The prestigious US journal Science publishes its top 10 list of major endeavours at the end of each year.
The number one spot was awarded jointly to several studies that illuminated the intricate workings of evolution.
The studies bestowed with the title “breakthrough of the year” by Science include the sequencing of the chimpanzee genome; recreation of the 1918 flu virus in a laboratory; and a study on European blackcap birds which demonstrated how two different populations can become two separate species.
The runner-up position in Science’s list highlighted the advances made by robotic explorers in space, particularly the Huygens probe, which landed on Saturn’s moon Titan on 14 January.
Wend your way through the complete and detailed list.
Although a certain amount of interference is usual — from political parasites and the ignorant and superstitious — knowledge progresses.
Three major natural disasters left nearly 300,000 dead in the past 12 months — and even worse years likely lie ahead.
The worst is yet to come. Breakdown of the future–ever expanding war.
But there’s nothing to gain politically in natural disasters, there is with evolution.
When science becomes corrupted by politics of any stripe we’re in real trouble.
http://www.nbc10.com/news/4030540/detail.html
1970 – Bangladesh
Bangladesh loses more than 300,000 people in November 1970 from cyclone-induced flooding.
Why didn’t the world end in 1978, or 1979, or 1980? Some people can’t wait for the world to end, I guess their ego’s require we all die to prove their beleifs. What ever will be will be.
True James Hill. Simle, but great point.
For any true conservatives yearning for some information:
http://www.vdare.com/roberts/all_columns.htm
You will not be disappointed. This is the type of Republican that harkens back to the days of Teddy Roosevelt (his cousin FDR did a great job in a different way). And don’t let all the right wing idiots tell you his jobs programs didn’t work/help us out of the Depression, these idiots would’ve outsourced to get us out!
I still don’t get it. How come there are still apes if we are their desendants? I see the chicken before the egg as a complete idea and the egg as a multiplier. Same with Man.
re: kidmac. Because evolution is ongoing and doesn’t stop just because a particular mutation is beneficial. After all why are Sharks and Crocodiles etc still around? Because their particular genesets have so far been beneficial to their survival yet their successors still mutated. If those mutations are beneficial then they too will survive concurrently, so I see no conflict here at all. You are also forgetting about all the creatures in the fossil record that didn’t survive because their geneset didn’t keep up with the environment.
Well if the cristians dont kill us all the muslims will, Its time people take a more active stance against religion and see it for what it really is , A mental illness and a scam to control the ignorent and un-educated
kidmac: You are asking, “where is the missing link?” The evolutionary record is incomplete (as would be expected because fossilization is not guaranteed as I understand it)
Consider Neanderthals (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neanderthal): “For many years, professionals vigorously debated about whether Neanderthals should be classified as Homo neanderthalensis or as Homo sapiens neanderthalensis, the latter placing Neanderthals as a subspecies of Homo sapiens. However, recent evidence from mitochondrial DNA studies have been interpreted as evidence that Neanderthals were not a subspecies of H. sapiens.” So there appears to be evidence that a common animal could be the basis for humans, but evolution proceeded forward as the species differentiated (although Homo sapiens may have subscribed to the practice of eugenics).
BL: from what I understand, neanderthals, no matter what their classification, did not evolve into humans but became extinct. It was cro magnan man that became humans. Could be wrong though, as that neanderthal special was a couple years back.
Jode: a mental illness? That’s a nice attitude to have. You should make that a conversation point at family gatherings.
Jode, I seem to remember “a more active stance against religion” during the French Revolution. Didn’t work too well then either.
Nevertheless hello.
Creation, Evolution, any civilization signifigantly advanced is indistinguishable from magic… it doesn’t matter because we’re all here now. It’s all good. If you believe or don’t it still doesn’t change a thing in the world we live in, let alone the universe.
Merry & Happy in Missouri, C-Ya
I’m sorry, I can’t subscribe to the idea of chance on this level. I agree that there have been changes but by what fluke were humans able to so surpass everything else. I like to think of it as an maybe an orchestrated change.
When I teach evolution to seventh graders many argue to me that we can’t possibly be descended from apes. I answer them that they are correct, and that we actually are descended from a shared common ancestor. This is not just a result of ignorance of evolution (for which they will learn about evolutionary theory in my class), but also ignorance of basic scientific principles. Many adults think the seasons are caused by the Earth being closer to sun during the summer instead of the tilt of the Earth’s axis. Elementary school students are not being taught science (or vastly reduced) as a result of pressure to raise standardized test scores in reading, writing, and math. My school, like many other middle schools have already done, is serioiusly considering taking low performing students out of science (and social studies class) and putting them into language arts and math remediation classes in order to raise test scores. That means we can have some students in our district will have had little to no exposure to science before they enter high school. It is little wonder while people have such misconceptions about science.