Natural Selection and Evolution – A Stunning Concept Part 1

Today is the 150th anniversary of the publishing of The Origin of Species or its full title: On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life. This earth shaking work, by Charles Darwin, introduced the world to the concept of natural selection as a driving force of evolutionary change. I have been wanting to write about the basics (and I do mean basics) of evolution for a while, so I thought that I would start today.

Why am I doing this? I love biology, and the theory of evolution by natural selection is one of the most elegant (in my opinion) and simple theories in science. I want to share my understanding of this fascinating subject that underpins modern biology. And I love to teach, to tell, to share the wonder I have about the natural world with as many people as possible.

I find that many of the people that denounce the theory of evolution have little understanding of it, nor science in general. I intend to explain things in my own time. I might miss something, or gloss over it. Please, dear reader, ask questions. I crave dialogue and discussion, and although we may not agree, I will listen to you, if you grant me the same courtesy. I will not formerly list sources, as a lot of this material has built up over time from various books, lectures etc. If you would like some reading suggestion, again please ask!

To some, the theory of evolution is wrong simply because organisms *look* designed. They seem to do what they do so well that how could they be anything but designed? It also does not help that we live in a world filled with things that we humans have designed and function well in the role they were designed to fulfill. In a way, you could look at natural organisms and say that they were designed: designed by the slow, incremental process of natural selection. This is not my idea, but it is an interesting way to look at natural selection. Note that there is no mention of an external designer. In the case of natural selection the “designer” is simply the environment (including non living and living factors) that the organism must survive in…

I am getting ahead of myself, so I will pause for a moment to discuss to terms that will appear every now and then. The terms are ‘evolution’ and ‘natural selection’. Evolution simply means change. We use this term all of the time, in a variety of contexts. For example, we might say that a band’s music has evolved to be more mature over the last decade. You might remark that your attitude toward child poverty has evolved after you visited an orphanage in the Honduras. Evolution in biology has the same meaning! Evolution is just the change of organisms over time (time in this case is an extremely important idea, and I will return to it later…). These changes build up until new species are formed and the tree of life branches. Natural selection is the idea of natural processes (environment, predators, diseases, population pressures, parasites, etc) ’selecting’ for useful traits. Darwin, in Origin, used the analogy of artificial selection to help explain it. Most farmers, animal breeders, orchid growers out there know that if there is a trait that you desire in an organism, you look for organisms that posses that trait and then breed them, hoping the offspring will also have that trait. In natural selection, an organism might have some small mutation(more on this term later as well) that helps the organism survive just a little better than its neighbors. It is able to reproduce and pass on that mutation to its offspring. Over time, all of the organisms of that species has that trait. For example: all humans are bipedal, but most chimpanzees are not. At some time in our history, some distant ancestor started walking on two legs. It proved a useful strategy for something, and now we walk upright. So natural selection is simply the environment selecting traits. Blindly selecting traits, I will add. There is no farmer choosing the traits… Hence the ‘natural’ designation.

I think that is enough for one day. Next time I will talk more about the changes or mutations that cause the different traits for nature to select…

Scott

It is still the End of a Human Life…

While waiting for my class this afternoon, I eavesdropped on a conversation of several business students who were waiting to do a presentation. They were discussing new sniper rifles and the merits of medium ranged weapons. Apparently one of these students was or is in the military and had attended sniper school. They began discussing Xm-110 308 that the US military is deploying now and ballistics and windage and bullet mass and powder loads and so on…

They were casually discussing devices that only serve one function: ending human life. I felt like saying this to them, that they were discussing devices that have to redeeming function, but I decided that I did not want to be a jackass.

We are so callous about human life (and I am referring to already born human life… no abortion comments please…). We watched programs on television on which humans are routinely and often brutal murdered. We play video games with the same themes. We discuss instruments of death as casually as we might discuss a good book….

So much effort we put into killing each other over so little cause or provocation.

It needs to stop…

Scott

Cells in the Loo…

I substitute teach and I am also enrolled in Calculus II and I often have to go right from work (in one town) to my calculus class in another town. It is usually a 20 minute drive on the freeway. When I arrive at my university I often feel the little twinge in my abdomen that signals that my kidneys have produced enough urine to fill my bladder. In other words, I have to pee (or make water, urinate, etc…). After paying for the privilege of parking my automobile I wander into the building in search of one of my usual, er, de-watering holes.

Such was the case on Monday (March 2) afternoon. I was in the loo, standing at the urinal, removing metabolic wastes when in walked another gentlemen. This was not unusual as I was in a public, multi-stall facility. Also not so unusual was this gentleman’s ( a term I use very lightly…) act of speaking on a cellular telephone he had wedged between his ear and his shoulder. Many young people today enjoy using cellular telephones or ‘cellphones’ to communicate with one another. I was fully expecting him to say:” I will call you right back.” or “hold on, I have to pee, I will call you right back.” Whatever the combination of the particular words I was expecting him to hang up his phone…

He shattered all of my expectations as he wandered up to a nearby urinal (not the adjacent one…) and began to relieve himself without even a pause in his conversation! I was a little perplexed… I had heard of people using cellphones while sitting on the toilet, often with one hand free, but I did not think that I would actually encounter someone talking on a cellphone, wedged between shoulder and ear all the while standing at a urinal… An activity, I might add for my female readers, often requires two hands. He merrily ( I assume merrily as he was speaking in a language that was not english) continued his conversation, zipped, made a show of washing his hands, and then walked out the door…

Astounding! was the best term that came to my mind. Never mind the feat of balancing a tiny cellphone on his shoulder whilst he peed, he did not even have the courtesy to his listener to stop talking while he did his business. Unfortunately he was speaking non-English, so I do not actually know what he was saying, but I venture to guess that the conversation would have taken two distinct paths depending on the gender of the person on the other end…
If the person on the other end was a male, I imagine the call sounded like this:
“Dude! I am totally like talking to you while I pi@$…”
“No way, I am like totally like doing the same thing!!!!!”
If, however, the other person was a female…
“What is that running water sound? Are you peeing while talking again?!”
“No, it is er, ah, the meditation fountain I am sitting near, contemplating how much I enjoy my feelings with you…”

Of course these are gross stereotypical oversimplifications, but I am confident in my prediction…

So what? Simply this: If you are sitting on a toilet and have the urge to text a pal, I guess you have to do what you have to do… Please do not make an audio call from a washroom while in the act of removing wastes from your body. It is wrong on so many levels… Plus you could drop your cell phone onto the urinal cake…

Mmmmmmmmmm urinal fresh…

Scott

Taxonomy of Calculusaurus…

Well friends, I am almost finished. What started as a battle with a fearsome beast, the Calculusaurus, has evolved into an alliance, perhaps even a friendship. Yes, I have learned that the Calculusaurus is not defeated by force of arms or direct confrontation. One must treat the Calculusaurus gently, with companionship, yet still be wary. Little by little, with practice, the Calculusaurus is brought to one’s side where it becomes an ally… for I have learned something else:

There are more than one calculusaurid! There are more than one species in the genus Calculusaurus. In order to enlighten you, my loyal readers, I will describe the taxonomic organization of said creature:

Genus: Calculusaurus
Species:
1)C. derivativius: known for its smaller stature among calculusaurids, it feeds mostly on first year students. Its physiology consists of limits and derivatives and algebraic excess
2)C. integralusnewtonii: Larger than C. derivativius it is also far more dangerous and aggressive. It has been known to sum infinite series while calculating the area under curves. Unable to be approached unless one has tamed a C. derivativius.
3)C. multivariabilius, C. vectoronoma, and C. tensoraeaii: Little is know of these fearsome beasts that lurk in the shadows of math departments everywhere. To first-years they are but a rumour, a shadow on the edge of the mind. To more experienced mathmagicians, they are mighty beasts, tamed only by those that posses the most potent of mathmagic and spellquations. If I ever learn more of these three, I will tell you…

So but one final task, and I will perhaps have tamed my own C. derivativius and then one day I will be able to hunt a fearsome C. integralusnewtonii.

Do not drink and derive…

S.

Avoiding Buyer’s Remorse…

Sigh. I frequently suffer from buyer’s remorse. You know the feeling you get after you buy something and it did not satisfy, or live up to the hype in your head. It is sometimes a problem for me, especially on items I really want ( or at least think I really want them…). In order to alleviate the symptoms of this disorder in my life I have been forcing myself to think about things I wish to buy. I ask myself questions such as: “Do I really need this?”, “Will I use this, or is it a waste of money?”, and the like. I have not had to apply this strategy lately as I have not faced any major purchase, but a dilemma is rising. I have recently sold my desktop, which was fine as it was not being used to its potential and it was more of a distraction and time waster than anything else. I was then going to save up to buy a nice little 13.3″ MacBook to the tune of $1700 or so. Today I have been thinking (always a dangerous activity) that that might not be the best use of my resources. I have also considered a “netbook” as they are now called. The little 9″ notebooks that are not super powerful, but give access to the internet, and enough computing power to write documents, check email and internet. Which, when I think about it, is all I really want a computer for right now. Thus, the dilemma is revealed. Do I purchase now, for about $539 pre-tax, a nifty little netbook, or do I wait and spend 3x on a MacBook that may be far more than I need….

Oh if only the internet ran on pencil and paper….

Insights appreciated…

S.

Lest We Forget…

It is Remembrance Day, and we must remember why we have a day off. It was 90 years ago that the “war to end all wars” ended. Unfortunately we did not learn much, and still have wars to this day. In this day and age, we have ways of killing each other with naught but a push of a button. As easily as I type these words, a house could be destroyed. With the ease of purchasing a book online, a town or city can be wiped from existence. With a few clicks of a mouse, an entire country can be reduced to radioactive ash. This is not the world that I want to live in, yet so many people seem content to fight and kill and die for what seems, at least to my feeble intellect, trivial reasons. I am tired of conflict and violence and jihad and border skirmishes. We live in a global world, and our problems are global.

Thus I think it is time to lay aside our petty nationalism and work together. Nuclear weapons, economy environment are all things that must be dealt at a global level. We breathe the same air, drink the same water and we need to grow beyond our tribal stage and move into a time of global cooperation and problem solving. It is time that we grow up and talk about our problems.

How this should take shape, I know not. I only know that we will either stand together and survive as a species and planet, or we will become extinct, and the planet will go on without us…

There are no borders when looking at the earth, only a small, fragile “pale blue dot”.

Scott