On Leave
This will likely be my last post for about 6-7 Weeks. Please forgive my absence but I will continue posting frequently upon my return. Expect my return around the new year. Thanks for viewing my blog.
The Complete Works of Charles Darwin Online
Publication, Manuscripts, Biography, and Credits.
Some PDF's may be over 100MB.
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Download Charles Darwin's Origin of the Species 6th Edition Here in PDF
Some PDF's may be over 100MB.
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Download Charles Darwin's Origin of the Species 6th Edition Here in PDF
'Unicorn' Fly Had Three Eyes on One Horn
An ancient fly sporting a horn on its head topped with three eyes would have easily seen predators coming where it lived in the jungles of what is now Myanmar some 100 million years ago.
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Only Dogma or Ignorance Support Denying Evolution
To write that "There is no scientific evidence for evolution" reveals a willful denial of the mountains, literally and figuratively, of evidence that prove the fact of evolution. To say there is no evidence is absurd.
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How We're Evolving
Our skulls and our genes show that we're still evolving, but not always in the ways you might expect.
For example, the typical human head has actually been getting smaller over the past few thousand years, reversing the earlier evolutionary trend. Meanwhile, East Asians are becoming lighter-skinned - and appear to have more sensitive hearing than their ancestors did 10,000 years ago.
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For example, the typical human head has actually been getting smaller over the past few thousand years, reversing the earlier evolutionary trend. Meanwhile, East Asians are becoming lighter-skinned - and appear to have more sensitive hearing than their ancestors did 10,000 years ago.
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Scientists Watch Evolution Unfold
Charles Darwin's seminal Origin of Species first laid out the case for evolution exactly 150 years ago. Now, MSU professor Richard Lenski and colleagues document the process in their analysis of 40,000 generations of bacteria, published this week in the international science journal Nature.
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How Creationist 'Origin' Distorts Darwin
Unfortunately, it will be hard to thoroughly read the version that Comfort will be distributing on college campuses in November. The copy his publisher sent me is missing no fewer than four crucial chapters, as well as Darwin's introduction. Two of the omitted chapters, Chapters 11 and 12, showcase biogeography, some of Darwin's strongest evidence for evolution.
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How Did Evolution Begin?
Life's ability to replicate itself is essential for evolution, yet even the simplest kind of replication requires a relatively complex system. So what kind of non-replicating system might have served as the predecessor of evolution, paving the way for life as we know it? The answer, according to a recent study, is a kind of "prelife" -- a chemical system that can lead to information and diversity, and that is capable of selection and mutation, but does not yet have the ability to self-replicate.
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You May Be a Natural Born Bad Driver
Next time you get cut off by a another driver, consider giving the offender a break: One-third of Americans might be genetically predisposed to crappy driving.
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Phallus Evolution
My own evolution wanderings have caused me to wonder for a long time about why the human penis is structured the way it is. Why would evolution make the penis have a head on it, with an obvious bulbous, almost ad-on bigger part? Why does it have that extra skin, the foreskin, added to the mix? And, for that matter, why is that skin cut off (I know about the religious part, I just mean how did it really start)? I won't be covering that one.
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| The Colbert Report | Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Richard Dawkins | ||||
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Thanks, But No Thanks, From A Happy Atheist
Thanks, But No Thanks, From A Happy Atheist
Q:What makes the best 'case for God' to a skeptic or non-believer, an open-minded seeker, and to a person of faith and Why?
1) The message of scripture?
2) The scientific evidence for an Intelligent Designer?
3) The 'words' that God has 'spoken' - Torah, Jesus, the Qur'an?
4) A compassionate lifestyle?
5) Personal, subjective experience?
-- Karen Armstrong
None of the above.
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Q:What makes the best 'case for God' to a skeptic or non-believer, an open-minded seeker, and to a person of faith and Why?
1) The message of scripture?
2) The scientific evidence for an Intelligent Designer?
3) The 'words' that God has 'spoken' - Torah, Jesus, the Qur'an?
4) A compassionate lifestyle?
5) Personal, subjective experience?
-- Karen Armstrong
None of the above.
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First Spider Known To Science That Feeds Mainly On Plant Food
There are approximately 40,000 species of spiders in the world, all of which have been thought to be strict predators that feed on insects or other animals. Now, scientists have found that a small Central American jumping spider has a uniquely different diet: the species Bagheera kiplingi feeds predominantly on plant food.
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Crows Can Use 'Up To Three Tools' In Correct Sequence Without Training
New experiments by Oxford University scientists reveal that New Caledonian crows can spontaneously use up to three tools in the correct sequence to achieve a goal, something never before observed in non-human animals without explicit training.
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Holy Text Quote of the Day #22
Yahweh Wrestled with Jacob and Lost
"So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob's hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. Then the man said, "Let me go, for it is daybreak." But Jacob replied, "I will not let you go unless you bless me." The man asked him, "What is your name?" "Jacob," he answered. Then the man said, "Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome."" -Genesis 32:24-28 NIV
"So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob's hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. Then the man said, "Let me go, for it is daybreak." But Jacob replied, "I will not let you go unless you bless me." The man asked him, "What is your name?" "Jacob," he answered. Then the man said, "Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome."" -Genesis 32:24-28 NIV
The Bibles Buried Secrets
This two-hour program is divided into thirteen chapters. Choose any chapter below and select QuickTime or Windows Media Player to begin viewing the video. If you experience difficulty viewing, it may be due to high demand. We regret this and suggest you try back at another time.
Watch the Program
Or visit the site for extra's.
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Watch the Program
Or visit the site for extra's.
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Holy Text Quote of the Day #20
"And I will dash them one against another, even the fathers and the sons together, saith the LORD: I will not pity, nor spare, nor have mercy, but destroy them." -Jeremiah 13:14 KJV
Asia's 5th Specimen of 'Living Fossil' Found
Indonesian fishermen recently caught a coelacanth that was still alive when it was hauled up in their net - the fifth specimen of this "living fossil" fish to be caught in waters off the east coast of this Asian archipelago state.
A local newspaper reported that the specimen, which measured 114cm, was caught on September 16 and collected by a scientist from Indonesia's Sam Ratulangi University for further examination. It died on the way to the university.
Two days previously, Indonesian marine scientists and officials from an aquarium in Japan had photographed another coelacanth in nearby waters - their second sighting in two years in this region.
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A local newspaper reported that the specimen, which measured 114cm, was caught on September 16 and collected by a scientist from Indonesia's Sam Ratulangi University for further examination. It died on the way to the university.
Two days previously, Indonesian marine scientists and officials from an aquarium in Japan had photographed another coelacanth in nearby waters - their second sighting in two years in this region.
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Why Odd Egg-Laying Mammals Still Exist
The reason that odd, egg-laying mammals still exist today may be because their ancestors took to the water, scientists now suggest.
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Did Mankind's Nutrition Suffer in Evolution From Forest to Farm?
Health care as we know it didn't exist 3,000 years ago. But along the Georgia coast, the Pacific Northwest, and coastal Brazil, people grew tall and strong and lived relatively free of disease. They ate game, fish, shellfish and wild plants.
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Evolution Can’t Be Reversed, Research Suggests
In a kind of evolutionary bridge-burning, once a gene has morphed into its current state, the road back gets blocked, new research suggests. So there's no easy way to turn back.
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New Feathered Dinosaur Specimen Strengthens Dino-Bird Link
Non-avian dinosaurs are long extinct, but paleontological thinking about them, especially the dino–bird specimens, clearly continues to evolve long after they are discovered. For instance, the Anchiornis huxleyi, a small, feathered dinosaur, was described last December and assumed to be a transitional species that existed between dinosaurs and birds. But new evidence—and a much better specimen—has revealed that this ambiguous animal actually belongs to the dinosaur clan.
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Mighty T. Rex Killed by Pigeon Parasite?
After surviving countless battles, a giant T. rex was ultimately taken down by a microscopic parasite akin to one carried by modern pigeons, scientists say.
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Oldest Human Skeleton Offers New Clues To Evolution
The oldest-known hominid skeleton was a 4-foot-tall female who walked upright more than 4 million years ago and offers new clues to how humans may have evolved, scientists say.
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Flatfish Support Darwin's Evolutionary Theory, Research Claims
The discovery removes a major argument used by advocates of intelligent design, which suggests that evolution alone cannot account for some of the surprising adaptations found in the natural world.
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Weird, Rare Clouds and the Physics Behind Them
In August, we posted a photograph of some odd, rare clouds known as Morning Glory clouds without providing an explanation for how they form. In response to reader interest, we followed up with meteorologist Roger Smith of the University of Munich, who has studied their formation.
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Hell Planet Where Rock Falls As Rain Found
COROT-7b, an alien planet where a rain of pebbles falls from clouds of rock vapour into lakes of molten lava, has been found by astronomers.
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13 More Things That Don't Make Sense
Strive as we might to make sense of the world, there are mysteries that still confound us.
Michael Brooks presents thirteen of the most perplexing. Cracking any one of them could yield profound truths.
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Michael Brooks presents thirteen of the most perplexing. Cracking any one of them could yield profound truths.
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African Origin Of Anthropoid Primates Called Into Question With New Fossil Discovery
Well-preserved craniodental fossil remains from two primate species have been discovered during excavations at an Algerian site. They reveal that the small primate Algeripithecus, which is 50 million years old and until now was considered as the most ancient African anthropoid, in fact belonged to another group, that of the crown strepsirhines.
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Tiny "T. Rex" Found
Raptorex kriegsteini, described this week in the journal Science, likely lived about 125 million years ago, during the Cretaceous period.
That's almost twice as far back as the mighty Tyrannosaurus rex, which first arose about 85 million years ago, according to study leader Paul Sereno of the University of Chicago.
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That's almost twice as far back as the mighty Tyrannosaurus rex, which first arose about 85 million years ago, according to study leader Paul Sereno of the University of Chicago.
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Researchers Probe Does Prosperity Entail the End of God?
Is religiosity beneficial in affluent first world nations? That is the question addressed by independent researcher Gregory Paul in the current issue of the journal Evolutionary Psychology. In his article, "The Chronic Dependence of Popular Religiosity upon Dysfunctional Psychosociological Conditions," Paul argues that evidence strongly shows that as socioeconomic conditions improve secularism/atheism increases. Paul is a thorough-going progressive who fully endorses the economic security policies found in most western European countries.
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Why People Believe What They Do
University of California, Berkeley, psychologist Tania Lombrozo talks about why people believe what they do, especially regarding evolution or creationism. Author Steve Miller discusses his new book The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Science of Everything. Plus, we'll test your knowledge of some recent science in the news. Web sites related to this episode include psychology.berkeley.edu/faculty/profiles/tlombrozo.html
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Richard Dawkins & Carl Sagan: “Will the Universe Be the New Religion?”
In his classic on the place of planet earth in the universe, Pale Blue Dot, Carl Sagan asked how is it that hardly any major religion has looked at science and said “This is better than we thought. The Universe is much bigger than our prophets said, grander, more subtle, more elegant. Instead they say, ‘No. no. no! My god is a little god, and I want him to stay that way.”
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Dung Beetle Named After Charles Darwin
A tiny dung beetle discovered in a remote mountain rain forest has become the latest part of the 150-year legacy of Charles Darwin's On The Origin Of Species - by being named after the eminent biologist.
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Dawkins: Faith Schools Are Child Abuse
Some faith schools constitute an act of child abuse because of the way they rid children of freedom, Professor Richard Dawkins has said.
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Losing Their Religion: Atheists Deal With Isolation
After graduating from high school, Nan Owens attended a Bible institute with hopes of becoming a missionary. But before she finished seminary, her opinion on religion had changed.
So Owens did what more people find themselves doing - she left the religion of her childhood to join the ranks of the unaffiliated.
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So Owens did what more people find themselves doing - she left the religion of her childhood to join the ranks of the unaffiliated.
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Giant Rats, Tiny Parrots Found in 'Lost World'
An expedition to what's being called a lost world inside an extinct volcano in Papua New Guinea has discovered more than 40 new species, including giant rats, frogs with fangs and a new species of bat.
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Religious Skeptics Believe Their Voices Will Be Heard
City buses in Bloomington and South Bend carry ads telling passengers "You can be good without God."
A billboard going up on Indianapolis' Northside will ask commuters to "Imagine No Religion."
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A billboard going up on Indianapolis' Northside will ask commuters to "Imagine No Religion."
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Swine Flu Insights
Some of the brightest luminaries of our time give in-depth expositions of pandemic swine flu. With the help of Big Think’s pandemics experts, we’ve sorted through the chaos and put together a list of little-known facts about H1N1.
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Man vs. God
We commissioned Karen Armstrong and Richard Dawkins to respond independently to the question "Where does evolution leave God?" Neither knew what the other would say. Here are the results.
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Dawkins Forceful Over Monkey Business
PROFESSOR Richard Dawkins gets a lot of stick. The British evolutionary biologist has been criticised for being "Darwin's Rottweiler", that is, for being hectoring, joyless and "fundamentalist" in the service of the evolutionary cause.
But after reading his latest, The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence For Evolution, I have to admit to some sympathy with his frustration with what he calls "history-deniers", though not always for his tone and style.
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But after reading his latest, The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence For Evolution, I have to admit to some sympathy with his frustration with what he calls "history-deniers", though not always for his tone and style.
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In a Shark’s Tooth, a New Family Tree
“Like a locomotive with a mouth full of butcher knives.”
That is how a shark expert, Matt Hooper, described Carcharodon megalodon to the police chief in Peter Benchley’s novel “Jaws.” He was referring to the 50-foot-long, 50-ton body and enormous six- to seven-inch-long teeth that made the extinct megalodon shark perhaps the most awesome predator that has ever roamed the seas.
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That is how a shark expert, Matt Hooper, described Carcharodon megalodon to the police chief in Peter Benchley’s novel “Jaws.” He was referring to the 50-foot-long, 50-ton body and enormous six- to seven-inch-long teeth that made the extinct megalodon shark perhaps the most awesome predator that has ever roamed the seas.
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Where Did All the Flowers Come From?
Throughout his life, Charles Darwin surrounded himself with flowers. When he was 10, he wrote down each time a peony bloomed in his father’s garden. When he bought a house to raise his own family, he turned the grounds into a botanical field station where he experimented on flowers until his death. But despite his intimate familiarity with flowers, Darwin once wrote that their evolution was “an abominable mystery.”
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Holy Text Quote of the Day #19
"Think not that I[Jesus] am come to send peace on earth: I[Jesus] came not to send peace, but a sword." -Matthew 10:34 KJV
Which Genes Make Us Human?
Researchers have identified three genes that appear to have been activated in humans alone, adapted from DNA that serves no function in other species.
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Wolves Beat Dogs on Logic Test
Wolves do better on some tests of logic than dogs, a new study found, revealing differences between the animals that scientists suspect result from dogs' domestication.
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Greatest Show on Earth
Richard Dawkins, Darwin's latter-day pit-bull, has a missing link. Or, rather, had. With the publication of his tenth book, The Greatest Show on Earth, Dawkins finally gets around to filling a conspicuous void in an evolutionary oeuvre that spans nearly forty years. As Dawkins himself explains, all his previous books primarily deal with the power of natural selection and simply assume that evolution has happened. Dawkins outlines the goal for his latest tome in the introduction: "Evolution is a fact, and this book will demonstrate it. No reputable scientist disputes it, and no unbiased reader will close the book doubting it." That ostentatious declaration sets the bar high, but by the final flowery chapter, after over 400 pages of dramatic evidence, it is apparent that the author has successfully cleared the hurdle.
Review
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Ancient 'Smell of Death' Revealed
When animals die, their corpses exude a particular "stench of death" which repels their living relatives, scientists have discovered.
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Friendly Viruses Aided Human Evolution
Humans and viruses enjoy a symbiotic relationship, one that has had a crucial effect on our evolution and may hold the key to future medical advances, writer Frank Ryan tells JOHN HOLDEN.
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A Boy For Every Girl?
In a perfect world, for every boy there would of course be a girl, but a new study shows that actual sex ratios can sometimes sway very far from that ideal. In fact, the male-to-female ratio of one tropical butterfly has shifted rapidly over time and space, driven by a parasite that specifically kills males of the species, reveals a report published online on September 10th in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication.
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High Rates of Human Infertility May Have Evolutionary Cause
About 10 percent of couples hoping for a baby have fertility problems.
Is pollution to blame? Stress? Eating habits?
Biologist Oren Hasson of Tel Aviv University thinks it’s evolution, baby.
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Is pollution to blame? Stress? Eating habits?
Biologist Oren Hasson of Tel Aviv University thinks it’s evolution, baby.
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The Real Cause of Obesity
As nutrition has improved over the past 200 years, Americans have gotten much taller on average, but it is still the genes that determine who is tall or short today. The same is true for weight. Although our high-calorie, sedentary lifestyle contributes to the approximately 10-pound average weight gain of Americans compared to the recent past, some people are more severely affected by this lifestyle than others. That's because they have inherited genes that increase their predisposition for accumulating body fat.
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