Submitted by Exponential Times on Tue, 2014-05-13 23:45
Scientists have found the oldest sperm ever discovered, and they are whoppers. They belong to a type of tiny crustacean called an Ostracod. The finding suggests that Ostracods evolved their gargantuan gametes far earlier than their rivals in the supersize sperm leagues, the fruit flies.
Submitted by Exponential Times on Thu, 2014-05-08 06:15
Life existed on our planet for billions of years before anyone tried to make sense of it. The discovery of the principles of natural selection represents the most game-changing shift humans have made in our ability to understand ourselves. Only in combination with an understanding of genetic inheritance, however, was the more sophisticated work of Darwinian science possible. It is tempting for us, as it must have been for Darwin's contemporaries, to think we finally have things figured out. The history of science should teach us otherwise. Glenn Scheyd is an associate professor at Nova Southeastern University.
In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)
Submitted by Exponential Times on Sun, 2014-04-27 05:08
Core Conversation hosted by Reese Jones for SXSW Interactive on topic of Sex, Ego, Death, Internet and Singularities at SXSW 2014 March 10th 2014 in Austin Texas
Conversation: "Sex, Ego, Death, Internet and Singularities"
Description: Why does death relate to sex; more than being an inevitable part of life? We'll openly discuss interplay between life, ego, consciousness, relationships, orgasm, sex, death, technologies, internet and singularities -- including how your mind is connected to your body, your relationships and through the internet. You can participate in a guided discussion about interplay among mind, body, relationships, ego, sex, and death in the time of internet.
Questions:
1) why does death happen for humans and how does internet change that?
2) why did sex evolve and why is sex related to death?
3) what is consciousness, unconsciousness, sleep, orgasm & flow?
4) how does ego evolve in relationships as we develop and age?
5) what is mind, a limbic system & how does limbic internet work?
Submitted by Exponential Times on Thu, 2014-04-24 23:56
SciShow describes the fascinating science of Darwin's little darlings: meat-eating plants. Learn about their many different types, how they catch and eat their prey, and how scientists think they evolved.
Submitted by Exponential Times on Fri, 2014-03-14 07:08
Our planet was once populated by megafauna, big top-of-the-food-chain predators that played their part in balancing our ecosystems. When those megafauna disappear, the result is a "trophic cascade," where every part of the ecosystem reacts to the loss. How can we stay in balance? George Monbiot suggests rewilding: putting wolves, lions and other predators back on top -- with surprising results.
Submitted by Exponential Times on Mon, 2014-03-10 00:02
Neanderthals were a group of humans that lived along side homo-sapiens thousands of years ago. Was this extinct group of early humans able to talk just like you and I do? Trace is here to tell you about a tiny bone found in Neanderthals and modern humans might hold the answer.
Submitted by Exponential Times on Fri, 2014-01-17 02:06
During a routine test of an underwater robot, NSF scientists from University of Nebraska-Lincoln made a startling discovery...an entirely new species of sea anemone living inside the ice.
Submitted by Exponential Times on Wed, 2014-01-01 08:51
Happy New Year, planet Earth!
According to the Anno Domini designation, the year is now 2014. But the Earth has been around a lot longer than that - about 4.567 billion years. The first evidence of life dates back to around 3.8 billion years ago. Homo sapiens first appeared on the planet around two hundred thousand years - or ten thousand generations - ago.
How's that for perspective?
Kirk Johnson, director of the National Museum of Natural History, calls this perspective "deep time." This is the story of our planet preserved in "the DNA of living things," Johnson explains, as well as "in the fossils we find, in the geologic structures of our planet, in the meteorites we scavenge from the ice fields in Antarctica. Those things together give us an incredible manual for thinking about the planet."
Why is this manual useful? We are facing a century that will be an incredibly challenging one for humanity. We now live on a planet with seven billion people, which is up from 1.7 billion people just three or four generations ago. So we have more people, and a greater need for resources.
Submitted by Exponential Times on Mon, 2013-11-18 11:43
When we fully realize the implications of Darwin's theory of evolution, this opens up a whole new way of looking at the world. This goes much further than the biological world but also compasses what we usually consider man made: art, law, economics, language, organisations, morale, culture and technology. Verhoeven shows us that the parallels between nature and culture are much more than superficial resemblances, but uncover fundamental laws that rule all realms of living systems. Darwin offers us a Lingua Franca for the live sciences, but up to now we have been unable to really appreciate this. Verhoeven offers a convincing plea of extending evolutionary theory to all aspects of human existence and endeavours. Doing so, he passingly abandons the myth that evolution is only about struggle and the strong dominating over the weak. Instead, cooperation and interdependency are the driving forces that make the world go round.
With unparalleled wit, clarity, and intelligence, Richard Dawkins, one of the world's most renowned evolutionary biologists, has introduced countless readers to the wonders of science in works such as The Selfish Gene. Now, in The Ancestor's Tale, Dawkins offers a masterwork: an exhilarating reverse tour through evolution, from present-day humans back to the microbial beginnings of life four billion years ago. Throughout the journey Dawkins spins entertaining, insightful stories and sheds light on topics such as speciation, sexual selection, and extinction. The Ancestor's Tale is at once an essential education in evolutionary theory and a riveting read.
