Brilliance Lost: Ignorance is NOT Bliss

Neil deGrasse Tyson gives a very interesting talk. To me, he really rips it up.

Short version:

By watching this one, you get the gist of his point. But, you might miss a lot of important context worth hearing. And what is the main point? We have a lot to lose when we displace the drive for discovery with blissful ignorance.




Full version:

You get to see Tyson really build up his case against the real harm that comes from embracing Intelligent Design as a real part of science.

Planetarium

My local Jesusland planetarium sucks.

People who don't wanna be told that Earth is four billion years old will not support a planetarium that tells you so.

As a result, our local planetarium is shoddy, run down, and antiquated.

Many areas in Jesusland are poor. When money is scarce, my local government thinks four times over before spending money on science or education.

That's why I live in one of the poorest, least educated provinces of Jesusland.

I have some family here. I enjoy my job quite a bit. But this atmosphere bothers me sometimes. I may need to migrate from here one of these days.

If I do ever move, maybe I'll base my relocation upon the quality of the city planetarium.

Why Lying to Children About Evolution is Dangerous

In Russia, a super strain of Tuberculosis is slowly creeping across the world. Russian prisoners are crammed into prison cells under unsanitary conditions. When a prisoner contracts TB, he rarely completes his medication due to funding, thus the formation of a super TB strain results. And this super strain requires even more aggressive (and more expensive) treatment. This makes proper treatment of the prisoner even less likely. And sometimes, the TB strain is so highly evolved that no medication known to humankind will fight the uniquely formed strain of TB.

For some prisoners, contracting TB is a death sentence. Either the funding will not be provided to treat these prisoners, or they've contracted a terminal variant of TB. These prisoners die in their jail cells.

But sometimes a prisoner with a super TB strain completes his prison sentence and is released directly into the general population-- hacking and coughing as he walks out of the facility and into the public.

Then someone in the general population contracts the super strain of TB after unwittingly spending time in the presence of the infectious, coughing ex-convict. This poor person departs from his presence to make his or her way to the airport. This person plans to make an extended visit to New York City, for example, where he or she will eventually start hacking and coughing.

Why does this happen? Where will this stop?

Some studies have shown that a small percentage of people are immune to the HIV virus. In each person found so far, a mutation was noted. They don't have any receptors on their white blood cells like most other people. As a result, the HIV virus has no way to invade their immune system. Interestingly, this same trait is traced back genetically to survivors of the Bubonic Plague hundreds of years ago.

How can this be? Could this be a clue to a cure for AIDS? How can we better understand this?

As predators change over time, those who are most successful live to pass their traits on to their offspring. The prey who allude capture are awarded that same opportunity to pass on their genes to their offspring. Thus, you have a constant honing of predatory skills and evasive tactics between predator and prey. One sharpens the other over time. This is one of the components that drives the engine of evolution.

Real problems are happening and will need to be solved by understanding evolution.

If members of our society succeed in cranking out armies of young people who think evolution is science fiction, then we will dilute the upcoming scientific community. We will stop producing the necessary minds for solving these real, growing problems. We will produce doctors, scientists, and chemists who will fail the public when the next big biological problem come to visit humankind.

So many people hate the idea of evolution because the implications threaten their Fundamentalist beliefs in God. With clouded minds they lie to as many children as they can within our school systems for the express purpose of preserving their so called "American Values".

What good will come of preserving "American Values" if we are all wiped out by a super virus because nobody took into account the phenomena of evolution and how it drives the changes we see in biological life-- not just from millions of years ago, but for today as well?

OK, so you insist all day long that life was designed.

Fine. Sure. OK.

I don't care. Whatever.

You win.

But just know that even if you insist that life was designed by a creator, you cannot escape the fact that our world was then designed with evolution as part of the plan.

To overlook the fact of evolution is irresponsible. To ignore the fact of evolution is delusional.

And to insist that evolution is science fiction to millions of school kids across the nation is down right dangerous for our survival in the future.

And that's regardless of whether you believe in any particular god, or not.

Numberwareness

I've heard the speculation that a person's perspective of human kind's centeredness in the cosmos is directly proportional with one's understanding of math.

In other words, the less math a person understands, the more likely that person will think human kind is the apex and center of the Universe. However, the more math a person understands, the more that person will realize humanity is not even a blip when considering the grand scale of the Universe. Again, this is speculation.

Among the industrialized democracies, the United States lags behind in primary and secondary education. Math does not seem to be an exception. Also, I am no exception within this scenario and I long to better understand the important skill of understanding numbers. So, to do my part to educate myself and any who will listen, I will share some interesting comparisons that I've recently read. Perhaps this information could help us put ourselves and our cosmos into perspective-- a perspective largely described using numbers:

If you count at a rate of one number per second, you will need to count for practically 12 days before you reach one million.

At this same rate, you will need to count for 32 years to reach one billion (10⁹).

To finally count to one trillion, you will need 32,000 years.

*****

McDonald's claims to have served one hundred billion customers. If you took one hundred billion hamburgers and laid them end to end, the burger chain could circle the Earth 230 times! No wonder we've got obesity problems!

And you'd still have burgers left over to stack to the moon and back!

Those people at McDonald's are some rich Mo'Fo's.

*****

If a person making $25,000 a year finds $0.25 on the side walk, then this is the same proportion to Bill Gates finding $25,000 laying around on the floor somewhere! In other words, $25,000 is merely twenty-five cents when compared to Bill Gates' wealth!

No wonder he can donate a billion dollars to AIDS research and not blink!

No wonder Gates only wants the world to use Windows!

(That Linux hater. Grrrrrr . . .)

*****

If we placed a soccer ball in the middle of a soccer field to represent the Sun, we'd have to walk about ten paces from our soccer ball to represent the distance between the Sun and Mercury. About 20 paces away from Mercury would be the Earth-- Venus would fall somewhere in between. The moon would rest about an inch away from the Earth at this proportion. Amazingly, this is the furthest any human has ever physically ventured so far.


Jupiter would be found about 130 paces away from Earth in our "soccer field rendition" of the solar system. And Pluto would end up being half a mile away from the soccer ball which represents our Sun.

The nearest star? We'd have to fly 4000 miles away from our soccer ball to represent Proxima Centauri, the closet star to our planet besides our Sun.

Now try to consider the countless stars our telescopes can see.

*****

If that doesn't put the universe into perspective, then take out the time to listen to what Carl Sagan has to say about our planet, the Pale Blue Dot:




A very humbling discourse indeed.

In light of all of this-- who are we to be cruel to one another? Who are we to think we are so much better than anyone who is different from us? Who are we to ever think that our minds are so high, that we don't have to turn skepticism towards ourselves?

Whether there be a god or not, each individual person is way too small to treat anyone else of lesser size.

To me, these humbling insights reveal the importance of "Numberwareness".


Sources:

Death By Black Hole: And Other Cosmic Quandaries by Neil deGrasse Tyson
Raising Freethinkers: A Practical Guide for Parenting Beyond Belief by Dale McGowan, Molleen Matsumura, Amanda Metskas, and Jan Devor.

Why the Big Bang Ain't So Crazy of an Idea

The prospect of an explosion happening from out of nowhere while creating all existence sounds hard to believe.

And it should be. That's your skepticism kicking in . . . and that's a good thing.

Yep. I said it. Skepticism of the Big Bang is a good thing.

Don't simply believe in the Big Bang. Understand the premise and then make a judgment for yourself.

So, why do so many scientists buy into such a strange idea?

Well . . .

The light our eyes see is not all there is to light.

When light goes through a prism, it is dispersed into a spectrum. And the spectrum of light can revel the chemical elements found within the source that is emitting the light.

Still with me?

Spectral analysis of stars show that all the elements found on Earth are also found in Sol, our sun.

Nearly all of us have heard about E = mc², which is Einstein's famous equation. But what about the implications of this deceptively simple, yet powerful equation?

Matter can be turned into energy, and energy back into matter. Stars compress hydrogen gas so much that they smash into each other at nearly the speed of light. This causes the hydrogen to fuse together to form helium. As this happens, immense energy that gives off a bright light is released. And then the helium atoms are further fused into heaver elements, producing even more energy still. The hotness and luminosity of our sun (and any other star for that matter) comes from this constant reaction of nuclear fusion.

Through this process, stars create the elements found all around us.

When a star experiences a supernova, all those elements get scattered throughout the cosmos. The released gases also tend to spark off the formation of a new star.

When one star dies and another is born, the elements of the Universe are formed. When planets, asteroids, and comets formulate out of the gaseous eddies left over from star formation, all the elements of the periodic table will already be in place.

If a star can form the elements from scratch, what could an infinitesimal release of energy produce?


Bell Labs back in the 1960's was working on a project with satellite transmissions. But, they had a nagging problem. They kept getting static interference which they couldn't explain.

And that static was jackin' up their experimentations and stuff.

Simultaneously and serendipitously, a pair of scientists had a conjecture that if a star had the ability to form the raw materials of existence, then perhaps the Universe itself came forth from an immense release of energy. In that release, the building blocks of matter could have formed. The mathematics (which I'm sure I couldn't understand) added up-- with the exception of one major problem. An energy release that big would not have cooled down completely-- not even after billions of years. So, the mathematics predicted that some sort of background radiation should exist.

But, they don't see none.

Oh well, time to move on to another hypothesis.

That is until these scientists happened to hear about out what was going on at Bell labs. That static that was jackin' up the Bell Labs experiments-- that was the cooling radiation from a really big release of energy. Something like a . . . um, how would you say . . . a Big Bang?

Those guys got a Nobel Prize for their discovery.

Hey, it's still okay to be skeptical. It's okay to remain skeptical about the Big Bang.

But at least realize the Big Bang ain't so crazy of an idea-- even if one day physicists realize the idea was completely wrong.

Why We Need Skepticism

Angela Donovan is a psychic who predicts by May of 2010, President Obama will cause the United States to stop using the dollar as it's base currency. Better start investing in gold and making other important preparations to keep your family safe. Her books will show you how.

Skeptical?

Jack and Rexella Van Impe predict that the next pope after Benedict XVI will became the leader and founder of the New World Order. Basically, that will either make the next pope a forerunner to the Antichrist or the Antichrist himself.

Skeptical?


Robert Tilton.
Enough said.

The-End.com claims that the End Times were set into motion back in 2008 and that by May 27, 2012 the "self-rule of man" will end. You need to get a copy of their book so you can be fully prepared. You see, terrorism will continue to grow until the United States collapses and WW III will commence. [Jesus enters stage right]

At least they provide their book for free. Maybe they are at least sincere.

But still . . . be skeptical.

• You need skepticism when a preacher tells you that depression is all in your head.
• You need skepticism when a preacher tells you that you can choose your sexual orientation through determination and prayer.
• You need skepticism when the bible tells you blasphemy of the Holy Ghost is unforgivable, yet that same bible cannot give you any comfort or assurance as to whether you're guiltless of this damnable sin.
• You need skepticism when someone tells you that Hitler could be in heaven had he only confessed Jesus. However, you will burn in hell for eternity if you fail to confess Jesus no matter how decent your life might have been.
• You need skepticism when you hear yourself "speaking with tongues" yet nobody can ever understand or translate what you're saying.
• Hell . . . you need skepticism even if someone does claim to understand what you say when you speak in tongues.
• You need skepticism when politicians speak. Regardless of party affiliation or super-star status.

Even when Obama speaks; Especially when Palin speaks.

• You need skepticism when scientists pontificate about the origins of life and of the Universe. As a matter of fact, many scientists would encourage that you do this.
• You also need skepticism when people claim magnets can make a perpetual generator that can bring your electric bill down to $0, even though perpetual motion seems to defy the very laws of physics!

Excited anyway? You still want to purchase one of these generators? Well, MangiWork* will only provide you with a DIY guide to build your own for the special discounted price of $49.00. They even encourage you to resell their technology if you get one of those generators up and working!

Say . . . why aren't they simply selling the generators rather than the DIY kits? They could be making a fortune building those things!

Now, are you skeptical?

By the way . . .

If you can write a simple letter like this one, you can make six figures.

Are you skeptical?

Does that guy in Nigeria really want to give me a cut from that million dollar trust that he just inherited by dubious means? Does he really need my bank account number to cash out that money?

Remember, you may be trading your hard earned money and good years of your life paying for someone's sports car and mansion. Worse, you may be buying some sort of snake oil that could actually endanger your life! Or, talked out of real help or denied a life time of happiness because you allowed someone else to forbid you to be your true self.

Skepticism does not mean that truth or trustworthy information can never be found. On the contrary, skepticism seeks out truth and trustworthy information. Skepticism is simply the act of sending a claim through a vetting process. Skepticism simply asks the claimant to provide some reasonable evidence before expecting you to take the bait.

Unthinking belief is exactly what charlatans and confidence men want out of you. After they gain that, the rest if pretty easy.

Are you still skeptical about the importance of skepticism now?


* By the way, the MangiWork site no longer exists. But with the power of Google, you can find some YouTube videos on the topic.

Theocracy + Nukes = Colorful Expletives

On Tuesday, January 12th, nuclear scientist Massoud Ali-Mohammadi was assassinated in Iran. Mainstream media reports from Iran claim that the U.S. and Israel instigated this tragic incident.

One could speculate that somebody within the Iranian leadership called for Ali-Mohammadi's assassination. After all, he openly supported the protests against the 2009 elections results where Mir Hossein Mousavi won lost against the current Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Now officials of Iran claim that the (alleged) terrorist act by the U.S. and Israel will only hasten the goal of turning Iran into a nuclear power.

We can all rest assured that their nuclear goals are totally peaceful, right?

I don't like the idea of a theocratic society having nuclear weapons.* At any given moment, someone in leadership can become convinced that the end of the age has finally come. I fear that someone will one day decide that nuclear weapons are a wonderful way to usher in the ultimate punishment, retribution, wrath, and final victory blow of their god.

Can this happen to a secular society? Well, the urge to press the button might be there, but hopefully the leadership of a secular society will at least pause and consider that fact that we cannot obliterate our adversaries with nuclear weapons without ourselves facing grave consequences. If one leader says that god wants the missiles to fly, other leaders (even religious ones) will undoubtedly require more evidence than that-- even if the extra evidence they demand happens to be falsified!

Perhaps this is not simply about religion, but about all radical ideologies. The extreme views of any ideology can become very dangerous very quickly. To me, religion often fuels extremist views because religious leaders tend to discourage openness of ideas (heresy) and open inquiry (the challenging religious authority).

Should two nations decide to retaliate by exchanging nuclear weapons, the whole sky will eventually turn black and the earth will turn cold. We will all suffer.


Everywhere.


And our suffering will not come by the wrath of god, but by the wrath of our own stupidity as a human race.

When I consider the awesome, destructive power of nuclear weapons, I utter colorful expletives. When the wrong group of extremist leaders gain nuclear capabilities, all of our lives will be in their hands, not gods.


Holy expletive!


* Pakistan is not a theocracy to my understanding. But, that nation does seem quite unstable. One never knows what will happen there in the next few years. That alone is cause for colorful expletives!

Of Leprechauns, Flying Reindeer, UFOs, Invisible Dragons, and Such

My daughter came home totally convinced that leprechauns are real.

I mean, totally.

She came home bubbling over with excitement, telling us of how the leprechauns came and stole their cookies and ice cream while they were out to play. Apparently he came back in the room and ran around some. But nobody actually saw him do this.

My daughter explained that leprechauns move far to fast to see them.

But, the little green man did happen to leave his hat behind as he rushed away.

I found her excitement adorable on the surface. But deep down, I worried that my daughter being indoctrinated with credulity.

For what observable phenomena of nature proves the leprechaun to be real? How am I to distinguish the invisible dragon which leaves no trace from a non-existent dragon? What difference do UFOs and space aliens make if only a select few ever get to see them while the rest of our world moves along, unfazed?

We demand observable proof for many of the important things in our lives. We want to see the person at the cash register give us our change. If a utility bill appears to over charge us, many of us will investigate. Should we hear surprising news, we may double check the information by checking out more than one (reliable) source.

Why not do this for leprechauns, flying reindeer, UFOs, invisible dragons, and such?

Besides, credulity can be quite harmful. Confidence jobs thrive off of credulity as well as superstitions of a harmful nature (think: inquisitions and witch burnings). Vicious rumors can easily spread simply because people have a tendency to believe first and ask questions later (if at all).

But to challenge the validity of an idea is the heart of skepticism (and in a sense, freedom, too). Challenge the claimant of any idea for supporting, observable phenomena.

This is also the heart of science. Before accepting an idea, treat that idea as false until observable phenomena can distinguish it as true.

So again-- what is the difference between an invisible leprechaun that leaves no trace and a non-existent one? What is the difference between an invisible dragon and a non-existent one? What of flying reindeer and UFOs? What is the difference between their undetectable nature and their non-existent counterparts? (Can a sentence like that be proper? Non-existent counterparts??)

I'll dare say that an atheist has only gone one step further with this thinking. Rather than only applying this thinking to leprechauns and invisible (and non-detectable) dragons, this challenge is aimed at God and religion, too.

Green Leafy Slug

Remember high school biology? Plants have chlorophyll-- that stuff that makes their leaves green and helps them make their own food from sunlight. And making food from sunlight is called photosynthesis.

Remember?

Brings back memories, huh?

Well, I personally just learned about a sea slug that eats algae. I read about it in the February 2009 issue of the Smithsonian Magazine.

And . . . ?

The sea slug absorbs the chloroplast and genes from the algae it eats.

Then the slug has the ability to perform photosynthesis for itself.

Just like a plant does.

But, the slug is an animal!

Just imagine if you ate salad for a few weeks. Then afterwards, you could produce your own nutrition for the rest of your life just by standing in the sun!

And your skin would turn green and leafy, too. Kewl!

I wonder if sea slugs will even need to eat algae after a few million years go by. Too bad I won't be around to see that!

When I learn things like this, I have a hard time dismissing the theory of Evolution.

Sea some pictures, read more details:

Wild Things: Life As We Know It: Green Energy

Elysia Chlortica: Wikipedia

New Scientist: Solar-powered sea slug

Healed!!!

My son wore glasses since he was three years old because of the early onset of "Lazy eye".

My wife picked up on this as soon as it started happening. You see, "Momma" doesn't let anything get by her watchful eye when it comes to her two precious babies.

But me . . . I thought she was being over protective.

Then I started seeing his eye cross, too.

Mothers are always right about their kids being sick.

Well, almost always. There was the first day we brought our newborn son home from the hospital. I told my wife that we didn't need rush him to the emergency room, but noooooo-- she and my mother wouldn't . . . well, never mind. I digress.

My son is seven years old, now. And while he's usually honest, he's been less than truthful on an occasion or two. So when he told me that he now sees better without his glasses, I was . . . um, what's the word?

S k e p t i c a l.

But, maybe he was telling the truth; Just to be sure, I made an appointment with the optometrist.

In the meanwhile, I ran across an article in the February issue of Scientific American about lazy eye and how the child's brain can adapt with treatment. This same phenomena about brain plasticity may one day be better understood and better applied to adults.

I also read how video games help a child overcome lazy eye.
My son liked that news very much. Momma -- not so much.

Anyhow, many kids with lazy eye wear an eye-patch to correct the problem (Argh, Mateies). The patch covers the good eye, which forces the bad eye to do focus like normal.

Our eye doctor was quite clever, however. He prescribed glasses that accomplished the same goal as the eye-patch. He figured our son would do a better job with glasses, rather than a patch.

He was right.

No wonder that doctor's office stays full.

His schedule is so busy and we've moved farther from his office. So, we took my son to a new doctor.

I explained everything to her and showed her my son's glasses.

After the exam she says that his current glasses are too strong for him. And, she also says that buying him glasses is not worth doing at this time.

Praise be to medical science!

Just so happened, a big family get-together was underway right after my son's eye appointment.

The In-laws noticed that my son wasn't wearing his glasses any more.

I told them that he didn't need them any more. The eye doctor said that the glasses were too strong for him now. His lazy eye condition has been corrected by the glasses he wore.

Everyone that listened gasped with amazement.

I could read their thoughts: God miraculously healed him!

Yeah, my son's eyes were healed alright.

But not for the reasons they all thought.

Maybe they should start reading Scientific American, too.

Move Over, Anaconda

Many animals that are small in modern times had larger versions of their species millions of years ago.

Here's a great example: Fossil of Monster Snake Found in Colombia

And here's a different, shorter article on the same discovery: Largest snake 'as long as a bus'

Discoveries like these make me even more confident in Darwinian evolution.

Pushed out of the Picture

Scientific discovery seems to widen the chasm between reason and faith. A scientific mind can remain religious. But, religion must start to make extra room for scientific observations. This often translates into gradually shedding unproven claims about how God governs our universe.

Copernicus and Galileo experienced their difficulties because of the prevailing understanding of nature. The understanding of nature was controlled by religious leaders of their day. As a result, Copernicus and Galileo nudged the hand of God upon publishing their discoveries; they both gently backed God's sovereign hand away from his own creation. And worse, these men also nudged at the self proclaimed infallibility of God's clergy. Why? Because their observations were in conflict with religious thought. These scientists became heretics.

Issac Newton was perhaps the glue that made the discoveries of Copernicus and Galileo finally stick. Also, some historians argue that the true discipline of science wasn't born until Newton's papers on Optiks and the Laws of Motion were published. But when Newton introduced his discoveries, he seemed willing to give God credit for whatever he found. Newton mentions God's influence in his primary work, the Principia, and is quoted by sources saying things like:

Gravity explains the motions of the planets, but it cannot explain who set the planets in motion. God governs all things and knows all that is or can be done.

So, Newton did not fully abandon his religious mind in the face of great scientific discovery.

But as time went along, Chemistry, Physics, Biology, and Psychology began to develop into their own stand-alone fields of study. And with more and more scientific discoveries from each filed, reason was making a regular habit of nudging the hand of God and his clergy a little further out of the picture of creation.

So, today, when we hear about a child being born with 12 fingers and 12 toes, should we wonder why God allowed this? Why did God let such a thing to happen? Yet, biology helps us understand better how this happened. Genetics shows us that this child was likely to inherit this physical anomaly because his decedents were known to have a higher incidence of extra fingers and toes. The newborn's father admitted this characteristic was prevalent in his family.

Personally, I don't blame God for this. Would you? Nor would I mock and ostracize this child for being different. All good natured people will accept his differences and hope that he has a relatively normal life.

But what do we say about God when he allows people to develop Multiple Sclerosis, now that scientists are discovering that vitamin D deficiency is correlated with this disease? Can we blame God for the way the MS gene behaves when vitamin D is deficient? MS can possibly be prevented or cured with a better understanding of how vitamin D works in pregnant mothers and in developing children. Did God deliberately keep us ignorant of this new found fact? And why didn't God also let us know that stem cell therapy could improve MS patients?

Or, do we simply start praising God for his benevolence, since he's given us these wonderful new discoveries?

Why praise? I admitted to not blaming God for these things, but not because I accept his "higher" and "mysterious" ways.

Instead, I don't blame God because I see his hand being pushed further out of the picture.

Therefore, I don't have much praise for God, either.

Be Fruitful and Multiply?

God said we should be fruitful and multiply.

But, maybe we don't need to take his command quite so seriously. In reading a science and nature article on overpopulation, these two sentences jumped out at me:

For humanity, this portends a potential cataclysm exceeding anything in our history. Our chance to avert such an outcome depends on our ability to address our numbers before nature reduces them for us.

Some environmentalists are saying that dealing with overpopulation is essential to saving our environment. But, many people want to ignore this problem and refuse to address it.

Read the following article for more information: Population: The elephant in the room

Mosquitoes

Mosquitoes are known for more than just being pesky. They can spread disease, too.

Mosquitoes spread malaria, West Nile, and all sorts of other nasty stuff.

Scientists have realized now that mosquitoes have antibodies that shred the genetic code of these diseases when they contract them. Yet, they still spread the stuff to their hosts when they feed.

How come they get a better immune system than us? Hey, what gives?!

Did God do that on purpose?

Anyway, scientists might find a way to create antibodies for people because of the mosquitoes immune system.

It's the least those nasty little pests could do for us.

On the Evolution of Evolution

Wow -- I've taken some time to really soak in the significance of the theory of evolution.

Here are some things I've come across lately which I think are note worthy.

The 200th anniversary of Darwin's birth is in this February (2009). His book, On the Origin of Species will also make it's 150th anniversary this year. This is significant because the overall theory that Darwin proposed concerning natural selection is still sound and only gathers more evidence after 150 years of scrutiny. Other facets of biology expand because of evolution -- and in turn, other facets of biology improve upon Darwin's original theory.

The scientific community at large is gearing up to pay tribute to Darwin. His findings are considered to be in rank with Copernicus, Newton, Galileo, and Einstein, according to many scientists.

The magazine Scientific American has dedicated the January issue to the evolution of the evolution theory. This issue is full of fascinating articles to read which really give light to the full implication of evolution's theories and clears up many misconceptions and misunderstandings.

Genetics is seriously tied to evolution -- as I've said recently in another post. Genes control all sorts of things such as the level of lactose tolerance one has, to heart issues, and mental health. The passing on of genes plays a large role in how a species evolves and buds off to new classes of life.

Also, lately I wonder how much of the information from genetics and evolution can help us with our heath -- in practical every day situations such as diet, exercise, and achieving ideal weight. Maybe going back to our ancestry will provide understanding of what we need to eat. The NY Times article alludes to this. Maybe the obesity explosion we see has little to do with laziness, slothfulness, or lack of self control. Maybe our "modern" processed foods are not suited to our genetic makeup. Couple that problem with sitting at a desk all day and wham o! -- you're over weight.

Well, I can't even do justice to all that I've read recently . . . so here are some sources that can better say what I ever could:

The Evolutionary Search for our Perfect Past : This article doesn't seem to mention it, but it is a great overall synopsis of the articles found in the January issue of Scientific American. If you can't devote the time to the Scientific American issue, this NY Times article will provide some worthy highlights.

Key Gene Linked to Blood Pressure Identified : Just in case you thought genetics was a joke.

Scientific American Magazine : January 2009 Issue : If you have any questions or doubts about evolution, skim through this magazine. Maybe all your questions won't get answered, but you'll be hard pressed to maintain your doubts.

Atheism Explained : a book by David Ramsay Steele. I'm not completely finished reading it yet, but it has a very interesting chapter on evolution. While evolution doesn't disprove God in his view (and in mine, too), we can no longer hold to the traditional view of the classical Judeo-Christian model of God. For many believers, such a notion is blasphemous and atheist enough to disapprove vehemently of evolution -- in spite of the overwhelming evidence for it.

Lazarus, Come Forth!

Back in May of 2008, a team of researchers at the University of Melbourne took a gene from the extinct Tasmanian tiger and applied it to a mouse embryo.

The gene expressed itself in the developing mouse; the gene worked.

Researchers insist that this study will not resurrect any extinct species in the near future, if ever. But, with the constant explosions in technology and the new ground breaking discoveries that keep happening in biology -- we all might be in for quite a surprise one day.

Check out the various news coverage concerning this research:

Thylacine Mouse

Extinct Gene Brought Back to Life

Tasmanian Tiger DNA Comes Alive in Mouse

Tasmanian Tiger Gene Fragment Resurrected

If you happened to stumble on this post, also check out my previous post concerning Genetics and Evolution.

If You Don't Believe in Evolution, You Might As Well Reject Genetics, Too

People continue to decry the theory of Evolution (as I once did). But they fail to understand an important point. Their rejection of Evolution has nothing to do with science. Oh -- people may say that the science is faulty, but that isn't their real reason for rejecting Evolution.

Search your feelings, you know it to be true . . .

I can say this because evolution and genetics are tied together and the science is solid for both. So, if you don't believe evolution is sound science, you might as well reject genetics, too.

The following article is a great example of the relationship between these two studies : Genetic Secrets from Tassie Tiger

History Repeats Itself

Nicolaus Copernicus wrote a book entitled On the Revolutions of Heavenly Bodies which stated that the Earth revolved around the sun and was not the center of the universe.

His book was banned by the Catholic Church.

Galileo Galilei agreed with Copernicus and wrote a book entitled Dialogue Concerning Two Chief World Systems which compared old views of the cosmos versus the Copernicus view. This book advocated and supported the Copernicus model of the world.

Galileo was taken before an inquisition and placed on house arrest for the last years of his life. He was forced to renounce his scientific findings and was labeled a heretic by the Catholic Church.

Today, various states have legislators who are trying to draft and legalize disclaimers on the flaps of public school text books that mention the theory of Evolution.

Again, someone wants to keep scientific findings quiet.

Opponents of Evolution claim that the science is bad. That's not really why they oppose evolution though.

Opponents against Copernicus and Galileo made the same claims.

But again, that's not really why they opposed these two great astronomers of the past.

Copernicus and Galileo had sound scientific observation on their side.

Their opponents -- the Bible.

Guess who finally give in and change their minds.

Hopefully, everything will come full circle and history will again, repeat itself.

Why do I say this? Because, like Copernicus and Galileo -- Darwin has sound science on his side, too.

Why Doesn't God Heal Amputees?

Scientists have almost completed the genome sequencing for the extinct woolly mammoth. Upon finishing this feat, scientists will have a realistic chance at causing an elephant to give birth to a modern day woolly mammoth!

Mr. Snuffleupagus lives!

I wonder if we'll see a neanderthal resurrected one day? The genome sequence for our cousins is almost complete, too.

Also . . . a woman who suffered from tuberculosis received a new windpipe transplant. But the organ was grown using her own stem cells! She's gone from nearly disabled to 95 % healed!

All this brought back to my mind a website that a dear friend shared with me:

Why doesn't god heal amputees?

Science is toiling away at trying to heal human sickness. For crying out loud, doctors have figured out how to grow internal organs! A bladder was grown for a sick person a short while ago. Extinct animals (and humans) are poised to come forth from extinction again while lab rats are regenerating vital organs and limbs in test labs! A man appears to be free of HIV after a bone marrow transplant! So . . . if man is learning how to do these things, why isn't god doing these things to help mankind?

Why didn't god just heal the poor woman's windpipe?
Why did god let the woolly mammoth flash freeze in ice?
Why did god let the neanderthal become extinct?
Why is god letting sick people die of things we're learning how to cure?

Why won't god heal amputees?

Our Cells

I enjoyed a fascinating documentary over the weekend called Death By Design. The documentary reveled how cells interact with each other and their environment. Also, the film pointed out that cells often destroy themselves when told to by outside sources -- other cells higher in the chain of their command structure. Or, some incident in the environment is a signal to the cell that it needs to die for other cells to be formed or so that it can become nourishment or recycled material for the organism as a whole.

The whole thing blew my mind. Awe overtook me especially, when the film introduced a community of single cell organism that would live as separate individual organisms. Yet, if the environment stopped supporting the group, the cells would merge into a brand new organism! Think something like Voltron or the Constructicons from the Transformers. Or, think of the Sandman in Spider-Man. But every grain of sand is an individual entity -- yet they all give up their identity to create a new creature.

When this creature is formed, the community is no longer -- only the multi-celled organism that slinks away to find a better environment. Once found, it grows a stalk and releases spores which produce -- a whole new community of single cell organisms!

That really challenged my view of what life really means.

Our cells probably could live on . . . but they don't. Cancer is when cells refuse to die and respond to the signal to self-destruct (according to the documentary). What if we could find a way to make the right cells continue to live and the necessary ones die? Keep in mind, some cells need to die and disintegrate. Such material isn't needed and can cause major dysfunction. Thus, cancer is often deadly -- especially if left untreated.

And another thing . . . what keeps our cells (as humans) from merging into a new life form with other people?

Life is thought to have started from a single cell organism (if you believe in evolution. I do). And over time, communities of cells learned to come together to form multi-cell organisms. So, this odd community that merges into a new life form seems to be the missing link between single cell and multi-cell creatures!

Amazing!

And somehow, this knowledge makes the thought of death a little easier for me. I don't know why . . . it just does. I guess seeing that all nature cycles, changes, dies, and is born again. (no, not like in the bible!) We're not just being picked on. We just happen to have the cognition to know what's going on around us.

But to see cells change from one state to another makes me wonder if perhaps we do live on -- in some way. Not like the vivid afterlife of heaven as in the bible. But, in a subtle way. What if a tree has material from someone who died millions of years ago because their remains fertilized the ground? What about someone's ashes spread out to the sea? What if plants came to life in part because of that material that floated to the bottom of the ocean?

What if we become absorbed as nourishment for other organisms and ultimately some of our material resurfaces again as part of something else -- somewhere else?

Maybe the ancient philosophies and beliefs that accept reincarnation picked up on this possibility. Maybe they couldn't name it at the time and explained it instead with religion. I think the ancients recognized that we aren't only a smaller part of a larger cosmos. But also, a cosmos can be found in our very selves -- which in turn is made up of an unseen microcosm that may actually live beyond ourselves.

I think we can name it now; I think it's our cells.