Day Ten of the Shortform Challenge — I’ve already introduced myself — and at least a cat or two — around these parts: Short Form Introduction: Melinda K. Dooley Enthusiastic Biologist and Educatormedium.com So, I’ll tell you what I do these days: I teach. At my core, I’m a teacher. I’m currently a concierge educator, which means I freelance online. I teach/tutor everything from introductory microscopy for…

Enthusiastic Biologist and Educator —

Spend a bit of time planning then get to work — I have never actually taken the LSAT. Yet, people pay me to help them improve their performance on the LSAT, amongst other exams. Not to brag, but I did well enough on the SAT, GRE, and MCAT that I got into 100% of the universities, graduate programs, and medical schools…

I’ve been writing a lot about evolution lately. What it is, what boundaries we set upon it — I’ve been planning to write about evolutionary hangovers, as it were. Content warning: there’s a lot about atypical sexualities, including the LGBTQIA+ world, but there’s also some discussion of sexual assault, rape…

The Polish Academy of Sciences maintains a database of invasive species, with over 1700 entries. Earlier this week, Felis catus — the domesticated house cat — was added to the list. This, of course, has caused certain regions of the internet to lose their damn minds. …

I’ve recently found myself wanting to explain evolution to the many strangers who don’t get it, so I started writing. The general public, it seems, thinks the Theory of Evolution is a lot less legitimate than it really is. We’ve got evidence in spades, and it makes a lot of useful predictions. The irony, in my opinion, is that as flimsy as people think evolution is, people also believe that “species” is a well-defined, even immutable, concept. Darwin wrote in 1859, in On The Origin of Species:

History, semantics, and academia — In a recent piece, I covered the basics of evolution. Check it out: On Evolution Let’s talk about biodiversity! Made famous by Charles Darwin (even though Alfred Wallace had come to the same…melooley.medium.com In it, I claim that not all biologists define species the same way. Oxford Dictionary defines a species as “a group of living organisms consisting of similar individuals capable of exchanging genes or interbreeding. The species is…

Let’s talk about biodiversity! Made famous by Charles Darwin (even though Alfred Wallace had come to the same conclusions at the same time), the Theory of Evolution explains the diversity of life alive on the planet today. Friendly reminder that in science, a “theory” is an established explanation of how…

Yeah you think I’m crazy — I’ve written about myself before, but never before with multiple songs about monsters bouncing around my head. When was the last time you listened to — or even better, watched the music video for — the Eminem and Rihanna song The Monster? Constant psychiatric references. Eminem is wearing a straight…