Another brush with fame. Neil Shubin, a paleontologist and evolutionary biologist at the University of Chicago and the provost of the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, recently appeared on the Colbert Report. He actually did surprisingly well, given how much Colbert tends to rip people apart and generally mess with their heads.

These days, Shubin is probably one of the best known contemporary evolutionary biologists out there, what with his discovery of Tiktaalik, his recent book, and and his subsequent (inter) national media appearances.

As it happens, he was my anatomy professor in medical school and one of the best, most enthusiastic teachers I’ve ever had. (I also play racquetball in a court adjacent to his occasionally.)

If Mike Huckabee is elected President, and the majority of the country hasn’t emigrated elsewhere as a result, I nominate this guy to be science advisor.