The Hox genes are not the big answer many thought.
Evolution
Alleged sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein pledged $30 million for Harvard evolution program
Some of these areas would seem to be science issues and others only questionably so. It is much easier to get general, evidence-based agreement on what constitutes cancer and its remedies, for example, than on what constitutes selfishness and its remedies.
Researchers: A big change in ocean life occurred in the mid-Jurassic
It would be an interesting thought experiment to consider what the oceans would be like if the formation of shells was difficult. It’s still hard to picture the idea that predation wasn’t as important as dissolution.
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.
Darwinism is taking a beating in the Anthropocene
It gets really interesting when the anti-Darwinists are not creationists but fronting various neglected ideas like epigenetics. Will they be more vicious?
Have 99% of All Species Gone Extinct?
Dear readers, It has been far too long since my last post, occasioned by the fact that I have entirely too many irons in the fire. I hope you will forgive this brief “drive-by” post, with a request for some help and information. One of the common refrains that comes up regarding the fossil record, […]
Vegetarianism arose three times in extinct crocodiles. Maybe six.
Note: Researchers: “It was clear from the start of the study that extinct species showed a different pattern, including species with many specializations not seen today. One such specialization is a feature known as heterodonty: regionalized differences in tooth size or shape.” Maybe the crocodiles had an arsenal of potential adaptations in their genes.
A new bug for Darwin’s finches: Mating disrupted by parasite
The whole story leaves one wondering what role incidental factors played, over many centuries, in the constant, reversible micro-evolution of the once-iconic Darwin’s finches.
But how can evolution be “wrong”?
As John Gray suggests. It’s important to know whether there is a “ghost in the human machine” vs. “crossed wires we cannot entangle” because the ghost may be acting badly. But evolution can’t go “badly wrong.” Ain’t no such animal.
Proof of Darwinism at last! The babyface dog!
Pop science media tried to spin this as an “evolution” story, which is ridiculous.
Life forms have a story but rocks don’t
Talbott: An animal’s end-directed activity may, of course, be very far from what we humans know as conscious aiming at a goal. But all such activity nevertheless displays certain common features distinguishing it from inanimate proceedings
A hair-raising theory for why zebras have stripes
They’re onto something with the hair standing on end. But here are some of the other theories…
Sex evolved as a strategy against cancer?
It’s an interesting theory but the obvious problem is that transmissible cancers are, as the authors admit, rare. They may always have been rare, relative, say, to predation or extinction—whether sex was part of a life form’s organization or not.
New Ordovician) fossils (470 to 459 million years ago) show survival of “extinct” life forms
Researcher: The discovery of uncommon wiwaxiids fossils in this time frame suggests the animals lived on Earth for a far greater span of time than previously understood.
The scramble for Darwin’s successor
It remains to be seen whether the quest to find the new Darwin will attract the brightest lights in the world today. Honestly… why should it?