MetaFilter posts tagged with science and evolution

Ardipithecus: We Meet At Last

HumanComplex — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 08:45:11 -0800

Ardipithecus: We Meet At Last. (Single Link Carl Zimmer)

Cancer Causing Viruses

mdpatrick — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 14:10:56 -0800

Paul Ewald, an evolutionary biologist at University of Louisville in Kentucky states his conviction, in one interview with Discover Magazine that, that by 2050 the human species will have found that between 80% and as high as 95% of cancers are caused by viruses. from Discovery Magazine Article:

Viruses push cells to the brink; additional mutations from genetic defects or the environment are needed for full-blown cancer. Keep in mind that the vast majority of mutating agents provoke cells to stop functioning or to die, meaning there is no chance for those mutations to cause cancer. Without an infection, the few mutated cells that could potentially cause cancer stop proliferating after several divisions. But infected cells can reach such high numbers that the progression to cancer is not terminated by the many mutations that kill the cells or make them nonfunctional. The small percentage that are cancer-causing can continue to proliferate.

Common Sense

nola — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 20:36:36 -0800

C0nc0rdance [sytl] asks; How far should we trust common sense? A less than 9 min video on Common Sense as it relates to Science. Enjoy.

Dream A Little Dream

amyms — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 23:18:51 -0800

Dreaming of Nonsense: The Evolutionary Enigma of Dream Content. Why on earth do our minds conjure up such ridiculous imagery, such inane thoughts, such spectacularly vivid and surreal landscapes, intense emotions—such narrative trash? Related: Interpret Your Dreams (with Dream Dictionary) The International Association for the Study of Dreams

Missing Link or Piltdown

Marisa Stole the Precious Thing — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 16:07:28 -0800

Jørn Hurum, who brought the world the alleged missing link, Ida (previously), has been described by colleagues as "a bit of a showman". While Hurum maintains his assessment of Ida is correct, others have said his claim at finding the missing link is "seriously likely to undermine the credibility of science in the public eye". New Scientist does a decent round-up of reactions and skepticism, as well as provide a refutation of their own.

"Greetings from Idiot America"

zarq — Tue, 12 May 2009 09:20:20 -0800

Charles Pierce, author of the 2005 essay "Greetings from Idiot America" decrying the rise of faith-based anti-intellectualism, has expanded his rant into a full length book: Idiot America: How Stupidity Became a Virtue in the Land of the Free. (via) Previously on MeFi. (link on that post is defunct) Anti-intellectualism has been around for ages, and has not been restricted to the US. But the American cultural divide was thrust further into the national spotlight during the last election cycle. Further reading: Susan Jacoby's book: The Age of American Unreason (interview on left-wing blog Alternet here,) and 1964's Anti-intellectualism in American Life by Richard Hofstadter. Pierce appears regularly on NPR's Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me!, and is a feature writer for Esquire, Slate, The American Prospect and the Boston Globe Sunday Magazine, usually on sports. He's also the author of several books, including Hard to Forget: An Alzheimer's Story.

A Moment in Time

nola — Mon, 11 May 2009 17:53:18 -0800

AronRa has done some really nice YouTube vids on science (previously). In this latest vlog An Archaeological Moment in Time, he take(s) a look at how different societies are advancing at different rates on the same date in the distant past.

Puijila darwini Makes a "Splash" in the Paleo World

vertigo25 — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 15:39:18 -0800

On April 23, 2009 Natalia Rybczynski, Mary R. Dawson, and Richard H. Tedford published their paper "A semi-aquatic Arctic mammalian carnivore from the Miocene epoch and origin of Pinnipedia" in the journal, Nature, detailing their 2007 discovery of the species they have named Puijila darwini. The carnivorous marine mammal, which lived about 21 to 24 million years ago, was discovered practically by accident, but as a "transitional fossil" is re-writing our understanding of pinniped evolution. It could also be noted that it was most likely cute as all get out, and is already the star of it's own mini documentary.

How Do We Know What We Know?

netbros — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 07:18:30 -0800

For most of us, science arrives in our lives packaged neatly as fact. But how did it get that way? Science is an active process of observation and investigation. Evidence: How Do We Know What We Know? [HTML version, Flash version also available] examines that process, revealing the ways in which ideas and information become knowledge and understanding. In this case study in human origins, the folks from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology explore how scientific evidence is being used to shape our current understanding of ourselves: What makes us human—and how did we get this way?

Bats Flying in Slow Motion

srboisvert — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 10:04:10 -0800

How To Be A Bat [Life in Motion] Carl Zimmer has a lengthy post about Bats over at Discover magazine's website. Several slow motion videos of bat flight including a cool matlabish model of a bat flight vortex. As with all flying takoffs are optional and landings are mandatory so they also have slow motion video of two point and four point landings as well as well as some more pedestrian videos.

cluck cluck cluck BAWK! ROAR!!

Pants! — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 11:03:28 -0800

When and if the dinochicken is created, Horner looks forward to bringing it out on a leash during lectures. (book)

Happy Birthday, Mr Darwin

chuckdarwin — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 01:43:01 -0800

Dawkins on Darwin | A Peek into the Life of Darwin with Jon Amiel, Director of Creation | Six scientific hot spots for modern Darwins | 'Why Evolution Is True,' by Jerry A. Coyne

Evolution and Emancipation

homunculus — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 20:31:28 -0800

Darwin the abolitionist. "The theory of evolution is regarded as a triumph of disinterested scientific reason. Yet, on the 150th anniversary of On the Origin of Species, new research reveals that Darwin was driven to the idea of common descent by a great moral cause." [Via]

The compatibility of science and religion

homunculus — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 23:30:23 -0800

Seeing and Believing: The never-ending attempt to reconcile science and religion, and why it is doomed to fail. [Via Pharyngula]

(Un)blinding them with science!

Mr. Anthropomorphism — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 18:24:24 -0800

In a breathless, passionate, yet level-headed 15 part series, YouTube user, paleontologist, ex-Christian, and potential Space Coyote impersonator AronRa presents an uncommonly well-written and presented argument against what he identifies as the 14 "Fundamental Falsehoods of Creationism." All your favorites are addressed: 1. "Evolution = Atheism" (transcript) 2. "Scriptures are the 'Word of God'" (transcript) 3. "Human Interpretation = Absolute Truth" (transcript) 4. "Belief = knowledge" (transcript) 5. “Evolution = the religion of atheism” (transcript) 6. “Evolution must explain the origin of life, the universe, and everything.” (transcript) 7. “Evolution is random.”(transcript) 8. “Mutations are rare, harmful decreases in genetic information.” (transcript) 9. “No transitional species have ever been found.” (transcript) 10. “The evolutionary ‘tree of life’ is nowhere implied either in the fossil record, nor in any aspect of biology.” (transcript) 11. “Macroevolution has never been observed.” (transcript) 12. “Creation science” (transcript) 13. “Evolution is a fraud!” (transcript) 14. “Creation is evident” Part I (transcript) 15. “Creation is evident” Part II (transcript)

Jesus Christ Dinosaur

homunculus — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 20:50:32 -0800

The Jesus Christ dinosaur hypothesis for the evolution of flight (PDF).

Islam and Evolution

homunculus — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 09:31:23 -0800

Bracing for Islamic Creationism (PDF). "To avoid a vast rejection of evolution in the Muslim world, scientists can present the theory as the bedrock of biology and can stress its practical applications." [Via]

Darwin, extended

digaman — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 18:50:28 -0800

The "blind watchmaker" may not be as blind as we thought. A team of scientists at Princeton University discovers that organisms are not only evolving, they're evolving to evolve better, using a set of proteins to "steer the process of evolution toward improved fitness" by making tiny course corrections.

How We Evolve

homunculus — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:16:29 -0800

How We Evolve: "A growing number of scientists argue that human culture itself has become the foremost agent of biological change, making us — for the past 10,000 years or so — the inadvertent architects of our own future selves." Recent acceleration of human adaptive evolution (previously). International HapMap Project (previously). The Genographic Project (previously).

Charles Darwin to receive apology from the Church of England

finite — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 16:20:38 -0800

"Charles Darwin: 200 years from your birth, the Church of England owes you an apology for misunderstanding you and, by getting our first reaction wrong, encouraging others to misunderstand you still." The comments are included on a Church of England website promoting the views of Charles Darwin to be launched on Monday.

"Science is an integral part of culture"

nickyskye — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 22:31:16 -0800

The Unofficial Stephen Jay Gould Archive, an online library dedicated to the Harvard paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould (1941-2002). Includes an excellent selection of videos. And The Official Stephen Jay Gould Archive [still under development], which includes two of his books and his Harvard course online. The Unofficial Stephen Jay Gould Archive was created by Miguel Chavez, a student at Yuba College in Northern California. From The Unofficial Stephen Jay Gould Archive, links. Fun Steinberg cartoon in Gould's book, Ontogeny and Phylogeny. Darwin's Origin of the Species online at The Official Stephen Jay Gould Archive.

Why there are still monkeys

homunculus — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 13:15:26 -0800

Why are there still monkeys?

you say you want an evolution

kliuless — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 12:33:42 -0800

EO Wilson believes in ~~Darwinism~~ group selection: "evolution as a multi-level process¹ that can evolve adaptations above the level of individual organisms."

Lateral gene transfer and the history of life

homunculus — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 14:26:12 -0800

Festooning The Tree Of Life. Carl Zimmer describes new research on lateral gene transfer which makes the Tree of Life look more like a Gordian Knot.

We Have Met the Aliens and They Is Us

saulgoodman — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 12:08:11 -0800

The Cosmic Womb: Recently published findings from researchers with the Imperial College London’s Department of Earth Science and Engineering seem to bolster the case for extra-terrestrial sources for the origins of life on Earth. (A PDF of the published results can be downloaded here, if you want the technical specifics.) As this news is only the latest in a series of findings favorable to their cause, Panspermia theorists everywhere may be starting to feel just a little bit cocky about their recent track record. Previously related MeFi posts here, here, and here.