Viruses
You have 2 giant boxes.
In one box you put everything in the universe that is not alive.
In the other box you put all living things.
Now you are standing there holding one last object - a virus.
So which box does it go in?
In the box of living things you will not find 2 that are identical.
They all differ from one another in some way.
But they do have one thing in common ...
they are all made of genetic material.
That is something you will
never find in the other box.
Microbiology
5/10/14
Three 16-year-old girls win Google's global science competition
They discovered a naturally occurring bacteria in soil called Diazotroph.
They determined that the bacteria could be used to speed up
the germination process of certain crops, like barley and oats, by 50 percent,
potentially helping to fulfill the rising demand for food worldwide (4:45)
Diazotroph
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Abiogenesis
6/10/13
Early bioenergetic evolution
Their definition of life:
"
The harnessing of chemical energy in such a way
that the energy-harnessing device makes a copy of itself."
Most definitions of life do not take into account the evolutionary steps
that led from inorganic matter evolving into organisms that we recognize as alive.
This definition, however, recognizes that life is a process:
it is just one direction that the evolution of matter can take.
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1953
When Stanley Miller created amino acids from inorganic compounds
in his lab in 1953, the religious world went nuts.
For over 60 years they have furiously and desperately fought back
with feeble and humiliating attempts to discredit his discovery.
Well, it's time for Ghost Worshipers to go nuts again.
In addition to Miller's work, they will now have to tackle this new discovery:
amino acids can also be created by comet and meteor impacts.
This is the best example you will ever get,
of the logical fallacy known as "Moving the Goalposts."
Creationists are forced to retreat ever further each time science advances.
The goalposts are no longer on the field; they have been moved into the stands,
out of the stadium, and are currently located somewhere outside the state.
Yet they will never give up.
They will go to their graves holding on to their childish, ancient fairy tales.
Pascal asked "
what have they got to lose ?"
Nothing; if you don't mind living, the only life you will ever know ...
in Fantasyland
And in case you need to refresh your memory ...
Here's the original Miller-Urey experiment
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Human Evolution
3/6/25
How are we (Homo Sapiens) related to Neanderthals?
That depends ...
Based on the current "consensus"
(or the closest thing to a consensus)
Homo Neanderthalenis evolved from Homo Heidelbergensis.
Some time later ... so did we.
After we evolved from Homo Heidelbergensis, they went extinct.
The answer depends on whether:
we separated from Heidelbergensis who then went extinct;
which would make us the younger sibling of Neanderthals
(this is likely the current, most popular understanding).
Or: after Neanderthals evolved into a separate human species,
Heidelbergensis went extinct ...
when the rest of them evolved into Homo Sapiens.
The second scenario would make US the ancestor (parent) of Neanderthals.
Something to think about when you are bored.
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4/30/14
Carl Woese, a scientist few have ever heard of, is to biology ...
what Einstein is to physics.
The 16SrRNA gene led Woese to the discovery of our ancestors ...
the Archaea
"
I didn't come from no monkey !"
That's right Bubbles ... the truth is far worse than that
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12/18/13
With each new discovery, human origins get more complicated ...
but better defined
Family tree of the four groups of early humans
living in Eurasia 50,000 years ago
and the gene flow between the groups due to interbreeding.
(The tree is easier to understand if you read it upwards from the root)
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Plants
Terrestrial Animals
11/9/16
The Peregrine Falcon holds the world record in the animal kingdom
for the highest speed ever attained in the skies (over 200 mph).
However, that speed occurs when the bird is diving (gravity-assisted).
So which animal holds the record (over 100 mph) for horizontal flight speed?
Hint: it ain't a bird
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9/25/12
Why it won't be so easy to regenerate limbs like salamanders do
UPDATE 6/1/22
The axolotl, a Mexican salamander, is now all but extinct in the wild
"
The axolotl is a champion of regeneration, with the ability to regenerate almost any body part,
including brain, heart, jaws, limbs, lungs, ovaries, spinal cord, skin, tail, and more."
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Birds
1/9/14
An eagle ... fishing (2:52)
Now - imagine if this eagle met this guy ...
Place your bets lady and gentlemen
Incredible science videos like that last one can give a skeptical thinker pause;
which brings up an interesting side story:
Many years ago, a magazine that I trusted (
Discover) ran a story about "Hotheads."
They were carnivorous mole rats who gathered beneath people and animals
who were traversing thin ice in the arctic.
The group could produce enough heat with their heads (hence the term "Hotheads")
to melt the ice and deliver their dinner to them.
It turned out to be an April Fools prank.
But they didn't bother to note that after the story.
Based on all the incredible things that I've learned about the animal world
(like the bird-catching fish above),
I tended to accept even bizarre stories when they were from reputable sources.
It was quite embarrassing to find out later that I had been fooled.
Hotheads
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Marine Life
6/09/12
Discovery of a century-old penguin study shocks scientists.
They exhibited many of the same criminally sexual behaviors found in police stories.
Perverted Penguins
I thought the most interesting part of the story was when they discussed the fact
that it was not published in order to "preserve decency."
How does hiding the truth about animal behavior preserve human decency?
Your guess is as good as mine.
Besides, since World War 1 began the next year,
I would offer that human decency could only go in one direction ...
even if it mimicked penguins.
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Dinosaurs
10/3/12
Heterodontosaurs
As you can tell by the name,
this dinosaur has been approved by both Christians and Muslims
who have made it "the official dinosaur for traditional marriage."
Creationists are also thrilled because they believe
that this is further proof that tyrannosaurs were gentle tofu eaters.
The fact that, even today there exist fanged deer and sharp-toothed fruit bats,
has no effect on any discovery that they think they can use
to trick the intellectually naive.
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