Missing Links?

Genetics shows that microevolution is true but it is hard for us to appreciate the whole picture because of our fraction of time spent on this planet in relation to the time needed for large macroevolution changes. Sure we can look at speciation in the lab with bacteria and such but people want to see larger animals, mammals, and humans to be convinced. So, do we have evidence for macroevolution? You betcha! Museums around the world are filled with thousands upon thousand of fossils showing transitional changes. Here is a select few examples showing some of the transitions we understand deeply, including the transition from water to land and from reptiles to mammals.

One of the key points to remember about fossils is that you can make predictions of where in the strata layer you can find a species. For the most part you find oldest layers being at the bottom and younger layers being at the top. And again as a point, no species has ever been found in the wrong strata layer. One way to completely debunk evolution is to find a species in the wrong order. Dawkins says the creationists should be out frantically digging up fossils to find one out of place if they want to hold to their creation and flood myth.

One of the reasons people have a hard time accepting evolution is the transition of species from water onto land. It is now well documented and understood as we now have a good amount of fossils showing the transition. In 2004, Neil Shubin made the critical discovery of the Tiktaalik, being the main transition species between water and land. Shubin was able to make predictions of what strata layer he might find this transitional species based on what layers more fish like species and more tetrapod like species lay in. And anybody could have guessed it, right smack dab in the middle! Tiktaalik's fins had more shoulder, elbow, wrist like features suggesting that it was able to lift it self up out of the water like a push-up. So here is our current understanding of great transition from water to land:

Next up we have the transitional fossils that fill in the gaps between reptiles and mammals. This fossil sequence shows how the reptilian jaw developed into the mammalian ear. Additional evidence has even shown that the same embryonic structures in the reptile also develop into the ear of mammals:

A bit of odd evolutionary history is that modern dolphins porpoises, and whales evolved from land mammals. Another clue was looking at the swimming biomechanics compared to other fish. Most fish have a side to side swimming stroke where as most land animals like otters that enter the water have an up and down swimming stroke. It goes to show that dolphins, porpoises, and whales have an up and down swimming stroke. Even further evidence is the vestigial hind limbs in whales. They still have the genetic code to build hind limbs but the gene is switched off early on leaving small femur like bones that can be seen on any whale fossil.

Was Darwin Wrong?

NO. THE EVIDENCE FOR EVOLUTION IS OVERWHELMING. That was the first line in large print I remember reading in the National Geographic article. Evolution is one of the most solid theories in science. Wait you said theory? Yes that's right, a scientific theory. Creationists love to play the 'just a theory card' when not knowing exactly what theory means. In science, theories are a term and model used to explain a set of facts in their relation to one another. In evolution we have thousands upon thousands of facts that have been observable over history as well as in real time. Evolutionary theory is the term used to describe the vast amount of facts and how the process works. If a college student wanted to study physics, they may have to take an atomic theory class. And just as well, Einstein's general relativity is the theory of gravitation that improved on Newton's theory of gravitation.

"Let me try to make crystal clear what is established beyond reasonable doubt, and what needs further study, about evolution. Evolution as a process that has always gone on in the history of the earth can be doubted only by those who are ignorant of the evidence or are resistant to evidence, owing to emotional blocks or to plain bigotry. By contrast, the mechanisms that bring evolution about certainly need study and clarification. There are no alternatives to evolution as history that can withstand critical examination. Yet we are constantly learning new and important facts about evolutionary mechanisms." - Theodosius Dobzhansky, Biologist. He made this quote in 1973, before the understanding of genetics, hence 'mechanisms that bring evolution about certainly need study and clarification.'

Evolution has stood up in every facet of science including archaeology, biogeography, biology, chemistry, comparative anatomy, embryology, genetics, geology, neuroscience, paleontology, pharmacology, and physics. The key is that many fields came to the same conclusion independently. Here is a brief preview of some of the fields that make up evolution:

• Fossil Record- The weight of the fossil record is twofold. First, you can make predictions on when the species lived and in what strata layer they will show up based on dating techniques. For the record, no fossil has ever been found in the wrong strata layer. Oh and also, the fossils found in the dated strata layer also matches the estimated dating techniques in genetics.
  
• Geographical Distribution- Looks at species distribution and the relationships among species themselves and in relation to geography. So sorry Noah's Ark, your ship didn't sail. Unless you want to claim that when the flood went down, penguins waddled their way to Antarctica.
  
• Domestic Selection- Man has their hand in evolution which has been demonstrated and documented in dog and pigeon breeding as well in the lab with everything from bacteria to flies.
  
• Genetics- Every creationists nightmare. Genetics essentially put the proof in the pudding for the evidence of evolution. Even showing that natural selection does indeed work. Dawkins claimed that the one observation to refute creationism was the pattern of resemblances you see when you compare the genes, using modern DNA techniques, of any pair of animals and form a perfect family tree.
• Development & Embryology- The study of the similarities between species during embryo development. Darwin originally made observations of this field in his 1859 publication, On the Origin of Species. It has gained recent popularity and is now dubbed Evolutionary Development or Evo-Devo.

In the coming posts I will lay out the evidence supporting each of these claims.

"Even as the evolution wars rage, on school boards and in courtrooms, biologists continue to accumulate empirical data supporting Darwinian theory."

- Wall Street Journal, April 7, 2006

Dear Believer

"When one person suffers from a delusion, it is called insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion it is Religion."- Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

Dear Believer,

You have a belief, a position of faith. You have a neatly packaged model to base your life on. A lens to view everything from the meaning of life, morality, history, enlightenment, love, guidance, to what the future will bring, and how the world works. But guess what? So does your next door neighbor. And theirs is the absolute truth, according to them. How do you feel about that? And guess what? The neighbor on the other side of you has another belief, another model that conflicts with yours. And this neighbor claims that both of your beliefs are wrong and theirs is the one true path to salvation. How can this be so?

I propose something for you to think about. Now, don't just give it a few minutes. I propose you give it a few days of thought, maybe weeks. Possibly turn it into a journey. I want you to think about the origins of your faith. Why do YOU believe what you believe? What got you started on this path? Of all the religions in the world, what makes you think you have the right one?

“The unexamined life is not worth living .” - Socrates

No one has ever been able to come to an agreement of how many religions have existed in the world. There could be 8 core religions of the world, 42 common practiced religions, a possible 42,000 religions have existed in history. Hindusim is considered the oldest written religion at around 6,000 years old. There is evidence that Aborigines held religious ceremonies around 16,000 years ago.The three Abraham religions are relative new comers to the scene. Judaism around 1,800 B.C.E. Christianity around 30 C.E. Islam around 610 C.E. There is between 2,000 to 4,000 different denominations of Christianity. Say what? Yes there are a few thousand interpretations of the teachings of Jesus Christ. So what is this, a multiple choice exam? a) Christianity b) Judaism.... ah crap the right answer was c) Mormonism! I guess you have to play the lotto to be saved huh? Maybe you believe what you believe because of your upbringing? But think about this, there also many possibilities here. Dawkins pointed this out beautifully! You see, just based on probability, if you were:

a) born in America, you would be a Christian.
b) born in Israel, you would be Jewish.
c) born in Salt Lake City, you would be Mormon.
d) born during Viking times, you would believe in Thor.

e) born in ancient Greece, you would believe in Zeus.

f) born in Afghanistan, you would be Islam.
g) born in India, you would be a Hindu.

h) born in Thailand, you be Buddhist

Get it yet? Your religion is no more than a geographical hereditary accident. Period. Your neighbor, neighbor in state, neighbor in country all have the 'truth'. So think about the chances that you were born of a different faith. Walk yourself through the thought process and also what it would be like to look upon your religion from the opposing view. It is amazing when you actually let this idea sit in your head how easy it is to debunk a single religion just based on probability. Yet, humanity is still plagued with one of the last great illusions. Religion.

"I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours." -Stephen F. Roberts

"A bad idea embraced by millions of people, is still a bad idea."

LIFE 2.0

Life may be the most beautiful thing we have to cherish, but there is still widespread belief that 'life' is some sort of magic. Hopefully this will chip it away a bit.

This morning we awoke to one of the greatest breakthroughs in science. Craig Venter, Genomics pioneer, has synthetically created a living organism from inanimate chemicals. Thats right, we have created life in the lab, many said could not be done as we dont have the power to instill life. The tables have turned. While this opens the door to an array of applications, it still leaves questions such as the sequence of events that led to the evolution of life. But we now know it is no more a question that life can form from basic chemical structures. Now with current insights and technology, it shouldn't be long before deeper questions are answered.

"Venter is creaking open the most profound door in humanity's history, potentially peeking into its destiny," said Julian Savulescu, ethics professor at Oxford University

Venter is wisely keeping the exact protocols under wraps so this could not fall into the wrong hands, with the extreme leading to biochemical warfare. There is still so much work to be done from this point. Scientists still are not sure of all the possible applications of synthetic life, but know it is many. You can read the headlines here:

• http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100520/ap_on_sc/us_sci_synthetic_cell
• http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/science/05/20/scientists.organism.ft/index.html

Venter is also the author of his book A Life Decoded: My Genome: My Life, which tells the story of his adventurous life and quest to sequence the Human Genome.

Worrying Out Loud

There seems to be a taboo in this country where you're not allowed to talk about others religious beliefs. You can debate everything such as politics, medicine, and everything in between. But as soon as you bring up religion, it's taboo. You have to be careful as you don't want to 'offend' the person. My aim is not to deliberately offend anyone. More so, I am worrying out loud. I am concerned that the progress of civilization is being stalled by outdated dogma from the bronze age. A majority of people are not only taking moral guidance from a book that is a couple of thousand years old, but also using it as an ample explanation of how natural orders work.

You ask why am I attacking God? I ask, why are you looking the other way? A majority of religious people, moderates as well, tend to stick their fingers in their ears and go La, La, La, as if the evidence were there as some sort of inconvenience to their belief. I realize I may offend some people but as I am coming to find out there is no easy way to tell a person that what they have based their life on may very well be wrong. You may also say I have no right to tell a person that they are wrong. From their point of view I can see this. People hold their beliefs very closely to the heart as it gives them a security blanket. When you tell someone they are wrong, you are immediately touching on their self sense of security. But I say oh boo hoo. Who cares if your wrong! You have to be open minded about the possibility of being wrong. Who cares if your offended. Sure, I am offended by things as well. Like Dawkins, I am offended when children are denied a proper education. I am offended when children are indoctrinated and told they might spend all eternity in hell. I am offended when medical science is compromised and has the potential to cure many diseases. But how else are we supposed to progress as a society if we first don't nuke the foundations?

You may also tell me that religion isn't all evil and it does so many good things for humanity. I would agree. In this blog I will not focus on the evil of religion, as there are plenty of other resources that point it out clearly, and I do realize religion does do a lot of good things and in many ways promotes peace. So what is my problem with it? The surrender of the mind. The alienation from nature into a dogmatic worldview.

So here it is, this is what we're up against: We have people like Ken Ham founder of the Creation Museum, who claims the Grand Canyon was the result of Noah's Flood and people roamed among the dinosaurs. Michael Behe of the Discovery Institute, who leads the Intelligent Design movement making an embarrassment of science by wanting equal time in the classroom against evolution. It's just bad science. Luckily the Supreme Court saw right through it in the Kitzmiller vs. Dover case. Then there is Patrick Henry College near Washington D.C., whose main goal is to train fundamentalist evangelical Christians to become political leaders. We have homeschool children being told to deny science as it cant explain anything. Once we can move past these outdated views and road blocks, we can focus on really important topics in science and moral civilization. There are many diseases to be cured and many many questions in science we can put our efforts into.

You will also say, but you haven't been to my church, they don't teach that. Yeah it may not where you are, but it may be happening in the church across the street from yours. Or it may be happening in the home next to yours. And this is why... I am worrying out loud.

"Nothing is more dangerous than a dogmatic worldview - nothing more constraining, more blinding to innovation, more destructive of openness to novelty." - Stephen Jay Gould

Iconoclast

"The human brain is the only organ in the known universe that seeks to understand itself."-Richard Restak

I've been trying to take on the iconoclast way of thinking. What is an iconoclast you might think; Gregory Berns defines it in his fabulous book Iconoclast: A Neuroscientist Reveals How to Think Differently as: a person who does something that others say can't be done. He goes on to tell how the iconoclast doesn't literally see things differently than other people; more precisely, he "perceives" things differently." He demonstrates this with stories of revolutionary thinkers that were ahead of their time. They weren't afraid to follow their ideas where others would call them heretics, even with possibility that they could be wrong.

"People will always criticize those on an unconventional path."

Most of my inspiration has been from my recent passion in the field of neuroscience. The brain sciences are one of the fastest growing fields in science because of the multitude of applications. In the near future it will also become one the heated topics with social ethics as it touches on concepts such as free will, beliefs, emotions, actions, and perception. Neuroscience is starting to reveal a lot of scary things, a lot of things that may seem counterintuitive to us. Sure neuroscience is counterintuitive, but that is a problem with your intuitions, not a problem with neuroscience. On top of that neuroscience is bad ass. My cousin once said, "Neuroscience takes the vagina out of psychology and does work." Neuroscience touches on every aspect of human nature.

I believe that studying neuroscience as well as other cool sciences such as genetics and physics can teach you more about yourself and the world than any religion could ever do. It allows you to see things not for what one thinks they are, but for what they might be. But it is not an easy road. "Before one can muster the strength to tear down conventional thinking, one must first imagine the possibility that conventional thinking is wrong." And boy is that ever true. The last two years have been the hardest of my life, but in a good way. It's been a learning process of myself and the world, throwing out most preconceived perceptions and beliefs. A complete reverse engineering of my thoughts. My goal with this blog is to not tell you how to think but rather to open the door to freethinking. Also, to create conscience awareness of evidence, the reality behind the illusions, and to expose dogmatic thinking.

"Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect."