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Diamonds hint at Life on newborn Earth
Ancient diamond crystals may show traces of life a staggering 750 Million years ealier than previously thought.
Analysis of the crystals, contained in zircons from Western Australia formed more than 4.25 Billion years ago, showed the presence of 'carbon-12', a 'light' isotope of carbon which is most commonly produced by plants and bacteria. Writing in the journal Nature one of the authors, Dr. Martin Whitehouse, believes that the carbon-12 found in the diamonds "could be interpreted as biogenic because we know that biological processes do generate light carbon isotopes.".
However these findings, while intriguing, are far from conclusive, as there are other non-biological processes which can form carbon-12. Furthermore, sceptics are worried that the carbon may be the result of later contamination, or even that it may not even be terrestrial, but rather was brought to earth on a meteorite.
But mineralogist Thorsten Geisler, from the University of Münster, is more optimistic; arguing that while non-biogenic chemical reactions can create carbon-12, the relative abundance observed in the diamonds is not what would be expected for a completely non-biogenic origin..
While these observations alone cannot prove the existence of life absolutely, it does offer a tantalising possibility: that life on Earth was already underway in what Geologists refer to as the 'Hadean' period (see image); a time when the planet was still cooling, and was under constant bombardment from meteorites. It was previously thought that life could not possibly have originated in such a hostile environment. Furthermore, this discovery could reduce the amount of time that life had to originate after the Earth was formed, which now could be as little as 300 Million years, where before it was thought to be at least a billion.
This discovery also does not rule out the possibility that rather than originating here, life on Earth was actually 'seeded' by being carried onboard a meteorite. Ancient diamond crystals may show traces of life a staggering 750 Million years ealier than previously thought. ... more -
Women 'can't have casual sex like men': Daily Mail joins the women-bashing
Lock up your daughters, sisters, mums and mates! Casual sex can finally be revealed in all it's destructive glory by (wait for it...) The Daily Mail. Women, be warned.
Last week a report was unveiled that claimed women 'feel bad' after casual sex and are emotionally damaged by one-night stands, so they'd damn well better stop doing it. http://www.metro.co.uk/metrosexual/article.html?in_arti...
And now the Daily Mail has wheeled out some poor damaged girls to share their sob stories, and ram that moral lesson a little further down our throats. That's right people: the DM has Proved The Scientists Right.
One of the Mail's doe-eyed victims of the sexual revolution was apparently left feeling "worthless" and "emotionally destroyed" after a one-night stand, but it's ok, cos she understands now that men and women are *just different* and she's taken a vow of celibacy as a result.
And - how convenient! - the researcher cites basic, evolutionary biology as the reason that women just can't handle a one-nighter.
The DM can confirm that - lucky old things! - men are no more than their basic biological impulse to get down and dirty with anything that moves in order to spread their seed while women are better suited to... Well, staying at home, taking care of the kids, enjoying the odd monogamous shag when him indoors fancies meting it out, and seeming more attractive to said promiscuous male as a result.
Now, I *know* the Daily Mail's advice is in my best interests, but I just can't get my head around the idea (perhaps I need to think about it over the ironing) that because I'm a woman I'll naturally respond like the 'majority' of women to a one night stand (and 58% isn't much of a majority). Perhaps it's buried in my subconscious and I'm just too irrational to recognise it but, unless I'm confusing myself, I don't recall having responded to many experiences like *every other woman* in the world, just as I can't quite remember having responded to any given scenario like every other brunette, or every other bisexual woman, or every other deaf person.
The Mail's totally unbiased reporting tips the balance in this argument though - not only will putting it about with a number of 'Mr Wrongs' make you feel like crap, but it'll decrease your chances of ever meeting 'Mr Right' too! It's clearly not worth the risk. Thank you Daily Mail, for showing me the error of my ways.
Now where's that chastity belt... Oh yes. It's in the BIN. Along with any copies of the Daily Mail ever to have existed.
Lock up your daughters, sisters, mums and mates! Casual sex can finally be revealed in all it's destructive glory by (wait for it...) ... more -
Humans wore shoes 40,000 years ago
From the report: The evidence comes from a 40,000-year-old human fossil with delicate toe bones indicative of habitual shoe-wearing, experts say. From the report: The evidence comes from a 40,000-year-old human fossil with delicate toe bones indicative of habitual shoe-wearing, e... more
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Monkeys can now count!
A research team led by Kerry Jordan of Utah State University, Logan, US has shown that two Rhesus macaques can learn to count. The monkeys where trained to count the number of beebs they could here and touch an image on screen with the same number of dots. The monkeys scored 66% and 72% in the test respectivley, showing that although they make errors they can conceptualise numbers as abstract concepts.
The monkeys albeit primitive mathematical skills show that another trait once thought only humans where capable and further blurs the line of what makes us human. It is not only monkeys that have been shown to have rudimentary number skills, parrots and flycatchers have also been shown to have the most basic of number based skills. A research team led by Kerry Jordan of Utah State University, Logan, US has shown that two Rhesus macaques can learn to count. The mo... more -
http://www.salon.com/books/atoms_eden/2008/07/01/saving_darwin/
With biologist Richard Dawkins leading the way, many scientists today are locked in an unending match of whack-a-mole with Christian creationists, who insist that God created heaven, earth and humanity in its present form, and with disciples of intelligent design who want to expel evolution from its scientific prominence in public schools. If you've been following the battle, you might be inclined to believe that Americans are faced with a choice between believing in God and scientific fact. With biologist Richard Dawkins leading the way, many scientists today are locked in an unending match of whack-a-mole with Christian c... more
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Philippe Starck on Design
Designer Philippe Starck -- with no pretty slides to show -- spends 18 minutes reaching for the very roots of the question "Why design?"
Pretty engaging and inspiring stuff. Designer Philippe Starck -- with no pretty slides to show -- spends 18 minutes reaching for the very roots of the question "Why design... more -
Say anything to get the job
Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal claims intelligent design belongs alongside evolution in the classroom. Even more frightening, Gov. Jindal is a VP hopeful in Sen. McCain's campaign. Heaven help us if they win. Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal claims intelligent design belongs alongside evolution in the classroom. Even more frightening, Gov. J... more
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Plants Climbing Mountains Due to Climate Change
From the report: Scientists have found evidence that plants have been slowly moving into higher elevations to stay within ideal temperature zones.
Each year this "escalator effect" is pushing plants upward by about ten feet (three meters). From the report: Scientists have found evidence that plants have been slowly moving into higher elevations to stay within ideal temper... more -
Frog Species Sport Makeshift Claws
From the report: Eleven species of African frogs sport a Wolverine-like defense mechanism, scientists have announced. When threatened, the amphibians pierce their skin with toe bones, sprouting makeshift claws with which to attack predators. From the report: Eleven species of African frogs sport a Wolverine-like defense mechanism, scientists have announced. When threatened,... more
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Fossil fills out water-land leap
Scientists say a fossil of a four-legged fish sheds new light on the process of evolution.
The creature had a fish-like body but the head of an animal more suited to land than water.
The researchers' study, published in the journal Nature, says Ventastega curonica would have looked similar to a small alligator.
Scientists say the 365-million-year-old species eventually became an evolutionary dead end.
About one hundred million years before dinosaurs began to roam the Earth, Ventastega was to be found in the shallow waters and tidal estuaries of modern day Latvia.
According to lead author, Professor Per Ahlberg, from Uppsala University, Sweden, this creature had the head of a tetrapod, an animal adapted to live on land. The body, though, was fish-like but with four primitive flippers.
"From a distance, it would have looked like an alligator. But closer up, you would have noticed a real tail fin at the back end, a gill flap at the side of the head; also lines of pores snaking across head and body.
"In terms of construction, it had already undergone most of the changes from fish towards land animal, but in terms of lifestyle you are still looking at an animal that is habitually aquatic." Scientists say a fossil of a four-legged fish sheds new light on the process of evolution. ... more -
Human genome reveals signs of recent evolution
New genetic evidence suggests that evolution has continued to shape our species powerfully over the past 100,000 years. By looking for signals based on how much DNA mutates over generations, researchers found clues that as much as 10 percent of the human genome may be linked to these recent adaptive genetic changes.
Cornell University population geneticist Scott Williamson and colleagues analyzed over a million genetic variations in DNA samples from 24 individuals, including African Americans, European Americans, and Chinese. They were looking for regions in the genome where a beneficial mutation is carried by everyone in a population. Then, by looking at the variability in the DNA surrounding the mutation, the team could figure out how long ago the mutation spread through the population.
More than a hundred sites in the genome showed strong evidence of recent selection, including genes that affect muscle tissue, hair, hearing, immune-system function, skin pigmentation, sense of smell, and the body’s response to heat stress.
by Jennifer Barone
Discover Magazine
http://discovermagazine.com/2008/jan/human-genome-revea...
Localizing Recent Adaptive Evolution in the Human Genome
http://www.plosgenetics.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/jo... New genetic evidence suggests that evolution has continued to shape our species powerfully over the past 100,000 years. By looking for... more -
Yoko Ono loses 'Imagine' anti-evolution copyright fight
Yoko Ono has lost a legal bid to block the use of a 15-second clip of John Lennon's song Imagine in a film challenging the theory of evolution.
Lennon's widow and his two sons had sued the makers of Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, claiming they used the song without permission.
But US District Judge Sidney Stein found in favour of the film-makers based on a "fair use" doctrine. The defendants - Premise Media Corp, of Dallas, Rampant Films of Sherman Oaks, California, and Rocky Mountain Pictures, of Salt Lake City - welcomed the decision.
Ono, her son Sean Ono Lennon, and Julian Lennon - Lennon's son from his first marriage - had sought a preliminary injunction before the film gets a wider release. The film presents a sympathetic view of intelligent design - the theory that the universe is too complex to be explained by evolution alone.
Yoko Ono has lost a legal bid to block the use of a 15-second clip of John Lennon's song Imagine in a film challenging the theory of e... more -
Sarcasm discovered to be evolutionary survival skill
Humans are fundamentally social animals. Our social nature means that we interact with each other in positive, friendly ways, and it also means we know how to manipulate others in a very negative way.
Neurophysiologist Katherine Rankin at the University of California, San Francisco, has also recently discovered that sarcasm, which is both positively funny and negatively nasty, plays an important part in human social interaction.
So what?
I mean really, who cares? Oh for God's sake. Don't you have anything better to do that read this column?
According to Dr. Rankin, if you didn't get the sarcastic tone of the previous sentences you must have some damage to your parahippocampal gyrus which is located in the right brain. People with dementia, or head injuries in that area, often lose the ability to pick up on sarcasm, and so they don't respond in a socially appropriate ways.
Presumably, this is a pathology, which in turn suggests that sarcasm is part of human nature and probably an evolutionarily good thing.
How might something so, well, sarcastic as sarcasm, be part of the human social toolbox?
Evolutionary biologists claim that sociality is what has made humans such a successful species. We are masters at what anthropologists and others call "social intelligence." We recognize and keep track of hundreds of relationships, and we easily distinguish between enemies and friends.
More important, we run our lives by social calculation. A favor is mentally recorded and paid back, sometimes many years later. Likewise, insults are marked down on the mental score card in indelible ink. And we are constantly bickering and making up, even with people we love.
Sarcasm, then, is a verbal hammer that connects people in both a negative and positive way. We know that sense of humor is important to relationships; if someone doesn't get your jokes, they aren't likely to be your friend (or at least that's my bottom line about friendship). Sarcasm is simply humor's dark side, and it would be just as disconcerting if a friend didn't get your snide remarks.
It's also easy to imagine how sarcasm might be selected over time as evolutionarily crucial. Imagine two ancient humans running across the savannah with a hungry lion in pursuit. One guy says to the other, "Are we having fun yet?" and the other just looks blank and stops to figure out what in the world his pal meant by that remark. End of friendship, end of one guy's contribution to the future of the human gene pool.
Fast forward a few million years and the network of human relationships is wider and more complex, and just as important to survival. The corporate chairman throws out a sarcastic remark and those who "get" it laugh, smile, and gain favor. In the same way, if the chair never makes a remark, sarcastic people are making them behind his or her back, forming a clique by their mutually negative, but funny, comments. Either way, sarcasm plays a role in making and breaking alliances and friendship.
Thanks goodness, because life without out sarcasm would be a dull and way too nice place to be, if you ask me.
Humans are fundamentally social animals. Our social nature means that we interact with each other in positive, friendly ways, and it a... more -
Bad guys really do get the most girls
Nice guys knew it, now two studies have confirmed it: bad boys get the most girls. The finding may help explain why a nasty suite of antisocial personality traits known as the "dark triad" persists in the human population, despite their potentially grave cultural costs. Nice guys knew it, now two studies have confirmed it: bad boys get the most girls. The finding may help explain why a nasty suite of a... more
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Pluralism, Logic, and The Modern Thinker - Ravi Zacharias
this guy is a religious breakdancer
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Triple Helix DNA?
It has been known for some time of the Scientific possibility of a Triple Helix, in fact it can be artificially created. However most scientists dismiss the idea that we as humans could have a Third DNA Strand. A strand that is perhaps not yet visable with primative scientific instruments.
If you look at most pictures of the Double Helix, you can see that there is clearly room for additional parallel strands. And there is Scientific Proof that additional strands can FIT into the DNA structure.
Our scientific understandings are always changing as we gain new knowledge
"The difficulty lies, not in the new ideas, but in escaping the old ones, which ramify, for those brought up as most of us have been, into every corner of our minds."
- John Maynard Keynes
How is a Triple Helix formed?
http://www.mun.ca/biochem/courses/3107/Topics/DNA_and_R...
Bonding Strands to DNA
http://employees.csbsju.edu/hjakubowski/classes/ch331/b...
Triple Helix DNA discussion
http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread83906/pg1
The Sun is changing our DNA?
http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread359154/pg3&am...
3-stranded DNA can be made with RecA
http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/abstract/88/8/2984 It has been known for some time of the Scientific possibility of a Triple Helix, in fact it can be artificially created. However most... more -
Atheistic evolution challenged - by Ravi Zacharias
the problem with scientists is that they are poor philosophers
I hope people will listen and then comment intelligently on what they believe instead of throwing it out just from reading the title the problem with scientists is that they are poor philosophers ... more -
New discovery proves 'selfish gene' exists
A new discovery by a scientist from The University of Western Ontario provides conclusive evidence which supports decades-old evolutionary doctrines long accepted as fact. Since renowned British biologist Richard Dawkins ("The God Delusion") introduced the concept of the 'selfish gene' in 1976, scientists the world over have hailed the theory as a natural extension to the work of Charles Darwin. A new discovery by a scientist from The University of Western Ontario provides conclusive evidence which supports decades-old evolutio... more
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"Artistic" spiders trap prey with light
From the report: Many flower species reflect ultraviolet light, which insects use to identify food sources. If spider webs reflect the same light, it would suggest that the spiders' webs are mimicking the properties of flowers and tricking insects into coming closer.
Evolution is incredible and the initial fact that spiders can weave such incredible pieces of art is just mind blowing.
From the report: Many flower species reflect ultraviolet light, which insects use to identify food sources. If spider webs reflect the... more -
Could Texas schools teach Creationism soon?
Texas Public Schools may be teaching creationism / intelligent design soon as the State Board of Education gears up to attack evolution in its revision of the state science standards.
This is an interview of the Chairman of the Board, Don McLeroy, who is a self-pronounced creationist. He says in the video that he believes in evolution but it is obvious that he is lying as he begins to state that he wishes to force Texas educators to teach the alleged "weaknesses" of evolution. The scientific community as a whole denies the existence of any "weaknesses" of evolution, and as a result McLeroy wishes to use these fake "weaknesses" as a trojan horse to attack the theory of evolution so that creationism may be taught in its place.
If you live in Texas or know somebody who does, have them sign the Texas Freedom Network's petition telling the State Board that you stand up for science and support the theory of evolution and oppose the teaching of religious concepts like creationism or ID in the science classroom at:
https://secure2.convio.net/txfree/site/SSurvey?SURVEY_I...
To hear or read a transcript of a speech given by McLeory at his church about how to destroy the teaching of evolution, follow this link:
http://www.tfn.org/site/PageServer?pagename=mcleroylect...
In the lecture he explains that creationists must continually remind the scientific community that they may be wrong and to project the alleged "weaknesses" or evolution. (which do not exist and are fake and have been proven so time and time again.)
"We're not in Kansas anymore!" Texas Public Schools may be teaching creationism / intelligent design soon as the State Board of Education gears up to attack evolutio... more
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