Most interesting: “Our results provide an intriguing example of inter-kingdom convergent evolution of animal and plant venoms with shared modes of delivery, molecular structure, and pharmacology.” Plants and animals are not so different after all.
Convergent evolution
Darwin skeptic focuses on the repeated evolution of the camera eye
Shedinger: But how could a similar series of mutations of the sort necessary to produce similarly structured eyes in different lineages occur so many times independently if the mutations are randomly produced?
Researchers discover deep sea creatures that suck up light like a black hole
In an “incredible” display of convergent evolution, sixteen different deep-sea fish developed extreme light-absorbing qualities, like a “black hole,” for camouflage amid bioluminescence.
Researchers: Toothed and non-toothed (baleen) whales evolved similar features independently
Researcher: “The degree to which baleen whales and dolphins independently arrive at the same overall swimming adaptations, rather than these traits evolving once in the common ancestor of both groups, surprised us,”
Why frogs have such weird skulls
Food for thought: “Weirdly, it’s easier for us to generate beautiful images of skulls than it is to know what these frogs eat,” Blackburn said. “Natural history remains quite hard. Just because we know things exist doesn’t mean we know anything about them.”
Blood feeding evolved independently about 100 times despite being a very complex trait
But still we hear, “There seems to be no more design in the variability of organic beings, and in the action of natural selection, than in the course which the wind blows.” Darwin, “Life and Letters,” i, p. 278 ? Hadn’t the Darwinists better change their story a bit?
Spiders and birds of Paradise use the same molecular strategy for mating displays
Convergent evolution
Two jellyfish genomes differ “as drastically as humans do from sea urchins.”
So there is no Darwin switch. Different jellyfish converge on moving around via different sets of genes.
Detailed bat and dolphin convergence in echolocation
Is this magic, design, or a miracle?, a friend asks
Move over, mammals. Spiders provide milk for their young too
Researchers knew that jumping spider (Toxeus magnus) young didn’t leave the nest for twenty-one days and adults were not observed to bring back food for them. So they checked it out: They looked more closely and noticed that the mother was secreting a liquid from its upper abdomen onto the surface of the nest, which Read More…
Convergent evolution: Psychology Association says killer whales share personality traits with humans, chimps
Using a five-factor test. Convergent evolution is cited: Researchers found that the personality traits of killer whales were similar to those of both humans and chimpanzees but more similar to chimpanzees. Killer whales were similar to chimpanzees and humans for the extraversion factor (e.g., playful, gregarious and sociable). Killer whales and chimpanzees also shared a Read More…
Convergent eye evolution shows that evolution is “easy”?
Here’s an inventive turn of phrase from Nature: “Eye evolution came easy for simple sea creatures Family tree shows that jellies and their relatives evolved eyes independently at least eight times.” Jellyfish and their kin have no brains and make do with rudimentary nervous systems. But an analysis now shows that these simple sea creatures Read More…
Why some birds are smarter than others?: They have larger brain structures that mediate information
From ScienceDaily: University of Alberta neuroscientists have identified the neural circuit that may underlay intelligence in birds, according to a new study. The discovery is an example of convergent evolution between the brains of birds and primates, with the potential to provide insight into the neural basis of human intelligence. “An area of the brain Read More…
Convergent evolution: Green blood evolved four times in lizards
From Louisiana State U: Green blood is one of the most unusual characteristics in the animal kingdom, but it’s the hallmark of a group of lizards in New Guinea. Prasinohaema are green-blooded skinks, or a type of lizard. The muscles, bones and tongues of these lizards appear bright, lime-green due to high levels of biliverdin, Read More…
Why a four-eyed fossil lizard is a problem for Darwinism
Yes, four eyes. From Gunter Bechly at ENST: Based on two fragmentary fossils, Smith et al. (2018) just described the new monitor lizard Saniwa ensidens from the 49 million year old Bridger Formation in Wyoming. Both known specimens surprisingly had four eyes! Additional to the normal pair of lateral lens eyes, and the usual parietal Read More…