evolution
gregladen | February 5, 2008Natural Selection is the key creative force in evolution. Natural selection, together with specific histories of populations (species) and adaptations, is responsible for the design of organisms. Most people have some idea of what Natural Selection is. However, it is easy to make conceptual errors when thinking about this important force of nature. One way to improve how we think about a concept like this is to carefully exam its formal definition.
[repost from gregladen.com]
In this post, we will do the following:
Discuss historical and contextual aspects of the term "Natural Selection…
gregladen | February 4, 2008Determining where a genome has been produced or altered by an intelligent designer is a matter of some importance. Consider the claims that the HIV virus was engineered as a biowarfare weapon, or the concern that virulence genes from other organisms could be inserted into viruses and bacteria to "weaponise" them. For example the engineered mouse pox virus that turned lethal (Nature. 2001 May 17;411(6835):232-5 see also Nat Genet. 2001 Nov;29(3):253-6) and limits on the sequencing of the 1918 strain of the flu to stop flu from being weaponised (Fed Regist. 2005 Oct 20;70(202):61047-9,). A…
gregladen | February 4, 2008The first time I read the following passage from The Voyage, I was reminded of my own first experience in a rain forest (in Zaire). Evident in this passage is at least a glimmering of Darwin's appreciation for the complexity of ecosystems. Darwin could be considered the first scientific ecologist. Enough of my commentary ... this passage very much stands on it's own ...
BAHIA, OR SAN SALVADOR. BRAZIL, FEB. 29TH.--The day has past delightfully. Delight itself, however, is a weak term to express the feelings of a naturalist who, for the first time, has been wandering by himself in a…
gregladen | February 3, 2008I'd like to point you to an interesting piece on teaching evolution in Florida:
Sometimes, Allyn Sue Baylor doesn't teach evolution in her science class, even though the state requires it. She knows of other teachers who duck the issue, too.
They fear a backlash.
"There are cases when parents have gotten really upset," said Baylor, who teaches at Palm Harbor Middle School in Pinellas County. "It's scary. You can lose your job."
Its an interesting article in the St Pete's times. Here.
Which reminds me to remind you. If you want your public school teachers to teach evolution to your children…
gregladen | February 3, 2008With all five school board members believing evolution should not be taught as fact, the School Board of Highlands County on Tuesday will consider a resolution opposing the state's proposed new science standards stance on evolution.
The proposed resolution states, "The board recognizes the importance of providing a thorough and comprehensive science education to all students in Highlands County, which the board believes should include the multiple theories regarding the origins of the universe and life on earth."
[source]
gregladen | February 3, 2008There many ways of dividing up and categorizing Natural Selection. For example, there are the Natural Selection, Sexual Selection and Artificial Selection, and then there is the Modes of Selection (Stabilizing, Directional, and Disruptive) trichotomy.
We sense that these are good because they are "threes" and "three" is a magic number. Here, I'm focusing on the Mode Trichotomy, and asking that we consider that there are not three, but four modes of Natural Selection. This will cause tremors throughout the Evolutionary Theory community because Four is not a magic number, but so be it.
[…
gregladen | February 3, 2008Behold this humble passage by Darwin, which is what immediately follows his discussion of the octopus. This passage is a touchstone to several important aspects of what Darwin was doing and thinking, and is a poignant link to what Darwin did not know:
ST. PAUL'S ROCKS.--In crossing the Atlantic we hove to, during the morning of February 16th, close to the island of St. Paul.
Ah, sorry to interrupt. Saint Paul's Rocks are in the Atlantic roughly half way between South America and Africa. That geographical information should give you a hint of why these rocks are important!
"Hove to"…
evolvingthoughts | February 2, 2008
Here's a comment that represents a widely held misconception about the evolution of religion:
Whenever there is an discussion about religions and changes in religions someone always pulls out the argument that religions evolve. I am very sorry but I believe that applying the concept of evolution to religion is not a valid argument.
The argument suggests that religions start off as primitive beliefs and then change to become better beliefs. This is not the idea of evolution. Evolution does not necessarily make life forms better. Evolution changes life forms and sometimes these changes…
razib | February 2, 2008John has a post where he offers:
This reminds me of one of the paradoxes about Gould. Among historians (and the public) he was believed to represent mainstream science, a belief not shared by many scientists. Among scientists (and the public) he was believed to represent mainstream history of science, a belief not shared by practicing historians.
As I said elsewhere, most of the substance in Gould's work I have found in Peter J. Bowler's work. There are some issues and topics which get more limelight in The Structure of Evolutionary Theory because of the larger point of Stephen Jay Gould's…
gregladen | February 2, 2008Of his time on the Beagle (1832 - 1836), Darwin wrote, "The voyage of the Beagle has been by far the most important event in my life and has determined my whole career." Of the manuscript describing that voyage, he wrote, "The success of this my first literary child always tickles my vanity more than that of any of my other books."
An early version of "The Voyage."Taking a cue from these reflections, I'd like to spend some time with this book. To begin with, it is appropriate to clear up some potential confusion. Or if not clearing it up, perhaps creating it because you may not be aware of…
razib | February 1, 2008Chapters read:1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7.
And so it goes on as I march through chapter 4 of The Structure of Evolutionary Theory, more of the same. Chapter 3 was a history of 19th century evolutionary thought viewed through the lens of the concept of hierarchies of selection. Though Stephen Jay Gould stayed on topic much of the time, it seems that on many an occasion the link of the exposition to the notional theme would become extremely tenuous as he followed a particularly fascinating tangent and the prose just snapped off the chain. In Chapter 4 Gould exhibits many of the same tendencies…
evolvingthoughts | February 1, 2008
A rather cute article at the Catholic News Service says this:
In commentaries, papal speeches, scientific conferences and philosophical exchanges, the Vatican has been focusing more and more on the relationship between God and evolution.
From the outside, this may seem a reaction to the U.S. debate over creationism versus evolution, but it really has as much or more to do with the pope's interest in defining the legitimate spheres of science and faith.
Pope Benedict has weighed in several times on evolution, essentially endorsing it as the "how" of creation but cautioning that evolutionary…
gregladen | February 1, 2008You've heard of the movie Flock of Dodo's. ... But have you seen the out takes?
Me neither. But I do have this for you (warning: Includes PZ Myers Footage)...
(Do wait for the end. The best bit is at the end. Don't miss it!!!!!)
loom | February 1, 2008I'm always learning something from the readers of the Loom. Yesterday, I wrote about how scientists had inserted their names into a synthetic genome, and how such signatures would erode away like graffiti inside real organisms. But how about the opposite case--what if evolution has produced sequences of DNA that happen to form words?
In the comment thread, Peter Ellis asked,
What actually is the longest word (in any language) encoded by the reference human genome? If I had the time and computer power I'd have a look...
Guesstimate - it'll be somewhere in the 4-5 letter range, depending on…
gregladen | February 1, 2008"My bones are almost 200 years old." Charles Darwin's bones will be 199 years old on February 12th. There will be celebrations, shipbuilding, and blogging. I'll try very hard to do something every day, including later today. Beginning tomorrow, this blog will join Charles Darwin on board the Beagle for a trip around the world.
jlynch | January 31, 2008Unlike Razib, my reading of Gould’s The Structure of Evolutionary Theory isn’t progressing. This is for a number of reasons but primary among them is a busy week service-wise coupled with other reading that must take priority if I’m going to be coherent in class. Looking at the beast in question, I’m guessing weekends will be the only time I can get to it and then I’ll probably only finish a chapter at a time. At that rate, I’ll probably take three months to finish the book.
So to keep you occupied, you can read Razib on chapters one, two and three. At this rate, he’ll be finished in no time!
laelaps | January 31, 2008
A little more than two years ago, I asked the woman who is now my wife to marry me as snow began to fall in Central Park. The ruse I employed to get her out to the spot was the excuse that I wanted to make sure I saw the special Darwin exhibition before it moved elsewhere (which was true), knowing that after a visit to the AMNH we'd traditionally sit out by the pond across the street for a little while. By the time we made it back to the her house, though, enough snow had fallen to make driving treacherous, so it looked like I was going to have to crash on the couch that night. To pass some…