time pubdate="pubdate" datetime="2024-11-12T19:15:00-07:00">November 12, 2024 19:15 MST</time></span> <span><i class="fa fa-comments" aria-hidden="true"></i> <a href="/archives/2024/11/every-living-thing.html#disqus_thread" data-disqus-identifier="/archives/2024/11/every-living-thing" class="disqus-comment-count">0 Comments</a></span> </div> </header> <figure class="on-the-left-side" style="margin-top: 10px; margin-right: 40px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 10px;"> <img src="/uploads/2024/Roberts_Every_Living_Thing_Cover_600.jpg" alt="Book cover" /> <figcaption><a href=""></a>The cover is kind of "busy," but I shall try not to judge the book by its cover. </figcaption> </figure> <p>The book is <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0C7TNQHKK/">Every Living Thing</a>, The Great and Deadly Race to Know All Life</i>, by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason_Roberts_(author)">Jason Roberts</a>. It is sort of a double biography of Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778) and Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon (1707-1788), but it continues to follow their legacies well beyond their lifetimes to the present. I cannot recommend it more highly.</p> <p>I do not know what impression Mr. Roberts intended, but if you thought Linnaeus was a young man on the make, something of a scoundrel who might say anything in the interests of self-promotion, you might not be too far from the truth. The hero of this book is not Linnaeus but rather his sometime rival, Buffon.</p> <p>But let us deal with Linnaeus first. Linnaeus obtained a phony doctor’s degree from what we would now call a diploma mill. He anointed 14 (or <a href="https://www.ikfoundation.org/books-and-art/linnaeus-apostles-full-set/">17</a> of what he called his “apostles” (!), sent them on long journeys from which many never returned, and completely abandoned one who returned with no specimens. He has been criticized for not allowing his daughters their educations, to a degree, says Roberts, that was extreme even for the time (but he supported his daughter Elisabeth in her interest in botany. She wrote a paper devoted to what is now known as the <a href="https://www.nybg.org/blogs/science-talk/2013/12/flashes-in-the-twilight/">Elizabeth Linnaeus phenomenon</a>). Linnaeus also believed in the fixity of species, not to mention some very bizarre creatures, but in that he was probably not alone.</p> <p>Linnaeus developed a taxonomy that is largely in use today; that is a major accomplishment, to say the least. After defining and then apparently rejecting some ridiculous species within the genus <i>Homo</i>, he divided <i>Homo sapiens</i> into four subspecies: in essence, European, African, indigenous American, and Asian. Europeans, to Linnaeus, were governed by laws, whereas Africans were governed by whim, Americans by customs, and Asians by opinions. Roberts notes that “apologists have attempted to absolve Linnaeus of racism,” but he insists that claiming that Europeans alone were governed by laws is a clear statement of superiority. He cannot forgive Linnaeus, who stood by these characterizations for the rest of his life. I do not know whether Roberts is engaging in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presentism_(historical_analysis)">presentism</a>, but I suspect not.</p> <p class="morelink"><a href="/archives/2024/11/every-living-thing.html#more">Continue Reading</a> <i class="fa fa-arrow-circle-o-right" aria-hidden="true"></i></p> </article> </div> </div> <div class="grid item"> <div class="unit whole"> <article class="blogpost"> <header> <h1><a href="/archives/2024/11/butorides-virescens.html">Butorides virescens</a></h1> <div class="byline"><i class="fa fa-user-circle" aria-hidden="true"></i> By Matt Young</div> <div class="attrline"><i class="fa fa-clock-o" aria-hidden="true"></i> <span><time pubdate="pubdate" datetime="2024-11-11T12:00:00-07:00">November 11, 2024 12:00 MST</time></span> <span><i class="fa fa-comments" aria-hidden="true"></i> <a href="/archives/2024/11/butorides-virescens.html#disqus_thread" data-disqus-identifier="/archives/2024/11/butorides-virescens" class="disqus-comment-count">0 Comments</a></span> </div> </header> <p>Photograph by <strong>Al Denelsbeck</strong>.</p> <p>Photography Contest, <strong>Honorable Mention</strong>.</p> <figure> <img src="/uploads/2024/Denelsbeck_Butorides_virescens.jpg" alt="Green heron" /> <figcaption><i><a href="https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Green_Heron/overview">Butorides virescens</a></i> – green heron. Mr. Denelsbeck blogs at <a href="https://wading-in.net/">Wading-In Photography</a>. </figcaption> </figure> <p><i>To see comments on this post click below:</i></p> <p class="morelink"><a href="/archives/2024/11/butorides-virescens.html#more">Continue Reading</a> <i class="fa fa-arrow-circle-o-right" aria-hidden="true"></i></p> </article> </div> </div> </section> <script id="dsq-count-scr" src="//the-pandas-thumb.disqus.com/count.js" async></script> <footer> <div class="grid"> <table bgcolor="204517"> <tr><td>    </td><td> <div align="left"> <p>  To see earlier posts, select the Archives at the top of this page</p> <p></p> </div> <div id="RecentComments" class="dsq-widget"> <div align="center"> <h2>Recent Comments</h2> <P> To see the comment in context of the discussion click on the text that indicates how long ago the comment was posted, such as "2 hours ago". Then wait for the post and then the comments to load (may take many seconds). 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