Evolution

VIEW HEADLINES ONLY

Evolutionists Fret Over Persistent Creationism

January 11, 2007

Fretting and fuming over the persistence of creationism (and belief in God, which usually accompanies it), evolutionists are trying to come up with ways to combat it. This presupposes that they are not listening to the arguments of the creationists. Ambassadors for Darwin: In an editorial in Science Jan. 12, editor Alan Leshner encouraged scientists […]

Education

Is Legal Hammerlocking the Way to Win a Scientific Controversy?

January 6, 2007

The cartoon stereotype of a scientist as an unbiased truth-seeking nerd wearing a white lab coat is hard to reconcile with some recent events. Not that the cartoon stereotype was ever realistic, but the row over Darwinism vs Intelligent Design (ID) shows just how biased and unethical certain people and organizations can behave in support […]

Cell Biology

Are Cellular Motors Related by Evolution?

January 5, 2007

Just because two things go round and round, does that make them related by common ancestry? A Japanese team thinks so. A bacterial flagellum rotates (06/04/2002). So does ATP synthase, though it is about 10 times smaller (04/30/2004). Publishing in PNAS,1 these researchers looked for a relationship, and noted that these two motors bear some […]

Amazing Facts

Human Endurance: Is It Evolutionary?

January 2, 2007

Some people are gluttons for punishment. Many a couch potato is probably content to watch an Ironman or Ultramarathon on HDTV from a recliner, but the ones who take part in the grueling endurance contests gaining popularity illustrate some human capabilities scientists are only beginning to understand. Nature1 described one called the Primal Quest adventure […]

Politics and Ethics

Evolutionary Ethics Teeters on Brave New World

November 29, 2006

What happens when science pursues whatever it can do, unfettered by moral standards? Three recent news stories should cause all futurists to ponder the ramifications: A BBC News story this month asked, “UK scientists are seeking permission to place human nuclei into animal eggs in a bid to create stem cell lines. Why do researchers […]

Uncategorized

Quote: Chuck Norris Joke

October 23, 2006

Alleged Chuck Norris Fact: “There is no theory of evolution. Just a list of creatures Chuck Norris has allowed to live.” What does Chuck Norris himself think of this? It’s funny. It’s cute. But here’s what I really think about the theory of evolution: It’s not real. It is not the way we got here. […]

Cell Biology

Science Potpourri

October 13, 2006

Interesting articles from recent issues of Science have piled up in the queue. These might have made separate entries in CEH if time and space were unlimited. Deep Impact: The team of the Deep Impact mission to a comet published spectral results in the July 13 issue. “Emission signatures due to amorphous and crystalline silicates, […]

Astronomy

Nature Potpourri

October 11, 2006

Articles of interest from Nature have been piling up in the CEH queues. Perhaps a brief mention is better than nothing, before they fall into archive oblivion. Carbon 14: In the Sept 14 issue, there was a give & take between critics of a carbon-14-dated study and the author. The critics pointed out, “We appreciate […]

Dumb Ideas

Early Hunters Evolved Into Marathoners

October 11, 2006

Why are humans so good at endurance running? According to Dan Lieberman of Harvard, “our body shape evolved to allow our ancestors to run long distances, and reach animal carcasses before other scavengers.” He figured that “chasing animals until they collapse from exhaustion yields more meat per hunt than hunting with spears or a bow […]

Amazing Facts

Archer Fish Shoot Efficiently

October 10, 2006

Archer fish, the sharpshooters of the underwater world, have another trick in their blowguns: energy efficiency. Three German scientists were curious how they knew how hard to shoot at targets of differing mass. Publishing in Current Biology,1 the team first determined that the prey’s ability to cling to its leaf or stem is proportional to […]

Uncategorized

Evolutionary Anthropologists Seek to Study Christianity

October 2, 2006

According to a press release on EurekAlert, “Anthropologists have almost no track record of studying Christianity, a religion they have generally treated as not exotic enough to be of interest.” This omission needs to be rectified, says Joel Robbins (UC San Diego): “Anthropologists, who are specialists in the study of religion outside the West, ought […]

Birds

Was Archaeopteryx a Biplane?

September 22, 2006

A U of Calgary PhD student thinks Archaeopteryx flew on all fours. Nick Longrich thinks the early bird had feathers on its legs that gave it additional lift. The discovery of some Chinese fossil birds with feathers on the legs lends support to his interpretation, he says. “The idea of a multi-winged Archaeopteryx has been […]

Genetics

Voles Throw Evolutionary Genetics Into Disarray

September 16, 2006

What is it with voles? These little gopher-like furballs with beady eyes, short tails and tiny ears are giving evolutionary geneticists fits. A press release from Purdue University states, “Purdue University research has shown that the vole, a mouselike rodent, is not only the fastest evolving mammal, but also harbors a number of puzzling genetic […]

Genetics

Is the Fruit from Darwins Tree Edible?

September 8, 2006

Darwin’s “Tree of Life” fruit stand found an upbeat salesman in John Roach at National Geographic this week. In his update on the “Assembling the Tree of Life” (AToL) project, he reported cheerfully that “New cures, supercrops, and secrets of evolution may emerge from the fast-growing branches of the ‘Tree of Life,’ scientists say.” […]

Early Man

Chimp-Human Genes Evolved Much Faster Than Expected

August 22, 2006

It’s been all over the news lately – human DNA shows surprisingly divergent regions from chimpanzee counterparts. The Houston Chronicle, for instance, summarizes the find: Searching across the four genomes, the team looked for regions of DNA about 100 letters long that had made the biggest leaps. One, they found, had changed nearly twice as […]

All Posts by Date

[archives type="yearly" cat_id="2043"]