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Archive for the ‘evolution’ category: Page 50

Sep 9, 2022

Dr. Daniel Dennett — Freedom Evolves: Free Will, Determinism, and Evolution

Posted by in categories: biological, ethics, evolution, neuroscience

This lecture was recorded on February 3, 2003 as part of the Distinguished Science Lecture Series hosted by Michael Shermer and presented by The Skeptics Society in California (1992–2015).

Can there be freedom and free will in a deterministic world? Renowned philosopher and public intellectual, Dr. Dennett, drawing on evolutionary biology, cognitive neuroscience, economics and philosophy, demonstrates that free will exists in a deterministic world for humans only, and that this gives us morality, meaning, and moral culpability. Weaving a richly detailed narrative, Dennett explains in a series of strikingly original arguments that far from being an enemy of traditional explorations of freedom, morality, and meaning, the evolutionary perspective can be an indispensable ally. In Freedom Evolves, Dennett seeks to place ethics on the foundation it deserves: a realistic, naturalistic, potentially unified vision of our place in nature.

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Sep 6, 2022

Humans are the First Aliens. Here’s Why

Posted by in categories: evolution, existential risks, information science

Where are all the aliens?! This is the essence to the Fermi Paradox. It’s most popular solution is the “Great Filter.” What is the obstacle that life and/or intelligent species are unlikely to survive? Let’s discuss.

00:00 Cold Open.
00:18 Introduction.
00:48 History of the Fermi Paradox.
02:48 Fermi Paradox Explained.
03:55 Drake Equation Explained.
07:04 The Great Filter.
09:56 Rare Earth Hypothesis.
10:53 Geologic Time in Galactic Years.
14:48 Evolution of Intelligent Life.
17:03 Conclusions.
19:11 Poll Results.
19:47 Outro.
20:10 Featured Comment.

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Sep 6, 2022

Discovery of new types of microfossils may answer age-old scientific question

Posted by in category: evolution

Scientists have long pondered how and when the evolution of prokaryotes to eukaryotes occurred. A collaborative research team from Tohoku University and the University of Tokyo may have provided some answers after discovering new types of microfossils dating 1.9 billion years.

Details of their findings were published in the journal Precambrian Research on August 19, 2022.

The Gunflint Formation traverses the northern part of Minnesota into Ontario, along the northwestern shores of Lake Superior. The first bacterial microfossils were discovered there in 1954, with Gunflint microfossils now recognized as a “benchmark” in the field of life evolution.

Sep 3, 2022

Axolotls can regenerate their brains, revealing secrets of brain evolution and regeneration

Posted by in categories: evolution, neuroscience

The axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum) is an aquatic salamander renowned for its ability to regenerate its spinal cord, heart and limbs. These amphibians also readily make new neurons throughout their lives. In 1964, researchers observed that adult axolotls could regenerate parts of their brains, even if a large section was completely removed. But one study found that axolotl brain regeneration has a limited ability to rebuild original tissue structure.

So how perfectly can ’s regenerate their brains after injury?

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Sep 3, 2022

The Enigma of Mind: A Theory of Evolution and Conscious Experience

Posted by in category: evolution

Enigmas — August 2022

Aug 31, 2022

Rapid evolutionary response to a transmissible cancer in Tasmanian devils

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, evolution, existential risks

Circa 2016 This gives more exacting detail of the Tasmanian devils resistance to cancer.


A recently emerged infectious cancer has caused the near extinction of the Tasmanian devil, but some populations persist. Here, Epstein et al. provide evidence for possible resistance via rapid evolution in two genomic regions that contain cancer-related immune response genes.

Aug 29, 2022

Yale Study Suggests That Evolution Can Be Predicted

Posted by in category: evolution

Evolution has long been thought to be random, however, a recent study suggests differently.

Evolution has long been thought of as a relatively random process, with species’ features being formed by random mutations and environmental factors and thus largely unpredictable.

But an international team of scientists headed by researchers from Yale University and Columbia University discovered that a specific plant lineage independently developed three similar leaf types repeatedly in mountainous places scattered across the Neotropics.

Aug 28, 2022

Electric Fish Genomes Reveal How Evolution Repeats Itself

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, evolution

By studying how electric organs arose in different lineages of fish, scientists gain new insights into a long-standing question of evolutionary biology.

Aug 28, 2022

Scientists Just Genetically Edited a Million Years of Evolution Into Mouse DNA

Posted by in categories: bioengineering, biotech/medical, evolution, genetics

O.o!!!!!


Changing the number of chromosomes an animal has can take millions of generations to happen in nature through the course of evolution – and now, scientists have been able to make these same changes in lab mice in a relative blink of an eye.

The new technique using stem cells and gene editing is a major accomplishment, and one that the team is hoping will reveal more about how the rearrangement of chromosomes can influence the way that animals evolve over time.

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Aug 27, 2022

Shrouded in Mystery: Scientists Finally Discover the Origin of Chromatin

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, evolution, genetics

Analysis of the genome and proteome shows that eukaryotic evolution gave rise to the regulatory function of chromatin.

Two meters of DNA

DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, is a molecule composed of two long strands of nucleotides that coil around each other to form a double helix. It is the hereditary material in humans and almost all other organisms that carries genetic instructions for development, functioning, growth, and reproduction. Nearly every cell in a person’s body has the same DNA. Most DNA is located in the cell nucleus (where it is called nuclear DNA), but a small amount of DNA can also be found in the mitochondria (where it is called mitochondrial DNA or mtDNA).

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