It is usually believed that Darwin’s theory leads to a smooth gradual evolution, so that mass extinctions must be caused by external shocks. However, it has recently been argued that mass extinctions arise from the intrinsic dynamics of Darwinian evolution. Species become extinct when swept by intermittent avalanches propagating through the global ecology. These ideas are made concrete through ...

Abstract In “The Role of Historical Science in Methodological Actualism,” Meghan Page makes a number important points about the sciences geohistory. Yet force her arguments is blunted by decision to explicate concepts like “actualism” and “uniformitarianism” as abstract methodological commitments. this discussion note, I illustrate difficulties that arise from decision, suggest way avoiding the...

The recent warming trend, and associated shifts in growing season length, challenge the principle of uniformitarianism, i.e., that current relations are persistent over time, complicates uncritical inferences past climate from tree-ring data. Here we conduct a comparison between width chronologies Pinus sylvestris L. (Scots pine), Picea abies (L.) Karst. (Norway spruce) Betula pubescens Ehrh. (...

The back cover of this book characterizes it as ‘an up-to-date critical introduction to linguistic typology’. The title might suggest that it gives equal coverage to morphology and syntax, but it is mainly about syntax. Chapter 1, ‘Introducing linguistic typology’, is a useful introduction to typology. For someone new to the area, it lays out the object of linguistic typology and discusses some...

When Darwin left for his voyage around the world on the Beagle, he took with him the first volume of Charles Lyell’s Principles of Geology. Later in the voyage he received the second volume by post somewhere in South America. Lyell never accepted Darwin’s account of evolution by natural selection, presumably because of his religious beliefs. It is ironic then that Lyell’s work played a crucial ...