Evolution, Morphology and Exobiology

I see there are a few creationist posters here from time to time. So here is a very small amount of the evidence for common ancestry with the rest of the apes: (1) Chromosome Banding Patterns Here is Human Chromosome 2, alongside Chimp, Gorilla and Orang-Utan 2p,2q you can see there that the banding patterns are all pretty much the same. one major difference of course if that the other apes have 2 chromosomes there, whereas humans only have 1. However when we examine the human chromosome in more detail (which you can't from those diagrams) you find that in the centre of the human chromosome we have telomere like structures, which normally exist only at th…

I thought that the ideas behind or in this theory should help out many with the question that is on all or at least most minds, at least to fill in the general background and allow for a more informed and educational debates on Evolution. It's called the Selfish Gene Theory. Here's a brief rundown on it(plus many other goodness): Selfish Gene Theory For more information, great links, book reviews, etc, this is a very good site: Especially for those who are studying Evolution and or Physical(aka Biological) Anthropology, that site has a wealth of info, or at the very least it can set one on the right path to a great book, etc. World of Richard Da…

Occasionally, I read about creatures that have remained relatively unchanged for a hundred million years or more. Does this mean they have stable DNA or is it due to some other factor?

I'm looking for good "case studies" documenting an obvious branching in a phylogenic tree, or a large phenotypical change within the species itself. Preferably the case study would include potential selection factors and evidence for each, fossil evidence of the change, and any other evidence that would help bring the whole story together. I have a friend who is having a hard time understanding how selection pressures can lead to large changes in a species over time. I know there are some good papers out there, but I'm not sure how to go about finding them.

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/columnist/vergano/2009-02-01-hobbit-bones_N.htm?se=yahoorefer This is an interesting news article for anyone interested in the "Hobbit bones" story. Scientists are arguing whether they were humans with brain pathology or a different species.

History channel aired the show "How Life Began" will air again 10 PM Saturday June 21 Very disappointing. Full of platitudes and they spent only one minute on the very title of the show, "how life began." It took place behind a curtain about which the narrator commented that no one understands how life began. I think the show should have gone more like this. Perhaps anyone can chime in and suggest errors I made. 1) chemicals and condition necessary for abiogenesis ????? presto chango -- ABIOGENESIS of one or more first replicators over perhaps 100 to 500 million years ??????? 2) first replicators adapt to acquire nutrients and avoid fatal circums…

My thoughts on evolution. It occurred to me that unnatural selection is a vital part of evolution after reading that this is how the great variation of dog races are produced in some instance of their race history. Its quite trivial to understand this because when a population is decreased so increases the chances of inbreeding. For this to work the population cant be to small as a whole. By this I mean as an example of populating a small isolated island, the population as a whole do have the gene pole to prevent irreversible defect generation but the population on the island will start to inbreed catapulting (as seen in dogs) the defect variation and with natural…

I was reading this article in The Times. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/t.....980396.ece It is arguing that human settlement into communities instead of a hunter gatherer existence took place much earlier than originally thought; about 400,000 years earlier. Any opinions on this out there?

There are a lot of North American creationist "scientific" institutions that search for the proof of the existence of the judeo-christian god. I was wondering what type of "scientific" evidence might they be looking for? My second question is, if extra terrestrial life is found and we had 100% positive evidence for that, would that invalidate the major monothestic religons of our time? If so what do you think the repercussions will be on society??

If we did evolve, how did we change from asexual reproduction to sexual. The chances for a male and a female specieces "mutating" seems astronomically impossible.

Hi guys, I read this article a couple of days that kind of relates to a situation of me but the issue is I'm not a big science guy. So basically, I'd just like to get some opinions on what I found to be quite an interesting piece. Do you agree with it? Disagree? Why? Your answers would help me tremendously. Thank you in advance. Article: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/cupids-poisoned-arrow/201002/straight-men-gay-porn-and-other-brain-map-mysteries

I am reading this book in my spare time. My oh my is it amazing. From the first paragraph I've been hooked. What's your opinion on it?

http://media.skoopy.com/vids/vid_01151.wmv This is probably very old but it was the first time i have seen it. I almost died laughing

http://yalepress.yale.edu/yupbooks/book.asp?isbn=0300108656 Will this shut the IDiots up? I'm guessing no, even though it appears to answer the majority of their questions.

Here's a question. Why are teeth generally so symmetrical and even? A snaggle-toothed creature with lots of gaps in its teeth really doesn't bear much evolutionary advantage or disadvantage, but the norm in the animal kingdom is pretty much a full mouth of even teeth.

I always heard that all the living things are related on earth and that we can trace it all back. We might not have all the pieces of the puzzle but its beleived thats how it works. My thought is this. Could life arise many times in differnt places on earth and in suttle differnt ways, which still allows it to become more complex over time. That would mean that not all living things can be traced back to a single organism, but many similar but slightly differnt ones. Maybe theres a fundemental natural force that allows life to evolve past a certain complexity with only DNA, but with this natural force, is it possible that different types of organisms arose fr…

hey guys, i am new to this forum, i basicly joined up , beause i had some questions that kept bugging me for awhile, wondering if anyone can help me understand. i was looking at the tree of evolution from where humans evolved, and the furthest anchestor the trees usually provided was of Ardipithecus ramidus who is beleived to be around 4.5-5 millions years old. My question is what did animals did we evolve from, and their appearance , if we look even further back. like 10, 20 , 50 millions years back? or is this not understood properly still? i am assuming we shrink in size if we keep looking even further back , and resemble maybe some type of racoon lol. or …

I am trying to gain a better personal comprehension of evolution (which I generally "understand" fairly well) and one fact that would help me is a ballpark estimation of the number of total primate generations. To clarify A. What is the fastest reproducing primate/ What is the average reproduction for primates----This number by generation as in humans have a new generation ever 20 years ish. OVER B. According to the best knowledge we have when what is the earliest primate known? A - = total generations B Am I missing anything in trying to figure this out? Finding this ballpark figure could help me comprehend how many trials there have be s…

Hello, ScienceForums, I made a list of Best Richard Dawkins books I think that all science lovers need to read. url deleted do you agree with the list? or should I add another books to the list? any suggestion is welcome.

in tenth grade biology we are making animals, mine has a cobra head, pteradactyls wings and scales, and a stegosaurus tail. messed up huh?! private message me with your answer

I found this cool article on livescience.com about a new species of ancient crocodile: ____________________________________________ In the era when dinosaurs ruled the Jurassic earth, a 13-foot oceanic crocodile with a short snout and a mouthful of deadly teeth hunted large creatures in the sea, scientists reported Thursday. Nicknamed "Godzilla" by its discoverers, the new find was much different from other marine crocodiles, which had long snouts with many small teeth. The discovery of the creature, given the scientific name Dakosaurus andiniensis, was reported Thursday in ScienceExpress, the online edition of the journal Science. "This animal was one o…

What are they? I know they don't excist anymore but I need it for an extra credit project. Please help me.