25Feb 2022 by Post

No “Hopeful Monster,” Flower Demonstrates Evolution by Subtraction

APETALA3-3, Aquilegia coerulea, biology, Biston betularia, Chaetodipus intermedius, Charles Darwin, Colorado, Colorado blue columbine, Current Biology, Darwin Devolves, Evolution, evolutionary biologists, genetic information, Harrison Tasoff, hopeful monster, Intelligent Design, Jonathan Wells, Life Sciences, Michael Behe, petals, positive selection, saltation, Scott Hodges, sepals, spurs, Stephen Meyer, UC Santa Barbara, Zachary Cabin, Zombie Science
Evolutionary biologists at the University of California, Santa Barbara, noticed something peculiar about the columbines in a region of Colorado. Source
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25May 2020 by Post

Behe Vindicated Again: Sherpas Climb Everest Easier, Because Darwin Devolves

altitude, brown bears, climbing, Daisheng Song, Darwin Devolves, Darwinism, Evolution, genes, genetic information, genome, Han Chinese, hemoglobin, Himalayas, Intelligent Design, interfertility, loss of function, lowlanders, Michael Behe, Mount Everest, mount improbable, natural selection, Nepalese, oxygen, Phd2, PNAS, polar bears, positive selection, seal meat, Sherpa, super-athletes, Tibetans, Wikipedia
How can Tibetans survive high altitudes that leave lowlanders gasping? The answer is found in broken genes. A new paper on the Tibetan genome vindicates what Michael Behe said in Darwin Devolves: evolution breaks things, but sometimes, like in the case of polar bears, the result can allow organisms to thrive in specific environments. Yes, this follows on the heels of last week’s Behe vindication; see here. A team of 16 scientists, writing in PNAS, sought to understand the genetic basis for Tibetan high-altitude adaptation in more detail. Tibetans and Nepalese, many of whom serve as guides for lowlanders wanting to conquer Mount Everest, routinely carry heavy burdens at altitudes above 14,000 feet, the average elevation on the Tibetan plateau. In its entry on Sherpa people, Wikipedia notes, Many Sherpa…
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