Second Law of Thermodynamics shows that a spontaneous process cannot also revert spontaneously. This is because spontaneous processes always increase the system’s entropy. A uniform gas in a chamber will accumulate in a corner only with external intervention and spontaneous chemical reactions can only revert if external work energy is applied. Current models of entropy […]
Nylonase is a popular evolutionary icon as nylon is a recent human invention and a nylon-eating bacteria strand was discovered in 1975. But beyond inquiries into the “evolutionary mechanism” powering this strand, the question is: does this story even make sense? Recent research shows that common mealworms can safely biodegrade various types of plastic. Most […]
Let’s analyze a typical reference to Evolution in a scientifically oriented article. This random passage from Wikipedia refers to Diatoms: Heterokont chloroplasts appear to derive from those of red algae, rather than directly from prokaryotes as occurred in plants. This suggests they had a more recent origin than many other algae. However, fossil evidence is […]
Gradualism is the cornerstone of Darwin’s Theory of Evolution because without it, he could not justify the idea that one organism changes into another. ‘Gradualism’ equals ‘Continuity’ but also presupposes a significant change, not just variations around a static mean (regression to the mean) . In math, a function is gradual if continuous. A continuous […]
Too often it’s assumed that thing “arise”. As in: “The universe arose in the Big Bang” “Galaxies and planetary systems arose from cosmic dust” “Life arises from non life” “Species arise from other species” “Human intelligence arises from animals” “Consciousness arises” “AI machines will arise” It’s better to say “we have no idea” than assume […]
A brief book that is not so much about Speech as it is about toppling false prophets. We learn a great deal about the sordid intrigue that made Darwin the historic personality he is while keeping the lowly “fly catcher” Wallace in semi-obscurity. One hundred fifty years later, a somewhat parallel story develops between Noam […]
The experiment (and video) shows bacterium Escherichia Coli adapting to increasingly higher doses of antibiotics on a dish divided into sections saturated with various doses of medication. Mutations to the antibiotic medium resulted in initial growth slowdown. New territory growth was lead by the strains that were sufficiently strong and close to the antibiotic frontier, […]
Evolution is defined as (a) “Changes in gene frequencies in populations” or (b) “The process through which the characteristics of organisms change over successive generations, by means of genetic variation and natural selection” or (c) “Evolution is Common Descent”. However, (a) is too broad as every newborn changes the gene frequency in a population, (b) […]