WEIRD SCIENCE NEWS
Weird Science News may be oxymoronic to most. After all, most science is weird to those outside the Ivory Tower. It’s the aim of Weird Science News to change that. In this age of the internet weird science becomes wonderful, hypothesis becomes hope and myth becomes matter-of-fact with just few mouse clicks.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~><((((((((()'>
Survival of the Smartest
Did Darwin Miss Something? 01.24.12
Did Darwin Miss Something? 01.24.12
For
those die-hard Darwinians out there, we present to you the black
marbled jawfish, recently
discovered to be mimicking the color patterns of octopi as a
defense mechanism. NBN thinks that Darwin’s theory of evolution
struggles a bit to explain this little guy. The notion that random
changes in DNA drives the evolution of all animal species from one
works well enough explaining things like the walking
stick, the viceroy
butterfly, and the dying leaf
mimic katydid. You can see how, over a couple million years and a couple million more generations,
happenstance could produce the mind boggling menagerie of genetic mutations
needed to produce these one-of-a-kind insects. But when you throw in comparatively advanced
abilities like vision, hearing, taste and intelligence, random mutation alone is not
enough to explain the wide range of adaptions, like those exhibited by the black marbled jawfish, or the speed at
which we see some adaptations evolve.
Welcome
to the world of ethology--the
examination of the interface between physical and behavioral
diversity as they relate to, among other things, evolution. NBN
relies on a handful of college course in such subjects to produce our
specious scientific supposition for this week: that learning and
other environmental influences can drive adaptive physiological changes at the
cellular level a lot faster than random mutation, a.k.a. Darwin's theory. Said another way, a living organism can perceive changes in the world around it and alter its DNA to better prepare its offspring to take advantage. Justifying this supposition may take a little work, but
here goes. This video shows just how readily an animal’s DNA
changes to take advantage of subtle changes in its surroundings. The
video talks about different populations of the same species of fish
living across from each other on the same river. Despite living
across from each other, these two populations of fish never interact.
Each population was found to have developed changes in their DNA that
reflect adaptations to environmental conditions unique to their side
of the river. This is kind of like discovering people living in
Brooklyn, NY,
have different DNA
than folks from
New Jersey.
More Weird Science News
That may be a bad
example because TV is making it increasingly clear that people from
New Jersey are not
the same species as
the rest of humanity. Still, Darwin’s notion that evolution occurs
solely through random changes in DNA occurring when egg and sperm do
their thing seems incomplete in the face of recent science. NBN
isn’t exactly sure how to fill in these perceived gaps in Darwin's
theory, but consider these two recent articles. This
one talks
about global warming producing a hybrid species of black tipped
shark that can live in both temperate and tropical waters. Then this article says salmon produced in a fish hatchery exhibit reliable changes to their DNA over the course of just one generation.
These are enormous
physiological adaptations over a very short period of time. Not the
sort of thing we can easily attribute to the “random” mutations Darwin
relied on. Could it be that Darwin is only
half-right? Can learning and other, yet-to-be-explained abilities to
perceive environmental changes, be hardwired directly to DNA in order
to speed up evolution when needed? Before you hit the “home” icon
on your Google browser, consider this: The higher the intelligence of an animal, the lower the reproduction rate. Think about it.
Kudzu definitely challenges NBN’s Theory of evolution.
We know we're grossly oversimplifying this subject, but the points raised are valid. Should NBN’s
theory that perception can drive evolution and much faster than previously thought, it could be good news in a
couple of ways. First, let’s take the battle over invasive species.
If species can rapidly evolve to adapt to environmental changes, native plants
and animals might evolve over a relatively short time to keep
invasive plants and animals in check. High speed evolution also
suggests we may not see the mass extinctions resulting from global
warming that many
experts fear. Anyway you look at this, global warming is
clearly going to turn the heat up on evolution science. Darwin’s
theories were formed largely on observations of the most static and
isolated of ecosystems, the Galapagos Islands. You have to wonder
what he’d revise if he could observe the ecological upheaval just
starting to get underway these days.
Please click here to add your two cents. Or two bits.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~><((((((((()'>
Will Dolphins Talk to Humans?
Probably Not Once They Know Us. 09.27.11
Probably Not Once They Know Us. 09.27.11
A NY Times Article out last week asked: How Far Will Dolphins Go to Relate to Humans? Reading this article has NBN asking: How far will humans go to relate to dolphins? The scientist in the article spent the past 25 years trying to answer the first question with help from various charities. Now, in these tough economic times with a Congress suddenly critical of all scientific effort, NBN has to wonder how much longer will this dolphin outreach effort, called the Wild Dolphin Project, last in a country where everybody is broke. Fortunately for the Dolphin Project the U.S. government can’t tell charities what they can do with their money. But two public universities are collaborating with the Dolphin Project. According to the article, the woman leading the Dolphin Project spends the bulk of her day diving in remote parts of the Bahamas videotaping dolphins then analyzing the tape in the confines of her 65-foot research sailboat. All to find a way to communicate with dolphins and to see if dolphins will then want to communicate with humans. NBN can tell from our own experience: dolphins will reach out to humans.
Once, while ladling fish guts into a shark chum slick 40 miles off the coast of Long Island, NBN scientists happened upon an enormous pod of dolphins swimming 50 years off the stern of our 25-foot “research vessel.” The animals took a distinct right turn when they spied us and swam right past our boat. They came within inches of our gunnels and turned sideways to look up at us. There was no mistaking it. The dolphins were checking us out. So why does the project need to spend what must be well over a couple million dollars by now to learn to what extent dolphins will attempt to reach out to us if they have a means of doing so?
Unfortunately, to answer that question NBN can only offer a lot more questions and a few sad scenarios. First, why did we spend $1 trillion over in Iraq, taking the lives of 4,000 U.S. citizens and who knows how many Iraqis along the way? Given what’s happening in the other Middle East countries these days, it’s increasingly clear those 4,000 died, and thousands more were maimed, for little other reason than they were willing to make such sacrifices for such dubious reasons in a world where there’s no shortage of unscrupulous people willing to take advantage of a toxic mix of patriotism and hormonal excess. On the other hand, what benefit will come of finding out that dolphins, if given a means of communication, would reach out to humans? Should we find out what warm, wonderful creatures they really are maybe we can become even more upset over videos of Japanese slaughtering dolphins. It’s hardly likely that we’ll institute more stringent pollutions controls on behalf of dolphins once we find out what great conversationalists they are. That has NBN asking yet another question: Are these equally foolish endeavors? NBN loves science, so you know our answer: We’d love to hear yours.
<')((((((((><~~~~~~~~~~~~~~