Evolution in Action: Corn

Evolution is one of the greatest scientific theories of all time. Note 'theory' in the previous sentence is not 'theory: I have an idea about how this works' but 'Theory: this is how it works, because we've tried to falsify it thousands of times and can't'. As a bonus, Evolution is also simple to understand.

1. Occasionally, DNA makes a mistake when it creates a copy of itself. This mistake is a small change to the genetic code that may lead to a detrimental or beneficial change in the host organism. Detrimental changes often lead to the death of the host organism. Beneficial changes may give it a slight advantage depending on the selection pressures that it faces in its environment.

2. An environment applies a variety of "selection pressures" to the organisms that live within it. These pressures are termed 'natural selection'. Some organisms have genetic variations that give them a slight advantage with respect to these pressures. Other organisms of the same species without those genetic variations have a slight disadvantage with respect to those same pressures. If this disadvantage leads to the death of those organisms before they are able to reproduce, then those organisms will die out and only the children of the organisms with the beneficial advantage will survive. At some point the entire species of the organism will consist only of the offspring of the organisms with the beneficial advantage and the species will have evolved to be well adapted to the selection pressures it faces.

I am currently conducting an experiment with evolution in my own backyard. Each Spring I am ruthlessly killing any dandelions that dare to poke their heads above the level of the grass in my yard. Ignoring for the moment that I'm not doing anything to prevent seeds of dandelions from my neighbors yards to infiltrate my yard (by, for example, being carried by the wind into my yard), my policy of killing any dandelion the moment I see it is applying a selection pressure to the dandelions in my yard that give "tall" dandelions a distinct disadvantage and "short" dandelions a distinct advantage. Note: there are a mixture of tall and short dandelions in my yard due to the fact that a random mutation of the dandelions' genetic code at some point in the past gave rise to dandelions that grow tall and dandelions that don't grow as tall. Now, the tall dandelions are facing a selection pressure that is causing them to be wiped out before they can produce any seeds. And, thus, as we now mosey into Winter, the majority of the dandelion seeds in my backyard came from the "short" dandelions.

My prediction is that in a few years time, I will have eliminated "tall" dandelions from my yard, except for the few stragglers that made it from seeds that were blown into my yard from my neighbors yards.

See how simple evolution is?

But, for a much better example, take a look at this entry from Stephen Matheson's blog entitled "They selected teosinte...and got corn. Excellent!" which provides a lot of detail on how corn, which is a type of grass believe it or not, has evolved from a grass that still exists called teosinte.

Enjoy!

Ken

Health Care for Kids Defeated

Alright! Republicans around the country must be dancing in the streets!

They managed to get a bunch of sick kids booted from our health care system. Way to go! Yes! They must be so excited, thinking about all the sick kids that have been left out in the cold. Why, I bet it brings a smile to their face as they head to church on Sunday.

Now they can continue to spend billions of dollars on an occupation in Iraq because that's more important and a totally acceptable way to spend our nation's money. (Not.)

Meanwhile, all rational human beings, nay all moral human beings, are sickened by the actions of this administration.

Ken

Update: If this veto stands, it blocks health care for 10 million children! And, this means that children with preventable diseases will die since they no longer have access to this health care. Unbelievable!

2nd Update: On Wednesday, President Bush was asked why he vetoed the CHIP legislation that would provide health care to almost ten million children. His response: "to ensure that I am relevant". Despicable. Apparently Bush needing to feel relevant is more important than health care of children.

What Deniers have in Common

Now that Al Gore is sharing the Nobel Peace Prize, the global warming deniers have come crawling out of the woodwork. If you press a global warming denier, you will find that they deny that global warming is occurring because it would otherwise be really inconvenient to their world views. They have also repeated the lie that "Global warming does not exist" often enough that they believe it to be true and they hang out with people who also believe the lie is true and so feel that further justifies their views.

The global warming denier who actually looks at the science behind global warming (available here) and still denies that it exists is the rare individual.

I've always felt that global warming deniers share lots of similarities with evolution deniers, HIV deniers, and the like.

The Science Avenger agrees and has a great post available on the subject.

He also has a pointer to a great post on why right-wing conservatives hate Universities so much.

While I tend to get depressed about the sea of anti-intellectuals that inhabit the USA, its great to find the blogs of other people who 1) understand science and 2) are willing to defend it.

If our country is to retain its place as a scientific powerhouse, we need every scientist we can get!

Ken

Only Understandable By Geeks

Classic comic today on xkcd:

It will only be understandable by geeks who know a bit about SQL and the ways it can be used to launch attacks on database-backed Web applications.

Enjoy.

Compassionate Conservatism In Action

So, as most of you know, Bush---a devout evangelical supported by hoards of devout evangelicals---vetoed a bill that would provide health care for children who live in families that can't afford medical insurance. The primary reason, I think, is that Republicans think that people who are poor are lazy, good-for-nothings, that don't work hard enough, and so this view overrides the mandate from Jesus (who they supposedly admire and follow) to help those who are needy.

So, okay, situation normal. All of the above is simply what we have come to expect from the hypocrites who claim to follow compassionate conservatism.

But, the Democrats had the temerity to humanize this issue, by providing opportunities for the kids affected by Bush's veto to speak out. (Those dastardly Democrats!) And, so a kid by the name of Graeme Frost, a 12 year old, gave the Saturday Democratic address supporting the SCHIP program. Last year, Graeme and his sister were victims of a car accident, both suffering severe brain trauma and both requiring special medical care a year later. Their family is trying to live on 45,000 a year and medical insurance would cost more than their mortgage payment: 1200 a month!

So, what was the right-wing response to Graeme's situation? Do you think the right-wing responded with compassion and concern for these children. Are evangelicals rallying to support this family in accordance to the teachings of Jesus? No. They. Are. Not.

The right has launched a series of filthy attacks against this family (click on each link above for the details), hounding them at their house, and giving them no end of grief. This is beyond disgusting and reveals the true nature of "compassionate" conservatism.

Why Do They Hate the Storks So Much?

Excellent post on The Panda's Thumb:

Intelligent Delivery

Brilliant!

Ken