36th edition is up, already

The 36th Carnival of Evolution is now up at Greg Laden's blog.

Also, if you have any thoughts on what the relevance of blog carnivals are, please see this discussion.

CoE 35

The thirty fifth Carnival of Evolution is up on Lab Rat.

Carnival relevance?

Recently I have been thinking about the use of blog carnivals. Do they get read by enough people to be considered useful? Do the people who read them actually click through to blog posts they wouldn't have otherwise? Presumably people who read carnivals regularly read a number of blogs regularly, too. So does the carnival add anything for these readers? And what about people who aren't regular readers of featured blogs? Are there any? Do people who don't usually read about the subject matter learn about it through carnivals?

Is there a point in continuing Carnival of Evolution? Sometimes I get the suspicion that readers are a very select group of people who would read these posts about evolution anyway, in which case I don't think the carnival has much to offer. What do you think?

I have been trying to get CoE hosts to think of new ways to spice up the monthly edition, with limited success. And yet I wonder if that makes any difference at all to anybody. Are more people reading more blog posts on evolution due to CoE? That's really the core question, because that would and should be the purpose of the carnival.

I'd like to know what the answers are, and to that end I tam thinking about making a questionnaire and get it featured on the June edition of CoE. However, I often find that such polls end up not really answering the overall question, so I am asking you what those questions should be. If you can think of specific question to ask CoE readers that will get to the relevance of CoE, please post them here or send me an email.

If you have ideas for how to increase the relevance of carnivals, please feel free to share them here as well.

34th edition...

Just up at Quintessence of Dust.



Thanks to Steve Matheson for hosting.

Anyone interested on hosting an edition this summer?

33rd edition on Genome Engineering

We're overwhelmed with posts this month. Suzanne Elvidge has had a lot of reading to do indeed. See the result on her blog Genome Engineering.

Spread the word!

And if you're interested in hosting Carnival of Evolution yourself, email me at bjorn@bjornostman.com.

Call for submissions for CoE #33

This is a short month, so here's your reminder to submit posts to the thirty third edition of Carnival of Evolution. Go here to submit one (good) or two (better) posts that you or someone else wrote on a blog about something or other under the rather large umbrella term that evolution is. Do it, or else!

CoE #33 will be hosted on the excellent blog Genome Engineering. If you are interested in writing a very excellent and profound CoE #34 or #35, email me at bjorn@bjornostman.com (replace the @ with [at]).

CoE #32: Letter from Darwin

Darwin's birthday is February 12th. Today he writes a letter to his friend Sir Joseph Hooker.

Down. Bromley. Kent.
Febr. 1, 2011

My dear Hooker,

I was grateful for your very kind wishes; and for the book about the Anoles of the West Indes, which I expect I shall read with much enjoyment. The merest thought of an approaching 202nd birthday makes me feel the need for another trip to Malvern; but I do find some relief in my reading, of which I must needs do more every day it seems, only to keep abreast of the latest work. My great-grandson presented me last month with an i-Pad, a charming device; I can now consult the "web-logs" in the garden, when it is pleasant.

Read the whole letter here.

The carnival needs a host for next month's edition. Any volunteers? We prefer bloggers who have contributed but have not yet hosted. Send an email if you're interested in substantially increasing visits to your blog.

You need to straighten your posture and suck in your gut

Evolution-bloggers.

You need to submit what you write about evolution to the Carnival. Need.

Jeremy Yoder (no relation to Jedi of Oz) is hosting the February edition of CoE (#32), and he is nothing less than desperate for your contributions. See for yourself:
Carnival of Evolution—one week left to submit!
Carnival of Evolution—two weeks left to submit!

And he's right; it is extremely exciting to be the host of CoE - but only if you submit the usual one (good) or two (better) posts through this link.

Would you like to host this March, April or May? We prefer previous contributors who haven't hosted before. If that fits you, and you want a gazillion pageviews, leave a message after the beep.

Follow CoE on Twitter.
Like CoE on Facebook.


With thanks to Cake. Here, have some:

#31st Carnival of Evolution at The dispersal of Darwin

As we enter the new year blah blah blah, etc. etc., we are pleased to announce that counter all intuition, the 31st edition of our beloved Carnival of Evolution has already been in readiness for well over 24 hours.

Michael Barton is hosting at The Dispersal of Darwin, and there is enough to go around for everyone.



We are still inviting entries to our little logo-competition. To repeat, we are quite happy about the green logo,



but a different one for putting on submitted posts would be great to have, too. More details here.

30th edition on This Scientific Life

The thirtieth edition is hosted by Bob O'Hara on This Scientific Life. Enjoy! And spread the word.






Before you go, did you know you can follow CoE on Twitter? Yes you can! CarnyEvolution.

Become a top evolution blog

This site has been "awarded" the title of a Top Evolution Blog. So has quite a few others, and I realize, of course, that it's just a gimmick to drive people to a site made to earn money.

Be that as it may, the list of blogs is actually fairly good, with links to many good blogs at least to some extent about evolution.



Now, if your blog is not on that list (and, incidentally, mine isn't), and if you want it to be a top evolution blog, what better advice can I give you than to always remember to submit one (good) or two (better) posts every month to Carnival of Evolution?

Logo/button competition

← Carnival of Evolution has a splendid logo, don't you think? We don't need a new one. However, I'd like to get another one for a specific purpose.

When people have their posts included in a CoE edition, wouldn't it be nice if they could put a little image on the post to identify it as a CoE-post? I think so. Like a stamp of approval, similar to the image that posts on Research Blogging has (see example here).

However, I have zero skills in that direction, so I'd like to ask someone else to make one.

Logo Competition:

What: Make a 70x85 pixel logo that CoE contributors can put on their CoE posts.

Why: So that we may make more people aware of the carnival, and promote both reading and writing about evolution.

How: I don't know how, but once you have figured that out, send it to me at bjorn@bjornostman.com.

When: No hard deadline, but I won't start choose among any submissions before the next edition of CoE is out (which will be on December 1st).

What's in it for me? The creator of the new CoE button will of course be featured both here and on my own blog Pleiotropy, but beyond that I'm afraid CoE has no funds for a monetary prize.

The button should be recognizable and distinct, so that people will quickly learn that it refers to Carnival of Evolution. I could suggest that it used the same colors as the CoE logo, for example, but that's not a strict requirement.

If you have any other questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Number twenty-nine is ready

The 29th edition of Carnival of Evolution is now ready at Byte Size Biology. It's a great game of evolution this time.

Kick-off is a post about how penguins got their coats:

According to an international team of researchers, a close examination of feathers from a recently unearthed giant penguin fossil revealed that it was clad in reddish-brown and grey, instead of the familiar black-and-white colors worn by its modern relatives. Additionally, the researchers found differences in feather structure between ancient and extant penguins; differences that may offer clues for how modern penguin feathers evolved.

At Punctuated Equilibrium.

Next month our host is This Scientific Life, and you can submit one (good) or two (better) posts about evolution here. Go on, don't be shy now.

Survey of CoE readers - results

34 people took the survey of CoE readers (31 completed it). Here are the results:

1. For how long have you known about Carnival of Evolution?
Since the beginning (August, 2008): 38.2%
Since sometime in 2009: 32.3%
Since sometime in 2010: 35.5%

2. How often do you read Carnival of Evolution?
Every month/edition: 44.1%
About every other edition: 32.4%
Less than every third edition: 8.8%
This is my first time: 14.7%

3. On average how many posts featured in the Carnival do you click through to read on the authoring blog?
0: 2.9%
1: 5.9%
2: 17.6%
3: 32.4%
4: 11.8%
5: 17.6%
6: 5.9%
More than 6: 0.0%
All: 5.9%

4. How often do you contribute blog-posts to Carnival of Evolution?
Never (I don't blog): 32.4%
Never (I don't write about evolution): 2.9%
Never (other reason): 11.8%
Every month: 11.8%
Other: 11.8% (most answers were every other or every third edition)

5. Is evolutionary biology your main interest in science?
Yes: 50.0%
No: 50.0%

6. What is your highest level of education?
High school degree: 5.9%
College degree: 14.7%
Master's degree: 35.3%
PhD degree: 32.4%
Something else: 11.8% (all four getting degrees)

7. Do you work in science?
Yes: 61.8%
No: 38.2%

8. Do you believe in evolution?
Yes: 91.2%
No: 5.9%
Unsure: 2.9%

Why/why not?
1. Evidence
2. "believe in" ?? that's mighty weird wording!
3. Biology is kinda pointless without it...
4. But you should rephrase "Do you accept evolution?"
5. However, Evolution is NOT a matter of belief. It is a matter of fact. Poor phrasing of the question on your part.
6. Evolution is a fact.
7. "Believe in" is a dymb way to put it. I accept evolution.
8. Because of all the mountains of evidence!
9. SCIENCE...
10. Really - I ACCEPT evolution. One should not use 'believe' in this context!
11. Best explains mountains of evidence.

★ ★ ★

Thanks to all who took the survey. Also to those whose pet peeve is that one should not say 'believe in evolution'. To those of you: You need to look up what 'believe' means. It does not only refer to a faith-like belief, but can be a belief grounded in evidence, such as "I believe that E. coli have evolved an ability to metabolize citrate" or "I believe whales evolved from land animals". To believe irrespective of evidence - on faith - is only one meaning. Don't let the 'believers' distort the meaning of the word 'believe', please.

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