Evolution

Gradual Evolution Not Supported By Geological History, Says Geologist

Gradual evolution is not supported by geological history, writes New York University geologist Michael Rampino, who prefers the hypothesis that long periods of evolutionary stability were disrupted by catastrophic mass extinctions of life.  Not surprisingl ...

Article - News Staff - Nov 9 2010 - 1:37pm

Genes And Behaviours

Michael White made a comment in response to a poorly explained point I made about behaviours in the original version of Twelve Misunderstandings of Evolution, but in his haste to present his own take on the issue he added this: “The reason tigers hunt alon ...

Article - Steve Davis - Nov 10 2010 - 2:19pm

Encoding Life's Complexity

Will Wright’s  demo of Spore  illustrates some key concepts of complex systems, including the notion of simple rules generating complex behaviors, and also the power of recursively applied (i.e. fractal) computation at different   levels.  Living systems ...

Blog Post - Rafe Furst - Nov 19 2010 - 10:19am

Complex Tools Required Complex Brains

Progressing from crude stone tools to elegant hand axes was a technological leap, but that required the slow, complex process of evolution, says a new study that seeks to explain why it took  almost two million years to move from razor-sharp stones to a ha ...

Article - News Staff - Nov 20 2010 - 10:44am

Why Evolution Is Misunderstood

In reviewing this article, I couldn't help but notice the problems in how this information was reported, so that it became quite apparent why the general public perpetually misunderstands or misinterprets evolution. "Our results demonstrate, for ...

Article - Gerhard Adam - Nov 30 2010 - 1:12am

Why Female Promiscuity Makes Sense – And Yeah Even Swans And Penguins Do It

Contrary to what many of us would predict most female animals are not monogamous. Not even swans or penguins, those (supposedly) hallmarks of monogamy. Also surprising is the evidence that in most cases the female deliberately looks for the multiple sexual ...

Article - Catarina Amorim - Dec 7 2010 - 10:14am

Who Are The Ancestors Of Modern Squid?

Some people might suggest the nautilus as the ancestor of modern squid, since they're the only "ancient-looking" cephalopods most of us have seen. But the lineage that led to modern nautiluses and the lineage that led to modern squid diverge ...

Article - Danna Staaf - Dec 5 2010 - 6:45pm

Empathy: evolution's latest trend?

Our body is a constant reminder of the fact that we share our origins with many other species, as Neil Shubin describes it so well in his book “Your inner fish”. The basic plan for members has remained the same in all existing species and this ever since a ...

Blog Post - Emmanuelle Savigny - Dec 5 2010 - 4:27pm

Whittaker's Five Kingdom Classification

What is the basis of distinction in each of the four steps? This is the five kingdom classification given by scientist Whittaker (1969).This scheme was based on- Structure of Cells- {prokaryotic or eukaryotic} Structure of Organism- {unicellular or Multice ...

Blog Post - Rozi Aisha Vijayan - Dec 10 2010 - 9:59am

Hypoxia Explained- And Why It Mattered In The Evolution Of Animal Life

Researchers say they have uncovered a clue that may help to explain why the earliest evidence of complex multicellular animal life appears around 550 million years ago, after atmospheric oxygen levels on Earth dramatically rose, from 3% to the modern day l ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 19 2010 - 11:41am