I hesitate to single out colleagues for what is attributed to them in the media, because often what one says in an interview is not entirely what appears in print. On the other hand, I have noticed a tendency for some genome researchers to demonstrate a number of misconceptions about evolution that I think should be identified so that 1) they stop misinforming the public, and 2) they don't let misunderstandings complicate their interepretation of data.

I commented on the old Genomicron about some examples by Francis Collins with reference to non-coding DNA, in which he said:

I am swamped at present and have not had time to discuss the recent publications about the platypus genome. I had planned to wait and to talk about some interesting aspects, but the headlines are just too crazy to ignore. Fortunately, I believe Nimravid will be covering it soon and John Timmer gives a reasonable introduction. Some of the nonsense is from press interpretation, but some I think relates to the generally poor grasp of evolution that I see in many genomics articles. Phylogenetic fallacies aplenty.

By far the worst headline-

Always on the lookout for new ways to motivate graduate students to get their work finished, I took note of this handy item while flipping through the Fisher catalogue in search of a flammables cabinet for the lab.

The shoe, which is conveniently located at butt-height, would need to be on a spring, and it would be better if the gun were pointed outward and on a remote control turret or lack-of-motion sensor, but perhaps it could do the job just by its menacing presence.

In case you have missed them, two issues are now available for each of the new evolution journals:

Evolutionary Applications

Evolution: Education and Outreach

I had mentioned GraphJam on the old Genomicron. It's like LOLcats for nerds. Erm, for even bigger nerds. This one seems highly apt, though ALL CAPS alone is usually sufficient.