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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23Nov 2022 by Post

“Poor Design”? Actually, the Human Body Is Amazing; Here’s Why

architecture, bicycling, biology, blood, Chemistry, colors, darkness, death, ears, Engineering, equilibrium, Evolution, eyes, heart, human body, information, Intelligent Design, internal temperature, James Dobson, life, light, lungs, Medicine, oxygen, photons, physicians, physics, piano, reproduction, Richard Dawkins, running, Steve Laufmann, swimming, systems, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Thomas Kuhn, triathlon, Walt Whitman
If someone suggests that a coherent, interdependent system of systems arose by chance, they’ll need to back that up with a detailed engineering analysis. Source
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21Jul 2022 by Post

Reality Rules: The Transgender War on Women

Caitlyn Jenner, David Marcus, Feminism, Hannah Mouncey, Laurel Hubbard, Legislating Morality, Culture & Politics, Lia Thomas, Rachel Levine, Rose McGowan, swimming, Transgender, transgender ideology, transwoman
By Bob Perry Back in the good ‘ole days of 2015, the fight over allowing transgender women to use the women’s bathroom in Charlotte, North Carolina, took center stage in the national political debate. At the time, only a Chicken Little would suggest that mixing gender preference and sexual identity could lead to harmful outcomes. In an article titled, “‘Transgender’ Needs A Legal Definition Right Now or Women Will Get Hurt,” David Marcus pointed out that trans advocates: … insisted that the idea anyone would use the law to dress as a woman and invade women’s private spaces [was] a myth. [But that November] Richard Rodriguez was arrested for dressing as a woman and peeking in stalls in the women’s room at Virginia’s Potomac Mills Mall … [Further, they claimed…
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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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