Clipmarks | JohnWaterman's Evolution/creationism collection

Faith and Belief: Richard Dawkins evolves his arguments

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 20:52:51 GMT

clipped by: JohnWaterman

Modest and professorial, Dawkins is mobbed, celebrity-style, no matter which audience he tells there is no God. As for Mother Nature, he adds, she doesn't care either -- natural selection is not a good-natured process, but one that favors mutant efforts to get ahead. The evidence for evolution, he concludes, is irrefutable; all living things evolved from a common ancestor, so grow up and stop whining. There is no master plan. We (our genes, that is) are on our own.

The God Delusion" became a cause célèbre

Prior to its publication, he assumed the fact of evolution, believing most readers were on board. In "The Greatest Show on Earth," he's more proactive, laying out the issue of evolution and natural selection with subheads like: "WHAT IS A THEORY? WHAT IS A FACT?" He writes of "softening up" his readers, as if kneading dough

By mid-book, however, Dawkins is his old scientist self, delighted by his subject, tossing off phrases such as: "What happened next is almost too wonderful to bear.

Prehistoric Mammal Hints at Ear's Evolution

Sat, 10 Oct 2009 00:34:22 GMT

clipped by: JohnWaterman

Clip Source: dsc.discovery.com

Oct. 8, 2009 -- Researchers digging in north eastern China say they have discovered the fossil of a previously unknown chipmunk-sized mammal that could help explain how human hearing evolved.

the 123-million-year-old creature

Clip Source: dsc.discovery.com

"What is most surprising, and thus scientifically interesting, is the animal's inner ear," said Zhe-Xi Luo, a curator at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh

The find could be the link that explains how the three bones of the mammalian middle ear became separated from the jaw hinge -- where the reptilian ear is found -- to form a complex and highly-performing hearing system.

The development of the ear is seen as key to understanding survival techniques that steered mammals, including human ancestors, through the dinosaur-infested mesozoic period around 250 to 66 million years ago.

But there are still doubts where the creature, Maotherim asiaticus, fits in the evolutionary chain

Evolution Fossils, Genes and Mousetraps 1-9

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 13:59:57 GMT

clipped by: cptenaud
clipper's remarks: Nine sections too look at. He is very easy to understand. And makes you think.

Something Americans find hard to do.

Clip Source: www.youtube.com

[Video]

Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) 2006

Lecture features Kenneth R. Miller, an Evolutionary Biology Professor at Brown University. Miller obtained his Ph.D in Biology from the University of Colorado in 1974, is a contributing author to a series of Pretince Hall Biology textbooks, and the author of the following books dealing with finding common ground and reconciling evolution and religion in today's society.

In this lecture Ken Miller discusses the controversy surrounding the teaching of evolution, presents compelling evidence for evolution and reasons why "intelligent design" is not scientific.

Finding Darwin's God -- Ken Miller

http://www.findingdarwinsgod.com/

Miller's Personal website

http://www.millerandlevine.com/km/

Tags: education

An atheist sings the praises of Creation

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 18:23:06 GMT

clipped by: JohnWaterman

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

The Charles Darwin biopic Creation contains one of the most robust defences of atheism and agnosticism ever to appear in a mainstream film

From the Book of Genesis to Haydn's great oratorio, the concept of "creation" is inextricably linked to the whole "built-world-in-six-days-then-
had-a-nap" shebang. For this and countless other reasons, John Collee's resplendent cinematic homage to Charles Darwin will doubtless ruffle the made-in-a-day feathers of evolution deniers around the world – if, as currently seems unlikely, it can find a US distributor.

Inevitably, Darwin's story has been narrativised, tightened and passed through a dullness filter to Hollywoodify it (no reference to his work The Formation of Vegetable Mould Through the Action of Worms here)

However, even Darwin pedants should see this as a timely, compelling and essential reminder of his brain-boggling contribution to our understanding of the world

one of the most robust defences of atheism and agnosticism ever

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

[Video]

Study catches 2 bird populations as they split into separate species

Sat, 25 Jul 2009 12:05:07 GMT

clipped by: JohnWaterman
clipper's remarks: So-called "macro-evolution" observed

Clip Source: www.geneticarchaeology.com

A new study finds that a change in a single gene has sent two closely related bird populations on their way to becoming two distinct species. The study, published in the August issue of the American Naturalist, is one of only a few to investigate the specific genetic changes that drive two populations toward speciation.

Speciation, the process by which different populations of the same species split into separate species, is central to evolution. But it's notoriously hard to observe in action

This study

captures two populations of monarch flycatcher birds just as they arrive at that evolutionary crossroads

When two populations stop exchanging genes-that is, stop mating with each other-then they can be considered distinct species

It would be all but impossible to try to catalog every occasion on which an all-black flycatcher mated with a chestnut-bellied. So Uy and his team used another test

If they don't see each other as rivals

mating between members of the two populations is rare

Same-sex relationships may play an important role in evolution

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 21:35:09 GMT

clipped by: JohnWaterman

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Almost a third of Laysan albatross couples are female-female pairs that build nests and rear young together. They are more reproductively successful than unpaired females. Photograph: Eric VanderWerf/Trends in Ecology & Evolution

Birds do it. Bees probably do it. No one's sure whether educated fleas do it. What they do is have same-sex relationships and, in a new review of published research on the subject, biologists have started to consider what it might mean for the evolution of the animals in question.

same-sex relationships were a universal phenomenon in the animal kingdom, seen in everything from worms

bonobos, dolphins, penguins and fruit flies

male bottlenose dolphins

engage in same-sex interactions to facilitate group bonding, or female Laysan albatross that can remain pair-bonded for life and cooperatively rear young

the relationships shape the course of evolution

same-sex behaviors might act as selective forces in and of themselves

Fossil Ida: extraordinary find is 'missing link' in human evolution

Tue, 19 May 2009 19:09:28 GMT

clipped by: JohnWaterman

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Scientists have discovered an exquisitely preserved ancient primate fossil that they believe forms a crucial "missing link" between our own evolutionary branch of life and the rest of the animal kingdom.

The 47m-year-old primate – named Ida – has been hailed as the fossil equivalent of a "Rosetta Stone" for understanding the critical early stages of primate evolution.

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

"This little creature is going to show us our connection with the rest of all the mammals; with cows and sheep, and elephants and anteaters," said Sir David Attenborough who is narrating a BBC documentary on the find. "The more you look at Ida, the more you can see, as it were, the primate in embryo."

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

"It is really delightful and exciting and appropriate that 150 years after Darwin first tentatively put forward the proposition that human beings were part of the rest of animal life, that here at last we have the link which connects us directly ... Darwin would have been thrilled."

Evolution is slowing snails down

Mon, 11 May 2009 19:04:18 GMT

clipped by: JohnWaterman

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Garden snails are evolving slower metabolisms.

Natural selection is favouring snails with reduced metabolic rates

Snails with lower metabolisms are at an advantage because they have more energy to spend on other activities such as growth or reproduction, the researchers say in the journal Evolution

Southern University of Chile

examined a long standing biological hypothesis known as the "energetic definition of fitness

"This predicts that animals that spend less energy will have more surplus for survival and reproduction," says Nespolo.

Few studies have tested the idea, and three done on rodents could not find any evidence it was true. "Ours is the fourth and the first to demonstrate significant directional selection on metabolism,

The researchers now plan to answer the ultimate question: is having a slow metabolism linked to moving slowly?

If it is, that means that snails are not only evolving to use energy more slowly, but are increasingly moving at an even lower snail's pace.

Puijila, the walking seal - a beautiful transitional fossil

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 19:27:17 GMT

clipped by: JohnWaterman

Clip Source: scienceblogs.com

Seals and sea-lions gracefully careen through today's oceans with the help of legs that have become wide, flat flippers. But it was not always this way. Seals evolved from carnivorous ancestors that walked on land with sturdy legs; only later did these evolve into the flippers that the family is known for. Now, a beautifully new fossil called Puijila illustrates just what such early steps in seal evolution looked like. With four legs and a long tail, it must have resembled a large otter but it was, in fact, a walking seal.

Puijila is a massive boon for biologists trying to understand the evolution of pinnipeds, the group that includes seals, sea lions and walruses. "Puijla is a transitional fossil," Rybczynski explains. "It gives us a glimpse of what the earliest stages of pinniped evolution looked like, before pinnipeds had flippers. And it suggests that in the land-to-sea transition, pinnipeds went through a freshwater phase."

How Darwin aped Da Vinci

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 21:12:18 GMT

clipped by: JohnWaterman
clipper's remarks: Charles Darwin shocked the world by declaring humans and apes related – an idea Leonardo da Vinci had 350 years earlier

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

At the time, the most controversial aspect of Darwin's intellectual revolution was the conclusion that we, too, have evolved from earlier species, and that our closest relatives are our fellow great apes. DNA evidence has since confirmed exactly how similar we are to chimpanzees. Centuries before Darwin, however, another genius anticipated his discovery.

Leonardo da Vinci held it to be self-evident that we are closely related to apes. He didn't even present it as a case to be argued.

In a plan for a book on anatomy, he proposes to discuss "Man. The description of man, which includes that of such creatures as are almost of the same species, as Apes, Monkeys and the like, which are many".

Leonardo says it again, in a note on internal anatomy: "Describe the various forms of the intestines of the human species (delle spetie umana), of apes and suchlike. Then, in what way the leonine species differ ... "

We revere Darwin

How much courage and genius

to ask those same questions

350 years earlier?

Treasure Islands: Darwin's Galapagos

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 18:35:10 GMT

clipped by: JohnWaterman

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Treasure islands

From the world's loneliest tortoise to bizarre sea lizards - meet the inhabitants of Darwin's Galapagos

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Tour around Darwin's Galapagos

Santa Cruz
Isabela
Floreana
Diary

The incredible biodiversity of the Galapagos Islands was key to shaping Charles Darwin's theory of evolution.

Two hundred years on from the birth of Darwin, BBC science correspondent David Shukman visits the archipelago.

Use the map below to move around three of the main islands. Click on the icons to see how the wildlife and landscape informed the scientist's great discoveries.

Related Darwin links from the BBC

Darwin season 2009

World class: Schools contact the Galapagos

BBC History: Charles Darwin

More on Darwin from around the web

Galapagos Conservation Trust

Charles Darwin Foundation

Galapagos Islands (WHC)

Darwin 200

Darwin Online

Male-killer overcome by fastest evolutionary change ever observed.

Tue, 10 Feb 2009 22:21:14 GMT

clipped by: JohnWaterman

Clip Source: scienceblogs.com

Butterflies evolve resistance to male-killing bacteria in record time

This is the third of eight posts on evolutionary research to celebrate Darwin's bicentennial.

In our world, there is (roughly) one man for every woman. Despite various social differences, our gender ratio remains steadfastly equal

Elsewhere in the nature, things are not quite so balanced

the blue moon butterfly (Hypolimnas bolina)

Emily Dyson and Greg Hurst were studying this stunningly beautiful insect on the Samoan islands of Savaii and Upolu when they noticed something strange - almost all the butterflies were females. In fact, the vastly outnumbered males only made up 1% of the population

The cause

an infection, an inherited bacterium called Wolbachia.

a strong candidate for the planet's most successful parasite

And it does not like males

by 2005

a formal survey confirmed the males' amazing comeback

fastest evolutionary change that has ever been observed

natural selection in action

evolutionary arms race.

The Beagle Diary: Episode 1

Mon, 09 Feb 2009 22:18:20 GMT

clipped by: JohnWaterman
clipper's remarks: Part of the BBC's season of programmes celebrating the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth.

Clip Source: www.bbc.co.uk

The Beagle Diary

9-13 February, 1.45pm Radio 7
Jo Stone-Fewings reads Charles Darwin's own account of his epic five-year voyage on board HMS Beagle at the age of 22.
Visit the programme page

Clip Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Part of the BBC's season of programmes celebrating the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth.

Clip Source: www.bbc.co.uk

The Beagle Diary

Episode 1 of 5 from:

Listen:

Listen (Duration: 15 mins)

Availability:

7 days left to listen

Last broadcast 09 Feb 2009, 13:45 on BBC Radio 7.

In this series:

Previous:: You're at the first episode.

Next:: Episode 2

Additional details:

Duration:: 15 mins

Fossil foetus shows that early whales gave birth on land

Wed, 04 Feb 2009 18:29:04 GMT

clipped by: JohnWaterman

Clip Source: scienceblogs.com

Nine years ago, a team of fossil-hunters led by Philip Gingerich from the University of Michigan uncovered something amazing - the petrified remains of an ancient whale, but one unlike any that had been found before. Within the creature's abdomen lay a collection of similar but much smaller bones. They were the fossilised remains of a foetal whale, perfectly preserved within the belly of its mother. Gingerich says, "This is the 'Lucy' of whale evolution."

an unparalleled glimpse at the lifestyle of an ancient whale before the group had made the permanent transition to the seas. How it gave birth, where it lived, how it competed for mates - all these aspects of its life are revealed by these beautiful new finds

head-first delivery means that Maiacetus gave birth as a landlubber.

Whales

evolution has been beautifully charted by a series of "transitional fossils" documenting the change in their bodies over massive gulfs of time

evolved from deer-like ancestors,

David Attenborough's hellish mail.

Mon, 26 Jan 2009 19:39:48 GMT

clipped by: JohnWaterman

Clip Source: image.guardian.co.uk

Clip Source: blog.newhumanist.org.uk

Okay, so we wouldn't expect creationists to see eye to eye with the great David Attenborough, but surely it's a bit harsh to send him letters telling him he's going to burn in hell? But that's what happens

Clip Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Clip Source: blog.newhumanist.org.uk

creationists get a bit upset when he doesn't "credit" god for the natural wonders featured in his programmes

Clip Source: www.google.com

Sir David continued: "They always mean beautiful things like hummingbirds.

"I always reply by saying that I think of a little child in East Africa with a worm burrowing through his eyeball. The worm cannot live in any other way, except by burrowing through eyeballs.

"I find that hard to reconcile with the notion of a divine and benevolent creator."

Clip Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Clip Source: www.youtube.com

[Video]

Clip Source: blog.newhumanist.org.uk

Clip Source: www.google.com

Clip Source: www.youtube.com

71 videos

planet earth

Added

2:06

Planet Earth - The Greatest Documentary Ever Made