Evolution At Work

"Twins have been rare in human history and for that reason can seem special. Many cultures associate twins with health and vitality, while others see them as a philosophical reminder of the duality of life and death, good and evil. Some famous twins are credited with the birth of nations, others are described as deities.

"Our recent research suggests that twins were actually the norm much further back in primate evolution, rather than an unusual occurrence worthy of note. Despite the fact that almost all primates today, including people, usually give birth to just one baby, our most recent common ancestor, which roamed North America about 60 million years ago, likely gave birth to twins as the standard.

"We have been researching the evolution of primate litter size – how many babies grow during each pregnancy – for the past several years. To study mammal evolution and reproductive life history, we use skeletal collections, both fossil and recently living.

"In addition to being an anthropologist, one of us (Tesla) is the mother of twin girls. That’s led to a personal and not just scientific interest in this topic: When did twin pregnancies become uncommon?"

Click on this link for more:

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 History Of Human Evolution 101

Fact: Evolution, including humans, is accepted by science at the same level as it accepts gravity. (link)

However, a large minority of the general public in the USA does not accept it. Why? The strong correlation with how religious one is.

Click on the links below for a brief course in human evolution beginning a million years ago:

     Million years ago

     100,000 years ago

     The difference between homo sapiens and homo sapiens sapiens

Dinosaurs Teach Us About Evolution & Genetics

"Dr. Eric Jaffe joins the show and walks us through the dream so many of us have had - building a dinosaur! With his expertise in molecular biology, we learn if this is even possible, and how exactly it would work. Would we use mosquitoes for this project like Jurassic Park tells us is totally possible and sound? Actually, what even is a dinosaur anyway? Lots of fascinating dino-talk in this one from a great science communicator!

"Building a Dinosaur Is a project spearheaded by the Paleontologist Jack Horner. He has worked with the labs of numerous scientists including but not limited to: Hans Larsson, Dana Rashid, and Mary Schweitzer."

Click on this link for a podcast that presents an in-depth look into evolution and genetics:

Neanderthals: A Fresh Look At Them

"Neanderthals lived hundreds of thousands of years ago, one of the many ancestors of modern humans. The species went extinct about 40,000 years ago, although it continues to live on in the DNA of human beings around the world. 

"Neanderthals have long been thought of as base, unintelligent creatures who dragged their knuckles and wielded clubs. Reddit says otherwise, providing a lot of information to combat this negative view. The subreddit Today I Learned offers some eye-opening facts about Neanderthals, many of which may surprise you."

Click on the link below for an informative video on one of our historical relatives:

Surprising Facts About Neanderthals

Why We Have A Blue Sky

"Today, Earth is enveloped by a thin veil of gas, a narrow band of atmosphere that protects a world covered in lush green vegetation, deep blue oceans, and abundant life. But 4.5 billion years ago, Earth was a very different place: a hellscape of molten lava and barren rock, under relentless bombardment from meteors, and with no atmosphere whatsoever. So how did our familiar blue sky come to be? Breathtakingly realistic animations and a chorus of science experts reveal how the primordial inferno first gave rise to an orange-hued cauldron of toxic gasses that would be deadly to us today. Witness how the first drops of rain splashed down on the searing planet, setting the stage for the evolution of life. And discover how life itself helped create the air we all breathe today."

Click on the link below to better understand the natural history of our planet and how it set the stage for life and its wide variety today:

Ancient Earth: Birth of the Sky

An Interesting Look At Evolution

"A new study challenges the idea that marsupials are more 'primitive' than mammals by showing their development has changed more than mammals since they last shared an ancestor.

"'For a long time, people have treated marsupials as 'lesser mammals,' which represent the intermediate stage between placental mammals and egg-layers,' explains evolutionary biologist Anjali Goswami from the Natural History Museum in the UK.

"'It turns out that marsupials are the ones that are far more evolved from the ancestral form.'"

Click on the link below for the details, which support the randomness of evolution:

Marsupials Are 'Far More Evolved' Than Other Mammals, Even Humans

Evolution Is True (Full-Stop)

"Many of us are returning to work or school after spending time with relatives over the summer period. Sometimes we can be left wondering how on earth we are related to some of these people with whom we seemingly have nothing in common (especially with a particularly annoying relative).

"However, in evolutionary terms, we all share ancestors if we go far enough back in time. This means many features in our bodies stretch back thousands or even millions of years in our great family tree of life.

"In biology, the term "homology" relates to the similarity of a structure based on descent from a shared common ancestor. Think of the similarities of a human hand, a bat wing and a whale flipper. These all have specialist functions, but the underlying body plan of the bones remains the same.

"This differs from "analogous" structures, such as wings in insects and birds. Although they serve a similar function, the wings of a dragonfly and the wings of a parrot have arisen independently, and don't share the same evolutionary origin.

"Here are five examples of ancient traits you might be surprised to learn are still seen in humans today."

Click on this link for all any reasonable person needs to fully accept evolution as a reality.

What Republicans Ignore That's Crucial For Survival

"Cooperation—where individuals work together in order to create a benefit for an entire group—seems at odds with what many people assume are the basic forces of evolution. After all, it’s a jungle out there, only the strongest survive, humans are selfish, etc.

"But most scientists don’t share that view of evolution. 'The role of unbridled violence in evolution is greatly overestimated,” says Danny Grunbaum, an oceanographer at the University of Washington and a pioneer in revealing the ways that ocean life cooperates in order to survive. 'When we see animals like elephant seals fighting with each other—as we do in lots of nature documentaries—we’re really seeing only a very small sliver of time. Much more of the time they’re accommodating each other and respecting where the boundaries are—and that’s cooperation. There is a tremendous amount of cooperation in nature.”

Click on the link below for more:

New research shows how cooperation prevails across the animal kingdom. What can humans learn from other species?

The Water-To-Land "Missing Link"

Most people think of the "Missing Link" as the point where ancient humans evolved from earlier apes. However, a more difficult to find, and perhaps more significant, "Missing Link" may be the transition from water to land-dwelling animals about 150 million years before the dinosaurs. Science labels them and their descendants (including humans) as tetrapods (four legs). Click on the link below for a fascinating look into how our knowledge has expanded over decades in narrowing down the features of our first land-dwelling parents. If you have any doubts about the validity of evolution, this will slap you in the face with the reality of the matter.

In Search Of The Missing Link

"Survival Of The Fittest"

"The phrase “survival of the fittest“, which was coined not by Darwin but by the philosopher Herbert Spencer, is widely misunderstood.

"For starters, there is a lot more to evolution by natural selection than just the survival of the fittest. There must also be a population of replicating entities and variations between them that affect fitness – variation that must be heritable. By itself, survival of the fittest is a dead end. Business people are especially guilty of confusing survival of the fittest with evolution.

"What’s more, although the phrase conjures up an image of a violent struggle for survival, in reality the word 'fittest' seldom means the strongest or the most aggressive. On the contrary, it can mean anything from the best camouflaged or the most fecund to the cleverest or the most cooperative. Forget Rambo, think Einstein or Gandhi."

Click here for more:

Evolution myths: 'Survival of the fittest' justifies 'everyone for themselves'

Intelligent Design Debunked By Proponent

If one is not skilled in science-based thinking, it is easy to be deceived. The anti-evolution crowd continues to promote the unfounded "Intelligent Design" hypothesis as science. Click on the link below for a podcast exposing the false foundation of such:

Theorist Accidentally Produces Evidence Against Intelligent Design

What Is The Most Important Factor In Raising Happy And Successful Children?

One does not have to look very far to see the lengths that parents will go to in an effort to help their children (link). Click on the link below for recent research on the subject:

Teaching Kids Kindness Prepares Them for Success

This is consistent with what we know about the connection between evolution and empathy (link).

The Case FOR And AGAINST Fine Tuning

"Arguments for fine-tuning: Physics has many constants like the charge of the electron, the gravitational constant, Planck’s constant. If any of their values were different, our universe, as we know it, would not be the same, and life would probably not exist."

Click on the link below for one of the best cases for fine-tuning of our reality. The bad news for theists: it's still not enough to put God in the gap of our knowledge.

Is the Universe Fine-Tuned for Life?

Don't look to PragerU for an objective answer

The Gap In Knowledge On Abiogenesis Is Narrowing

"Abiogenesis is the process by which life arises from non-living matter. Though life’s origin is an open question, abiogenesis research is a thriving interdisciplinary enterprise. In spite of this, many apologists have argued that it’s unlikely we will ever have a scientific explanation of abiogenesis. Abiogenesis is so improbable on naturalism, they say, that we should be open to supernatural explanations. I argue that abiogenesis is not improbable on naturalism, and also attempt to unravel the numerous errors creationists make when discussing the origins of life."

Click on the link below for an excellent counter-apologetic to this religious apologists' "God of the Gaps" argument:

Since Matter First Writhed: The Mystery of Abiogenesis 

Religious Intuition: It's Natural

One of the most common apologetics for God and religion is the fact that such is universal in all human societies. Does that support the claim that, therefore, there MUST be a reality of a God behind it? Ah, no. The claim is just another example of the Argument from Ignorance/God of the Gaps. Below are two articles that clearly support the claim that religion and a belief in God are natural and evolved from pre-human animals, God is not necessary:

How and why did religion evolve?

Do humans have a "religious instinct"?

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.

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

Scientific Activity

I have noticed some confusion regarding the activities within science that can foster doubt in the minds of the public regarding its value. I am going to attempt to clarify these activities to promote a better understanding and appreciation of science and to counter pseudoscience in all of its forms.