natural selection

Whilst debating a creationist the other day they brought up something I hadn't really thought of before: the fact that humans, unlike other primates, seem to have head hair that is only controllable through technology. While I countered that as evidence of "creation"--noting that it would only...

Arlin Stoltzfus has a guest blog series on the conflict between Mutationism and the Modern Synthesis on Larry Moran's Sandwalk: Introduction to "The Curious Disconnect" The "Mutationism" Myth I. The Monk's Lost Code and the Great Confusion Theory vs Theory The Mutationism Myth, II...

Why did humans evolve such a huge preference for physical attractiveness? Some theories make sense to a certain degree but fall short. For example, physical attractiveness might an indicator of health and good genes, but can facial features always tell who has the best lungs, kidneys...

What is the evolutionary advantage of been hard-wired to seek pleasure? Pleasure is sometimes derived from activities that are not safe, and certainly don't contribute to the reproductive ability of a species. Thanks!

Your thought, explanation will be greatly appreciated. Is the long neck of giraffe is the result of giraffe trying hard to reach high branches of tree to feed itself or is it that nature just randomly produced short neck, medium neck, long neck and anything in between and it happened to be...

I'm currently part way through reading "The Origin of Species" by Charles Darwin. I was wondering if anybody could tell me on what points Darwin was wrong. That is, to what Darwin said, can modern science now say "Okay, he did a good job for the period, but that's not exactly right"?

It seems to me indisputable that science is a useful thing for changing the shape of our world, making life easier and creating exciting TV. But can it actually tell us anything about the nature of reality? I would consider both materialism and evolution theory as pointing toward science being...

:D Richard Dawkins believes, as did Darwin, that natural selection is sufficient to explain the functionality and non-random complexity of the biological world, and can be said to play the role of watchmaker in nature, albeit as an automatic, non-intelligent, blind watchmaker. Dawkins and...

Hi guys, I've been hanging out with some of the "evolution is just a theory" crowd, and it's driving me a bit nuts. I try to avoid those discussions because I can go crazy and we really antagonise each other. Anyway, one thing I find quite useful is talking about the real and accurate...

I've been quite good with The Blind Watchmaker and I am gradually understanding Darwinian natural selection. It's as eloquent as the stars. If I understand it correctly, left to DNA's own devices, there would be nothing more 4 billion years on than the same DNA it started out with, and the...

http://www.enn.com/wildlife/article/29620

How do Alfred Russel Wallace's views on evolution differ from Darwin's?

Is this truly an example of a situation where natural selection is stymied? http://news.mongabay.com/2007/1016-snake.html CITATION: Ben Phillips and Richards Shine (2007). When dinner is dangerous: toxic frogs elicit species-specific responses from a generalist snake predator. The...

This is a truly wonderful book about our evolutionary heritage. Based on real scientific research, the process of how the earth was formed and how life on Earth developed is carefully explained in beautiful prose and with a great sense of wonder. The life and work of Charles Darwin is retold...

Following on from the thread in "science and technology" about this, I am somewhat surprised at the heated reaction to any description of evolution as a stochastic process. When (if ever) is it appropriate to describe evolution or natural selection as "nonrandom"? To my mind, it is...

Artificial Life By Intelligent Design! by Babu G. Ranganathan (B.A. theology/biology)* Recent news reports suggest that scientists may be close to creating artificial (synthetic) life. None of this is happening by chance but by intelligent design and planning. Why, then, will many not give...

The title of the thread says it all. I understand that evolution is a process directed through natural selection, but, as I understand it, natural selection is based on the probability, not certainty, of an organism with a specific "fitness complement" (i.e., the set of genes that contribute to...

This past weekend I went to a conference on dog aggression in Dallas. The speaker I really went to hear was Patricia McConnell, who is well known to non-professional dog enthusiasts like myself as a speaker and author of books on dog training. However, I found myself blown away by Sue...

Let me say right at the beginning that I am not homophobic. Far from it, in fact. This question comes up from reading The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins recently. In it, he puts forth the hypothesis that a tendency for religion developed from an evolutionary need. He suggests that young...