Mike Gene, "All that matters" (2005)

From the Washington Post story,we read:

Scott, of the NCSE, insisted that Smithsonian scientists had no choice but to explore Sternberg’s religious beliefs. “They don’t care if you are religious, but they do care a lot if you are a creationist,” Scott said. “Sternberg denies it, but if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it argues for zealotry.”

Hmmmm.

Richard Sternberg holds a PhD in Systems Science (where he won a Distinguished Dissertation Award) and another PhD in Molecular Evolution. According to the Washington Post article, “his graduate work draws praise from his former professors.” Also, “in 2000 he gained a coveted research associate appointment at the Smithsonian Institution.” And after all the controversy, his supervisor, Jonathan Coddington, described him as an “an established and respected scientist.”

And here are Sternberg’s publications since 1992:

1. Sternberg, R. v., G.E. Novick, G.-P. Gao, & R.J. Herrera (1992). Genome canalization: the coevolution of transposable and interspersed repetitive elements with single copy DNA. Genetica 86: 215-246.

 

2. Sternberg, R. v. & D.C. Yoch (1993). Molecular cloning and sequencing of the ferredoxin I fdxN gene of the purple bacterium Rhodospirillum rubrum. Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1144: 435-438.

3. Sternberg, R. v. (1994). Systematic implications of color pattern polymorphism in Goniopsis pulchra (Decapoda: Brachyura: Grapsidae) from Ecuador. Proc. Biol. Soc.Wash. 107: 721-728.

4. Sternberg, R. v. & H. Motoh (1995). Notes on the phylogeny of the American Penaeus shrimps (Decapoda: Dendrobranchiata: Penaeidae). Crust. Res. 24: 146-156.

5. Sternberg, R. v. (1996). The role of constrained self-organization in genome structural evolution. Acta Biotheoretica 44: 95-118.

6. Sternberg, R. v. (1996). Carcinization as an underlying synapomorphy for the decapod crustacean taxon Meiura. Evol. Theory 11: 153-162.

7. Sternberg, R. v. (1996). Genome self-modification and cellular control of genome reorganization. Riv. Biol./Biol. Forum 89: 445-484.

8. Sternberg, R. v. (1997). The phylogenetic and systematic position of the Penaeus subgenus Litopenaeus (Decapoda: Dendrobranchiata: Penaeidae). Rev. Biol. Trop. 44(3)/45(1): 441-451.

9. Sternberg, R. v. (1997). Cladistics of the freshwater crab family Trichodactylidae (Crustacea: Decapoda): appraising the reappraisal. J. Comp. Biol. 2: 49-62.

10. Rodríguez, G. & R. v. Sternberg (1998). Revision of the freshwater crabs of the family Pseudothelphusidae (Decapoda: Brachyura) from Ecuador. Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. 111: 110-139.

11. Sternberg, R. v. (1998). The sister group of the freshwater crab family Trichodactylidae (Crustacea: Decapoda: Eubrachyura). J. Comp. Biol. 3: 93-101.

12. Sternberg, R. v. & G. Klir (1998). Generative archetypes and taxa: a fuzzy set formalization. Riv. Biol./Biol. Forum 92: 403-423.

13. Sternberg, R. v., N. Cumberlidge, & G. Rodríguez (1999). On the marine sister groups of the freshwater crabs (Crustacea: Decapoda). J. Zool. Syst. Evol. Res. 37: 19-38.

14. Sternberg, R. v. & N. Cumberlidge (1999). A cladistic analysis of the genus Platythelphusa A. Milne-Edwards, 1887 from Lake Tanganyika, East Africa (Decapoda: Potamoidea: Platythelphusidae) with comments on the phylogenetic position of the group. J. Nat. Hist. 33: 493-511.

15. Cumberlidge, N., R. v. Sternberg, R. Bills, & H. Martin (1999). A revision of the genus Platythelphusa A. Milne-Edwards, 1887 from Lake Tanganyika, East Africa (Decapoda: Potamoidea: Platythelphusidae). J. Nat. Hist. 33: 1487-1512.

16. Sternberg, R. v., L.A. Galindo, & E.M. González (1999). Cladistic analysis of the Eudaniela species complex (Crustacea: Decapoda: Pseudothelphusidae). Hydrobiologia 416: 139-147.

17. Cumberlidge, N. & R. v. Sternberg (1999). Phylogenetic relationships of the freshwater crabs of Lake Tanganyika (Decapoda, Brachyura). In: “Crustaceans and the Biodiversity Crisis”, F.R. Schram & J.C. von Vaupel Klein (eds.), Brill, Leiden, pp. 405-422.

18. Sternberg, R. v. (2000). Genomes and form: the case for teleomorphic recursivity. In: “Closure: Emergent Organizations and their Dynamics,” J.L.R. Chandler and G. van de Vijer (eds.), Ann. NY Acad. Sci. 901: 224-236.

19. Sternberg, R. v. & N. Cumberlidge (2000). Taxic relationships within the Grapsidae MacLeay, 1838 (Crustacea: Decapoda: Eubrachyura). J. Comp. Biol. 3(2): 115-136.

20. Sternberg, R. v. & N. Cumberlidge (2001). On the heterotreme-thoracotreme distinction in the Eubrachyura De Saint Laurent, 1980 (Decapoda, Brachyura). Crustaceana 74(4): 321-338.

21. Sternberg, R. v. & N. Cumberlidge (2001). Notes on the position of the true freshwater crabs in the brachyrhynchan Eubrachyura (Crustacea: Decapoda). Hydrobiologia 449(1/3): 21-39.

22. Lemaitre, R., J. García-Gómez, R. v. Sternberg, & E. Campos (2001). A new genus and species of goneplacid crab (Crustacea, Decapoda, Brachyura, Goneplacidae) from the Caribbean. Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. 114(4): 938-943.

23. Cumberlidge, N. & R. v. Sternberg (2002). The freshwater crabs of Madagascar (Crustacea: Decapoda: Potamoidea). Zoosystema 24(1): 41-79.

24. Sternberg, R. v. (2002). The roles of repetitive DNA elements in the context of a unified genomic/epigenetic system. In “From Epigenesis to Epigenetics: The Genome in Context,” L. van Speybroek, G. van de Vijver, and D. De Waele (eds.), Ann. NY Acad. Sci. 981: 154-188.

25. Sternberg, R. v. & N. Cumberlidge (2003). Autapomorphies of the endophragmal system in trichodactylid freshwater crabs. J. of Morphology 256: 23-28.
> 26. Sternberg, R. v. (2003). Review: &ldquo;Development and Evolution: Complexity and Change in Biology,&rdquo; by Stanley N. Salthe. International J. General Systems 32: 96-98.<p>

27. Cumberlidge, N. and R. v. Sternberg (2003). The freshwater crabs of Madagascar. In: The Natural History of Madagascar, eds. Steven M. Goodman and Jon Benstead, University of Chicago Press, pp. 612-617.

28. Cavanaugh, D.P. & R. v. Sternberg (2004). Analysis of morphological groupings using ANOPA, a pattern recognition and multivariate statistical method: a case Study involving centrarchid fishes. J. Biol. Systems 12: 137-167.

29. Salthe, S. N. & R. v. Sternberg. Complex systems and explanation. In the journal Nature’s: “Encyclopedia of the Human Genome” (in press).

30. Sternberg, R. v. & M. Schotte (2004). A new species of the anchialine shrimp genus Procaris (Decapoda: Caridea: Procarididae) from Mexico. Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. 117(4) (in press).

31. Shapiro, J.A. & R. v. Sternberg. Why repetitive DNA is essential for genome function. Biol. Rev. (Cambridge) _ [full citation coming].

32. Sternberg, R. v. & J. A. Shapiro. How repeated retroelements format genome function. Cytogenet. Genome Res. _ [full citation coming].

My, that looks more impressive that Richard Dawkins’ CV.

But none of this matters. What matters is if “you are a creationist.” Correction – what matters if you “walk like a duck and quack like a duck” [wink, wink]. Why? “It argues for zealotry.”

Did you get that? By all objective and independent criteria, Sternberg is a competent and established scientist. It wouldn’t matter if Sternberg had four PhD’s and 200 publications. Why? We simply tap dance around the inconvenient data and employ tunnel vision guided by conspiracy theories and subjective impressions in order to discredit Sternberg as a “zealot.”

Is this where the scientific community really wants to go?

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