Cool Science

[Shadow]

Building blocks of life found around newborn star
Evolution at work
Hampsters in a centrifuge

[Gen. Volkov]

First two: Cool stuff. Last one: Hilarious.

[Shadow]

On the topic of cool things that will probably never be used directly for practical purposes:

Water droplets used for computing
Why make robots when you can mind control cockroaches?

[Shadow]

Modern human evolution

This is interesting, as I would have been one of the ones to say that evolution is having little effect on contemporary humans, what with medical science being so good at keeping most people healthy long enough to have babies.

Actually, I suppose I would have said that evolution still has an effect, but a degenerative one, given that there is a negative correlation between education/intelligence and reproduction rates in developed populations. Which is sort of the point they make at the end:

This discovery challenges another fundamental myth: evolutionary change necessarily benefits the species. In fact, evolution simply increases the average individual's reproductive success – with potentially damaging demographic consequences. So, while contemporary evolution is occurring, adaptation may not always lead to a better life.

[Gen. Volkov]

The cockroach thing is old, I've seen an article about it before. Still cool though.

With regards to the human evolution thing:

"In a recent study, research psychologist Markus Jokela and his colleagues took this link further, connecting LRS to personality."

That right there should give you a hint that something is bogus.

I'm not buying the argument that meaningful evolutionary change is occurring in the human population at large. Genetic drift or other evolutionary forces may be acting in the short term, at the local level, but in the timescales required for changes large enough to create even a subspecies of human, all the minor changes are getting zero'd out. The overall human population is too large, too mobile, and too insulated from nature for any of the micro-evolutionary forces to have an effect. The last major genetic change in humans occurred about 10,000 years ago, right at the dawn of agriculture. That was the allele for the hair color gene that gives blond hair and blue eyes.

[Shadow]

You don't think that keeping literally everyone alive to reproduce is going to have a negative effect on humanity at large? It won't give rise to any sub species because it is not really directed, but on a micro scale, it will mean proliferation of all sorts of genetic disorders that would otherwise die out on their own, as a start.

Not to say that I advocate for anything like euthanasia, but I don't think we can say that removing ourselves from the influences of natural selection is going to stop all evolution.

[Gen. Volkov]

No, not really shadow. Genetic disorders and the like are pretty rare, they are going to be swamped under the vast numbers of humans without genetic disorders. When everyone lives, evolution has nothing to act on. About the only thing I can see that might be an opportunity for evolution to act would be human mate-selection patterns. Humans are pretty choosy about who they reproduce with, and while the folks with genetic disorders may live, most of them will probably never reproduce. So the genetic disorders might still die out, because the carriers didn't reproduce. Then again, there are a lot of really ugly people with really low standards.

Anyway, I'm not saying humans will never evolve again, but certainly for right now, and probably for a goodly chunk of the last 10,000 years, humans have stopped evolving.

[Shadow]

This is why stem cell research is a necessity

[Gen. Volkov]

Very cool stuff.

[Shadow]

Best headline ever. (Alternatively titled "How would you ever get funding for this?").

[Gen. Volkov]

Funding proposal: "Alternative energy sources including biolelectric energy for use in small electronics", instead of "Using cyborg lobsters to power a digital watch"

[Raggon]

In light of these new results about evolution, I can't help pointing out that, finally, that evolution has been in the news recently for another reason. Several U.S. politicians, some campaigning for President, have been attacking evolution, saying that it has "got some gaps in it" and even supporting the teaching of creationism. Scientific facts aren't affected by political statements, of course, but the future of the U.S. is. Politicians who attack evolution, whether from ignorance or from some political or religious agenda, only hurt our future potential as a technology leader. I can only hope that the public won't support these anti-science positions.

Totally unbiased

[Gen. Volkov]

Who what huh?

[windhound]

http://www.ted.com/talks/jack_horner_building_a_dinosaur_from_a_chicken.html

Chickenosaurus!

[Gen. Volkov]

Wow... Jack got old. I remember watching dino shows when I was a kid, and he was on them all the time.

Also... I want one.