Many issues are worth raising, including whether “species” is a clear enough concept to warrant being a measure, as opposed to, say, role in an ecology. When is it wise to intervene to preserve something? Goals driven by passions are often misguided and wasteful.
Ecology
Honeybees, astonishingly, are not going extinct
Science writer Hank Campbell vs. the apocalypse industry: Instead of dying out, there are now 10 honeybees for every human on the planet – more than 25 years ago. And that is just in one species. There are over 25,000 species of bees, we just don’t try to count them all because the others are not part of a billion dollar industry, like sending honeybees around in trucks to pollinate almond farms.
How nature avoids collapse
Iterating the materialist approach to nature, DeFries seems to assume that order can just happen for free: “Homeostasis to stay within safe bounds is fundamental for an unpredictable, complex system to persist.” Sure it is. But it doesn’t happen without underlying design, beginning with the mathematics of our universe.
Is the planet really running out of frogs?
That seems to depend on who you read: Last year in the journal Science, a research review concluded that the chytrid fungus caused the decline of at least 501 amphibian species, of which 90 have gone extinct. That paper suggested that species losses due to the chytrid fungus are “orders of magnitude greater than for Read More…
Beetle larvae (“superworms”) can survive on waste plastic
Recent evolution? Maybe. Doesn’t sound as though much evolution is needed, actually. Later in the article, it is suggested that the required enzymes may have existed for some time (that is, the plastic is what’s new).
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?
Are there universal laws of ecology?
Sounds promising. If physics depends on mathematics and chemistry depends on physics and biology depends on chemistry, why could not be laws be derived that help us understand ecology? But then Malthus betrays the authors, as he misled Darwin.
Feathered polar dinosaurs really existed
Sure, though it does feel odd to see the words “feathered” + “polar” + “dinosaur” in the same sentence. 😉
Early humans lived in a different ecosystem, researchers say
Most interesting. If that’s true, claims that our behavior stems from challenges faced by our ancestors may need to be scrutinized. Our ancestors may not have faced the same challenges.
Want more aggressive spiders? Look for hurricanes
Mainly fun. But seriously, the main question is, when the weather calms down, won’t the spiders tend to just stop being so aggressive? It’s interesting if this is what is meant by “robust evolutionary responses.”
Who knew bacteria could trap light without chlorophyll?
We are “trained,” if you like, to expect certain discoveries (dark matter, for example). Then we learn something significant that really surprises us and allows for new thinking about, for example, ecology.
AI will save Gaia, says James Lovelock at nearly 100 years of age
The Gaia hypothesis started out as science, then discovered weed. But a digital Gaia movement for the 21st century will not, one suspects, be hippies. Maybe not as nice.
The incorrect insect egg model relied too much on model organisms
Krauze: the organisms we have chosen to represent invertebrates, like C. elegans and D. melanogaster, are simpler than the average invertebrate. And this means that we’re likely underestimating the complexity of the last common ancestor of animals (Metazoa). … Attempts to correct for this bias has found that the last common Metazoan ancestor was surprisingly complex, seemingly ‘overdesigned’ for its simple morphology.
At Nature: Researcher smashes conventional evolution doctrine about insect egg shapes
The new findings almost put the egg in charge of its own shape, not what anyone expected to hear.
Fungus found that can oxidize gold
Imagine. Non-reactive gold does all that for fungus. Is there anything is nature that is absolutely useless?