The extended evolutionary synthesis has changed the way biologists look at the evolutionary process. The prior theoretical view, known as the modern synthesis, viewed organisms as essentially passive participants in the process of evolution, while the extended evolutionary synthesis views organisms as being primary actors in their own evolution. However, translating this idea into the…
New Popular Math Video Features Blyth Institute Work
A new video by the math and science YouTube channel Splience (operating out of Heidelberg University) is featuring work done by the Blyth Institute on the fundamentals of calculus. The video, titled “This is not the second derivative,” walks the viewer through the basics of the paper by Bartlett and Khurshudyan, “Extending the Algebraic Manipulability…
Modeling Parameterized Mutations at Evolution 2026
The Blyth Institute is excited to share its research on modeling the population dynamics of parameterized mutations this year at Evolution 2026! Jonathan Bartlett will be discussing “parameterization” as a new way of thinking about the most common types of mutations, and what impact that has on models of population dynamics, focusing on its impact…
The Blyth Institute forms the Center for Biological Engineering
The Blyth Institute is happy to announce the formation of the Center for Biological Engineering. The goal of the center is to research various inter-applications of biology and engineering – how engineering can help us understand biology, how biology can help us understand engineering, and how solutions to problems can be engineered using biological systems….
Blyth Institute Press Releases “Basic Types of Life”
Blyth Institute Press is proud to release a new edited volume, Basic Types of Life. Basic Types of Life is a translation, update, and expansion of the breakthrough German biological work, Typen des Lebens, which introduced the concept of Basic Type Biology, which performs taxonomic classifications according to objective and verifiable measures of biological compatibility….
Blyth Institute Publishes New Take on Population Dynamics in Academia Biology
Academia Biology recently published a paper by Blyth Institute research director Jonathan Bartlett. The paper, titled “Alternate mutation modalities in models of population dynamics,” covers the way that new discoveries in mutation theory mean that the way that we model population dynamics needs to change as well. Since “random mutations” are no longer the primary…
Jonathan Bartlett Discusses His Research on the Bob Murphy Show
Bob Murphy, a podcaster focusing on academic-oriented interviews, recently interviewed Blyth Institute director Jonathan Bartlett on his recent published research on mutation theory and evolution and where biology is going into the future.
Thinking about Teleological Causes in Life and Evolution
Teleological causation has been a difficult subject in the philosophy of science for some time. On the one hand, it is difficult to even think of biology except in terms of goals and purposes. On the other hand, using teleological causes has historically allowed researchers quite a bit of room to substitute hand-waving for hard…
Rethinking the Modern Synthesis
The modern synthesis, developed in the middle of the 20th century, held firmly that no intentional forces were at play in evolutionary theory (a thorough review of the approach of the modern synthesis is available in Stoltzfus’s Mutations, Randomness and Evolution). However, this was based more on the philosophical outlook of the participants of the…
Extending Notation Improvements to Partial Differentials
The validity of infinitesimals as mathematical entities was demonstrated in the 1960s by Abraham Robinson. However, the most widespread application area of infinitesimals, differentials, has continued to be plagued by inconsistencies. Typically, these inconsistencies are papered over by forcing practitioners to never use differentials in isolation. However, new work from The Blyth Institute shows that…