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…

http://crl.i8.com/Evolution/Dna.html DNA Molecules and the Odds Against Evolution Within each cell there is an area called the nucleus which contains the all-important chromosomes. Chromosomes are microscopically small, rod-shaped structures which carry the genes. Within the chromosomes is an even smaller structure called DNA. This is one of the most important chemical substances in the human body -- or in any other living thing. Increasing scientific understanding of DNA molecules has revealed enormous problems for materialism. DNA is a super-molecule which stores coded hereditary information. It consists of two long "chains" of chemical "building b…

Since we have no free will, what purpose does/did consciousness serve? For the purpose of this topic, let us assume that free will does not exist. I do not believe in it, and I am not trying to debate its existence. And I am not the sharpest knife so don't hesitate to correct me if I am wrong about something. This is being asked purely from curiousity. I have been very troubled recently, and I have been turning this idea around in my head over and over again. Doesn't the absence of free will (that is to say that all lifeforms are nothing more than calculating machines) make consciousness pointless? We are robots whose only purpose is to not die and have sex. …

Hello. I'm new to the forum. I want to talk about a controversial subject. There is an area of research known as Scientific Racism or racialism which proposes that human races differ in innate mental ability including intelligence and personality differences. I have debated this subject for years on other message boards mostly against racists who believe in the inferiority of certain races. I want to get an idea from this board of how the majority of posters here feel about this subject and what they think the truth is about the topic. Please answer the poll and give your thoughts on the topic.

OKay I am sure at least some people on this site has ever heard the story creationists lke to parrot about Darwin's deathbed recanting? Apparently as Darwin was on his deathbed, he asked for a bible and apologized to god for comeing up with the theory of evolution or something along those lines. This really annoys me as even if this did happen, what does it change? So this is supposed to make all the observations concerning evolution null? I have a challenge for anyone who wants it. Find me a reliable, attributed source (i.e. "proof") that this took place. Any discussion about this topic or any related topics are welcome. -Hellbender

Hi. Unsure if this is the best place for the subject, but, which animal shows the most 'intelligent' behavior ? (life, strategies, skills, self-sufficiency, activities... at its animal level) Miguel

This question appeared in another thread, but it was OT there, so I post it anew. When we find a promising but sterile world, shouldn't we throw some archaea there with a purpose to spread life? After all, if / when we all go extinct here on Earth, then 4 billion years of evolution will go down the drain. This way we would be instrumental in saving the life. Nobody on Earth but us is capable of doing so.

topic. secondly if there are aliens would they look like humans?

I've been butting heads for a year or two on boards with hardcore creationists trying to convince me that information can only be reduced and not added (despite the six-fingered species of humans). Is this the same argument that is typically made about the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics? If not, what is the typical rebuttal to this question? Also, I would like to read information about the evolution of the precursors to the first single-celled organisms. Can someone direct me to good sources of this type of information?

Several studies show religious thought strengthens social cohesion.http://www.overcomingbias.com/2008/03/religious-cohes.htmlhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4958132/http://science.sciencemag.org/content/322/5898/58 This imo means religion is an evolutionary trait. Strengthening of social cohesion is important for many animals like african wild dogs, lions, wolves, whales, dolphins, chickens, penguins, crows, monkeys, apes...It leads to evolutionary succes. Our complex language enabled the origin of real religion, many other animals have religious thought/behavior but lack our complex communicationsystem which prevents the origin of real religion. …

If correct, the following article would be a significant departure from conventional thinking on evolution. It would inject some form of control into the process. With culture at hand, especially for humans, we may no longer be able to claim that we are but meagre innocent bystanders holding on to an anywhere ticket to nowhere, but accreditable participants in a bi-directional, self influenceable and self-perpetuating dance. Excerpts from the article: “It has become clear that many organisms influence their own evolution by creating non-genetic traits that can become subject to natural selection. This challenges traditional Darwinian thinking, which sees evol…

There have been a lot of threads about the validity of Evolution, and well I'm going to post all the evidence that I know and from my biology texts so that there will be no confusion. I wouldn't like to over-step my bounds, but I would like to invite others to post on this thread other evidence or insights that I have missed (I hope to just cover the basics with this first post) and we could possibly use this as a reference in the future. What is Evoltuion?? Evolution is the change of a population of a species over time, or if you prefer the change of alleles over time. Evidence of Evolution Fossil Record Fossils provide a record for species that have lived in…

I was wondering if anyone has done some research into this topic. I know there are some quick answers to this question but I think the topic deserves a lot more study.

What does it mean for something to be a valid concept? How is race defined? How was it defined historically? What arguments invalidate it, if any? Are there similar concepts in other species? What is your view? My position is that race was historically defined by ancestry by Darwin. He contrasted descent with modification, and descent, and stated descent alone was preferable to describe human races. Mayr later supported genetic similarity regardless of descent as more informative. Both methods in practice are similar, and genetic similarity informs phylogeny. Marxist pseudoscientists have advanced a number of fallacious or arbitrary arguments to attempt to…

I know this might sound stupid, but if humans decended from apes and monkeys, then why are there still apes and monkeys? Wouldn't they evolve to. If evolution is true and we did come from apes, how long will it be before the apes of today become something along the lines of the movie "Planet of the Apes"? If you think about it then it is only a matter of time before the apes of today evolve and take over the world.

Hello, Sorry to bother you but this question was asked to me by my 5 year old and I could not find an answer. His question was:" If God created man did he create a baby or a grown-up?If it was a baby, how did he survive? (on his own) and who created God?" Not being religious I said that God was the easy explanation to creation. We read that new species (animal, fish, insect) appear all the time but is the first of all a newborn (and if so how do they survive?) or an adult? Many thanks

The AAA state that race was developed by Europeans to justify slavery. They present some scientific arguments to argue that race is not a valid biological concept. http://www.americananthro.org/ConnectWithAAA/Content.aspx?ItemNumber=2583 Is this valid reasoning?

I ask this with the evolution of the universe in mind. The universe was born 14 billion years ago, the earth 4.5 billion years ago, and life on earth...I don't know 1.5-2 billion years ago? How much earlier than 4.5 billion years ago could a planet like earth of been created. How about intelligent life. Could people smarter than us of lived 2 billion years ago, which means life on their planet probably started 2-3 billion years before that (if their evolution is anything like ours) or was the universe just not fit to do such a thing yet? About stars also. Stars have been observed "burning out" right? Our star's lifespan will be longer than 14 billion years....right? W…

One of the really bad flaws in the creationist argument is based on their idea of a perfect creator. Evolution is imperfect by its very nature - too many random variables. The results of evolution are very often seriously imperfect. If life had been created in finished form by a perfect creator, that life would, ipso facto, be perfect. Why would a perfect creator indulge in crappy workmanship? Some of the imperfections I see as a result of evolution's stuff ups are ; The human appendix The fact that our breathing tube (trachea) and our swallowing tube (esophagus) open in our throats side by side, resulting in thousands of choking deaths each year. Me…

how is it debatable of the fact that we as life forms evolve without just random mutations but actually genetic differences to better fit there environment. things couldnt just be random like that. its alot like muscles, we need better ones, we develop better ones, we dont, we dont, right? arent humans a good example of that? our different skin pigments? lighter skin, come from a snowier place, wich white reflects sun, and also blends in. brown, from hotter places, like mexico, and alot of america, to not be as harmed by the sun by just getting darker instead of getting damaged. black, well im sure they have a reason too. alright maybe thats not a good one to use fo…

Yes, yes..its time to think about our own species. Are we destined for the big check out soon? Will an asteroid do us in, like one did for the dinos. (Whispers:) They say the big one is coming in 2014. Or will some super Virus, like Captain Trips in King's The Stand, do us all in or a super Alien Invasion for our precious metals or maybe just water be our demise? Will one day we be nothing more than a gigantic archelogical dig for some aliens?

This is not a literary discussion but a question that arises in my mind about the extra "stuff" that makes us humans. Having just read "Hard Times" by Charles Dickens http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/786 one of the major characters is a man of reason called Gradgrind, who believes that facts and figures are solely what is required to turn out a well-rounded individual who has reasoning capacities. One of his quotes is as follows: Towards the end of this proto-Socialist exposition, Gradgrind gets a tough reminder that humans cannot live on facts alone by his own daughter whose life has been ruined by parental insistence on pure reason: Don't …

I have been looking for weeks for a good answer to this question, and have yet to find one that makes total sense. Why are humans the only primate to lose its hair? One of the best explanations that I read to date said that when humans were almost extinct we resorted to being fishermen, and as aquatic apes it was more beneficial to lose the hair in favor of sweat glands. Another good explanation was sexual selection.. less hair meant more skin contact which heightened sexual pleasure, and as emerging intelligent thinkers and sex machines, it was sexually selected into us. Would love to know what others think.

http://www.neoeugenics.com/ 1. Human intelligence is largely hereditary. 2. Civilization depends totally upon innate intelligence. Without innate intelligence, civilization would never have been created. When intelligence declines, so does civilization. 3. The higher the level of civilization, the better off the population. Civilization is not an either-or proposition. Rather, it's a matter of degree, and each degree, up or down, affects the well-being of every citizen. 4. At the present time, we are evolving to become less intelligent with each new generation. Why is this happening? Simple: the least-intelligent people are having the most children. …