Crows don’t have a prefrontal cortex so, as Offord notes, [the researchers] suggested convergent evolution (convergence on a common goal rather than common ancestry) as an explanation [for having skills similar to macaques’]. Even so, they say, the quality is probably innate. [Interesting, how often convergent evolution is invoked these days.]
Convergent evolution
Claim: Modern crocodiles are evolving rapidly
Into what? Crocobirds? Smithsonian Magazine is anxious for us to know that they are NOT “living fossils.” They have evolved a lot, we are told, though admittedly they are evolving around in a circle. It would be interesting to know why stasis became such a threatening concept in some quarters.
New Video Presentation on YouTube: Intelligent Design & Scientific Conservatism
I have recently posted a new video on my Intelligent Design YouTube channel. In this video I discuss several areas in the philosophy of science and modern evolutionary biology, and their relationship to ID. These thoughts were prompted initially by an interesting paper by philosopher of science Jeffrey Koperski ‘Two Bad Ways to Attack Intelligent Read More…
Snakes evolved venom fangs multiple times
Of course, it’s even more unlikely to have all just happened by chance a number of times than just once. Nonetheless, New Scientist tries valiantly to ascribe it all to natural selection (acting on random mutation).
Talk about convergent evolution: Lizards evolved for life in trees at least 100 times
Toepads don’t evolve until after lizards get into the trees, not before. And padless lizards will leave trees at a high frequency — much higher than padbearing lizards. Okay, now here’s a question: How, exactly, does the tree lizard “evolve” toe pads just because they would be convenient? It’s not self-evident. Many lizards did not but others did. As Michael Behe would ask, “How, exactly?”
Researchers: Spiders use the same cues as vertebrates in distinguishing living vs. non-living things
Researchers: Complex vision evolved independently in vertebrates and arthropods and so the ability to distinguish living from non-living motion using the relative positioning of the joints has most likely arisen convergently in the two groups of animals.
At Gizmodo, of all places: A convergent evolution slide show
But wait. “Natural selection,” as usually understood, assumes ancestor-descendant relationships. That’s the point of it. If mammals “have clearly been taking pages from other play books,” how exactly, were they able to do so?
Mice from opposite coasts of North America show same the changes in genes
The house mouse, beloved of cats, only arrived in North America with Europeans, so there aren’t millions of years to make up a story about how things happened.
Interesting finding: COVID-19 populations show high convergent evolution
Researchers: We find that two particular mutation rates, G →U and C →U, are similarly elevated and considerably higher than all other mutation rates, causing the majority of mutations in the SARS-CoV-2 genome, and are possibly the result of APOBEC and ROS activity.
Convergent evolution: Our most distant relatives were sponges, not comb jellies, say researchers
Re the researcher’s comment, “It may seem very unlikely that such complex traits could evolve twice, independently, but evolution doesn’t always follow a simple path,” well, he is virtually admitting that Darwinism stretches (snaps?) the bounds of probability but no one is allowed to discuss that honestly. That is most likely why there is a controversy in the first place.
American Museum of Natural History: Whale and hippo skin adaptations evolved independently
Researcher: “Our latest findings contradict the current dogma in the field—that relatives of the amphibious hippo might have been part of the transition as mammals re-entered life in the water.”
An animal you would swear was just plant refuse
If it washed up on the beach. The sea whip coral is technically an animal but you might not guess that.
Odd: Koala fingerprints almost indistinguishable from human ones
Researchers compared the fingerprints of three koalas killed by cars, a chimp that died in captivity, and human ones. The koala prints were more like human ones than the chimp’s were.
Convergent evolution of cobra venom
Researchers: “This is the first clear example of snake venom evolving for defence, and provides a remarkable example of convergent evolution, or how natural selection can cause the same solution to a problem to evolve multiple times.” Sure, it all just somehow happens with no underlying intelligence in nature?
Convergent evolution: Tasmanian tiger pups “extraordinarily”similar to wolf pups
Researchers: While scientists have worked out that different animals evolve to look the same because they occupy similar places in the ecosystem, they have yet to explain how animals evolve to become convergent, particularly the forces driving their early development.