21Dec 2022 by Post

Synchronized Swimming in Siphonophores: A Design Worth Imitating

anatomy, Caltech, carbon monoxide, Cnidaria, colonial organisms, Douglas Axe, ecology, foresight, functional whole, Intelligent Design, jellyfish, jet propulsion, Kelly R. Sutherland, Kevin T. Du Clos, krill, Life Sciences, Living Waters, marching band, Monterey Bay, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, Nanomia bijuga, nectosome, Oregon Institute of Marine Biology, physiology, PNAS, pneumatophore, Portuguese man-o’war, science, Scyphozoa, siphonophores, Smithsonian Magazine, swimming, synchronous swimming, taxonomy
It must be good if engineers want to copy it. Siphonophores are colonial animals that have mastered the sport of synchronized swimming. Source
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16Dec 2022 by Post

Can a Dog Be Bred to Be as Smart as a Human?

Albert Einstein, American Kennel Club, anatomy, Border Collie, brain, Charles Fawole, consciousness, Dogs, Flynn Effect, humans, intelligence, Jean Marie Bauhaus, Kurt Gödel, Marilyn vos Savant, neurological capability, neuroscience, Neuroscience & Mind, Payton Pearson, Psychology Today, science, Stanley Coren, University of British Columbia
An enterprising electrical engineer, Payton Pearson, thinks it can be done. There are reasons for doubt. Source
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25Sep 2021 by Post

The Design Connection in Biological Tracking Systems

anatomy, antibiotics, biology, CELS 2021, Conference on Engineering in Living Systems, environmental conditions, Evolution, evolvability, information, Intelligent Design, irreducibly complex systems, neo-Darwinian evolution, physiology, sensors, switches, technological innovation, timescales, tracking systems, waiting times, Zoltan Szallasi
If organisms resulted from haphazard undirected processes, their design constraints would be few and highly flexible. Source
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31Aug 2021 by Post

Engineering Better Explains Adaptation than Evolutionary Theory

adaptation, anatomy, artificial limbs, CELS 2021, Conference on Engineering in Living Systems, design logic, Engineering, engineers, environment, Evolution, fitness, fitness landscape, fur color, genes, genotype, height, Intelligent Design, living systems, micro air vehicles, mutations, nanomachines, natural genetic engineering, operational gravity well, operational parameters, physiology
The genetic variation in any species is confined to a limited set of variables such as a finch beak’s thickness. Source
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19Oct 2020 by Post

Morphogenesis: Coding for Shape

3-D printing, Allen Discovery Center, amoeba, anatomy, beetles, biological revolution, biological shapes, brachiosaurs, chick, crabs, Darwinism, Douglas Axe, embryonic development, Engineering, eukaryotes, Evolution, functional whole, Harvard University, Hydra, Illustra Media, information, Information Technology, Intelligent Design, liver, liver enzymes, Michael Levin, morphogenesis, octopuses, paramecium, planaria, rotifers, sequoias, Stentor, Terminator 2, The Scientist, Tufts University, Undeniable, Wyss Institute
How do you get a 3-D shape from a linear code? That is the puzzle of morphogenesis. Source
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27Aug 2020 by Post

Doctor’s Diary: Evolution in the Country of the Blind

anatomy, animals, apes, atheists, babies, birth canal, Brazilian Academy of Sciences, childbirth, chromosomes, Creativity, DNA, ductus arteriosus, earthquake, Ecuador, foresight, H.G. Wells, heteropalindromes, human evolution, human exceptionalism, Human Origins, humans, Intelligent Design, invention, Marcos Eberlin, Minnesota, orphan genes, oxygen, P.Z. Myers, parable, Periodic Table, phenotypes, Richard Dawkins, The Country of the Blind, Tree of Life
Fans of H. G. Wells are probably familiar with his 1904 short story, “The Country of the Blind.” Source
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02Jan 2020 by Post

Care for Appetizers? Electric Proteins, Spidey Sense, and More

anatomy, appetizers, Arizona State University, Barry Scott, Biomimetics, centipedes, cilia, electricity, electron transport, gene repression, genes, genomes, Intelligent Design, Irreducible Complexity, Joubert syndrome, Junk DNA, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Massey University, materials science, metabolism, Michael Behe, miRNA, orb webs, photosynthesis, physiology, Siam News, sliders, spiders, Stuart Lindsey, swimming, Tohoku University, University of North Carolina, University of Otago, X-ray crystallography, Zheng-Yi Chen
Welcome to the second day of the New Year! Like tasty sliders, these short news stories should get the juices flowing for big developments in 2020. Electric Proteins Dr. Stuart Lindsey at Arizona State University is an expert in single-molecule dynamics in biomolecules. Older methods of observing protein structure, such as X-ray crystallography, only gave single snapshots of the highly dynamic world, he says, where proteins rapidly change conformations and interact in complex ways. Electron transport has been well known in the cases of photosynthesis and metabolism. But a few years ago, his team was astonished to find that a run-of-the-mill protein conducted electricity. The protein was acting like a wire! Further observations revealed that all proteins conduct electricity — even the ones that had “weren’t designed to do this”—…
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