Evolution, Morphology and Exobiology

Its not that i dont agree with evolution i just dont know the answer to this question. There are still tons of apes around, so where are the in between stages? Did they die out? And if they did why wouldnt the apes die out also? Because it seems like if there can still be things like apes around why wouldnt we also have a bunch of big foots running around? This may seem a little repetative but why are there still apes. Im assuming its because there were two groups and one evolved and one didnt. Why wouldnt this happen with all other stages leading up to humans?

Do evolution and meaninglessness fit together? Sometimes I cant help but talk about evolution as an entity of it's own because of how it seems to regulate it's own rules. I live on a planet that has places that are too cold and too hot for me to live. To make up for it, I have an intelligent brain and can fashion myself some sporty duds to keep me warm while I get mauled by a polar bear. I am creative and destructive, when you figure that one you let me know. God forbid humans develop the ability to withstand the hotter and colder temperatures of the world. Do you think science runs evolution or evolution runs science? Instead of really efficient skin, polar bars have alo…

Thought this was interesting though not technical. The latter part discusses humans with chimps. http://www.cbc.ca/news/viewpoint/vp_strauss/20060606.html "Which brings me to the humanzees. What would we do if one of them happened to come into being now? There have been attempts to create them, including astounding research in the 1920s in which Soviet biologist Ilya Ivanovich Ivanov first tried to impregnate chimpanzees with human sperm. He then artificially implanted orangutan sperm into women volunteers. His cross-breeding didn't produce any hybrids, but what if?" It's probably good that it wasn't sucessful as the moral issues would be staggering.

I thought I'd share this site I stumbled on. but lets get serious, how did the dinosaurs get here? ...hmm interesting take, seeing as how that's more examples than the creationists have. Evolutionists don't know what happened, though, in fact, the evolutionists think they do just as much as the creationists 'think they do.' enjoy home page http://www.answersingenesis.org/Home/Area/gospel.asp

I was thinking why our body is the standard size it is!! Why are we not so big or not so small? The standards size is around 6ft and 80kg?? We could reserve our resources if we are small by say 50%? Is there a reason why we are the size we are?

we have been digging up fossils and creating museums for past few hundred years, but suppose after 100 million years some civilization took birth and began to dig fossils,then they would find human fossils with dinosaurs and other ancient reptiles. maybe entire history of earth will be messed up for them.

Hi. I was one eye half open, the other not; on midnight TV were showing a hen whose eggs where replaced with goose eggs while being incubated. Did anyone see such report and can explain details? Later, the baby geese were following mom, never near water, and on a different diet. What if hen eggs were incubated with mother goose; would the chicks be drawn to water by mom and drown? Miguel

How are instinctual actions imposed by DNA? I've never really given it much thought but how does a kitten all of a sudden realize "Hey, that stuff looks good to poop in and maybe I should cover it up". Logically it makes since as it would help to hide the scent but the kitten doesn't know that. It's just doing what it's been programed to do. So, how does this work? Do actions become instinct or do random brain mutations that work become instinct? Can an instinct be imprinted on DNA or is it the DNA that does the imprinting on the instinct? When I get hungry I seek out food. Yes I know that is a primal instinct but where did it originally come from? A random…

do male nipples serve a function or are they vestigial? if they don't serve a purpose, does that mean females came before males?

I have a question about Island dwarfing: A species becomes isolated on an island with limited resources. Firstly, is it correct to say that the prediction would be that the species would reduce in size. Secondly, how much is genetic mutation actively involved in this process and what is the cause of the physical change in size other than by a gentic mutation. Thirdly, if this makes any sense. I thought dna mutations were born out of luck rarther than a response to specific change in the environment (in this case limited island resources). If mutational change that causes the species to dwarf is luck, how can it be predicted. Regards as always

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._B._S._Haldane 1892-1964 born into Scottish aristocrat family fought in WWI (officer in Black Watch, promoted) during WWI, his politics became socialist, in common with many other idealistic young people of his generation. Wikipedia:" ..Whilst in the army, he became a socialist, writing If I live to see an England in which socialism has made the occupation of a grocer as honourable as that of a soldier, I shall die happy...." Communist Party member between 1937 and 1950. I expect he broke with Communist Party because disillusioned with Soviet Union under Stalin and disgusted by the phony biology of Lysenko which Stalin protected. …

I read that the eyes of a Cuttlefish are W-shaped and are some of the most sophisticated eyes in the animal kingdom. Their peculiar shape allows them to "detect the polarisation of light" which produces an image of higher contrast that our own eyes, giving them an advanced ability to detect differences in similar colours, textures, etc. My question is how these eyes do that and what exactly is special about "polarisation of light" that causes an image with higher contrast. I looked up "polarisation of light" in wiki and I sort of understand what it is, but not how/why it is advantageous of a Cuttlefish to be able to perceive it. I was torn between putting this in phys…

Check out this ariticle just posted on CNN.com. Could this be true? Has anyone else heard about this yet? http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/science/06/02/red.rain/index.html I'm trying to find more info on this event: Here are a couple articles: http://www.ufoindia.org/article_red_rain.htm http://www.libertypost.org/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=123952 http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,1723913,00.html Here is a link from World Science that offer's skepticism: http://www.world-science.net/exclusives/060104_specksfrm1.htm

This is one question I have been pondering over for a while; why were the dinosaurs so dumb? I mean, from evidence so far, we can speculate that they first really started roaming the earth 230 million years ago and then obliterated 65 million years ago. Now, they had 165 million years to walk the Earth and evolve into smarter creatures but they didn't. As far as we can tell, all they did was eat, sleep and breed. Not a bad life - except having to run for it every now and again - but why didn't they gain intelligence? The only knowledge of fire they had was that lightning and lava made it (and that it was hot). Humans (Homo Sapiens) have only really been around for 20…

Hello all, I recently wrote an essay on endosymbiosis. I have received feedback from the teachers, but it wasn’t very satisfactory in my opinion. So I figured that if any of you guys could give me some constructive feedback it would only help me improve .Any feedback will be greatly appreciated! -------------------------------------------------------------- Endosymbiosis provides an explanation for the origins of DNA-containing organelles. Critically evaluate the evidence for and against this theory. Introduction It is rather ironic that Darwin’s now famous book “On the Origins of Species” never dealt with how species originate. To explain natural …

Man... I just got all 4 taken put, without being put to sleep. Damn. So my Q is: why the hell do we have them anyways? I woulda thought they were a negative trait to have (Since it crunches your teeth)... oy

I just came across a paper describing the evolution of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, an opportunistic pathogen that is often found in lungs of cystic fibrosis patients, into a less virulent pathogen within eight years. This is quite an intersting observation of recent (co)-evolution. Here is the abstract: In many human infections, hosts and pathogens coexist for years or decades. Important examples include HIV, herpes viruses, tuberculosis, leprosy, and malaria. With the exception of intensively studied viral infections such as HIV/AIDs, little is known about the extent to which the clonal expansion that occurs during long-term infection by pathogens involves important gen…

Does anybody have a link to a good time graph depicting human evolution? Thanks.

I came across this blog of someone in Kansas who explains the ideas of evolution and natural selection under extremely adverse conditions, namely to literalist ID fellow citizens of Kansas. He's 25. This takes a fair amount of committment. You could say it is "bearing witness." It is a tough thing to do, in the heart of your community where your family lives etc. Can you respect this? I can. I also think no ordinary person would do it---they'd get out and go live where it's more comfortable. Anyway, see if you can respect this, or whether you just think it's a funny way to behave. http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=68120098&a…

I'm interested in what you think this means in a straight evolutionary biology context, and if it could be in some sense "our" view----either the official SFN position or a consensus view of the scientic community. I found it in Woelen's post called A letter to SFN members: Creation, evolution, and our view on science since Woelen enjoys Super Moderator privileges and since he defines a group "SFN members" and then says "our" it sounds as if he is offering his own formulation as an official SFN position. here is the passage: From a scientific point of view, one can say that some biological structures are so complex, that they cannot be the result of an e…

So far, there have been a total of three threads in the Biology forum for biology links, and none of them have worked out. I think the problem is that Biology covers too many topics, and threads like that need to be more in depth. Which is why I have created this thread... The Official Evolution Links Thread Here you can post your links to websites about evolution to support, disprove and comment on The Theory of Evolution. Please don't make this thread another creationist vs. darwinist argument because that's not what this thread is for. Mine: http://andabien.com/html/words/evolution-px.htm <====Evolution Timeline http://www.livescience.com/animalworld/ …

Welcome fellow evolutionary biologists, other biologists, other scientists, theologizes and of course other random people. Proving Darwin’s theory of evolution for me is a simple task. However since many do not (and never will) accept this magnificent theory in all of its elegance, we will once again be in conflict where science shall have to fight against religion. Darwin’s theory is based of something called "Natural Selection" He states that: 1. Life forms will produce more young than could possibly survive. 2. Most life forms die before they can reproduce. 3. Life forms show variation. 4. Some variation will give life forms a competitive edge agains…

I found this article interesting. I had never heard of Anthropic selection before, and I'm surprised that it is gaining some legitimate support in the scientific community. If it is indeed true, then does this support the possibility of a creator? (This sounds like ammo for the ID fanatics) http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/060508_mm_cyclic_universe.html

Here is a new twist on evolution and selective advantage. It has to do with evolution leading to selective disadvantage. A good example of this is the cute critter called the koala bear. It will only eat leaves from the eucolytus tree. This is all fine and dandy, but if there is a change in the environment due to nature or humans, its narrow range of adaptation will cause it to be at a selective disadvantage. Many people work very hard to resist any environmental change so cute and nice critters, like the koala, will not be put in the position of selective advantage evolution. What I thought might be a good experiment is to see if it is possible to train koala to eat…

Hi guys, I'm new to the forum. Recently some Muslim students in my high school started approaching me and asked me if I wanted to convert to their religion. I hesitated, they provided me with books by the author Harun Yahya that goes all out to disprove evolution and support Creationism. The books have tons and tons of 'facts' and pictures depicting various life organisms and how the Evolution could never work. They seemed surprisingly realistic to me, but does that author have a hidden agenda? I'm just asking you guys for your insights.