Natural Science Forum / Biology / Evolution / November 2006

http://www.broadviewpress.com/tales/emperorsclothes.htm
Very, very recently there was a Evolutionary Theory Professor who was so
terribly fond of a new and beautiful gene centric theory of evolution that
he spent all his time on it. He did not care about biology so such, or

Anyone wanting to see natural selection in action exemplified by an arms
race between parasite and host can find it by using a Bayesian spam
filter. The latest parasite's adaptation I've come across is the
inclusion of large amounts of technical text taken from free software

Source: University of Bath
Date: November 13, 2006
More on: Fertility, Pregnancy and Childbirth, Prostate Cancer,
Biology, Stem Cells, Dolphins and Whales

``Humans show major DNA differences
  Scientists have shown that our genetic code varies between
individuals
  far more than was previously thought.''

Public release date: 18-Feb-2006
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Contact: Stephen Cunnane
stephen.cunnane@usherbrooke.ca

This study is worth reading IMO.
http://www.astrobio.net/news/article876.html

Evolution's Slow Recovery
By: Stephen Hart
The biosphere bounces back from mass extinctions with the origin of new
species.

Does anyone know why the spinal is crossed to the brain, why we have
reversed functions (left brain controls right side etc)? Is there an
evolutionary explanation that anyone knows of?

Origin Of Life: The Search For The First Genetic Material
How did life originate on Earth? Until now, there have only been theories to
answer this question. One of the fundamental steps leading to living
organisms is the development of molecules that can replicate and multiply

See, for example,
<http://www.okc.cc.ok.us/biologylabs/Documents/Evolution%20Tutorial/Adaptation.htm>.
At the bottom-right is a picture of an organism that looks just like a
leaf.  My question is:  How might this have happened?

Unlike Darnovsky I'm not opposed to scientific and technological
advances in human genetic engineering but I think some of her arguments
against it are have some merit. She cites Lee Silver's vision which is
based on the free market forces of capitalism. I would rather see a

Review
Nature Reviews Genetics 7, 9-20 (January 2006) | doi:10.1038/nrg1747
The eloquent ape: genes, brains and the evolution of language
Simon E. Fisher1 and Gary F. Marcus2  About the authors

I know the definition of a phenotype, the expression of the genotype.
However, I read at one look dictionary (an excellent resource) that
what an organism looks like as a consequence of its genotype; two
organisms with the same phenotype can have different genotypes. This

Note: Generally speaking I have never liked dogs; they sniff your butt,
hump your leg, piss on the carpet, smell bad, chew up wooden flutes and
seem a more neurotic and aggressive species than say cats. However,
having mentioned some of these things they do indeed share

It's often said that belief in supernatural agents such as those found
in the religions of the world is not a direct adaptation but a
*side-effect* of the way our minds work.
But what exactly is a side-effect of evolution?  Richard Dawkins in his