29Nov 2024 by Post

Fossil Friday: Evolutionary Stasis in Beetles

academia, adults, amber, antennae, astrology, Basilosaurus, beetles, Carabidae, catching cage, Collembola, Dorudon, Evolution, Fossil Friday (series), Indohyus, K/Pg impact event, larvae, living fossils, Loricera, maxillae, Myanmar, Neo-Darwinism, Pakicetus, paleontology, psychoanalysis, unguided evolution, Wired
Natural selection is the great magician in evolutionary fantasy land, where it explains rapid change in explosive radiations as well as no change at all. Source
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12Aug 2022 by Post

Fossil Friday: A Fossil Butterfly Lookalike

apomorphies, beetles, Brazil, butterflies, butterflies of the Jurassic, convergence, Crato Formation, Darwinism, design pattern, Fossil Friday, fossil record, genetic predispositions, insects, Intelligent Design, Kalligrammatidae, lacewing, Lower Cretaceous, Lower Jurassic, Makarkina adamsi, Makarkina kerneri, mouthparts, natural selection, neuropterans, paleontology, science, Simon Conway Morris, Stephen Jay Gould, tape of life, University of Tübingen, wing span
An intelligent design paradigm can easily accommodate convergences as a natural consequence of a designer reusing the same ideas in different constructions. Source
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03Feb 2022 by Post

New Mode of Flight Found in Tiny Beetle

Adrian Malone, barbs, beetles, biology, bird feathers, Blepharida sacra, Charles Darwin, Chloe Tenn, Coleoptera, convergent evolution, electron micrograph, Evolution, flat bark beetle, flea beetle, Flight, froghoppers, insect wings, Intelligent Design, J.B.S. Haldane, Japan, larvae, Longitarsus anchusae, Matthew Bertone, miniaturization, Nature (journal), PLOS ONE, ptiloptery, Research, Sergey E. Farisenkov, The Scientist, Zookeys
A millimeter-sized beetle flies efficiently with feathery wings and a beat mode not seen before. Did it evolve by natural selection? Source
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22Sep 2021 by Post

Arthropod Architects Amaze Engineers

abdomen, Anomalocaris, aphids, arthropods, beetles, Berlin, bioengineers, biology, butterflies, Cambrian Explosion, Cambrian News, chelicerates, crickets, Darwin's Dilemma, Darwin's Doubt, engineers, Evolution, flies, gnats, honeybees, Intelligent Design, Marrella, MIT, pill bugs, PNAS, praying mantises, spider-silk, spiders, Stephen Meyer, thorax, trilobites
They appear in the early Cambrian fossil record: the first examples of the most diverse phylum on earth. Who knew their skills would become the envy of human engineers? Source
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18May 2021 by Post

How Do We Decide if Something Is Well Designed or Poorly Designed?

"poor design", beetles, biological engineering, biology, cancer, ceramics, cutting board, dental enamel, disease, drones, Engineering, Erika DeBenedictis, hummingbird, IEEE, Intelligent Design, iPhone, lightning connector, MIT, optimality, photosynthesis, smart devices, solar panels, somatic cells
Erika DeBenedictis's statement that “organisms are absolutely the most sophisticated machines we know of” is supported by overwhelming evidence. 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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05Sep 2020 by Post

For Labor Day Weekend: Alfred Russel Wallace, Scientist and Working Man

Alfred Russel Wallace, Alfred Russel Wallace: A Rediscovered Life, beetles, butterflies, Charles Darwin, Evolution, Indiana Jones, Intelligent Design, intelligent evolution, Janet Browne, Labor Day, Lepidoptera, livelihood, Michael Flannery, Robert Darwin, Robert McCormick, summer, The Beagle, The World of Life
Take a moment to consider the impact of labor on the development of evolutionary theory. Source
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