Plant Evolution: All Gaps and Miracles

abominable mystery, algae, angiosperms, bryophytes, Cambrian Explosion, Charlie Brown, clubmosses, conifers, cycads, Darwinian gradualism, embryophyte, Evolution, ferns, flowering plants, ginkgoes, gymnosperms, hornworts, James Clark, Life Sciences, liverworts, lycophytes, miracles, morphospace, mosses, Nature Plants, neofunctionalization, Philip C. J. Donoghue, pine tree, plants, punctuated equilibria, Sandy Hetherington, The Conversation, trilobites, University of Bristol, vascular plants
A major study looks for evolution, but finds huge disparities, stasis, gaps, periodic explosions, and miracles of emergence held together with imagination. Source
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Are Plants Cognitive, Intelligent Beings?

audible range, botany, cognition, Darwinism, David G. Robinson, ecologists, EMBO Reports, emotions, Frantisek Baluška, infection, intelligence, Life Sciences, Louvre, mathematics, Neuroscience & Mind, panpsychism, plants, random mutations, spirituality, Tel Aviv University, teleology, Third Way of Evolution, University of Heidelberg, water deprivation, ZME Science
Some plant biologists want to see them that way; others continue to insist on a Darwinian view. Source
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Engineering and Evolution in the Microbial World

animals, Azusa Pacific University, bacteria, biology, Carolyn Hovde, Conference on Engineering in Living Systems, Dustin Van Hofwegen, E. coli, Evolution, ID The Future, Intelligent Design, Journal of Bacteriology, Long Term Evolution Experiment, Neo-Darwinism, plants, Podcast, Richard Lenski, Scott Minnich, University of Idaho
This year’s Conference on Engineering in Living Systems (CELS) is going on right now, exploring design principles at work in living things. Source
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The Fear of Suffering Is Driving Us Crazy

abortion, American Pediatric Association, animal rights, animal welfare, Belgium, bioethics, birth, California, Canada, Culture & Ethics, doctors, ethics, Finland, France, Gender Dysphoria, gender-affirming care, geographical features, glaciers, Holocaust, human exceptionalism, human life, insects, Jews, Journal of Medical Ethics, Life Sciences, mastectomies, Netherlands, Ontario, Oregon, organ donation, peas, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, plants, rivers, Sweden, unborn children, United Kingdom, Voluntary Human Extinction Movement
Our suffering phobia has triggered a harmful societal neurosis that has both subverted human exceptionalism and undermined societal common sense. Source
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Gene Sharing Is More Widespread than Thought, with Implications for Darwinism

bacteria, bioRxiv, Ceratopteris, co-evolution, convergence, Current Biology, DNA, Doug Soltis, Duke University, Evolution, ferns, Florida Museum of Natural History, Foresight (book), gene flow, heredity, horizontal gene transfer, human evolution, Intelligent Design, introgression, kleptomania, Lingchong You, Neanderthals, North Carolina State University, plants, University of Tübingen
Evidence is growing that organisms share existing genetic information horizontally, not just vertically. Source
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High Energy: Long Story Short Addresses “Energy Harnessing” and Life’s Origin

abiogenesis, ADP, ATP, ATP synthase, batteries, biopolymers, chemiosmotic coupling, drivetrain, Energy, energy harnessing, Evolution, gasoline, homeostasis, hydrothermal vents, Intelligent Design, lightning, Long Story Short, membranes, natural selection, origin of life, plants, promissory note, proton gradients, protons, regulators, RNA, self-replication, solar panels, sun, sunlight, transformers, volcanoes
Everyone knows that maintaining life requires energy, but most do not appreciate the intricate steps required to harness it. Source
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Copper Reveals Its Role in Exploding Plants — and in the Miracle of Man

Angela Hay, awn, biology, Cardamine hirsuta, chaperones, copper, cytochrome C oxidase, enzymes, Ergonium cicutarium, erosion, filaree, fire-making, Geology, hairy bittercress, herbs, homeostatic mechanisms, Illustra Media, Intelligent Design, laccase, Life Sciences, lignin, lignocellulose, Max Planck Institute, metallurgy, metals, Michael Denton, minerals, plants, PNAS, popping cress, prior fitness, seed pods, soil, storksbill, The Miracle of Man, The Miracle of the Cell, zinc
The exploding pods of the popping cress send the plant’s seeds flying in all directions, as far as a meter from the parent. Source
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