Matt Young
@opticist.bsky.social
opticist, sometime photographer, evolutionist (yes, that is a word), author of books and articles, retired physics professor, atheist (or at least strong agnostic), contributor to The Panda's Thumb, victim advocate, nudnik
Post run on Panda's Thumb by Joe Felsenstein about what appears to be a completely unqualified academic who changed his mind (gasp!) and now rejects "Darwinism." pandasthumb.org/archives/202...
![Frontispiece to the article. According to Felsanstein, "[this] cartoon, from Wikimedia, dates from 1855. It shows the concrete sculptures of dinosaurs which were created for Crystal Palace Park, after that exposition hall was moved there following the 1851 Crystal Palace Exposition in London. They are not very accurate, but apparently still on display at Crystal Palace Park."](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:r2z7tf23unyuxf5n4fodnpr2/bafkreiarnno34h3kbbl4vzlt5vubrvaemzumih3hcsytz2dtbtn5vtemse@jpeg)
November 24, 2025 at 3:47 AM
Post run on Panda's Thumb by Joe Felsenstein about what appears to be a completely unqualified academic who changed his mind (gasp!) and now rejects "Darwinism." pandasthumb.org/archives/202...
My discussion of this book on evolution of organisms adapted to living in cities & towns. Author argues that cities & towns worldwide will ultimately have nearly identical floras & faunas. If they have gained a foothold, may we then plant exotic species deliberately? pandasthumb.org/archives/202...
November 24, 2025 at 3:26 AM
My discussion of this book on evolution of organisms adapted to living in cities & towns. Author argues that cities & towns worldwide will ultimately have nearly identical floras & faunas. If they have gained a foothold, may we then plant exotic species deliberately? pandasthumb.org/archives/202...
A nice shot of the aurora the other night by Vivian Dullien, which I posted on Panda's Thumb yesterday. Taken with her cell phone. pandasthumb.org/archives/202...
November 13, 2025 at 11:19 PM
A nice shot of the aurora the other night by Vivian Dullien, which I posted on Panda's Thumb yesterday. Taken with her cell phone. pandasthumb.org/archives/202...
Interesting photograph by a Panda's Thumb regular, Al Denelsbeck. Not to mention 2 excellent puns in the comments section. pandasthumb.org/archives/202... Denelsbeck is a professional photographer who posts here: wading-in.net
November 11, 2025 at 1:53 AM
Interesting photograph by a Panda's Thumb regular, Al Denelsbeck. Not to mention 2 excellent puns in the comments section. pandasthumb.org/archives/202... Denelsbeck is a professional photographer who posts here: wading-in.net
My book report on Mitch Cruzan's book "Looking down the Tree," about human origins, on Panda's Thumb here: pandasthumb.org/archives/202... You may also find Prof Cruzan's preview to his book here: pandasthumb.org/archives/202...
November 9, 2025 at 4:10 AM
My book report on Mitch Cruzan's book "Looking down the Tree," about human origins, on Panda's Thumb here: pandasthumb.org/archives/202... You may also find Prof Cruzan's preview to his book here: pandasthumb.org/archives/202...
I just ran an appreciation of Veritasium's video, Something Weird Happens When You Simulate Lifeless Molecules, on The Panda's Thumb, here: pandasthumb.org/archives/202...
What's weird is that you get (simulated) life.
What's weird is that you get (simulated) life.
November 3, 2025 at 10:50 PM
I just ran an appreciation of Veritasium's video, Something Weird Happens When You Simulate Lifeless Molecules, on The Panda's Thumb, here: pandasthumb.org/archives/202...
What's weird is that you get (simulated) life.
What's weird is that you get (simulated) life.
From one of our Panda's Thumb Photography Contests a year or so ago, an Honorable Mention, "Aragonite Frostwork," by Alan Rice, posted the other day on PT.
pandasthumb.org/archives/202...
pandasthumb.org/archives/202...
October 15, 2025 at 3:48 PM
From one of our Panda's Thumb Photography Contests a year or so ago, an Honorable Mention, "Aragonite Frostwork," by Alan Rice, posted the other day on PT.
pandasthumb.org/archives/202...
pandasthumb.org/archives/202...
Just ran on Panda's Thumb: "Building Bridges [between Science and Religion] That Can Bear Scientific Scrutiny," by Jamie Jensen, a biology prof at BYU and self-described member of a "conservative Christian religion." Lots of good insight, good comments.
pandasthumb.org/archives/202...
pandasthumb.org/archives/202...
October 10, 2025 at 3:43 PM
Just ran on Panda's Thumb: "Building Bridges [between Science and Religion] That Can Bear Scientific Scrutiny," by Jamie Jensen, a biology prof at BYU and self-described member of a "conservative Christian religion." Lots of good insight, good comments.
pandasthumb.org/archives/202...
pandasthumb.org/archives/202...
Another photograph on Panda's Thumb, a sun dog (parhelion) by my cousin Nicky Turner, taken on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea, near her house on the western coast of Italy. (Caused by hexagonal ice crystals; see Greenler, Rainbows, Halos, and Glories, Chap. 2.)
pandasthumb.org/archives/202...
pandasthumb.org/archives/202...
September 29, 2025 at 9:12 PM
Another photograph on Panda's Thumb, a sun dog (parhelion) by my cousin Nicky Turner, taken on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea, near her house on the western coast of Italy. (Caused by hexagonal ice crystals; see Greenler, Rainbows, Halos, and Glories, Chap. 2.)
pandasthumb.org/archives/202...
pandasthumb.org/archives/202...
Just ran Dan Phelps's article on how LifeWise Academy is transporting public-school children to the Ark Park, *during school hours*, and feeding them nonsense. pandasthumb.org/archives/202...
September 9, 2025 at 10:49 PM
Just ran Dan Phelps's article on how LifeWise Academy is transporting public-school children to the Ark Park, *during school hours*, and feeding them nonsense. pandasthumb.org/archives/202...
XVIth Panda's Thumb Photography Contest. Caribou skull found near the Russell Glacier on the West Coast of Greenland, June, 2022, by Malcolm Schongalla - Honorable Mention. pandasthumb.org/archives/202...
September 3, 2025 at 3:22 AM
XVIth Panda's Thumb Photography Contest. Caribou skull found near the Russell Glacier on the West Coast of Greenland, June, 2022, by Malcolm Schongalla - Honorable Mention. pandasthumb.org/archives/202...
ICYMI, Beto O'Rourke on Substack betoorourke.substack.com/p/theyre-try.... Kind of old hat, dating ~Aug 6, but I just discovered it. Cannot readily find coverage in NYT, WaPo, even The Nation. Covered in Texas & on TV news. See interview with O'Rourke ~2 weeks ago www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIXa...
August 31, 2025 at 4:26 PM
ICYMI, Beto O'Rourke on Substack betoorourke.substack.com/p/theyre-try.... Kind of old hat, dating ~Aug 6, but I just discovered it. Cannot readily find coverage in NYT, WaPo, even The Nation. Covered in Texas & on TV news. See interview with O'Rourke ~2 weeks ago www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIXa...
Just ran a splendid pic by Al Denelsbeck showing how gingko leaf sheds water and directs it to the roots of the tree. It earned Honorable Mention in xvi-th (!) Panda's Thumb photo contest. pandasthumb.org/archives/202...
August 19, 2025 at 4:17 PM
Just ran a splendid pic by Al Denelsbeck showing how gingko leaf sheds water and directs it to the roots of the tree. It earned Honorable Mention in xvi-th (!) Panda's Thumb photo contest. pandasthumb.org/archives/202...
I just posted a short article on The Panda's Thumb, musing upon the book On Being Certain: Believing You Are Right Even When You're Not, by Robert Burton. Burton argues that we have an innate (and italicized) *feeling of knowing* that can lead us astray if we are not careful.
August 17, 2025 at 11:21 PM
I just posted a short article on The Panda's Thumb, musing upon the book On Being Certain: Believing You Are Right Even When You're Not, by Robert Burton. Burton argues that we have an innate (and italicized) *feeling of knowing* that can lead us astray if we are not careful.
Just posted this Honorable Mention photo of Archilestes grandis by Joel Eissenberg on The Panda's Thumb here pandasthumb.org/archives/202.... We learned from a comment that it is the largest damselfly in the United States.
August 6, 2025 at 3:06 AM
Just posted this Honorable Mention photo of Archilestes grandis by Joel Eissenberg on The Panda's Thumb here pandasthumb.org/archives/202.... We learned from a comment that it is the largest damselfly in the United States.
Honorable Mention, XVIth Panda's Thumb Photography Contest: Eurasian jay, hovering in doorway after attack by 2 magpies, by Philip Abrams, June, 2025, London. We will run an Honorable Mention or other nature picture on PT every 2 weeks.
July 22, 2025 at 9:46 PM
Honorable Mention, XVIth Panda's Thumb Photography Contest: Eurasian jay, hovering in doorway after attack by 2 magpies, by Philip Abrams, June, 2025, London. We will run an Honorable Mention or other nature picture on PT every 2 weeks.
Just posted Human and Chimpanzee: 15% or 1% Genetic Difference? How Creationism Misleads the Public, by Martin Neukamm. pandasthumb.org/archives/202... As a commenter noted, dishonestly cropping a figure to make a point should have destroyed Luskin's credibility. It will not.
July 15, 2025 at 9:33 PM
Just posted Human and Chimpanzee: 15% or 1% Genetic Difference? How Creationism Misleads the Public, by Martin Neukamm. pandasthumb.org/archives/202... As a commenter noted, dishonestly cropping a figure to make a point should have destroyed Luskin's credibility. It will not.
Runner-up to XVIth Panda's Thumb Photography Contest, Echium candicans, Pride of Madeira, by John Trawick.
pandasthumb.org/archives/202...
pandasthumb.org/archives/202...
July 15, 2025 at 9:25 PM
Runner-up to XVIth Panda's Thumb Photography Contest, Echium candicans, Pride of Madeira, by John Trawick.
pandasthumb.org/archives/202...
pandasthumb.org/archives/202...
John Harshman has won the XVIth Panda's Thumb Photography Contest with this splendid picture of an anhinga melanogaster, or oriental darter, Keoladeo National Park, Rajasthan, India. pandasthumb.org/archives/202.... Creative Commons BY-NC-ND License 4.0.
July 7, 2025 at 7:18 PM
John Harshman has won the XVIth Panda's Thumb Photography Contest with this splendid picture of an anhinga melanogaster, or oriental darter, Keoladeo National Park, Rajasthan, India. pandasthumb.org/archives/202.... Creative Commons BY-NC-ND License 4.0.
Astonishingly, 1 USian in 4 rejects evolution and so much modern science. The Scopes trial did not defeat creationism; it drove it dormant for a while. See my precis here pandasthumb.org/archives/202... and also a full post by William Trollinger and Susan Trollinger linked in the text.
July 4, 2025 at 2:41 AM
Astonishingly, 1 USian in 4 rejects evolution and so much modern science. The Scopes trial did not defeat creationism; it drove it dormant for a while. See my precis here pandasthumb.org/archives/202... and also a full post by William Trollinger and Susan Trollinger linked in the text.
Just reposted an article by Glenn Branch, "How the Scopes Trial Was Almost Scooped" in 1922, on The Panda's Thumb, here: pandasthumb.org/archives/202.... The original had been posted a few days earlier on the Righting America blog.
July 2, 2025 at 3:16 AM
Just reposted an article by Glenn Branch, "How the Scopes Trial Was Almost Scooped" in 1922, on The Panda's Thumb, here: pandasthumb.org/archives/202.... The original had been posted a few days earlier on the Righting America blog.
This New Mexico century plant owned by Ronald Whitmann blooms for the first time in 25 years. Also, please remember the Panda's Thumb Photography Contest. Entries close Friday, June 20. You may find rules by following the 2nd link.
pandasthumb.org/archives/202...
pandasthumb.org/archives/202...
pandasthumb.org/archives/202...
pandasthumb.org/archives/202...
June 9, 2025 at 9:38 PM
This New Mexico century plant owned by Ronald Whitmann blooms for the first time in 25 years. Also, please remember the Panda's Thumb Photography Contest. Entries close Friday, June 20. You may find rules by following the 2nd link.
pandasthumb.org/archives/202...
pandasthumb.org/archives/202...
pandasthumb.org/archives/202...
pandasthumb.org/archives/202...
We (well, more precisely, I) just invited entries to the XVIth Panda's Thumb photography contest. See the link for the rules. Entries close June 20, 12:00 MDT.
pandasthumb.org/archives/202... The photograph is an Olympus OM-1 that I used for 27 y and then never again exposed a single frame.
pandasthumb.org/archives/202... The photograph is an Olympus OM-1 that I used for 27 y and then never again exposed a single frame.
June 3, 2025 at 4:11 PM
We (well, more precisely, I) just invited entries to the XVIth Panda's Thumb photography contest. See the link for the rules. Entries close June 20, 12:00 MDT.
pandasthumb.org/archives/202... The photograph is an Olympus OM-1 that I used for 27 y and then never again exposed a single frame.
pandasthumb.org/archives/202... The photograph is an Olympus OM-1 that I used for 27 y and then never again exposed a single frame.
A silverfish, my post on Panda's Thumb the other day. pandasthumb.org/archives/202... Keep an eye out for our photography contest, beginning Monday.
June 2, 2025 at 3:30 AM
A silverfish, my post on Panda's Thumb the other day. pandasthumb.org/archives/202... Keep an eye out for our photography contest, beginning Monday.
Just ran this picture of Silver Cord Cascade in Yellowstone National Park, by Jim Kocher, on The Panda's Thumb.
pandasthumb.org/archives/202....
It was an Honorable Mention in one of our annual photography contests.
pandasthumb.org/archives/202....
It was an Honorable Mention in one of our annual photography contests.
May 14, 2025 at 7:47 PM
Just ran this picture of Silver Cord Cascade in Yellowstone National Park, by Jim Kocher, on The Panda's Thumb.
pandasthumb.org/archives/202....
It was an Honorable Mention in one of our annual photography contests.
pandasthumb.org/archives/202....
It was an Honorable Mention in one of our annual photography contests.