MetaFilter posts tagged with evolution Posts tagged with 'evolution' at MetaFilter. Wed, 17 Dec 2014 14:49:10 -0800 Wed, 17 Dec 2014 14:49:10 -0800 en-us 60 Behind the scenes at the Kew Royal Botanic Gardens Are you interested in plants? The Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew aren’t just a tourist attraction -- they also run one of the world's leading botanical research institutes. To show off how important and fascinating modern plant science can be, they've commissioned a <a href="">series of snazzy short videos</a> to showcase their work. Start with the award-winning <a href="">Forgotten Home of Coffee (6:00)</a> (based on<a href=""> this worrying Kew study from 2012</a>), then come back for the rest. 1. <a href="">Beyond the Gardens - The Future of Taxonomy (7:23)</a> <blockquote>Taxonomy unlocks our knowledge of the living world, but it has to change to keep pace with technology and the demands of society.</blockquote> ***************************************************** 2. <a href="">Beyond the Gardens: The Plant Family Tree (9:09)</a> <blockquote>The Herbarium at Kew is a vast Victorian maze filled with arcane books, learned scientists and cabinet after cabinet of dried catalogued plants. Tracing 160 years, Mark Chase, Head of the Jodrell Laboratory at Kew, reveals how the Herbarium has evolved from a modest collection of dried plant specimens, to a hub of ground-breaking scientific discovery that has shaped our understanding of the plant family tree forever. </blockquote> 3. <a href="">The Plant Family Tree - Gwilym Lewis on plant relationships (3:33)</a> <blockquote>Behind the scenes, Kew houses over 7 million plant collections representing the different growing stages and geographical range of the world's 250,000 known flowering plants. Gwilym Lewis, Head of Legumes at Kew, talks about the biggest buzz of his life, his passion for taxonomy and the importance of plant relationships in our every day lives.</blockquote> 4. <a href="">The Plant Family Tree - Felix Forest on plant evolution (2:23)</a> <blockquote>Over millions of years, a few plant species at the bottom of the plant family tree have evolved and multiplied into thousands of new species. Each new plant is of a different shape, texture, colour and size, and can sometimes be entirely unrecognisable from its ancestor. Felix Forest, Head of Molecular Systematics at Kew, talks about the humongous task his team has undertaken to understand why and how plants have evolved over millions of years, and what triggers their evolution.</blockquote> 5. <a href="">The Plant Family Tree - Ruth Clark on all life on Earth (2:34)</a> <blockquote>Without plants, no other life on the Earth can survive. Animals, birds, insects and humans all rely on plants to live. Ruth Clark, Legumes Assistant at Kew, explains the vital role plant taxonomists play in understanding and protecting plant life around the world and the habitats we rely on, and why plants are the key to safeguarding our future.</blockquote> 6. <a href="">The Plant Family Tree - Mark Chase on plant DNA (4:00)</a> <blockquote>If too many plant species become extinct, habitats around the world will collapse and be unable to deliver the vital ecological services needed to support life, such as modifying the climate and providing clean water and cool air. Mark Chase, Head of the Jodrell Laboratory at Kew, talks about why plant names matter to science and how DNA technology is enabling scientists at Kew and around the world to answer new questions about the relationship between plants and our changing climate.</blockquote> ***************************************************** 7. <a href="">Beyond the Gardens: The Crop Wild Relatives Project (7:13)</a> <blockquote>80% of our calorie intake comes from just twelve plant species, 50% of our calories come from just the three big grasses; wheat, maize and rice. What would happen were we to lose one of these crops? This video discusses why wild crop relatives are so important for our future food security, and how Kew and the Millennium Seed Bank are helping to safeguard them. You can read more about this work on <a href="">the Kew website</a>.</blockquote> ***************************************************** 8. <a href="">Beyond the Gardens: The Forgotten Home of Coffee (6:00)</a> <blockquote>Coffee is one of the world's favourite drinks, one of the most important commercial crop-plants, and the second most valuable international commodity; Arabica coffee is considered to produce the finest coffee beans. A study conducted by scientists at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in collaboration with scientists in Ethiopia, reports that climate change alone could lead to the extinction of wild Arabica coffee (Coffea arabica) well before the end of this century.</blockquote> ***************************************************** 9. <a href="">Beyond the Gardens: The Fungarium at Kew Gardens (5:35)</a> <blockquote>The largest organism in the world is a mushroom that is over 1,000 years old, covering hundreds of acres in a forest in Oregon USA. All plants on Earth relay on fungi to live, and fungi out number plants six to one. Kew has the largest collection of dried fungi in the world, around 1.25 million specimens.</blockquote> ***************************************************** 10. <a href="">Beyond the Gardens: Millennium Seed Bank Partnership (5:17)</a> <blockquote>Discover more about the importance of plants to our lives and how the Millennium Seed Bank Partnership is helping to save wild plants and habitats for our future. Over the last ten years we have successfully banked 10% of the world's plant diversity. Seeds from deserts, to mountains, of all different shapes and sizes. <a href="">Find out more</a>.</blockquote> ***************************************************** (via the awesome <a href="">@KewGIS</a> twitter feed, itself via this mildly polemic essay: <a href="">The Horticulture of Happiness</a>).,2014:site.145421 Wed, 17 Dec 2014 14:49:10 -0800 rollick I don't believe in evolution I believe in Jibbers Crabst <a href=";">I don't believe in evolution I believe in Jibbers Crabst.</a> Matt Inman gives the keynote address for BAHFest (<a href="">previously</a>) West, and explains why Darwin is wrong and why we are all the creation of a fire breathing lobster.,2014:site.145097 Fri, 05 Dec 2014 15:26:53 -0800 ilama Drugs, stolen credit cards, and lots of free pizza The weird, disturbing, and hilarious things for sale on the Internet's largest black market. Evolution: <a href="">The not-so-secret place on the Web that sells drugs, uranium and a guide to texting girls</a>,2014:site.144795 Mon, 24 Nov 2014 08:51:16 -0800 gemmy I also check my skeletons twice. You can never be too careful. <blockquote>I waited silently for her to explain that the female pelvis is shaped slightly differently from the male’s, with a larger opening for childbearing. That part was the giveaway. The real purpose of the exercise was to make her prove her conjecture with measurements--to translate the theory to practice. I also wanted her to explain why this sexual dimorphism--that is, this sexually determined physical difference--is not nearly so pronounced in nonhuman primates, such as chimpanzees.<br> <br> She spoke: Males have one fewer pair of ribs than females. </blockquote> When teacher Robert S. Root-Bernstein got this answer to his question on how you should distinguish between male and female skeletons, he had to find a way to <a href="">make her realise her error without disparaging her religion</a>.,2014:site.143752 Mon, 20 Oct 2014 03:12:52 -0800 MartinWisse All in the Family <a href="">The World Religions Tree</a> While not <a href="">complete</a> <a href="">by any means</a>, this dense infographic commissioned by the nonprofit organization <a href="">The 40 Foundation</a> offers a broad view of the world's largest religious lineages. A full-resolution image (suitable for printing your own poster) is <a href="">available upon request</a>.,2014:site.143571 Mon, 13 Oct 2014 13:50:02 -0800 overeducated_alligator Chicken or egg? There was no moment when a dinosaur became a bird. A team of researchers, including University of Edinburgh paleontologist Stephen Brusatte and Swarthmore College Associate Professor of Statistics Steve C. Wang, cataloging 853 skeletal characteristics in 150 dinosaurs and analyzing the rate at which these characters change, and they found that "<a href="">there was no grand jump between nonbirds and birds in morphospace.</a>" In other words, birds didn't suddenly come into existence, but evolved, bit by bit, or characteristic by characteristic. But when birds were finally a thing, they went crazy. "<a href="">Once it came together fully, it unlocked great evolutionary potential that allowed birds to evolve at a super-charged rate.</a>",2014:site.143179 Mon, 29 Sep 2014 14:41:16 -0800 filthy light thief The twisted world of sexual organs <a href="">"’s a world so full of carnal conflicts of interest</a> and deception that only now are biologists getting to grips with all of its ins and outs, including an understanding of why human sex may be about pleasure rather than pain."[via BBC] Article contains link to this interesting article (only the abstract is available but it will do): <a href="">Human sperm competition: ejaculate manipulation by females and a function for the female orgasm</a>,2014:site.142869 Thu, 18 Sep 2014 09:56:10 -0800 marienbad Festival of Bad Ad Hoc Hypotheses, bolstered with math and graphs The 2014 Festival of Bad Ad Hoc Hypotheses, or <a href="">BAHFest</a>, is a month away. If you're not sure what is in store, you can watch <a href="">the entire festival</a> (1 hr 32 min), or jump to the winning presentation: <a href="">Tomer Ullman: The Crying Game</a> (<a href="">Q&amp;A</a>), or why babies are so annoying and the competitive advantage crying babies likely gave to warriors from times past. "I don't want to get too much into the technical details, so let's not." The other presentations from 2013: <ul><li><a href="">Cori McLean: Tasty Chicken</a>, why everything tastes like chicken (<a href="">Q&amp;A</a>)</li> <li><a href="">Jordan Smith: Super Humans</a>, an evolutionary hypothesis on why neanderthals are not around today (<a href="">Q&amp;A</a>)</li> <li><a href="">Dr. Edward Chung: Geographic Expression of Evolutionary Knack Relative to Understanding Lyme Endemicity (GEEK RULE)</a> (<a href="">Q&amp;A</a>)</li> <li><a href="">Stacy Farina: Fish are Dumb</a>, for an evolutionary benefit (<a href="">previously</a>) (<a href="">Q&amp;A</a>)</li> <li><a href="">Dr. Justin Werfel: Body Size</a>, a fundamental new principal of animal sizes being relative to the body of land or water in which they inhabit (<a href="">Q&amp;A</a>)</li></ul> If you're up on webcomics, you might already know that <a href="">Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal</a> inspired this event.,2014:site.142774 Mon, 15 Sep 2014 20:27:25 -0800 filthy light thief If we're not in pain, we're not alive <blockquote>You invest so much in it, don't you? It's what elevates you above the beasts of the field, it's what makes you <em>special</em>. Homo <em>sapiens</em>, you call yourself. Wise Man. Do you even know what it <em>is</em>, this consciousness you cite in your own exaltation? Do you even know what it's <em>for?</em></blockquote> <a href="">Dr. Peter Watts</a> is no stranger to MetaFilter. But look past his <a href="">sardonic nuptials</a>, <a href="">heartbreaking</a> <a href="">eulogies</a>, and agonizing run-ins with <a href="">fascists</a> (and <a href="">fasciitis</a>) and you'll find one of the most brilliant, compelling, and <em><a href="">disquieting</a></em> science fiction authors at work today. A marine biologist skilled at deep background research, his <a href="">acclaimed</a> 2006 novel <em><a href="">Blindsight</a></em> <small>[<a href="">full text</a>]</small> -- a cerebral "first contact" tale led by a diverse crew of bleeding-edge post-humans -- is diamond-hard and deeply horrifying, wringing profound existential dread from such abstruse concepts as the <a href="">Chinese Room</a>, the <a href="">Philosophical Zombie</a>, <a href="">Chernoff faces</a>, and <a href="">the myriad quirks and blind spots</a> that haunt the human mind. But <i>Blindsight</i>'s last, shattering insight is not the end of the story -- along with <a href="">crew</a>/<a href="">ship</a>/<a href="">"Firefall" notes</a>, <a href="">a blackly funny in-universe lecture on resurrecting sociopathic vampirism</a> (<a href="">PDF</a> - <a href="">prev.</a>), and a rigorously-cited (and spoiler-laden) <a href="">reference section</a>, tomorrow will see the release of <i><s>Dumbspeech</s> <s>State of Grace</s> <a href="">Echopraxia</a></i> <small>[<a href="">website</a>]</small>, the <a href="">long-delayed</a> "sidequel" depicting parallel events on Earth. Want more? Look inside for a guide to the rest of Watts' award-winning (and provocative) body of work. <strong>[Note:</strong> Watts has made most of his work freely available in multiple formats <a href="">on his website's Backlist page</a>. His blog, <a href="">The Crawl</a>, has current info.] Apart from <i>Blindsight</i>, Watts' best-known work is <a href="">the "Rifters" trilogy</a>, a grim epic about various bio-engineered anti-heroes struggling against <a href="">lethal computer viruses</a> and <a href="">an ancient microbe</a> that threatens to destroy <a href="">a rapidly deteriorating world</a>. Originally inspired by the short story <a href="">"Home"</a> <small>[PDF]</small>, the completed trilogy is available in three free installments: <ul><li><i><a href="">Starfish</a></i> (1999)</li> <li><i><a href="">Maelstrom</a></i> (2001)</li> <li><i><a href="">Behemoth</a></i> (2004)</li></ul> MeFites may also be familiar with some of his more successful short fiction, including: <ul><li><a href="">"The Island"</a> <small>[PDF]</small> (<a href="">previously</a>) - A Hugo-winning 2009 novelette about the jaded human architects of cosmic gateways and their hopeful encounter with a vast and exotic intelligence. Also available as <a href="">an audio podcast</a> <small>[<a href="">.mp3</a>]</small> (@0:49:44).</li> <li><a href="">"The Things"</a> (<a href="">previously</a>) - A brilliant 2010 reinterpretation of John Carpenter's cult horror classic <i>The Thing</i> as told from the perspective of the film's shapeshifting alien. Likewise available <a href="">as a full .mp3</a>.</li> <li><a href="">"Nimbus"</a> <small>[PDF]</small> - (1994) A father tries to reconnect with his daughter in a world where the very atmosphere has become a sentient force bent on destroying humanity. <a href="">Available as a full .mp3</a> (@0:31:42)</li> <li><a href="">"Malak"</a> [pdf] - The ethics of remote warfare are explored through a smart drone that develops its own agenda. <a href="">Available as a full .mp3</a> (@0:35:12)</li></ul> Other stories to dive into <strong>(all PDFs)</strong>: <blockquote><a href="">"Ambassador"</a> - <a href="">"Bethlehem"</a> - <a href="">"A Niche"</a> - <a href="">"Flesh Made Word"</a> - <a href="">"Bulk Food"</a> - <a href="">"Fractals"</a> - <a href="">"The Second Coming of Jasmine Fitzgerald"</a> - <a href="">"A Word for Heathens"</a> - <a href="">"Mayfly"</a> - <a href="">"Repeating the Past"</a> - <a href="">"Hillcrest V. Velikovsky"</a></blockquote> You can also pick up one of his collections if you want several of his stories in one place: <em><a href="">Ten Monkeys, Ten Minutes</a></em>, <i><a href="">The Island and Other Stories</a></i>, and <em><a href="">Beyond the Rift</a></em>. You can also donate to his <a href="">Niblet Memorial Kibble Fund</a> to support his work (and cats). Beyond novels and stories, his non-fiction forays (including several lectures) are equally worthwhile: <ul><li><a href="">"The Scorched-Earth Society: A Suicide Bomber's Guide to Online Privacy"</a> <small>[<a href="">PDF</a>]</small> - (<a href="">previously</a>) a recent keynote lecture on privacy in the digital age</li> <li><a href="">"Reality: The Ultimate Mythology"</a>, a lecture to the 2011 Toronto SpecFic Colloquium on flaws in human perception</li> <li><a href="">"God, Jackboots, and Rule 34 -or- How Pornography Could Save the World"</a>, another Colloquium talk</li> <li><a href="">"Iterating Towards Bethlehem"</a> - How a raisin-sized jumping spider with only 600,000 neurons solves complex problems -- and suggests a whole new approach to cognition</li> <li><a href="">"The Hierarchy of Contempt"</a> <small>[PDF]</small>, a response to Margaret Atwood's rejection of the "science fiction" label. <li><a href="">"Choosing the Way of Pain"</a> <small>[PDF]</small>, a conversation about Tolkien's <i>Lord of the Rings</i></li> <li><a href="">"The Inspirational Undead"</a> (<a href="">previously</a>) - The short, sad tale of a strikingly injured pigeon.</li></li></ul> Can't wait for <i>Echopraxia</i>? Here are some "fiblets" from the book, as collected in <a href="">this post</a>. <ul><li><a href="">Since There Still Seems to be Some Confusion Over the Title...</a></li> <li><a href="">"This insane Ferris wheel stretched a hundred meters from side to side..."</a></li> <li><a href="">A Bit of a Twilight Vibe</a></li> <li><a href="">Break Fast</a></li> <li><a href="">Bright Eyes</a></li> <li><a href="">Worst Date Ever</a></li></ul> See also <a href="">"The Colonel,"</a> a free tie-in story hosted on Tor. <a href="">The newly-redesigned Watts website</a> features a number of background material teasers, as well: <blockquote><a href="">Hive Minds</a> - <a href="">The Theseus Mission</a> - <a href="">Military Zombies</a> - <a href="">The Crown of Thorns</a> - <a href="">The Bicameral Threat</a></blockquote> <strong>Bonus:</strong> <a href=""><i>Blindsight</i> artwork</a>, including <a href="">downloadable dust jackets!</a> Also, don't forget that <a href="">Watts will be doing a Reddit AMA at 7PM EST on August 26th!</a> You can check <a href="">his user page</a> for responses if you happen to miss it.,2014:site.142209 Mon, 25 Aug 2014 11:17:22 -0800 Rhaomi Our Microbiome May Be Looking Out for Itself Your body is home to about 100 trillion bacteria and other microbes, collectively known as your microbiome. <a href=",+nevertheless+when+I+view+them+in+a+Magnifying+glass,+I+find+growing+between+them+a+little+white+matter+as+thick+as+wetted+flower&pg=PA676%23v%3Donepage&q=&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false">Naturalists first became aware of our invisible lodgers in the 1600s</a>, but it wasn’t until the past few years that we’ve become really familiar with them. This recent research has given the microbiome <a href="">a cuddly kind of fame.</a> We’ve come to appreciate how beneficial our microbes are — breaking down our food, fighting off infections and nurturing our immune system. It’s a lovely, invisible garden we should be tending for our own well-being. <a href="">But in the journal Bioessays, a team of scientists has raised a creepier possibility.</a> Perhaps our menagerie of germs is also influencing our behavior in order to advance its own evolutionary success — giving us cravings for certain foods, for example.<blockquote><a href="">Maybe the microbiome is our puppet master.</a></blockquote></a> <blockquote><a href="">Is eating behavior manipulated by the gastrointestinal microbiota? Evolutionary pressures and potential mechanisms</a> BioEssays Microbes in the gastrointestinal tract are under selective pressure to manipulate host eating behavior to increase their fitness, sometimes at the expense of host fitness. Microbes may do this through two potential strategies: (i) generating cravings for foods that they specialize on or foods that suppress their competitors, or (ii) inducing dysphoria until we eat foods that enhance their fitness. We review several potential mechanisms for microbial control over eating behavior including microbial influence on reward and satiety pathways, production of toxins that alter mood, changes to receptors including taste receptors, and hijacking of the vagus nerve, the neural axis between the gut and the brain. We also review the evidence for alternative explanations for cravings and unhealthy eating behavior. Because microbiota are easily manipulatable by prebiotics, probiotics, antibiotics, fecal transplants, and dietary changes, altering our microbiota offers a tractable approach to otherwise intractable problems of obesity and unhealthy eating. <a href="">Microbial genes, brain &amp; behaviour – epigenetic regulation of the gut–brain axis</a> Genes, Brain and Behavior To date, there is rapidly increasing evidence for host–microbe interaction at virtually all levels of complexity, ranging from direct cell-to-cell communication to extensive systemic signalling, and involving various organs and organ systems, including the central nervous system. As such, the discovery that differential microbial composition is associated with alterations in behaviour and cognition has significantly contributed to establishing the microbiota–gut–brain axis as an extension of the well-accepted gut–brain axis concept. Many efforts have been focused on delineating a role for this axis in health and disease, ranging from stress-related disorders such as depression, anxiety and irritable bowel syndrome to neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism. There is also a growing appreciation of the role of epigenetic mechanisms in shaping brain and behaviour. However, the role of epigenetics in informing host–microbe interactions has received little attention to date. This is despite the fact that there are many plausible routes of interaction between epigenetic mechanisms and the host-microbiota dialogue. From this new perspective we put forward novel, yet testable, hypotheses. Firstly, we suggest that gut-microbial products can affect chromatin plasticity within their host's brain that in turn leads to changes in neuronal transcription and eventually alters host behaviour. Secondly, we argue that the microbiota is an important mediator of gene-environment interactions. Finally, we reason that the microbiota itself may be viewed as an epigenetic entity. In conclusion, the fields of (neuro)epigenetics and microbiology are converging at many levels and more interdisciplinary studies are necessary to unravel the full range of this interaction. <a href="">Ingestion of Lactobacillus strain regulates emotional behavior and central GABA receptor expression in a mouse via the vagus nerve</a> PNAS There is increasing, but largely indirect, evidence pointing to an effect of commensal gut microbiota on the central nervous system (CNS). However, it is unknown whether lactic acid bacteria such as Lactobacillus rhamnosus could have a direct effect on neurotransmitter receptors in the CNS in normal, healthy animals. GABA is the main CNS inhibitory neurotransmitter and is significantly involved in regulating many physiological and psychological processes. Alterations in central GABA receptor expression are implicated in the pathogenesis of anxiety and depression, which are highly comorbid with functional bowel disorders. In this work, we show that chronic treatment with L. rhamnosus (JB-1) induced region-dependent alterations in GABAB1b mRNA in the brain with increases in cortical regions (cingulate and prelimbic) and concomitant reductions in expression in the hippocampus, amygdala, and locus coeruleus, in comparison with control-fed mice. In addition, L. rhamnosus (JB-1) reduced GABAAα2 mRNA expression in the prefrontal cortex and amygdala, but increased GABAAα2 in the hippocampus. Importantly, L. rhamnosus (JB-1) reduced stress-induced corticosterone and anxiety- and depression-related behavior. Moreover, the neurochemical and behavioral effects were not found in vagotomized mice, identifying the vagus as a major modulatory constitutive communication pathway between the bacteria exposed to the gut and the brain. Together, these findings highlight the important role of bacteria in the bidirectional communication of the gut–brain axis and suggest that certain organisms may prove to be useful therapeutic adjuncts in stress-related disorders such as anxiety and depression. <a href="">The adoptive transfer of behavioral phenotype via the intestinal microbiota: experimental evidence and clinical implications</a> Current Opinion in Microbiology Intestinal commensal bacteria or their products may be used to treat CNS disorders. There is growing interest in the ability of the intestinal microbiome to influence host function within and beyond the gastrointestinal tract. Here we review evidence of microbiome–brain interactions in mice and focus on the ability to transfer behavioral traits between mouse strains using fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT). Transplantation alters brain chemistry and behavior in recipient ex-germ free mice, raising the possibility of using FMT for disorders of the central nervous system, and prompting caution in the selection of FMT donors for conditions that may include refractory Clostridium difficile infection, diabetes and inflammatory bowel disease in humans. <blockquote>•Behavioral phenotype can be transferred via the intestinal microbiota in mice. •Changes in behavior in recipient mice are accompanied by changes in brain chemistry. •Investigation of the intestinal microbiome in central nervous system (CNS) disorders is warranted. •Donor screening for fecal transplants should exclude CNS and psychiatric illness.</blockquote></blockquote>The <a href="">potential for Microbial Psychiatry previously</a>,2014:site.142008 Mon, 18 Aug 2014 04:48:24 -0800 Blasdelb Homosexuality Is For The Birds <a href="">Koryos</a>, who <a href="">previously explained how cats got domesticated</a> using tumblr, <a href="">now explains why homosexual pair-bonding can be a successful reproductive stratagem</a>. Also, <a href="">Coot Parenting Tips</a>, <a href="">Queen Cowbird Of The Brood Parasites</a> , <a href="">There's No Such Thing As An Alpha Wolf</a>, and <a href="">Can Animals Have Pets? </a>,2014:site.141974 Sat, 16 Aug 2014 09:16:02 -0800 The Whelk Replaying the Tape <a href="">Carl Zimmer writes for Quanta: The New Science Of Evolutionary Forecasting</a> <a href="">Can We Predict Evolution?</a> <a href="">Diverse Introspectives: A conversation with Lauren Buckley</a> <blockquote><b>What do you think are the most important questions in ecology today?</b> Predicting species responses to climate change is an overarching question, because we need to get so many of the underlying ecological and evolutionary details right to make accurate predictions. In particular, important and exciting work is emerging addressing how species interactions might modify responses to climate change.</blockquote> <a href="">Langerhans, RB</a>: <a href="">Predicting evolution with generalized models of divergent selection: a case study with poeciliid fish.</a> [<a href="">PDF</a>] <blockquote>The fact that such a simple model could yield accurate evolutionary predictions in distantly related fishes inhabiting different geographic regions and types of habitat, and experiencing different predator species, suggests that the model pinpointed a causal factor underlying major, shared patterns of diversification. The GMDS [generalized model of divergent selection] approach appears to represent a promising method of addressing the predictability of evolution and identifying environmental factors responsible for driving major patterns of replicated evolution.</blockquote> <a href="">Is Evolution Predictable?</a>: <a href="">Predicting evolution from the shape of genealogical trees</a> <blockquote>Given a sample of genome sequences from an asexual population, can one predict its evolutionary future? Here we demonstrate that the branching pattern of reconstructed genealogical trees contains information about the relative fitness of the sampled sequences and that this information can be used to infer the closest extant relative of future populations. Our approach is based on the assumption that evolution proceeds predominantly by accumulation of small effect mutations and does not require any species specific input. Hence, the resulting inference algorithm can be applied to any asexual population under persistent selection pressure. We demonstrate its performance using historical data on seasonal influenza A/H3N2 virus. We predict the progenitor lineage of the upcoming influenza season with near optimal performance in 30% of cases and makes informative predictions in 16 out of 18 years. Beyond providing a practical tool for prediction, our results suggest that continuous adaptation by small effect mutations is a major component of influenza virus evolution. </blockquote> "Evolutionary forecasting" is also being used to predict <a href="">drug</a> <a href="">resistance</a> and <a href="">flu</a> <a href="">strains</a>. <a href="">The evolutionary time machine: using dormant propagules to forecast how populations can adapt to changing environments</a> <a href="">Real-Time Forecasting of Near-Future Evolution</a> <a href="">Evolution myths: Evolution is not predictive</a>,2014:site.141200 Tue, 22 Jul 2014 11:14:07 -0800 the man of twists and turns OK: Now explain midichlorians. With growing fascination for the large land vertebratomorphs that are so startlingly diverse on Tatooine, I secured Imperial funding for an expedition to Tatooine, to survey the exotic megafauna and search for fossils of Tyrannodraconis that might further illuminate their evolution.<a href=""> My ensuing report</a> summarizes my trilogy of investigations and discoveries from this “holiday in the suns." ----- After years of seismic ultrasound and magnetic macroimaging, my team was able to decipher the gross anatomy of the Carkoon sarlacc, albeit from a safe distance.<a href=""> I present it for the first time here, accompanied with archival droid imagery obtained from the Rebel War archives</a>. ----- The heat was forceful. We had docked the ship not long after sunsrise, and the temperature was already hovering near 40 degrees. By double noon, an additional 10 degrees could be counted on. <a href="">It was a dehydrating heat. The humidity of the air here is said to average 5.4%, with little variance about that value.</a> In my homeland, humidity can reach 100%, as gentle showers nourish the land beneath. ----- Predators play an important role in structuring ecosystems, with predator population declines being linked to a variety of negative ecological effects. <a href="">Here, we present evidence that the planet Tatooine, famous throughout the Galaxy for being a desert planet, experienced desertification as a result of unintended changes in herbivore populations caused by the intentional large-scale killing of apex predators by offworld colonists.</a> Fossil evidence and interviews showing traditional ecological knowledge suggest that once-abundant Krayt dragons were hunted to near extinction by early human colonists. As a result of the decline in predation, populations of large herbivorous banthas populations grew out of control and overgrazed the plants once found throughout Tatooine. ----- <a href="">The Working Group contribution to the TIPCC’s First Assessment Report (AR1) considers cumulative evidence of climate change based on many independent scientific analyses from observations of the climate system, paleoclimate archives, theoretical studies of climate processes and simulations using climate models</a>. It represents a first concerted attempt to address the possible long term effects on the Tatooine geological and biodiversity systems, particularly as it pertains to the current unregulated practice of water mining. ----- On Earth, we see Namibian desert beetles that harvest water from the fog that rolls in off the Atlantic Ocean, allowing droplets of water to condense on their forewings and flow into their mouths. <a href="">Why couldn’t the massive, rideable Tatooinian lizards known as “dewbacks” do something similar?</a> ----- On Tatooine, there are krayt dragon, rancor, sarlaccs, dewbacks, banthas, among other animals. Our understanding of life requires water.<a href=""> On a planet with less than 10 inches of sporadic rainfall annually, how do such big animals get their water</a>? ----- Science writing aims to convey ideas, engaging and educating readers on topics from biology to astronomy. Because science writing is focused on real efforts to understand the real universe, <a href="">you might reasonably ask why a collection of science writers have chosen to spend time and creative energy writing about imaginary animals from a planet that does not exist</a>... The short answer is that in science writing, as with all writing, it’s easier to capture an audience’s attention if you have a good story to tell.,2014:site.141190 Tue, 22 Jul 2014 08:48:13 -0800 ChuraChura "Transmogrification event caused by incorporation of alien bacteria!!!" <a href="">Alien viruses from outer space and the great Archaeopteryx forgery</a> <blockquote>"During the 1980s astronomer <a href="">Sir Fred Hoyle</a> proposed (with his colleagues Chandra Wickramasinghe, Lee Spetner and R. S. Watkins) that the London Archaeopteryx specimen was a forgery, made by pressing chicken feathers into plaster laid about the skeleton of the small predatory dinosaur Compsognathus."</blockquote> Further reading: <ul> <li><a href="">On Archaeopteryx, Astronomers, and Forgery</a></li> <li><a href="">Archaeopteryx - is this bird a fraud?</a></li> </ul>,2014:site.141167 Mon, 21 Jul 2014 15:43:13 -0800 brundlefly the three-day workweek <a href="">Carlos Slim calls for a three-day working week</a> "We've got it all wrong, says Carlos Slim, the Mexican telecoms tycoon and world's second-richest man: we should be working only three days a week." <a href="">also btw</a>: <a href="">The four-day work week</a> (<a href="">previously</a>),2014:site.141151 Mon, 21 Jul 2014 05:32:09 -0800 kliuless Evolution is wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey stuff. <a href="">Understanding creationism:</a> An insider’s guide by a former young-Earth creationist <blockquote>"In this short series, <a href="">David MacMillan</a> explains how misinformation and misconceptions allow creationists to maintain their beliefs even in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary. A former creationist blogger and writer, Mr. MacMillan earned his BS degree in physics from the University of North Alabama and now works as a technical writer when he isn’&#0153;t frequenting the PT comment boards. Since leaving creationism, he has written several columns discussing the public dialogue between creation and evolution. This series will outline the core beliefs creationists use as the basis for their reasoning while pointing out the challenges faced in re-educating against creationist misconceptions."</blockquote> <ol> <li><a href="">Introduction and overview: Philosophy of pseudoscience</a></li> <li><a href="">Variation and adaptation</a></li> <li><a href="">You don’t evolve, your species does</a></li> <li><a href="">Transitional fossils.</a></li> <li><a href="">Evolution of evolution</a></li> <li><a href="">Genetic evidence</a></li> <li><a href="">The religion of evolution</a></li> <li><a href="">New perspective</a></li> </ol>,2014:site.141036 Thu, 17 Jul 2014 16:46:06 -0800 brundlefly Meet the fuckers The more things change, the more they stay the same: <a href="">"Your great<sup>555m</sup> grandfather was a sponge and spent his life bored as fuck."</a>,2014:site.140841 Fri, 11 Jul 2014 22:44:11 -0800 paleyellowwithorange Chimp Fashion For the first time, <a href="">Primatologists have observed chimps in the wild spreading a cultural fad through their troop</a>.,2014:site.140288 Fri, 27 Jun 2014 12:26:03 -0800 symbioid The Fermi Paradox Some people stick with the traditional, feeling struck by the epic beauty or blown away by the insane scale of the universe. Personally, I go for the old “existential meltdown followed by acting weird for the next half hour.” But everyone feels something. Physicist Enrico Fermi felt something too—<a href="">”Where is everybody?”</a> It turns out that when it comes to the fate of humankind, this question is very important. Depending on where The Great Filter occurs, we’re left with three possible realities: <a href="">We’re rare, we’re first, or we’re fucked.</a>,2014:site.140266 Thu, 26 Jun 2014 18:01:59 -0800 michswiss No, that's not a video of a bee rescuing its friend from a spider <a href="">Evolutionary biologist debunks viral video. Science!</a>,2014:site.140033 Wed, 18 Jun 2014 21:48:47 -0800 paleyellowwithorange Paleo-pedantry <a href=""><em>Dimetrodon</em> is not a dinosaur!</a> Sorry to ruin your childhood yet again, but it's not even a reptile. It's a synapsid, which makes it one of our cousins. The Brain Scoop's video was inspired by <a href="">Kenneth D. Angielczyk</a>'s paper, <a href="">Dimetrodon Is Not a Dinosaur: Using Tree Thinking to Understand the Ancient Relatives of Mammals and their Evolution</a>. The abstract: <blockquote>The line of descent that includes all living mammals extends back in time over 300 million years. Many of the ancient relatives of mammals that fall along this line are very different in appearance from living mammals and are frequently mistaken for reptiles such as dinosaurs. This misconception is reinforced by the fact that these animals are often referred to as “mammal-like reptiles,” a term reflecting outdated methods for classifying organisms. In reality, these ancient mammal-relatives, known as synapsids, are more closely related to living mammals than they are to any reptiles. Evolutionary trees, which depict patterns of descent from common ancestors among organisms, are very useful for understanding why this is the case and for reconstructing the evolutionary histories of many of the unique characters found in mammals. Here, I provide an introduction to evolutionary trees and their implications for understanding the relationships between mammals, synapsids, and reptiles. This is followed by a review of synapsid diversity and a discussion of how evolutionary trees can be used to investigate when in synapsid history different mammalian characteristics first appeared.</blockquote> <a href="">Read the whole thing here.</a> Also, here's some extra synapsid reading: <ul> <li><a href="">Nine of Your Relatives That Ruled Before Dinosaurs</a></li> <li><a href=""><em>Suminia</em>: Life in the Trees 260 Million Years Ago</a></li> <li><a href="">Survivors, diggers, herbivores, first giant terrestrial vertebrates: the caseids</a></li> <li><a href="">On the Origin of Therapsids</a></li> </ul> Meanwhile, in case you're wondering what else <a href="">" not a dinosaur"</a>, you might look into <a href="">pterosaurs</a>, <a href="">mosasaurs</a>, <a href="">ichthyosaurs</a> and <a href="">plesiosaurs</a>. Believe it or not, there were tons of really neat ancient creatures that <em>weren't</em> dinosaurs. Previously: <a href="">The Brain Scoop</a> and <a href="">synapsids</a>.,2014:site.139414 Tue, 27 May 2014 13:22:25 -0800 brundlefly Looking at us looking at animals <a href="">Why are humans so fascinated with other animals? Looking to psychology and evolution to find out.</a>,2014:site.139251 Tue, 20 May 2014 17:43:50 -0800 rcraniac All in a day's work (tendril version) <a href="">Why yes, a video about cucumber tendrils <em>can</em> be fascinating!</a>,2014:site.139070 Tue, 13 May 2014 17:45:52 -0800 mudpuppie Hominin paleoartistry <a href="">&#0201;lisabeth</a> <a href="">Dayn&#0232;s</a> and <a href="">John</a> <a href="">Gurche</a> (not connected in any way, AFAIK) are among a few paleoartists who specialize in sculpting models of ancient hominin species, such as <a href=""><i>Sahelanthropus tchadensis</i></a> (Daynes), <a href=""><i>Australopithecus boisei</i></a> (Gurche), <a href=""><i>Australopithecus africanus</i></a> (Daynes), <a href=""><i>Homo floresiensis</i></a> (Gurche), and charismatic favorite <a href="!/image/WEB_HIGHRES_C0146366-Neanderthal_culture,_reconstruction-SPL.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_630/WEB_HIGHRES_C0146366-Neanderthal_culture,_reconstruction-SPL.jpg"><i>Homo</i></a> <a href=""><i>neanderthalensis</i></a> (Daynes, Gurche). Until our <a href="">ancient</a> <a href="">ancestors</a> are <a href="">cloned</a>, seeing these <a href="">sculptures</a> may be the closest we get to meeting <a href="">them.</a>,2014:site.138974 Fri, 09 May 2014 12:30:45 -0800 ChuckRamone Early Life in Death Valley <a href="">What if complex life didn't evolve in the oceans?</a>,2014:site.138937 Thu, 08 May 2014 10:19:15 -0800 brundlefly