At last! Here is the much delayed Carnival of Evolution 48!

I must begin by apologizing for my tardiness, especially since John Wilkins managed to post the last one on time. I was traveling in the 2½ weeks preceding the deadline for CoE, and the combination of spotty internet access, extreme jetlag (British Columbia to Germany to Iceland, where the sun hovered around the horizon all night long, just messed me up), and of course, the incredible distractions of exotic foreign lands, meant that I was disgracefully dilatory in putting it all together.

To reward your patience (or punish you all for allowing me to do this carnival), I thought I’d sprinkle the listing with some of my travel photos. Iceland is a lovely place; it’s also a strange place to consider evolution, in a land that’s only about 60 million years old and that is lacking in large animals (other than humans and their livestock), and mainly seems to be a place for rocks, lichens, mosses, fish, and small insects, as well as the busy bacteria…so in a sense it’s a place where we get back to the roots of evolution. Anyway, I’m just splattering the text with my photos; ignore them or get motivated to visit this gorgeous place.

On to the linkfest!

Bacteria

Wait a minute here…bacteria are where all the action is. I expected lots and lots of submissions about bacterial evolution, and this is all you give me? Come on, microbiologists, molecular biologists, and biochemists — give more next time.

While the big beasts were evolving, their bacterial diseases were evolving right along with them.

Bacteria evolving alone or in communities — it makes a difference!

Go deep into a cave and examine the bacterial resistome of species isolated for over 4 million years, and you discover they are resistant to many antibiotics.

Plants

I’m a little disappointed here, too. As an evo-devo kind of fellow, I’m often castigated for neglecting the importance of botany in understanding evolution and development…and here again we see an important group underrepresented on the Carnival of Evolution. Get to work blogging, plant biologists!

Charismatic megafauna

Here we go. Animals are clearly very popular.

Humans

Why do we have more posts about people than about bacteria? Man, we’re a self-centered bunch.

Charismatic organs in charismatic megafauna

You know what’s really popular? The evolution of brains and penises.

Theory

History

It’s helpful to know where our ideas are coming from.

Simulations

Using Avida to figure out how organisms could evolve navigation abilities.

Idiots

Here’s another popular category. Evolution is sociologically and politically contentious, even if it is scientifically rock-solid, so we have to spend a lot of time battling misconceptions and outright lies. Sometimes it’s aggravating, and sometimes it’s a source for hilarity.

A little bit of everything

Bora summarizes the Society for Research on Biological Rhythms meeting. It hits just about every category I’ve put in here.

I counted. There are actually 101 Reasons Why Evolution is True listed on this one page.

I have to thank Hope, Einar, Þorsteinn, and Friða of Siðmennt for taking me about Iceland and instructing me on geology, and also thanks to Háskóli Íslands and Vantru for hosting me.

You can follow the Carnival of Evolution on Facebook, Twitter, or the CoE blog, and you can submit links to the next edition.

IMPORTANT NOTICE: There is currently no host scheduled for July or thereafter. Volunteer! It’s a good way to be compelled to carefully read a lot of excellent posts about evolution, so think of it as a learning experience.