November 2016

From University of Leiden at ScienceDaily: Plants were an important part of the menu of Neanderthals who lived in the warmer Mediterranean regions of Eurasia between 180,000 and 30,000 years ago. But paleoanthropologists had for a long time assumed that the same did not apply in colder regions such as the Mammoth steppes. The Mammoth steppe, a region of steppe tundra almost completely devoid of trees, was the dominant landscape from Central Europe to East Asia during the cold periods of the Pleistocene era. Neanderthals in these areas were thought to have been carnivores, eating virtually only the flesh of large wild animals. This very limited diet made this hominid species vulnerable and may well have contributed to their becoming Read More ›

The most serious event in this field in decades: Finally, the ongoing conflict between Darwinism and  evolution has made it to the top of the In Tray. And are we seeing much notice from the pop science media? Not if you go by the first page on Google, appended (18:30 EST). Now, the good news is that serious researchers will get more discussed and done without the pop science media reassuring everyone that Darwin’s reputation is safe. For a handy guidebook to new ideas that will likely be discussed informally, as well as those that will be discussed at the meeting, get and read Suzan Mazur’s Public Evolution Summit. New trends in evolutionary biology: biological … – Royal Society https://royalsociety.org/science-events-and-lectures/2016/11/evolutionary-biology/ Read More ›

From comparative medicine specialist Joseph Garner, interviewed by Aviva Garner at New Scientist: Of the drugs that get past the animal testing phase and into human trials, only about 1 in 9 actually make it to the market, and that’s dropping all the time. It costs about $2 billion to bring a single drug to market, largely because of failed human trials. And they usually fail simply because the drug doesn’t work, or not as well as animal testing predicted. (most paywalled) More. It may be relevant that humans can think, say, and do a lot of things that mice cannot, and we are not kept in cages all our lives either. So a disease would run its course in Read More ›

Seriously, from ScienceDaily: The brains of wild cats don’t necessarily respond to the same evolutionary pressures as those of their fellow mammals, humans and primates, indicates a surprising new study. … Arguably, the fact that people and monkeys have particularly large frontal lobes is linked to their social nature. But cheetahs are also social creatures and their frontal lobes are relatively small. And leopards are solitary beasts, yet their frontal lobes are actually enlarged. So what gives? Sharleen Sakai, lead investigator of the National Science Foundation-funded research, said the findings suggest that multiple factors beyond sociality may influence brain anatomy in carnivores. “Studying feline brain evolution has been a bit like herding cats,” said Sakai, MSU professor of psychology and Read More ›

From Hanneke Weitering at Space.com: Have you ever wondered what the universe looks like in all of its entirety, or how it would feel to hold the universe in the palm of your hand? Good news: It is now possible to do both of these things — all you need is a 3D printer. Researchers at the Imperial College London have created the blueprints for 3D printing the universe, and have provided the instructions online so anyone with access to a 3D printer can print their own miniature universe. You can see a video on the science behind the 3D-printed universe here. The researchers’ representation of the universe specifically depicts the cosmic microwave background (CMB), or a glowing light throughout Read More ›

For many years, atheistical objectors — often, taking a cue from ruthless advocacy groups such as the NCSE and/or ACLU etc — have been tempted to dismiss ID as “Religion” or “Creationism,” and this long since answered point still occasionally crops up here at UD. (Unfortunately, even when it is not explicit, it is often an implicit rhetorical filter that warps understanding of what ID supporters, thinkers and scientists say; with an underlying insinuation of lying on our part. Which, for cause, I take very personally, as one who has repeatedly put life — when you deal with Communists . . . — and career on the line on matters of truth; for decades. Where, too, the very ease with Read More ›