Comments on: Best sentence I’ve read today http://crookedtimber.org/2009/09/27/best-sentence-ive-read-today/ Out of the crooked timber of humanity, no straight thing was ever made Mon, 13 Feb 2012 09:29:41 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Bill Benzon http://crookedtimber.org/2009/09/27/best-sentence-ive-read-today/comment-page-1/#comment-289506 Bill Benzon Sun, 27 Sep 2009 20:26:06 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/?p=13151#comment-289506 Well, independently of the rapid extinction of as yet unknown (to science) species, taxonomy isn't so dry as it once was. For one thing, the rise of methods for comparing the DNA and RNA of different populations has created a need to reconcile the results of traditional morphological techniques with the results of molecular methods. And that, so I'm told, is leading to the restructuring of significan portions of the Tree of Life. Nor is the Tree of Life a tree any more. There's so much horizontal transfer of genetic material in certain regions of the biome, especially among one-celled organisms, that the tree is an inadequate model for phylogenetic relationships. The upshot is that taxonomy now presents profound and intersting challenges. Well, independently of the rapid extinction of as yet unknown (to science) species, taxonomy isn’t so dry as it once was. For one thing, the rise of methods for comparing the DNA and RNA of different populations has created a need to reconcile the results of traditional morphological techniques with the results of molecular methods. And that, so I’m told, is leading to the restructuring of significan portions of the Tree of Life. Nor is the Tree of Life a tree any more. There’s so much horizontal transfer of genetic material in certain regions of the biome, especially among one-celled organisms, that the tree is an inadequate model for phylogenetic relationships. The upshot is that taxonomy now presents profound and intersting challenges.

]]> By: Billikin http://crookedtimber.org/2009/09/27/best-sentence-ive-read-today/comment-page-1/#comment-289493 Billikin Sun, 27 Sep 2009 17:55:12 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/?p=13151#comment-289493 "Taxonomy is the death of science." -- Alfred North Whitehead :) “Taxonomy is the death of science.”
—Alfred North Whitehead

:)

]]> By: Matt http://crookedtimber.org/2009/09/27/best-sentence-ive-read-today/comment-page-1/#comment-289475 Matt Sun, 27 Sep 2009 15:26:46 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/?p=13151#comment-289475 I'm glad I followed the link as, in my early morning reading, I kept reading "taxonomy" as "taxidermy", and while the context made that sound unlikely, it also sounded amusing. I’m glad I followed the link as, in my early morning reading, I kept reading “taxonomy” as “taxidermy”, and while the context made that sound unlikely, it also sounded amusing.

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