Evolution, Morphology and Exobiology

Hi, I was sent this meme (attached) and was wondering what it meant and how to argue against it... Is this guy who sent the meme talking about the phylogenetic tree? - Appreciate any help. Thanks.

After teething, toddlers bear bright white pearl-like teeth. Years later, one by one, baby teeth fall to give place to stronger permanent teeth that are supposed to endure the rest of human lives. In the dawn of humankind, two dentitions were enough. Humans did not live long, so permanent teeth lasting 30 or 40 years would accomplish their function. As human lifespan extended, human teeth could not keep pace with longevity. Read more advertising removed

I was wondering about what the organization of "groups" of humans was in prehistoric times. Here, of course, I'm talking about before we started using agriculture and before we started settling in one place. What was the typical size of a group of humans? Why was it this size? How was it lead? How were the jobs divided? What was the hierarchy? How was the hierarchy maintained or changed? How was it organized? All of that good stuff. So, any thoughts? Simply links to for example documentaries about this are also appreciated.

Evolution is often said to have no direction, it can't plan ahead. However, after careful consideration, I think that evolution has an inevitability about it. For example, given our environment, is it any surprise we have things swimming in the water, flying in the air, and walking on the ground? For example, you could have a process like natural selection/mutation that generates new life forms (evolutionary theory or another mechinism) however given the environment, is there not an inevitability that the perfect wing evolves?

I was wondering about what factors caused humans to have traits and morphology different from Homo neanderthalensis and Homo heidelbergensis (our possibly closest ancestor with Homo neanderthalensis). For example neanderthals have a more sloped forehead, a broader nose, are smaller, have a barrelled chest, etc. So what different conditions caused them to develop each one of these traits or what conditions caused us to develop the traits we have? To give an example of the sort of anwser I might want, If my question had been about the morphology of birds with a particularly long and glorious tail like the male peacock I might expect this response: "This is sexual d…

I believe it is a well known problem, but I couldn't find the solution. In a vessel at hour 0 there is a 1 million bacteria. Every hour every bacteria produces two new bacteria and dies. Right after that one half of all bacteria in the vessel is killed by random (i.e. 1 million times one bacteria is chosen uniformly from the vessel and killed). So now we have again 1 million left. The process is repeated every hour on and on. It intuitively seems to me that after enough repetitions all the bacteria in the vessel will be descendants of just one bacteria from hour 0. Can this be proven? Does it not always work like this: if we take a group of organisms of …

Darwin's theory is often called theory of evolution by trial and error. How are you think why?

Do identical twins really look always (almost) the same? Do you know any identical twins who are both lesbians and do have both a very masculine faceshape/face morphology, too? Or do you know any identical twins who are both gay man and do look also both very feminine ? I am asking me the entire genetic vs. epigenetic/prenatal hormonal issue. What I mean is: Do you know identical twins who one is a gay man and one is straight and the gay one has a different faceshape(looks much more feminine) compared to the straight one? Do you know identical twins who one is lesbian and one is straight woman and the lesbian has a total different faceshape(looks m…

I have a question that, for some reason, I simply can't find the answer to anywhere. Despite a lot of searching. For a while I've been researching the phenomenon of pneumatic or hollow bones in birds, and that's all very fascinating. I've also found out that pneumatization can occur in bones not normally pneumatized during a "pathological development". I'm assuming that means as a genetic inconsistency due to some kind of disease. However, what I'm interested in is a more conclusive explanation as to how pneumatic bones did, or at least could have developed. And perhaps how they theoretically could develop in a species that normally does not have them. Thank …

Can someone please help me compare and contrast the miller urey experiment and the bubble model? i understand the concepts of the models but dont see how they can be compared...

Probably a rather odd series of questions, but they really got me curious, and sadly, I have only the barest frame of reference for any of the fields that would be needed to start answering them. First off, would a camel- or mule-sized lizard potentially make for a better beast of burden in hot, dry climates? I really only have my intuition to go on, but it seems to me that reptiles are better suited to adapting to deserts and desert-like environments than other animals. They don't generate their own heat, so they seem less susceptible to overheating, and I imagine that cold-blooded animals need less food than, say, mammals of similar mass. I could be completely off on t…

There is much talk of evolution occurring as a result of survival pressures. Yet the places where the greatest biodiversity can be found are the places where the living is easy, compare the Amazon to the Arctic. I contend that most evolution occurs in places and times of plenty. The basis for this contention is that during times of plenty, more of the in-between mutations survive to reproduce. This allows the more complex mutations and combinations of mutations to develop viable forms. These viable forms may gain significant survival advantages over the old forms. The new, more viable, forms then become the pressure that kills off the old forms. One advantage to this vi…

Dear all, This is my theory http://www.geert.com/The_evolutionary_force_of_great_environmental_change.htm. Can all the theoretical population geneticists please give me some scientific feedback / criticism? Many thanks in advance, Geert ---- The evolutionary force of great environmental change Highlights - The Cambrian explosion and Darwin's dilemma explained. - Adaptive mutation is a viable mechanism (current theory proven to be incorrect). - The level of environmental change and the optimum mutation rate are linked. - Evolution's high speed, and the emergence of fundamental mechanisms, explained. Keywords adaptive mutation - Cambrian explosion …

If after somehow mastering interstellar travel, we came across planets that are like Earth with liquid oceans of water but devoid of life. How long do you think it would take after spreading some algae and plants for its atmosphere to become breathable for humans and other Earth animals. Wouldn't such a planet be much easier to colonize than a world with its own life forms.

I was wondering if I could get some clear answers on the evolution of flight, I am aware flight has evolved in 4 different types but I wanted to focus on mammals. My questions are as follows: What was the first creature to fly? What did it evolve from? How did the faculty of flight propagate (i.e. how many generations/mutations did it take to get from non-flying animal to flying animal)? What are the fossils to support this? Thanks very much for responses!

Ajb said "To me, the general arena of the paranormal is fascinating, but not because I think that any of this is real. I think the paranormal gives us great insight into the human mind in the sense of what imagination we have and how easily our senses can trick our brain. It also shed some light on deep ingrained fears and hopes. All of which are tied to our evolution and our social constructs. " To which I replied "How does it fit in with evolution? Why would the humans with these imaginary tendencies have a selective advantage?" There are genes and memes? Discuss the evolution of religion here please.

so I can hear my thoughts. does the part in the brain associated with sound acknowledge that?

OK, Viviparity (live-bearing) evolved from Oviparity (egg-laying) to times via egg retention and eggshell thickness due to colder climates. How Oviparity ended and Viviparity just begun the very first time? Did the off-spring decided to stop Oviparity, and begins to Viviparity immediately for the next generations to come? If this is an adaptation to colder climates evolves by transition, there must be a later or final step where the very thin egg is laid vulnerable to cold. (Maybe mother protects it by incubating like birds, or young is ready for cold before laying?) I cannot find simple explanations, as well as videos and images. Thank you!

I read this news story about a female tiger being killed by her mating partner (or potential mating partner) http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/female-tiger-killed-by-mating-partner-at-sacramento-zoo/ar-BBpmMxB?li=BBnbfcL&ocid=mailsignout and I was wondering whether this is something that happens with any frequency and why.

I saw a TV show the other day that children starting at age two began forming billions of connections between brain cells but most of these connections failed through disuse as the child ages. I'm curious if this same phenomenon occurs in baby animals. I'm especially curious if the connections suffer the same fate to the same degree.

While gazing upon a diagram of the secondary structure of the large sub-unit of the E.Coli ribosome. I came to the conclusion that this structure seems to be nearly impervious to evolution or at least to small scale mutations. I wondered how many base changes could occur before its performance was halted. There are scores of loops and scores of helixes. I would think many changes could occur on the loops and only cause extremely minor tertiary changes. I would also think that a number of changes could occur in the helixes and only cause a slight bump or tighter or loser twist. In the helixes double hydrogen bonded pairs could be switch around with no backlash as cou…

I've only just learnt that Patrick Matthew pre-empted Darwin and Wallace on natural selection. Surprised it wasn't in the Desmond/Moore biography. Is this theory that they deliberately stole his idea taken seriously at all: http://britsoccrim.org/new/volume14/pbcc_2014_sutton.pdf Seems unconvincing and unscientific to me. It seems the only real evidence is that 3 naturalists known to Darwin and Wallace cited his book - 'On Naval Timber and Arboriculture', where he gives a brief but perfect description of natural selection in an appendix - in their literature. Sutton appears to think this is proof of deliberate and concealed plagiarism, since, in his opinion, t…

I was reading a James Ellroy short story, and at one point the protagonist says something like "I remembered that some female felines prowl for mates." Is that true?

Shell not evolution work in direction to make pregnancy as short as possible? In large mammals such as humans and elephants fertility lasts 9-18 month. In some smaller mammals it lasts much shorter. There are some live creatures which could grow extremely fast. For example bamboo could grow 1 meter in 24 hr. In humans both pregnancy and period of infant growth takes too much time. Evolutionary reasons?

I don't know whether to post this in biology or anatomy.I dont know how to move it if it dosent belong here. It is also kind of a why did we evolve this way question. Why do we need good germs for protection from bad germs? I get it if its for digestion. dont we come equiped for enough cells phagocyte cells that kills all the germs and even viruses that attack us? I learned in anatomy and physiology class that.There are already equipped with blood cells like neutrophils and macro phages they are phagocytes that squeeze out of veins. they release chemical signals to tell endothelial cells that there is an infection and those neutrophils will get stuck on to the are…