evolution
razib | October 14, 2008The BBC interviews Steve Jones. Nothing new. I think Jones' fixation on natural selection as a function of parameters exogenous to the population is part of the problem. A lot of evolution is probably due to intraspecific dynamics, that is, individual vs. individual competition within a population, not to mention host-parasite co-evolution via the evolutionary arms race. And there is the ever present empirical contention that Jones' makes that humans used to breed like elephant seals. He's wrong. But, I have to say I understand why the media loves him, he exudes confidence and is not…
gregladen | October 13, 2008 A very good day of grunting worms. Credit: Ken Catania So-called Gene-Culture Co-Evolution can be very obvious and direct or it can be very subtle and complex. In almost all cases, the details defy the usual presumptions people make about the utility of culture, the nature of human-managed knowledge, race, and technology. I would like to examine two cases of gene-culture interaction: One of the earliest post-Darwinian Synthesis examples addressing malaria and sickle-cell disease, and the most recently published example, the worm-grunters of Florida, which it turns out is best…
razib | October 13, 2008The August issue of The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, has a supplement of articles, Vitamin D and Health in the 21st Century Update. ScienceDaily has some quotes from one of the main researchers:
... Norman identifies vitamin D's potential for contributions to good health in the adaptive and innate immune systems, the secretion and regulation of insulin by the pancreas, the heart and blood pressure regulation, muscle strength and brain activity. In addition, access to adequate amounts of vitamin D is believed to be beneficial towards reducing the risk of cancer.
I think a focus on…
pharyngula | October 13, 2008I hope Jerry Coyne will forgive me that my frequent thought as I was reading his new book, Why Evolution Is True(amzn/b&n/abe/pwll) was, "Wow, this sure is easier to read than that other book." That other book, of course, is Coyne and Orr's comprehensive text on Speciation(amzn/b&n/abe/pwll), which is a technical and detailed survey of the subject in the title, and that I wouldn't necessarily recommend to anyone who wasn't at least a graduate student in biology. We all have our impressions colored by prior expectations, you know, and Jerry Coyne is that high-powered ecology and…
laelaps | October 13, 2008As we approach the 150th anniversary of the publication of On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, I can't help but notice the shoddy treatment natural selection receives in many of the college courses I have attended. Everyone is in agreement that understanding natural selection is important, so much so that it often gets its own lecture, but apparently it is not important enough to have professors memorize relevant examples of it.
I have seen it happen over and over again. The major points of evolution by natural selection are outlined (usually between 4 and 8 concepts, with…
razib | October 13, 2008Photo credit: AP
In light of last week's posts about why human evolution continues, I think it is critical to make concrete the reality of reproductive variance. It seems highly likely now that Jamie Lynn Spears is pregnant again. This might be a moot point if she has an abortion, though now that the word is out the public relations fall out might reduce the likelihood of that choice. The behaviors and outcomes of the lives of the Spears sisters are in the public spotlight, so let's leverage this into an illustration of evolutionary theory. Last year I wrote Jamie Lynn Spears: it runs in…
razib | October 12, 2008Image credit
A clarification (always needed!) of some issues in regards to Sewall Wright's conception of an adaptive landscape....
grrlscientist | October 12, 2008tags: Birdbooker Report, bird books, animal books, natural history books, ecology books
"One cannot have too many good bird books"
--Ralph Hoffmann, Birds of the Pacific States (1927).
The Birdbooker Report is a special weekly report of wide variety of science, nature and behavior books that are or soon will be available for purchase. This report is written by one of my Seattle birding pals and book collector, Ian "Birdbooker" Paulsen, and is published here for your enjoyment. Here's this week's issue of the Birdbooker Report by which lists ecology, environment, natural history and bird…
edyong | October 11, 2008
While philosophers and poets muse on the meaning of life, natural selection casts a dispassionate eye on the whole affair. From the viewpoint of evolution, there is only one thing that matters - that we survive long enough to pass our genes on to the next generation, as many times as possible. And from the viewpoint of evolution, we are not doing a very good job.
Birth rates in several countries around the world - the UK, Japan, China - are falling dramatically. Women are having fewer children and they are having them later, close to the end of their fertile period. But the fact that…
laelaps | October 10, 2008Eight years before the publication of On the Origin of Species, J. Stanley Grimes issued his book Phreno-Geology: The Progressive Creation of Man, Indicated by Natural History, and Confirmed by Discoveries That Connect the Organization and Functions of the Brain With Successive Geological Periods. It seems to have been forgotten, perhaps because the "science" of phrenology fell out of favor, but as we approach the "evolution year" it is profitable to look back on other ideas of evolution that have largely been forgotten. Charles Darwin was not the first to think that organisms evolve, even if…
laelaps | October 9, 2008
There are few scientific figures as misunderstood as the English anatomist Richard Owen. More often than not, he is portrayed as a sort of Grinch, brooding in his museum and muttering "I must stop this 'evolution' from coming, but how?" Not only was he a severe and vicious old man, generally disliked by all who knew him, but his brilliance was marred by a reliance on the Bible, which caused him to lash out at anyone who dared suggest that life might evolve.
So goes the story, anyway. Owen was a figure of such importance to biology in Victorian England that it is impossible to ignore him, yet…
awild | October 8, 2008
Cataulacus brevisetosus - armored arboreal ant (Africa)
Cephalotes rohweri - armored arboreal ant (North America)
Tetraponera natalensis - elongate twig ant (Africa)
Pseudomyrmex pallidus - elongate twig ant (North America)
Plectroctena mandibularis - giant hunting ant (Africa)
Dinoponera australis - giant hunting ant (South America)
Dorylus helvolus - subterranean ant predator (Africa)
Neivamyrmex californicus - subterranean ant predator (North America)
edyong | October 8, 2008Many of us believe dinosaurs to be extinct but in truth, they surround us every day. All the world's birds, from the pigeons of our cities to the gulls of our seasides, are descended from dinosaurs, and modern science now classifies the birds with their long-dead kin. The gulf between dinosaurs and modern birds may seem huge, but the discovery of several feathered dinosaurs are seriously blurring the line between the two. And now, new research on the feathered dinosaur Microraptor reveals that birds may have evolved from dinosaur ancestors that flew not on two wings, but on four.
The link…
pharyngula | October 7, 2008I've read Steve Jones' books and enjoyed them — so I'm really baffled by this bizarre report of a talk he gave. It's either a massive example of misreporting, or Jones has a solid grip on everyone's ankles and he's straining to pull our legs right off.
He claims human evolution is over. The reason? Because not enough fathers over 35 are having children. That's bad because mutations are the source of evolutionary novelty, and older fathers are more likely to have accumulated errors in the replication of sperm, and therefore pass on more mutations.
This is because cell divisions in males…
grrlscientist | October 7, 2008tags: dopamine, behavior, evolution, rewarding affiliative behaviors, brain reward pathways, songbirds, birdsong, zebra finch, Poephila guttata, neurobiology
A pair of wild Zebra (Chestnut-eared) Finches, Poephila guttata.
Image: Adelaide Zebra Finch Society [larger view].
People have been known to "sing for joy" and we often experience happiness when others sing for us. Additionally, birdsong has often brought joy to those who have listened, but what about the birds themselves? Do birds experience "happiness" when they hear birdsong, or when they sing for others? According to newly…
razib | October 6, 2008Updated: Follow up post End Update
I've already the covered Steven-Jones-evolution-is-ending story at my other weblog. I notice that John Wilkins has also objected to Jones' exaggerations. When I initially read the quotes from Jones in The Times I was alarmed, but wondered if his position was being taken out of context or misinterpreted. I emailed a prominent evolutionary biologist who I suspected would know Jones well enough to clarify this issue. My correspondent responded that Jones really does believe this, and he finds Jones' ideas as ludicrous as I do (adding for good measure he doesn'…
evolvingthoughts | October 6, 2008
I get so tired of comments like this:
The Grim Reaper is taking a rest, and inherited differences in the ability to withstand cold, starvation or disease no longer power Darwin's machine. Those who die from such killers do so when they are so old that natural selection has lost interest.
Right. Tell the folk in Darfur that. Tell those in Bangladesh after a cyclone. Tell folks in New Orleans, or Indonesia, or native populations in Nunavit, Australia, New Zealand, the Amazon, South Africa and Tierra del Fuego. Tell those whose access to health care is patchy at best. Even in the UK that is…
grrlscientist | October 6, 2008tags: DonorsChoose2008, education, public school education, fund raising, evolution education, nature education, bird education
Today's featured project is below the fold.
This teacher's proposal has only 26 days left to be funded, but only $25 has been donated so far! Mrs. R, who is starting her second year as a teacher, needs another $513 to add a special science lesson to her curricula. I think that Mrs. R has shown a lot of initiative by completing summer workshops that prepare her to teach science in her classroom, and when you read her proposal, you will find that she is especially…
grrlscientist | October 5, 2008tags: Birdbooker Report, bird books, animal books, natural history books, ecology books
"One cannot have too many good bird books"
--Ralph Hoffmann, Birds of the Pacific States (1927).
The Birdbooker Report is a special weekly report of wide variety of science, nature and behavior books that are or soon will be available for purchase. This report is written by one of my Seattle bird pals, Ian "Birdbooker" Paulsen, and is published here for your enjoyment. Here's this week's issue of the Birdbooker Report by which lists ecology, environment, natural history and bird books that are (or will…
grrlscientist | October 4, 2008tags: John Scopes, Scopes Monkey Trial, Tennessee v. John T. Scopes Trial, evolution, creationism, religious fundamentalism, education
Tennessee v. John T. Scopes Trial: John Thomas Scopes.
Image: Watson Davis (1896-1967), courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution (copyright free). [larger view].
Description: Taken the month before the Tennessee v. John T. Scopes Trial. June 1925
Creator/Photographer: Watson Davis
Medium: Black and white photographic print
Dimensions: 4.25 in x 3 in
Culture: American
Geography: USA
Date: 1925
Persistent URL
Repository: Smithsonian Institution Archives…