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Evolution

At Phys.org: How fluctuating oxygen levels may have accelerated animal evolution

"Oxygen levels in the Earth's atmosphere are likely to have "fluctuated wildly" 1 billion years ago, creating conditions that could have accelerated the development of early animal life, according to new research. " Read More ›

Templeton offers a review of the extended evolutionary synthesis

But, to the extent that Darwinism is all-sufficient, the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis, pioneered by Stephen Jay Gould and Niles Eldredge attempts to solve a problem that doesn’t — in theory — exist … But, if it DOES exist... Read More ›

At Mind Matters News: Octopuses create an “origin of intelligence” conundrum

The evolution of intelligence in mammals and birds could be dismissed as a fluke. Finding far-distant intelligent life forms suggests a pattern instead. But what is it? Read More ›

The Intelligent Design Audiopaper Project

I was thinking recently, about how many audiobooks are consumed by people these days. I would guess that the main reason behind this consumption is convenience. Many people just don’t have the time, or don’t create the time, to really sit down and get their head in a book. But I understand that for many, it can also be due to personal preference, financial considerations, lack of space, being visually impaired, or learning difficulties. If non of these issues are barriers, I would always encourage reading (and ideally taking notes), rather than simply listening. On balance, the evidence does suggest that good reading is a much more efficient way of retaining information than listening, on its own. In general, listening Read More ›

At Mind Matters News: Pioneer environmentalist: Cyborgs will rule the planet

James Lovelock is very confident that the workings of evolution underpin his thesis but it is hard to see how. Lovelock is hard to classify. He has boundless faith in both Gaia and AI — in almost anything, it would seem, except humans. Read More ›

At Sci-News: Moths Produce Ultrasonic Defensive Sounds to Fend Off Bat Predators

Researchers: "These ultrasonic warning systems seem so useful for evading bats that they’ve evolved independently in moths on multiple separate occasions. In each case, moths transformed a different part of their bodies into finely tuned organic instruments." Read More ›

At Mind Matters News: If octopuses are really smart, should we eat them?

At MMN: Octopuses present something of a puzzle. As Canadian investigative journalist Erin Anderssen pointed out earlier this month, “The octopus has already challenged our theories on evolution, intelligence and consciousness ... invertebrates like octopuses were expected to be “naturally” less intelligent than, say, raccoons. But they are not less intelligent. They have been called a “second genesis” of intelligence and the jury’s still out on how they came to be so." Read More ›