How Octopuses Got So Smart? “Junk DNA”
biology, birds, brain, California octopus, clams, common octopus, genome, intelligence, Intelligent Design, invertebrates, jumping genes, Junk DNA, Long Interspersed Nuclear Elements, mammals, marine invertebrates, Neuroscience & Mind, octopuses, oysters, transposons, unguided evolution
Jumping genes used to be dismissed as junk DNA which in turn was held to be slam-dunk evidence for unguided evolutionary processes. Source
Brain Size Doesn’t Determine Intelligence
Ars Technica, birds, brain size, brains, chimpanzees, genetic engineering, Homo sapiens, human brain, humans, information processing, Intelligent Design, jetliner, John Timmer, lemurs, London School of Economics, Michael Denton, Michel Hofman, monkeys, Neuroscience & Mind, octopus, oxygen, Peter Cochrane, primates, psychology, superintelligence, synaptic connections, The Miracle of Man
Brains are not simple, so many “just common sense” theories have fallen by the wayside. Source
Are Birds Really Smarter than Reptiles?
animal behavior, babies, birds, brain size, brain volume, cognitive capacity, Cornell University, cuckoo, Diane Colombelli-Négrel, eggs, facial recognition, fairy wrens, intelligence, Intelligent Design, lemurs, lizards, Malurus cyaneus, neurons, Neuroscience & Mind, Pavel Němec, penguins, reptiles, The Scientist
Scientists clash over how to measure animal intelligence: brain volume, brain organization, numbers of neurons…? Source
The Remarkable Things We’re Learning About Bird Intelligence
African grey parrot, Alex (parrot), apes, birds, chimpanzees, cockatoo, cutlery, Goffin’s cockatoo, golf, intelligence, Intelligent Design, invertebrates, knife, mammals, Neuroscience & Mind, New Caledonian crows, New Zealand, octopus, Smithsonian Magazine, spoon, token, University of Birmingham, utensils, vertebrates, walnut
These findings are only among birds that have actually been studied; most birds have not been studied for intelligence. Source
Why the Main Argument Against Intelligent Design Is False
birds, Charles Darwin, creator, Evolution, evolutionists, frigate-bird, Intelligent Design, Jerry Coyne, metaphysics, naturalists, Origin of Species, Separate Creation, theology, upland goose, webbed feet, Why Evolution Is True
As Darwin argued, “we can hardly believe that the webbed feet of the upland goose or of the frigate-bird are of special use to these birds." Source
Michael Behe: Evolution by Devolution
bacteria, biochemistry, birds, Darwinian theory, devolution, Evolution, flightlessness, function, Lehigh University, Michael Behe, molecular evolution, molecular level of life, niche advantages, peer-reviewed literature, The Quarterly Review of Biology, viruses
An example of this devolutionary process on a showy scale? Flightless island birds, devolved from birds that could fly. Source
Sleep on It: Design in the Subconscious Brain
birds, circadian clock, Darwinism, Ernst Haeckel, evolutionists, firefighters, fruit flies, functional information, humans, infants, insects, Intelligent Design, mammals, natural selection, neural signaling, neurons, Neuroscience & Mind, NREM, phylogeny, rapid eye movement, rats, reptiles, roundworms, Science Advances, sleep, zebra finches
An international team reasoned there had to be a purpose for sleep. In one of the largest datasets ever collected, they believe they found two functions. Source