 |
| Its good to know that christian nationalistic reasoning is still alive and well!! |
Saturday, June 25, 2011
We are growing in number, how about in influence??
Just came across this on Reddit.com, Ill let the article speak for itself. Very interesting though. Do notice, however, that the site it is posted on is based in the UK so obviously it is much more progressive then out own lil country full of political bigotry.... one can dream.....
Sunday, June 12, 2011
monkey to man [in a nutshell]
This a common question I have encountered from time to time while discussing evolution and religion with different people, and when asked it I always feel that the person asking the question asks it as if it is a brick wall and there is nothing I will be able to say to clear the question up. Maybe you yourself have even asked the question or pondered it with in your own mind... so to cut to the chase that all important question that I will attempt to answer here, in a not to lengthy explanation is;
And if you are not overly familiar with human evolution or are a strong believer in religion that can seem like a very powerful question to postulate to an athiest/evolutionist/rational individual, but it is a very easy misconception to clear up.
Q: If we came from monkeys, why are there still monkeys?
The Answer:
First off the correct answer is, we actually did not evolve from monkeys, if you trace back our evolutionary origins we actually stem from the Ape clade. (im not going to spend the time to explain the difference between monkeys and apes other than that monkeys have tails and apes do not)
Ok so we know we did not evolve from monkeys but we did evolve from apes, so if we evolved from apes why are there still apes? Well for one there is not just one species of ape as there is not just one species of monkey, this is already slightly good information allowing us to root the human species with in the ape clade as an evolved species of ape. below is a graphic depicting very basically the evolutionary radiation with in the ape clade. which I will further explain below;
The figure above is what is known as a cladogram also referred to as an evolutionary tree. This tree diagrams the evolutionary history leading to all the extant (living) species of apes. The tree is rooted in deep geologic time on the scale of millions of years, also if you follow the tree you will see that it always branches at the circular nodes. These nodes are key to explaining the reason that if we evolved from apes why are there still apes. These nodes represent what is known as a most common recent ancestor (MCRA).
A MCRA is a species that two separate species both share, the same way two cousins both share a set of grandparents. Over time the grandparents will pass away but both of the lineages will continue one, this is exactly what happened with the evolution of humans. You can see that the node directly below humans branches both to us and off to branch once more with both Chimpanzees and Bonobos and is rooted in geologic time around 6 million years ago (mya). All of us being cousin species. Bonobos and chimps are more closely related to each other then to us but because of the presence of a MCRA located around 3mya we are both more closely related to each other then to any other branch of the great ape clade. Thusly this means that our group as a whole (humans, chimps and bonobos) are all cousins to gorillas since both of our groups share a MCRA which existed around 8 mya, and so on with orangutans being the oldest of all the great apes, having split from out lineage some where around 13 mya.
ok even after reading this you may say, well yea that sounds good and all but how can you prove this to actually be true and not just a bunch of made up babble. Well we can prove this to be true first by basic homologies found though out the species such has the ability or even preference (in humans) to walk up right on two legs the the normal bi-pedal knuckle walking found in most other apes, as well as the main physical clincher, the opposable thumbs which stems from our history of living and moving though the trees. As well as the overwhelming similarities found at the skeletal level best shown in Huxley's 'Evidence for Mans Place in Nature';
All of this, by this point, should be more than enough information to help you or the individual who has raised this question to you understand the full scale of how naive and foolish his or her question truly was, but now they are more knowledgeable and a better person because of it. Every now and then though you will run into one of those hard headed 'god did it' people who will not accept anything you say as true and there is nothing you can really do, but I will offer onc more, and the most compelling, piece of evidence for the case of Homo sapiens evolving from a MCRA shared by chimps. for this part of our explanation we must turn to GENETICS!
As we know genetics and DNA do not lie! so what could this evidence be that is the true nail in to coffin so to speak to this over used creationist question. Well if you look back up towards the top at the picture of the evolutionary tree you can see that it says that all species of ape posses 48 chromosomes or 24 pairs, except for humans who for some reason only posses 46 chromosomes or 23 pairs. Some will say 'HA! see they are different, and we could not be related to Chimps, apes or monkeys!' but here is where you are wrong.
When we look at the chromosomes of both chimp and human they look almost identical
This might not mean a lot if you have never taken much in the field of genetics, but why do humans have only 23 pairs (excluding X and Y) and all other apes have 24 pairs? This answer was finally figured out when we learned about what is known as a dicentric chromosome (or a chromosome that has two centers or centromeres). This may happen by a mutation that would look something like this
(Human Chromosome Map)
And if you are not overly familiar with human evolution or are a strong believer in religion that can seem like a very powerful question to postulate to an athiest/evolutionist/rational individual, but it is a very easy misconception to clear up.
Q: If we came from monkeys, why are there still monkeys?
The Answer:
First off the correct answer is, we actually did not evolve from monkeys, if you trace back our evolutionary origins we actually stem from the Ape clade. (im not going to spend the time to explain the difference between monkeys and apes other than that monkeys have tails and apes do not)
Ok so we know we did not evolve from monkeys but we did evolve from apes, so if we evolved from apes why are there still apes? Well for one there is not just one species of ape as there is not just one species of monkey, this is already slightly good information allowing us to root the human species with in the ape clade as an evolved species of ape. below is a graphic depicting very basically the evolutionary radiation with in the ape clade. which I will further explain below;
 |
The figure above is what is known as a cladogram also referred to as an evolutionary tree. This tree diagrams the evolutionary history leading to all the extant (living) species of apes. The tree is rooted in deep geologic time on the scale of millions of years, also if you follow the tree you will see that it always branches at the circular nodes. These nodes are key to explaining the reason that if we evolved from apes why are there still apes. These nodes represent what is known as a most common recent ancestor (MCRA).
A MCRA is a species that two separate species both share, the same way two cousins both share a set of grandparents. Over time the grandparents will pass away but both of the lineages will continue one, this is exactly what happened with the evolution of humans. You can see that the node directly below humans branches both to us and off to branch once more with both Chimpanzees and Bonobos and is rooted in geologic time around 6 million years ago (mya). All of us being cousin species. Bonobos and chimps are more closely related to each other then to us but because of the presence of a MCRA located around 3mya we are both more closely related to each other then to any other branch of the great ape clade. Thusly this means that our group as a whole (humans, chimps and bonobos) are all cousins to gorillas since both of our groups share a MCRA which existed around 8 mya, and so on with orangutans being the oldest of all the great apes, having split from out lineage some where around 13 mya.
ok even after reading this you may say, well yea that sounds good and all but how can you prove this to actually be true and not just a bunch of made up babble. Well we can prove this to be true first by basic homologies found though out the species such has the ability or even preference (in humans) to walk up right on two legs the the normal bi-pedal knuckle walking found in most other apes, as well as the main physical clincher, the opposable thumbs which stems from our history of living and moving though the trees. As well as the overwhelming similarities found at the skeletal level best shown in Huxley's 'Evidence for Mans Place in Nature';
As we know genetics and DNA do not lie! so what could this evidence be that is the true nail in to coffin so to speak to this over used creationist question. Well if you look back up towards the top at the picture of the evolutionary tree you can see that it says that all species of ape posses 48 chromosomes or 24 pairs, except for humans who for some reason only posses 46 chromosomes or 23 pairs. Some will say 'HA! see they are different, and we could not be related to Chimps, apes or monkeys!' but here is where you are wrong.
When we look at the chromosomes of both chimp and human they look almost identical
 |
| Chimp chromosome map |
 |
| Human Chromosome map |
This might not mean a lot if you have never taken much in the field of genetics, but why do humans have only 23 pairs (excluding X and Y) and all other apes have 24 pairs? This answer was finally figured out when we learned about what is known as a dicentric chromosome (or a chromosome that has two centers or centromeres). This may happen by a mutation that would look something like this
Allowing for the Chromosome to have to separate centromeres and still be viable during both meiosis and mitosis (find out more here). When further studied chromosome 2 looked exactly like two seperate chromosomes found with in the chimps, and other apes, chromosomal map.
To sum this all up based on the evidence (which there is plenty more, most stooped in technical jargon) humans and apes both share a MCRA which gave rise to both lineages roughly 6 mya, one lineage went on to split once more giving rise to the now extant species of Bonobos and Chimpanzees (our closest cousin) while the other lineage during its evolution (human evolution will be its own separate entry) underwent a mutation linking two of its chromosomes together to form our present day chromosome 2 which was beneficial enough to the species that it was engrained into our genetics to keep the mutation eventually leading the evolution of the species Homo sapiens.
So the next time someone asks you, "If we came from monkeys, why are there still monkeys?" make sure they have a few moments to sit down and listen to the evidence.
_________________________________________________________
sources
http://pandasthumb.org/archives/2009/02/the-rise-of-hum.html
Sullivan BA, DJ Wolff, and S Schwartz (1994). Analysis of centromeric activity in Robertsonian translocations: implications for a functional acrocentric hierarchy. Chromosoma 103(7):459-67
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromosome_2_(human)
(Human Chromosome Map)
Monday, May 23, 2011
Get it, use it, trash it!
Ok, so I open my browser today, which is set at natgeo there was an article that caught my attention, it was explaining how new methods of looking at extinction rates are showing us that previous decided rates maybe overestimated by as much as 160% which is beneficial but does not negate the fact that extinction through habitat loss is still occurring in epic proportions around the globe constantly. Eric Dinerstein who was not directly involved in the study puts its best by saying
"If it's a 160 percent overestimate or an 80 percent overestimate or a 20 percent overestimate, [comparing] which model of extinction rates is more accurate isn't the most important question," "The overpowering message is that habitat loss and fragmentation are still the greatest threat to the future of species, and they are only increasing."
Reading this coupled with watching a documentary last night titled 180 Degrees South, a movie about an individual heading down to Patagonia, emulating a famous 1968 video, to climb one of its most remote peaks, also touched on how human growth, even though mostly in large cities, has many tentacles stretching out into all parts of our planet. It showed how due to large amounts of energy use in Chilean cities a new dam is in the works to dam up one of the most wild remote rivera in Chile which will not only kill the entire ecosystem but also put all of the local farmers in ruins.
Really what I am trying to say is that people are so concerned with our throw away style of life. Get it, use it, trash it! But are failing to see the consequences of this and what must be happening for this type of life style to occur. Damming of pristine rivers to make way for hydroelectric dams to create and send electricity to mega-cities hundreds of miles away, polluting oceans with toxic run off from sea floor drilling and creating a trash heap roughly twice the size of Texas in the middle of the Pacific Ocean which has also polluted the northern most islets of Hawaii killing hundreds of birds and fish every year.
All of our actions have a direct effect on the world around us, and we are usually not the ones feeling the direct effect of these actions. Its our planets wild spaces and its inhabitants that are suffering from our energy lust. below are just a few more example of what we are doing to our planet, maybe, just maybe we can all stop and think that maybe there is a better approach. To where we are still able to meet a realistic energy need for the population while at the same time allowing our planet to not suffer.
"If it's a 160 percent overestimate or an 80 percent overestimate or a 20 percent overestimate, [comparing] which model of extinction rates is more accurate isn't the most important question," "The overpowering message is that habitat loss and fragmentation are still the greatest threat to the future of species, and they are only increasing."
Reading this coupled with watching a documentary last night titled 180 Degrees South, a movie about an individual heading down to Patagonia, emulating a famous 1968 video, to climb one of its most remote peaks, also touched on how human growth, even though mostly in large cities, has many tentacles stretching out into all parts of our planet. It showed how due to large amounts of energy use in Chilean cities a new dam is in the works to dam up one of the most wild remote rivera in Chile which will not only kill the entire ecosystem but also put all of the local farmers in ruins.
Really what I am trying to say is that people are so concerned with our throw away style of life. Get it, use it, trash it! But are failing to see the consequences of this and what must be happening for this type of life style to occur. Damming of pristine rivers to make way for hydroelectric dams to create and send electricity to mega-cities hundreds of miles away, polluting oceans with toxic run off from sea floor drilling and creating a trash heap roughly twice the size of Texas in the middle of the Pacific Ocean which has also polluted the northern most islets of Hawaii killing hundreds of birds and fish every year.
All of our actions have a direct effect on the world around us, and we are usually not the ones feeling the direct effect of these actions. Its our planets wild spaces and its inhabitants that are suffering from our energy lust. below are just a few more example of what we are doing to our planet, maybe, just maybe we can all stop and think that maybe there is a better approach. To where we are still able to meet a realistic energy need for the population while at the same time allowing our planet to not suffer.
THINK!
Friday, May 20, 2011
Lets try this...
So im going to give this a shot the whole blog thing, but if you are hoping to be able to read the going-ons in my day to day life please dont bother that is not my intent. If you are interested in that please refer yourself to my Wife's page ( and even then you will be getting minimal amounts of information about me.
My main intent with this in to post information that I find to be interesting, which means it will usually have to do with scientifically related topics and or ones dealing with atheism. In no means am I trying to push a specific agenda on anyone but at the same time I will not be worried about offending anyone based on what I choose to post, this is, indeed, my blog.
so with that I will leave you with a few things I find interesting at the moment just to get things started off.
the CDC has released this article about what do to and how to prepare for the possibility of an impending zombie apocalypse, which could be closer then we all think considering that the world will be ending tomorrow at 6:00pm.
more to come soon...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)