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Thread: The Evolution Thread

  1. #61
    Sam the Sheepdog LA Ute's Avatar
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    "Humans May be the First Generation of Advanced Life in the Milky Way"




    “Columbus forced everyone to rethink, redesign and rebuild their world view.That’s what we’re doing here," says Dimitar Sasselov, professor of astrophysics and director of Harvard University’s Origins of Life Initiative. "To put it in 15th-century terms, we’ve reached the Canary Islands. Getting to where we ultimately want to go is a slow process that involves astronomers, aeronautical engineers, biochemists, anthropologists and businessmen."




    “It’s feasible that we’ll meet other sentient life forms and conduct commerce with them,” Sasselov said. “We don’t now have the technology to physically travel outside our solar system for such an exchange to take place, but we are like Columbus centuries ago, learning fast how to get somewhere few think possible.”

    ...

    Though it may be hard to think of it this way, at roughly 14 billion years old, the universe is quite young, he said. The heavy elements that make up planets like Earth were not available in the early universe; instead, they are formed by the stars. Enough of these materials were available to begin forming rocky planets like Earth just 7 billion or 8 billion years ago. When one considers that it took nearly 4 billion years for intelligent life to evolve on Earth, it would perhaps not be surprising if intelligence is still rare....

    "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
    --Antoine de Saint-Exupery

    "Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
    --Yeats

    “True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”

    --John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell

  2. #62
    Quote Originally Posted by SeattleUte View Post
    Let's not forget that science must mean more than a head fake by God. It certainly has dear consequences to us humans actually here on earth, coping with the problem of evil and suffering, etc. By way of example, we can thank science that in our country infant mortality is almost eradicated. We can thank science that this winter's flu epidemic didn't kill hundreds of thousands of people. Some here have compared the Civil War to the WWII Eastern Front, but actually the majority of deaths occurred from illness. Many lives could have been saved with more science; for one thing, surgeons would not have repeatedly used the same uncleaned and unsterilzed saw to ampututate over and over again. No wonder more and more people look for truth in science not religion.

    However, there would be no science had Spinoza and those he influenced such as David Hume not liberated us from regarding the Bible as the source of all truth. Angels and resurrection had to be recognized as our myths akin to the Iliad before science became possible. That was the chronology.
    I'm not quite sure what your point here is. No one here has said that we as a people shouldn't be aggressively seeking scientific advances, even where the scientific theories may appear to conflict with long-held religious beliefs. I also think that your statement that but for Hume, Spinoza, and their ilk scientific advancement would have ground to a halt is a red herring, but again I don't think there's anyone here who's opposed to what they accomplished.

  3. #63
    Quote Originally Posted by DanielLaRusso View Post
    Multiquote is in the bottom right corner of a message, just click it on all the messages you want to quote. I know you didn't ask, but I sensed you needed the assistance.

    appropo of nothing except your avatar, I saw an article the other day that said that Ralph Macheo is now the same age as Pat Morita in the first Karate Kid.

  4. #64
    Sam the Sheepdog LA Ute's Avatar
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    Arrow

    Study: If aliens exist, they probably want to destroy us

    When considering the prospect of alien life, humankind should prepare for the worst, according to a new study: Either we're alone, or any aliens out there are acquisitive and resource-hungry, just like us.


    These two unpalatable options are pretty much the only possibilities, according to the new study. That's because evolution is predictable, and alien biospheres should thus produce intelligent creatures much like us, with technological prowess and an ever-increasing need for resources.

    But the fact that we haven't run across E.T. yet argues strongly for the latter possibility — that we are alone in the universe's howling void, the study suggests.

    "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
    --Antoine de Saint-Exupery

    "Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
    --Yeats

    “True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”

    --John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell

  5. #65
    You would think that the universe is so vast, and expanding so rapidly, and the length of time needed to evolve into advanced life forms so long, that the odds of humans ever being able to reach out to other advanced life forms is infinitismal. For all practical purposes, we are alone.
    Last edited by concerned; 03-07-2013 at 01:15 PM.

  6. #66
    Quote Originally Posted by concerned View Post
    You would think that the universe is so vast, and expanding so rapidly, and the length of time needed to evolve into advanced life forms so long, that the odds of humans ever being able to reach out to other advanced life forms is infitismal. For all practical purposes, we are alone.
    I think there may be something to this. Even if we had the technology to go to places which look promising for life, it would be like looking at each of the sands on the beach one by one. That may one day happen, but it is a practical impediment. It may be an impediment to another advanced species having found us.
    “The world is so exquisite with so much love and moral depth, that there is no reason to deceive ourselves with pretty stories for which there's little good evidence. Far better it seems to me, in our vulnerability, is to look death in the eye and to be grateful every day for the brief but magnificent opportunity that life provides.”
    Carl Sagan

  7. #67
    Sam the Sheepdog LA Ute's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by concerned View Post
    You would think that the universe is so vast, and expanding so rapidly, and the length of time needed to evolve into advanced life forms so long, that the odds of humans ever being able to reach out to other advanced life forms is infitismal. For all practical purposes, we are alone.
    Well, if that study is right, our being along is a good thing.

    MarsAttacks-2.jpg

    "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
    --Antoine de Saint-Exupery

    "Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
    --Yeats

    “True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”

    --John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell

  8. #68
    Quote Originally Posted by Scratch View Post
    I'm not quite sure what your point here is. No one here has said that we as a people shouldn't be aggressively seeking scientific advances, even where the scientific theories may appear to conflict with long-held religious beliefs. I also think that your statement that but for Hume, Spinoza, and their ilk scientific advancement would have ground to a halt is a red herring, but again I don't think there's anyone here who's opposed to what they accomplished.
    I have made a couple of points. First, in response to your post that anything is possible, even a magical God, I simply noted that we should not be too quick to dismiss that science is our reliable guide or means to truth. But I recognize I lack the spirit.

    Second, I was responding to the suggestion that science and religion have sung from the same sheet of music, and that religion has not impeded the advent of science or the scientific revolution.

    Secular dogmas as well are at war with science. Did anyone this morning hear on NPR the liberal diatribes against genetically engineered food (in this instance specifically "golden rice")? Supposedly geneticall engineered foods are all about enriching multi-national corporations. The evidence shows that genetically engineered foods have saved more lives than any other scientific advances, including the polio vaccine, whatever.
    One thing I have learned in a long life: that all our science, measured against reality, is primitive and childlike -- and yet it is the most precious thing we have.

    --Albert Einstein

    The fact that life evolved out of nearly nothing, some 10 billion years after the universe evolved out of literally nothing, is a fact so staggering that I would be mad to attempt words to do it justice.

    --Richard Dawkins

    Be kind to all, for everyone you meet is fighting a great battle.

    --Philo

  9. #69
    Quote Originally Posted by sancho View Post
    Lowell Bennion taught that there are four means to truth: science, religion/spirituality, philosophy, and art. There are strengths/weaknesses to using each as a "reliable guide." Sometimes all four are on the same page, sometimes not.
    I can't argue with that. I think it depends on what kind of truth you're after, and it's case specific. Your studies of the histories and the humanities may even enlighten you as to the importance of stories to societies --this may be mystery and magic enough -- and put their historicity in context.
    Last edited by SeattleUte; 03-07-2013 at 11:25 AM.
    One thing I have learned in a long life: that all our science, measured against reality, is primitive and childlike -- and yet it is the most precious thing we have.

    --Albert Einstein

    The fact that life evolved out of nearly nothing, some 10 billion years after the universe evolved out of literally nothing, is a fact so staggering that I would be mad to attempt words to do it justice.

    --Richard Dawkins

    Be kind to all, for everyone you meet is fighting a great battle.

    --Philo

  10. #70
    Quote Originally Posted by concerned View Post
    You would think that the universe is so vast, and expanding so rapidly, and the length of time needed to evolve into advanced life forms so long, that the odds of humans ever being able to reach out to other advanced life forms is infitismal. For all practical purposes, we are alone.
    If you look at the extremely small window of time wherein we humans have made an appreciable dent in our local environment which could be viewed from a distance, there is essentially less than a needle in a haystack chance that any intelligent life could ever discover us. And then there is an infinitesimally smaller chance they could contact us after discovering us. As far as we know there is no intelligent life within at least a few tens of thousands to a few hundred thousand light years away, and perhaps even farther.

    There may well be life within a few million light years of earth by the time our 'noise' reaches them, but at that point what will life on earth be like?

    Modern humans have only been around for the last 150k to 400k years. In the far more recent past (20k to 50k years) we coexisted with several 'cousin' species - homo neanderthalensis and homo denisovans, and until 10k years ago we coexisted with homo floresiensis (the 'Hobbit People' because they were about 3' tall, were discovered in 2003).

    Some intelligent being on a planet located at the center of the Milky Way galaxy looking at Earth today through a telescope would see at least 4 species of 'humans' populating the planet. All would share a common ancestor, perhaps use simple tools, have evidence of some ritualistic religion (or at least have burial rituals), and would possess a capacity for logic and reason that would set them ahead of all other animals on the planet.

    A sentient being from the nearest adjacent (non-dwarf) galaxy observing us today, however, would see an australopithecus hominid who had only (relatively) recently diverged from the chimpanzees and gorillas. He would witness the rise of the homo genus around 2 million years from now, and would see our currently 'modern' world a few million years later.
    Last edited by NorthwestUteFan; 03-07-2013 at 12:35 PM.

  11. #71
    Sam the Sheepdog LA Ute's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by sancho View Post
    Lowell Bennion taught that there are four means to truth: science, religion/spirituality, philosophy, and art. There are strengths/weaknesses to using each as a "reliable guide." Sometimes all four are on the same page, sometimes not.
    Good man. I was named after him.

    "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
    --Antoine de Saint-Exupery

    "Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
    --Yeats

    “True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”

    --John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell

  12. #72
    Educating Cyrus wuapinmon's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by LA Ute View Post
    On an individual level, it's awful.

    As for the Garden of Eden, a really smart person once told me that we humans exist in narratives, and in order for the temple ceremony to convey spiritual insights, it needed a narrative to imbue it with purpose and meaning beyond perfunctory ordinances. Imagine if we had to get baptized "cause."

    As for evolution, it is undeniable, not a theory. The door handles in the French Quarter on the old buildings are uncomfortably low by modern standards. While that might be a result of proper nutrition fulfilling genetics, bacterial resistance to antibiotics provides me with all of the proof that I'll ever need that creatures evolve. Whether there is a God (like I hope there is), or there isn't, doesn't matter to me with regard to evolution. If there isn't one, duh. If there is, maybe Adam was the first creature to evolve the capacity to reason and understand transgression.

    Also, in the myth, Adam and Eve at a banana, not an apple.

  13. #73
    Quote Originally Posted by wuapinmon View Post
    Also, in the myth, Adam and Eve at a banana, not an apple.
    A banana you say? You mean, like the atheist's nightmare?


  14. #74
    Hadrian, I love your campus construction updates. I love that stuff. universities measure the size of their phalluses by how many cranes are in the sky.
    One thing I have learned in a long life: that all our science, measured against reality, is primitive and childlike -- and yet it is the most precious thing we have.

    --Albert Einstein

    The fact that life evolved out of nearly nothing, some 10 billion years after the universe evolved out of literally nothing, is a fact so staggering that I would be mad to attempt words to do it justice.

    --Richard Dawkins

    Be kind to all, for everyone you meet is fighting a great battle.

    --Philo

  15. #75
    Educating Cyrus wuapinmon's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Hadrian View Post
    A banana you say? You mean, like the atheist's nightmare?

    No, not at all like that. The banana is no one's nightmare for the only time a banana can cause sadness is by its absence. Its presence is sublime, sweet, enriching, never meretricious--in short, indescribably amazing. One never knows how awful life or fruit salad is until there's no banana in it. Everyone loves bananas, save Jimmy hats and assholes who say they bruise too easily.

  16. #76
    Quote Originally Posted by Hadrian View Post
    A banana you say? You mean, like the atheist's nightmare?

    that is awesome! This feels desperate.

  17. #77
    Quote Originally Posted by wuapinmon View Post
    No, not at all like that. The banana is no one's nightmare for the only time a banana can cause sadness is by its absence. Its presence is sublime, sweet, enriching, never meretricious--in short, indescribably amazing. One never knows how awful life or fruit salad is until there's no banana in it. Everyone loves bananas, save Jimmy hats and assholes who say they bruise too easily.
    Hadrian didn't know the danger of talking about bananas when you are around, wuap.

  18. #78
    Educating Cyrus wuapinmon's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by OrangeUte View Post
    Hadrian didn't know the danger of talking about bananas when you are around, wuap.
    Danger? I believe you mean educative and aesthetic pleasure.


  19. #79
    Quote Originally Posted by SavaUte View Post
    Its interesting the infallable science chosen is gravity, since we had that wrong for so long in our Newtonian thinking. We didn't actually understand(ish) gravity until Einstein, and we only think we understand it now, but there is a reason its still called the theory of relativity.

    Science changes constantly. How long ago was it that we thought you could stand on those machines that jiggle your gut with a strap and lose belly fat? 50 years? Now we're positive we know how how the universe was created and how life has evolved? OK

    I'm probably not going to reply to whoever replies to me, because I don't like arguing on the internet. Sorry

    Sorry, but I am pretty sure science didn't believe this. With this logic, I can see why you don't like arguing on the internet. Plus your statement about Newtonian thinking and Einstein's work gives the impression that Einstein totally invalidated Newton's work, which is incorrect. Einstein built upon, modified, and improved on the works of Newton.

    Discussion of gravity and evolution lands right in the wheelhouse of one of the most misunderstood/misused concepts in science. That is the concepts of scientific laws and scientific theory. Most people work under the assumption that theories are tested and tested and eventually "grow" into a law. This is just incorrect.

    A Law is an observable fact. Gravity is a law. It is a law because the same result happens every single time. E.G. the ball falls to the floor every single time at the exact same speed/acceleration, etc.

    Theory is an attempt to explain a law or an observable fact. Despite rigorous testing, theories are not "proven". Even when an experiment that supports the theory, all you can really say is that based on the parameters and design of the study, the theory appears valid. But you have to always concede that there may be a better explanation that has not been considered that would explain the observable law/facts.

    Evolution is an observable law. It is observable in the fossil record, genetics, and phenotypic expression of those genes. The real questions are asked about the mechanics.

    When dealing with the natural world, science and religion are really asking two different questions about the same observations. Science asks "how" while religion is asking the question "why". Apply this to the discussion of the origin of Homo sapien. Much confusion and conflict occurs when people try to use one modality to ask the question that the other is best suited to answer.
    “Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.”
    André Gide

  20. #80
    Quote Originally Posted by Jarid in Cedar View Post
    Sorry, but I am pretty sure science didn't believe this. With this logic, I can see why you don't like arguing on the internet. Plus your statement about Newtonian thinking and Einstein's work gives the impression that Einstein totally invalidated Newton's work, which is incorrect. Einstein built upon, modified, and improved on the works of Newton.

    Discussion of gravity and evolution lands right in the wheelhouse of one of the most misunderstood/misused concepts in science. That is the concepts of scientific laws and scientific theory. Most people work under the assumption that theories are tested and tested and eventually "grow" into a law. This is just incorrect.

    A Law is an observable fact. Gravity is a law. It is a law because the same result happens every single time. E.G. the ball falls to the floor every single time at the exact same speed/acceleration, etc.

    Theory is an attempt to explain a law or an observable fact. Despite rigorous testing, theories are not "proven". Even when an experiment that supports the theory, all you can really say is that based on the parameters and design of the study, the theory appears valid. But you have to always concede that there may be a better explanation that has not been considered that would explain the observable law/facts.

    Evolution is an observable law. It is observable in the fossil record, genetics, and phenotypic expression of those genes. The real questions are asked about the mechanics.

    When dealing with the natural world, science and religion are really asking two different questions about the same observations. Science asks "how" while religion is asking the question "why". Apply this to the discussion of the origin of Homo sapien. Much confusion and conflict occurs when people try to use one modality to ask the question that the other is best suited to answer.
    I think evolution might have fairly been characterized as a theory when Darwin wrote the origin of species.

    I'm always surprised to see the criticism that science changes. That is what makes it science. Otherwise it would be religion or dogma. Regardless, I don't foresee science veering toward biblical creationism.
    One thing I have learned in a long life: that all our science, measured against reality, is primitive and childlike -- and yet it is the most precious thing we have.

    --Albert Einstein

    The fact that life evolved out of nearly nothing, some 10 billion years after the universe evolved out of literally nothing, is a fact so staggering that I would be mad to attempt words to do it justice.

    --Richard Dawkins

    Be kind to all, for everyone you meet is fighting a great battle.

    --Philo

  21. #81
    Quote Originally Posted by SeattleUte View Post
    I think evolution might have fairly been characterized as a theory when Darwin wrote the origin of species.

    I'm always surprised to see the criticism that science changes. That is what makes it science. Otherwise it would be religion or dogma. Regardless, I don't foresee science veering toward biblical creationism.
    Science has its own dogmas, particularly in medical science. But they are eventually overwhelmed by evidence and data. Change and progress are good things.
    “Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.”
    André Gide

  22. #82
    Sam the Sheepdog LA Ute's Avatar
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    Ancient High Arctic camel is ancestor of modern breed, offers climate change clues

    Ancient, mummified camel bones dug from the tundra confirm that the animals now synonymous with the arid sands of Arabia actually developed in subfreezing forests in what is now Canada's High Arctic, a scientist said Tuesday.

    About 3.5 million years ago, Strathcona Fiord on Ellesmere Island's west-central coast would have looked more like a northern forest than an Arctic landscape, said paleobotanist Natalia Rybczynski of the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa.


    "Larch-dominated, lots of wetlands, peat," said Rybczynski, lead author of a study published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications. Nearby fossil sites have yielded evidence of ancient bears, horses, deer, badgers and frogs. The average yearly temperature would have been about 0 Celsius (32 Fahrenheit).


    "If you were standing in it and watching the camel, it would have the feel of a boreal-type forest."
    I am enjoying this thread. Thanks for everyone's contributions.

    "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
    --Antoine de Saint-Exupery

    "Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
    --Yeats

    “True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”

    --John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell

  23. #83
    Sam the Sheepdog LA Ute's Avatar
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    As one who recognizes that evolution is a fact, I'm curious about the impact human intelligence has on that process. This report about a potential advance in "brain plasticity" is interesting in that regard. Homo sapiens, unlike other animals, can consciously alter his chances for survival and improvement. (He can also consciously sabotage them.) I'm wondering what thoughts anyone has on this?

    Researchers find molecular switch to make old brains young again


    It’s no secret that juvenile brains are more malleable and able to learn new things faster than adult ones – just ask any adult who has tried to learn a new language. That malleability also enables younger brains to recover more quickly from trauma. Researchers at Yale University have now found a way to effectively turn back the clock and make an old brain young again.

    As we enter adulthood, our brains become more stable and rigid when compared to that of an adolescent. This is partially due to the triggering of a single gene that slows the rapid change in synaptic connections between neurons, thereby suppressing the high levels of plasticity of an adolescent brain. By monitoring the synapses of living mice for a period of months, the Yale researchers were able to identify the Nogo Receptor 1 gene as the key genetic switch responsible for brain maturation.

    They found that mice without this gene retained juvenile levels of brain plasticity throughout adulthood and by blocking the function of this gene in old mice, the researchers were able to reset the old brain to adolescent levels of plasticity. This allowed adult mice lacking the Nogo Receptor to recover from brain injury as quickly as adolescent mice, and also saw them master new, complex motor tasks faster than adult mice with the receptor.

    "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
    --Antoine de Saint-Exupery

    "Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
    --Yeats

    “True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”

    --John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell

  24. #84
    I think this thread should be merged with the evolution thread.

    http://www.utahby5.com/showthread.ph...ertainly-False
    One thing I have learned in a long life: that all our science, measured against reality, is primitive and childlike -- and yet it is the most precious thing we have.

    --Albert Einstein

    The fact that life evolved out of nearly nothing, some 10 billion years after the universe evolved out of literally nothing, is a fact so staggering that I would be mad to attempt words to do it justice.

    --Richard Dawkins

    Be kind to all, for everyone you meet is fighting a great battle.

    --Philo

  25. #85
    Quote Originally Posted by SeattleUte View Post
    I think this thread should be merged with the evolution thread.

    http://www.utahby5.com/showthread.ph...ertainly-False
    Agreed and done.
    “Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.”
    André Gide

  26. #86
    One thing that fascinated me is witnessing the decrease in complexity of animals and plants as we march backward through the geological time scale. The relative complexity and diversity of individuals through the last several hundred million years is astonishing. But as we approach a few billion years in the past we see the descent from large, highly complex organisms, to smaller complex organisms, to simple vertebrates, to invertebrates, to complex multicellular, to simple multicellulars, and finally to simple single-celled organisms. Step-wise the evolution appears fairly linear but by time scale it is almost exponential.

    The time step from single-celled organisms to multi-celled organisms took approximately ONE BILLION years. The level of complexity to jump from a single-cellular to a multi-cellular organism isn't particularly large, but it required a huge revolution in DNA coding.
    Last edited by NorthwestUteFan; 03-09-2013 at 04:43 PM.

  27. #87
    Sam the Sheepdog LA Ute's Avatar
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    Astrobiologists discover fossils in meteorite fragments, confirming extraterrestrial life

    Researchers in the United Kingdom have found algae-like fossils in meteorite fragments that landed in Sri Lanka last year. This is the strongest evidence yet of cometary panspermia — that life on Earth began when a meteorite containing simple organisms landed here, billions of years ago — and, perhaps more importantly, that there’s life elsewhere in the universe.
    I understand that similar reports in the past have been inconclusive, so we'll see.

    "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
    --Antoine de Saint-Exupery

    "Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
    --Yeats

    “True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”

    --John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell

  28. #88
    Quote Originally Posted by LA Ute View Post
    Astrobiologists discover fossils in meteorite fragments, confirming extraterrestrial life


    I understand that similar reports in the past have been inconclusive, so we'll see.
    I always dread your posts in this thread.
    One thing I have learned in a long life: that all our science, measured against reality, is primitive and childlike -- and yet it is the most precious thing we have.

    --Albert Einstein

    The fact that life evolved out of nearly nothing, some 10 billion years after the universe evolved out of literally nothing, is a fact so staggering that I would be mad to attempt words to do it justice.

    --Richard Dawkins

    Be kind to all, for everyone you meet is fighting a great battle.

    --Philo

  29. #89
    Sam the Sheepdog LA Ute's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by SeattleUte View Post
    I always dread your posts in this thread.
    Fear not. My only agenda is to post interesting stuff.

    "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
    --Antoine de Saint-Exupery

    "Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
    --Yeats

    “True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”

    --John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell

  30. #90
    Sam the Sheepdog LA Ute's Avatar
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    Feb 2013
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    Los Angeles, California
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    Did a comet kill the dinosaurs? New data seems to suggest that one did.

    Some 66 million years ago, a giant space object of some kind slammed into Earth right around the Yucatan peninsula. The resultant explosion sent debris high into the atmosphere; the dust resettled to earth newly enriched with the elements iridium and osmium--elements that are much more abundant in space than on Earth--and formed a thin layer in the rock strata now called the K-Pg boundary. A side effect of this violent impact was the extinction of most of the megafauna--dinosaurs, etc--living during that time. The impact site itself was discovered in 1978 by a geologist working for an oil company, but it wasn't until 1990 that the now-named Chicxulub crater was associated with the proposed impact that caused the mass extinctions. Since 1990, scientists have debated the nature of the rock that hit Earth--asteroid or comet? The scientists know generally how big the explosion would have had to be in order to create the fallout found in drill samples. Based on the size of the explosion and the amount of iridium and osmium deposited at the K-Pg boundary, the most common theory is that the impactor was carbonaceous asteroid about 13 kilometers across. But scientists from Dartmouth College argue that the real culprit was a comet.

    "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
    --Antoine de Saint-Exupery

    "Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
    --Yeats

    “True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”

    --John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell

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