FreeThinker

I believe that over time all the bad drivers will slowly disappear. We have a selection process (Car accidents) and anyone who is better at driving has less of a chance in being killed in car accident. Over time we should expect to see less and less bad drivers. Any thoughts?

Because we became bipedal and the apes did not. Hence, being 'less hary' had a bigger effect on our bodies ( since they were more exposed).

go, I decided to purchase the game of the software company. It was a risk but...

I enjoyed the article, very optimistic. But before the goverement can start funding any such projects, all theories have to stand up to scientific scruteny ( as mentiouned in the previous posts).At least with the current fuel powered spacecraft we are exploring our solar system (even if it does take decades). If funding was to go into an unproven field, there is no gurantee that we could reach the moon!

Unfortunatley, they were all used by the angels to answer people's prayers (GOD you lazy bastard).

, "Well, she's really hot, but she always wants to talk to me.

I have the opposite problem, my girlfriend does not talk enough

The first can be understood with a hypothetical scenario. Picture if the whole world decided to embrace homosexuality and become such. In maybe 100 years the human race would not longer exist because there would be no babies or not enough artificial babies to offset the rapid decline in the population. According to evolutionary thinking there are two prime directives in nature; survival of the species and survival of the individual. As such, this rapid decline in the humanity would violate survival of species and would create a backlash of sorts. The so-called homophobes, would be a natural response to the situation. Currently, culture calls the homophobes unnatural and homosexuality natural. But when these natural preditors were taken away by law in the 70's and 80's, the queer were like deer, overpopulating, creating a terrible disease that decimated their numbers. A lot of good people were lost.

Violate survival of the fittest and survival of the individual? Nature can not see into the future and can not predict whether a current mutation will benefit the species/individual into future. I believe that homosexuality is at least partially genetic, maybe certain environmental factors can “set” that gene on. With our current technology it is possible for gay couples to have children and therefore pass their genes forward. However, anyone could be carrying the gay gene. A homosexual child can come from non homosexual parents by inheriting two homosexual alleles from both parents. In the same way the child can inherit one allele, and not become homosexual, but pass that gene down to the next generation, where it would remain recessive until it meets another homosexual allele. Homosexuality has been around longer than homo-sapiens as it is present in animals as well. Homophobes are not predators, they do not kill homosexuals. Even if they wanted to in your hypothetical example, wouldn’t the gay outnumber them and therefore survive the “war”?

My second argument is based on personal observation. Over my life I have had many gay and lesbian friends. Putting aside their sexual orientation, which I always did, the one thing I noticed is that they were all special people; bright, witty, empathic, fun loving, kind, generous, etc.. It made no sense to me why someone with such good genetics would naturally want to withdraw these from the human genetic pool. Almost all would have made good parents, passing on positive personality traits to their children.

Even if the homosexual gene was “bad”, what is to say it can not reside in a body with “good” genes? Evolution is not a conscious process, it “doesn’t know” weather a gene is good or bad until it is effects the body. Your friend’s parents could have, both independently, been caring the homosexual gene for generations and only now did it meet its equivalent allele, hence becoming expressive in your friend.

But I switch off the TV, no time for movies now.

I removed the brick to find an old map.

I awoke in horror, to find myself in a prison cell.

Good point... I dont know why I never though of that!

Hey all,

Has anyone got pictures of animals that were born with a mutation? I think that mutations are strong evidence for evolution and I am trying to collect as many pictures as I can. Eventually I plan to make a website to display them all. I have already got four ; a double headed snake, a trout with 2 mouths ,bull with five legs and a cat with one eye. All of these mutations would prove to be a disadvantage should they have happened in the wild. It would be an extra bonus if someone could provide a picture of a mutation that could be beneficial to the animal in question. I realize that the chances of this are small, but it is worth a shot.

Cheers,

Free Thinker

Always happens to me after I read a good book. I just can not fall asleep for hours thinking about it. When I wake up in the morning it is also the first thing on my mind. Anyone else experience this?

Richard Dawkin's The Blind Watchmaker. I always had an interest in the world around us and I always wondered how things came to be, why and how they work. But Dawkins book (especially the chapter on bats) really opened up my eyes to the beautiful word of science. Coincidently, I have since read all his books and they turned an interest to an obsesion!

Three words: I LOVE IT.

I can not put it down, and it is causing me problems with other responsibilities!

Ilja ,I am not provided with balanced equation, that I have to work out my self. There fore I dont know that K3P. If I did I would not have a problem.

Tannin, I did not realise that the group number was actually the number of electrons in the outer shell. That helps a lot. Thanks you.

Everything is clear now, once again thanks for you help!

I am having a bit of trouble understanding the charges of certain atoms.

For example, Potassium reacts with Phosphorus producing Potassium phosphide.

The balanced equasion is: 3K+P--->K3P

Phosphorus has an atomic number of 15 and if I put 2 electrons in the first shell, 8 in the second, and 5 in the third I can see that it would gain 3 electrons from the cation.

But as soon as the atomic number gets bigger , I can not use this method to figure out the charge of certain anions. What I am doing wrong? Or is there no method and I simply have to remeber each charge?

Thanks in advance,

Free Thinker

To add, I have completed a dual Diploma of Network Engineering and System Support. So even though I love biology, I do not want to neglect computers. I run my own business as well (IT) and that is the reason why I applied for a dual degree of Computer Science / Bachlor of Science.

It will be tough running a business and studying full time, but I am looking forward to the studies. Anyone else had a simmilar experiece?

I believe sexual selection was at least partially the reason Homo Sapiens lost their hair.

A male who had less hair might have appeared more masculine, therefore being chosen by the opposite sex. As for females, the loss of hair would have made their breasts more exposed, leading once again to sexual selection. Now it is unlikely that individuals would lose hair on one place of the body (e.g.: breasts) but a certain mutation would make the individual overall less hairy.

There could have been a mutation in the either sex that favored hairless partners. The gene would be successful because the offspring would be more equipped to deal with bipedalism (Sweat theory as mentioned before in the post) and therefore pass the gene for "preferring hairlessness" down the generations.

One of the theories is that the reason we became bipedal in the first place is because our penises were more exposed to the opposite sex once we are standing up.

Yeh, I know

You would burn when you reach the center!

^ So they had to be selectively bread by humans.

I did not think that such a gene ( for freezing of body muscles) would be successful in the wild.

When scared or excited the Fainting Goats suffers from a temporary muscle contraction and literally freezes.

I was wondering if anyone knew how this trait could have evolved and survived to pass it self down the generation? To me it seems like an obvious disadvantage and any goat that possesed the mutation would have been wiped out by the predators.

Only thing I can think of is that it was selectivly bread by humans.

I am starting my Bachelor of Science this coming year. Not sure of the direction I want to go yet. I am narrowing it down to Biology or Computer Science. I am just looking forward to the first year and to discovering the path I want to take.

Thank you for enlightening me on the scope of this idea. I always thought it would be an enormous task. However, I do not plan to venture into this alone. Besides organizing a team of peers, the website could be interactive. There would be rules and a verification system in place to ensure all participants know what they are doing. It will/would be an enormous project. I will still have to brainstorm and put everything on paper, to see if this realistic or not.

FreeThinker