Study Probes the Origins of Consciousness

Allen Brain Institute, Allison Parshall, anatomy, COGITATE, cognition, consciousness, decisions, Denyse O'Leary, Global Workspace Theory, Integrated information theory, Intelligent Design, Michael Egnor, Nautilus, neuroscience, Neuroscience & Mind, neuroscientists, prefrontal cortex, pseudoscience, Robert Chis-Ciure, Science Daily, The Immortal Mind, The New England Journal of Medicine, University of Sussex
Understanding consciousness by these means is going to be a much slower process than the researchers had hoped. Source
Read More

Is the Human Shoulder Badly Designed?

"poor design", anatomy, arthritis, automobile, biceps, biology, bursa, Cheddar News, chimpanzees, clavicle, collarbone, Columbia University, deltoid muscle, diet, DNA, Evolution, exercise, feces, flat tire, flexibility, forearm, hip joint, human body, Human Origins, human shoulder, humerus, Intelligent Design, muscle, Natalia Ryzak, posture, rotator cuff, scapula, shoulder, shoulder blade, shoulder problems, stability, storytelling, throwing, tornado, trapezius muscle, zoos
Watch an acrobat performing on the parallel bars. Or a baseball player pitching a fastball. Or an athlete swimming the butterfly. Source
Read More

Fossil Friday: New Evidence for the Human Nature of Neanderthals

anatomy, antibiotics, Australian aboriginals, behavior, Bence Viola, biospecies, body decoration, cave art, cavemen, eagle talons, Fossil Friday, gene pool, genetic admixture, glue, Homo neanderthalensis, Homo sapiens, Homo sapiens neanderthalensis, human nature, Human Origins, human uniqueness, jewelry, lordosis, mating partners, Michael Shermer, native Australians, Neanderthals, ochre, painkillers, paleontology, seafood, spinal curvature, stone circles, Svante Pääbo, Thomas Huxley, University of Toronto
What is at stake is not just some esoteric species problem in the ivory tower, but the very question of human nature and human uniqueness. Source
Read More

Fossil Friday: Venetoraptor Is Not the Archaeopteryx of Pterosaurs

anatomy, archosauromorph, Argentina, Bill Nye, Brazil, Calcari di Zorzino Formation, cladogram, common ancestry, Darwinian theory, Darwinists, David Attenborough, Evolution, flying reptiles, Greenland, lagerpetids, paleontology, Popular Science, pterosaur wings, Pterosauria, pterosaurs, Scleromochlus, Scotland, Triassic period, Venetoraptor gassenae, Wikipedia
Forget all the pop science ballyhoo, and if you should not trust my word, just check the provided primary sources. Source
Read More

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
Read More

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
Read More

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
Read More

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
Read More