Getting Closer To Understanding How Life Began

"Scientists believe that all life on Earth originated from one single organism, the Last Universal Common Ancestor, LUCA. Now, researchers have uncovered evidence that LUCA was much more complex than previously thought, which is puzzling because it didn’t have a lot of time to evolve. This seems to suggest that life can come into being much faster than we thought. Let’s take a look."

Click on the link below for a YouTube video explaining the new information:

Life Began Much Faster Than We Thought

One Scientist's Opinion Is NOT Science

"Jerry Coyne, author of the book and blog Why Evolution is True, was also at CSICON and gave a talk essentially taking the opposing position to my own. His position is that biological sex in humans is binary, that this is the only scientific position, and anything else is simply ideology trumping science. His talk was after mine so I was very interested in how he would respond to my position. He essentially didn’t – he just gave the talk he was going to give and then included a single slide with his “responses” to my talk. Except, they weren’t responses at all, just a list of standard talking points that really had nothing to do with my talk."

Jerry Coyne is a noted biologist and skeptic specializing in evolution. Thus, he is truly an authority in his areas of expertise. Click on the link below for an expose of his ignorance of sex/gender:

A Discussion about Biological Sex

The Beauty And Benefits Of Insects

"Did you know that there are ten quintillion—or 10,000,000,000,000,000,000—individual insects on the planet? That means that for each and every one of us humans, there are 1.25 billion insects hopping, buzzing, and flying about.

"A new book called The Insect Epiphany: How Our Six-Legged Allies Shape Human Culture celebrates the diversity of the insect world, as well as the many ways it has changed ours—from fashion to food to engineering.

"Guest host Sophie Bushwick talks with entomologist and author Dr. Barrett Klein about the beauty of the insect world, how it has shaped human history, and what we can learn from these six-legged critters."

Click on the link below for a podcast fostering insect appreciation:

How Insects Changed The World - And Human Cultures

Resurrecting Extinct Animals

"It sounds like science fiction, but a couple of groups of genetic researchers are actively working on bringing back extinct species like the wooly mammoth and the Dodo bird. It’s a complicated issue, filled with all kinds of ethical questions and scientific advancements but when all is said and done, it could be a boon to genetic research and serve as a springboard for technologies that could make our lives better."

Click on the link below for a 17-minute video presenting the details:

Why Resurrection Extinct Animals Is Actually A GREAT Idea

Another Biogenesis Hypothesis

"Scientists have long speculated that life didn’t begin on Earth but in space. According to a new preprint, life could have come from intergalactic gas clouds, so-called molecular clouds."

Click on the link below for a 6-minute video presenting the idea:

Life Could Have Begun in an Interstellar Dust Cloud

A "Knotty" Subject (But Not Pornography)

"There is an entire branch of math simply devoted to knots – and it has changed the world. We’ll rope you in."

Click on the link below for a fascinating look at a subject that relates to not only math but also chemistry, biology, and physics:

How the Most Useless Branch of Math Could Save Your Life

A Look At "Only" Children

"Indeed, most contemporary studies don't find any notable disadvantages for only children. Onlies actually tend to have higher intelligence-test scores and more ambitious educational goals—perhaps in part because they face less competition for their parents' emotional and financial resources."

"'Onlies' don’t seem to be any worse off than kids with siblings. So why do stereotypes about them persist?" (Atlantic Magazine)

Click on the link below for another opinion regarding the Only Child:

Is Only-Child Syndrome Real? 

Exhibit A For Pretending To Be An Expert

One of the main flaws of religious apologists is rejecting the consensus of scientific experts in fields pertinent to the claims made by the apologists. While that's bad enough, some, like William Lane Craig, pretend that they actually know more about the subjects than the true experts!. Click on the link below for a video debunking such nonsense:

William Lane Craig Thinks He Knows Evolution Better than Biologists

A Current Look At Life Extinction On Earth

There have been five mass extinctions since the Earth was formed and 99+% of all species have gone extinct in Earth's history. Since I consider this to be an important issue, I offer the following two videos that may update you on current thinking on the subject:

Human Extinction: What Are the Risks?

Earth currently experiencing a sixth mass extinction, according to scientists

Clearcutting Of Forests: The Pros And Cons

"Today we're going to dig into an emotionally charged issue, the clearcutting method of logging, which leaves the forest stripped clean of trees and everything else. It raises anger among anti-logging activists who want the forests left natural, and that causes conflict with the loggers who note the activists still expect to fill their lives with wood and paper products. Some believe clearcutting is merely a lazy and destructive tool of the greedy who couldn't care less what the forests look like, or whether it can ever recover, so long as they can extract every last penny from it. Today we're going to find out whether clearcutting is truly as destructive as the activists think, or whether it's as necessary as the loggers say, or whether there's a bit of truth on both sides. Because whatever your position, it's to everyone's advantage for that position to be better informed by the best data we have." 

Click on the link below for a science-based look at the issue:

All About Clearcutting

Biological Sex: The Science

Below is a "Slide Presentation" by a biologist designed to educate the layperson on the reality of the sex/gender spectrum embedded within human biology. This is true, whether you accept it or not. It is NOT cultural.

If you think that sex/gender is binary because of religious doctrine, please slowly and carefully, with an open mind, read this. Thanks.

Transgender And Sports: The Controversy

Anyone who had a firm opinion regarding the issues involving transgender athletes is not aware of the murkiness of the science in this area (link). There is much cherry-picking of data to support opinions. For example, a biological male who reaches puberty and transitions to a female and takes substances to reduce testosterone down to ANY level still has biological markers for maleness that can affect athletic performance. The link below is one of the better presentations of the science in this area:

Trans-Women in Sport: Reviewing the Science

1/13/20201: UPDATE

Transwomen retain athletic edge after a year of hormone therapy

Is Christian Morality Objective?

Christian apologists usually mention that morality is objective and it comes from God. I usually retort in a manner that many atheists use:

• If there were no sentient beings, there would be no need for morality.
• Even if there was a God (there is no evidence for any god, and Christianity's foundation is falsified), your God is a person (or 3 of them; that's a discussion for another time), thus, its opinion would be subjective.
• Morality is subjective. It is formed from each rational person's opinion through evolution/biology and socialization, with the input of objective information from science. In democratic societies, laws are reflective of the majority's opinion on morality. It is "bottom-up" instead of an unjustified autocratic "top-down."

If Christian morality was truly objective and came from an all-knowing, all-powerful, and all-loving God, why can't Christians and their denominations agree on what are moral acts? A good example of this inconsistency is how Christians argue over abortion:

• It is always wrong because of the sanctity of life, which begins at the moment of conception.
• It is permitted in some circumstances such as protecting the lives of pregnant women.
• It is always permitted because of the sanctity of bodily autonomy.

This link gives more information regarding the value of secular morality.

Are Humans The Only Animals That Are Self-Aware Or Wonder?

As science progresses, it finds more and more human traits that other higher animals seem to also exhibit (link). However, two big questions remain: are they self-aware, and do they wonder?

Following are a few links looking into these questions:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-awareness

https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/animal_instincts

https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/wondermonkey/2011/06/do-monkeys-wonder-1.shtml

Origins And Anthropology

There probably isn't a normal human being who hasn't ask, "Where did we come from?" The following videos do an excellent job of explaining the probable history of how all life and humans began, and the history of human biological and cultural evolution. Oh, if you ask "Why?", that is a philosophical or religious question for which NO answer is justified no matter how intently apologists try to do so.

Where did life come from?

What was the ancestor of everything?

Why are we the only humans left?

Are we all related?

The Two People We're All Related To

From the fall of Dinos to the Rise of Humans

The Humans That Lived Before Us

When We First Walked

When humans were prey

When We Tamed Fire

When We Met Other Human Species

When we took over the world

Ya, The Earth Is "Special"

This discovery is significant, as at least another planet in our solar system has the building blocks for life. Indeed, life may have been there and/or is still there underground.

Life on Mars?

(JPL - NASA)

Fish Are Intelligent

"Forming cognitive maps and recalling them weeks later illustrates more than a frillfin goby’s prodigious talent for avoiding a leap of faith. It also exposes the human prejudice to underestimate creatures that we don’t understand."

Fish Can Be Smarter Than Primates

The History Of The First Americans Becoming Clearer

"A land bridge between Siberia and Alaska that now lies underwater holds vital clues to the story of the Americas’ first inhabitants. A new project bringing together archaeology, genetics, and molecular biology may rewrite the history books."

Searching for the Origins of the First Americans

Origin Of Life On Earth

Another piece in the puzzle of how life may have originated on Earth is found.

Ingredients regarded as crucial for the origin of life on Earth have been discovered at the comet that ESA’s Rosetta spacecraft has been probing for almost two years.

No God Is Necessary, Nor Apparent

The history of our world in 18 minutes