NEWS HEADLINES
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Wildfires in south-west France flare up as region braces for new 40C heatwave
Firefighters are braced for a sharp rise in temperatures on Wednesday, which could complicate the containment of wildfires in Gironde. read more
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Uefa and PM criticise Infantino World Cup plan
Uefa and Prime Minister Andy Burnham criticise proposals from Fifa to seek private investment in its competitions, including the World Cup. read more
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Ghana mourns its tallest man - a 'generous and popular giant'
Sulemana Abdul Samed, who was diagnosed with gigantism several years ago, has died at the age of 33. read more
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Mysterious deaths of 14 elephants in Kenya prompts urgent inquiry
It is the highest number of elephant deaths to be recorded in this area of southern Kenya in decades. read more
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Odyssey translator writes scathing review of Nolan film adaptation
The film has won rave reviews from film critics but a translator of Homer's work was less than impressed. read more
ONTOGENY AND PHYLOGENY
STEPHEN JAY GOLD
BIOGRAPHY
Stephen Jay Gould was born and raised in the community of Bayside, a neighborhood of the northeastern section of Queens in New York City. His father Leonard was a court stenographer, and his mother Eleanor was an artist whose parents were Jewish immigrants living and working in the city’s Garment District.[6] When Gould was five years old his father took him to the Hall of Dinosaurs in the American Museum of Natural History, where he first encountered Tyrannosaurus rex. “I had no idea there were such things—I was awestruck,” Gould once recalled.[7] It was in that moment that he decided to become a paleontologist.
Raised in a secular Jewish home, Gould did not formally practice religion and preferred to be called an agnostic. Biologist Jerry Coyne, who had Gould on his thesis committee, described him as a “diehard atheist if there ever was one.
