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Story of evolution can be seen as comedy of errors (The Ancient Hiccup, Male Hernias, and more)
Philadephia Enquirer via Houston Chronicle ^ | Saturday, April 26, 2008 | Faye Flam

Posted on 04/27/2008 2:42:03 AM PDT by canuck_conservative

"Oh what a piece of work is man," wrote Shakespeare, long before Darwin suggested just how little work went into us. Somehow, that same process that gave us reason, language and art also left us with hernias, flatulence and hiccups.

One argument scientists often make against so-called intelligent design — the idea that evolution cannot by itself explain life — is that on closer inspection, we look like we've been put together by someone who didn't read the manual, or at least did a somewhat sloppy job of things.

Viewed as products of evolution, however, our anatomical quirks start to make sense, says University of Chicago fossil hunter and anatomy professor Neil Shubin, author of the recent book Your Inner Fish. And by focusing on our less lofty traits, evolutionary biology can help dispel one of the most egregious and even tragic fallacies surrounding Darwinian evolution — that it moves toward perfection, with man at the apex of some towering ladder.

Evolution of Hiccups

That misreading of evolution has been connected to the eugenics movement of the early 20th century, with the Nazis extending the man-as-ideal notion to blue-eyed blond German-man-as-ideal notion.

"Darwin didn't believe it, but some, who saw it through a more religious light, tended to want to interpret evolution as a steady march toward the pinnacle of humanity," says University of Pennsylvania ethicist Art Caplan, who has written extensively on the eugenics movement.

By today's understanding, evolution by natural selection doesn't march toward anything — it just modifies existing creatures to better compete in ever-shifting environments.

Understanding something as seemingly trivial as the evolution of hiccups can help clear up some profound misperceptions on the nature of life and humanity.

The sound of a hiccup echoes back to our very distant past as fish and amphibians some 375 million years ago, says Shubin. It's really just a spasm that causes a sharp intake of breath followed by a quick partial closing of our upper airway with that flap of skin known as the glottis. It's best if you can nip it in the first couple of hics, he says.

It's much harder to stop once you've let yourself get up to 10. By that point you've reverted to an ancient breathing pattern orchestrated by the brain stem that once helped amphibians breath, letting water pass the gills without leaking into the lungs.

"Tadpoles normally breathe with something like a hiccup," Shubin says.

The theme of his book is that we owe much of our anatomy to our animal ancestors. "Parts that evolved in one setting are now jury-rigged to work in another," he says. "When you look at the human body, you see layer after layer of history inside of us."

The first layer is what we share with chimpanzees and gorillas. The next goes back to mice and cows, while further down, you get to the relatively underappreciated layers we share with fish — which include the backbone and basic layout of the body.

Fishy news about hernias

Our descent from fish explains why men are so much more prone to hernias than women. In fish, Shubin explains, the testicles lie up near the heart.

(Had they remained there, he said, it would give a whole new meaning to the Pledge of Allegiance.)

The budding gonads still form up high in a human embryo, but male mammals reproduce better with their sperm kept a bit cooler than body temperature. And so during gestation, human testicles take an incredible journey down through the body to their destination in the scrotum.

The trip downward puts a loop in the cord that connects the testes to the penis, leaving a weakness in the body wall where the cord attaches that never quite repairs itself.

Hence the trouble with hernias down the road.

The matter of milk

No good story about human design flaws can pass up a discussion of flatulence — and science has addressed the kind that would occur if everyone in the world drank a tall glass of milk at the same time.

Geneticist Pragna Patel of the University of Southern California said one of her favorite examples of evolution in progress involves the gene that determines who can digest the sugars in milk and who cannot.

From genetic studies it appears that so-called lactose intolerance was our ancestral state.

A few people, however, were genetically gifted with an enzyme called lactase, which breaks down lactose, and in groups that started drinking lots of milk around 10,000 years ago, that version of the gene started to take over.

Scientists recently sequenced the lactase gene and found 43 different variations that allow adults to drink the milk of other animals.

"It's the first clear evidence of convergent evolution," Patel said, though it's not known whether those lacking this innovation failed to pass on their genes because they suffered from lack of nutrition or just didn't get invited to any parties.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; Miscellaneous; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: evidence; evolution; godsgravesglyphs; proofeverywhere
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To: Soliton

Moreover there is nothing in the theory dependent upon “blind chance”, just genetic variation. Genetic variation can arise randomly, but with a high enough population over a long enough time, every possible SNP is attempted and only the neutral or beneficial ones tend to persist in the population. It is not a difficult concept, yet it seems to be the main bugaboo of creationists.


141 posted on 04/27/2008 1:20:26 PM PDT by allmendream (Life begins at the moment of contraception. ;))
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To: WVKayaker
SIn order for change, life had to begin. Please provide a reasonable hypothesis, from your religion, “science”.

Science is not a religion. It is dishonest to claim that it is.

As for origins? Beats me.

Here are five hypothesis regarding the origin of the first life forms.

The theory of evolution works just fine with any of these origins.
142 posted on 04/27/2008 1:23:41 PM PDT by Coyoteman (Religious belief does not constitute scientific evidence, nor does it convey scientific knowledge.)
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To: WVKayaker

Very beautifully put. Thanks - and for the picture also.


143 posted on 04/27/2008 1:26:02 PM PDT by Freedom'sWorthIt
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To: WVKayaker

A prion is a molecule of protein that behaves as if it were alive- performing things commonly associated with living things, including replication.


144 posted on 04/27/2008 1:35:51 PM PDT by CarrotAndStick (The articles posted by me needn't necessarily reflect my opinion.)
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To: Coyoteman
please give just one explanation of how it all began. If aliens did it, they had an origin...

How does life come into being from inert materials? where did the inert materials originate?

Science is indeed a religion. It requires much more faith than I can muster!

re·li·gion (rĭ-lĭj'ən) pronunciation n.

1.

1. Belief in and reverence for a supernatural power or powers regarded as creator and governor of the universe.

2. A personal or institutionalized system grounded in such belief and worship.

2. The life or condition of a person in a religious order.

3. A set of beliefs, values, and practices based on the teachings of a spiritual leader.

4. A cause, principle, or activity pursued with zeal or conscientious devotion.

#4 fits just fine, for a definition of "scientists".they have faith in their beliefs, deep faith.

145 posted on 04/27/2008 1:39:25 PM PDT by WVKayaker ( "Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It's the transition that's troublesome..." I. Asimov)
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To: CarrotAndStick
A prion is a molecule of protein that behaves as if it were alive- performing things commonly associated with living things, including replication.

Where do these prions originate?

I used to have a prijon kayak. It tracked quite well, and paddled easily. I sold it when I moved from the coast...


146 posted on 04/27/2008 1:42:58 PM PDT by WVKayaker ( "Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It's the transition that's troublesome..." I. Asimov)
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To: Rudder

I guess we’re speaking a different language.


147 posted on 04/27/2008 1:42:59 PM PDT by xmission (Democrats have killed our Soldiers by rewarding the enemy for brutality)
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To: Raycpa

Yes, indeed, have thought many times upon God’s words to Job (and to us all.....) as I read through these (many) threads concerning how we came to be, how everything we see and what we do not see - came to be. Thanks for printing those glorious words here.


148 posted on 04/27/2008 1:44:51 PM PDT by Freedom'sWorthIt
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To: Caramelgal

1 Chron 16 is clearly poetry.... your so called proof of a flaw only proves that scientists cannot appreciate poetry. (You might want a refund from your theology course) I assume of course you could make the case that the bible is wrong because the earth is clearly not glad or the fields are not jubilant but then you would walk your argument far beyond the point of absurdity

Tremble before him, all the earth!
The world is firmly established; it cannot be moved.

31 Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad;
let them say among the nations, “The LORD reigns!”

32 Let the sea resound, and all that is in it;
let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them!

33 Then the trees of the forest will sing,
they will sing for joy before the LORD,
for he comes to judge the earth.


149 posted on 04/27/2008 1:46:48 PM PDT by Raycpa
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To: WVKayaker

If I were to tell you about in-vitro synthesised prions, what would you do next?


150 posted on 04/27/2008 1:52:56 PM PDT by CarrotAndStick (The articles posted by me needn't necessarily reflect my opinion.)
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To: CarrotAndStick
If I were to tell you about in-vitro synthesised prions, what would you do next?

I would laugh at your theology... but you haven't ever answerred the origin of life. How does life begin from inert matter and by what process?

151 posted on 04/27/2008 1:56:43 PM PDT by WVKayaker ( "Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It's the transition that's troublesome..." I. Asimov)
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To: Caramelgal

Gen 2 provides no sequence of events. It provides details of the events in Gen 1. Naming the animals does not indicate the animals were created after Adam. In fact why would the author do the sequence over again once it was so eloquently stated in Gen 1?

You are in fact reading into the text more than what the author states and that is a common error made by novices or by those who have preconceptions of its meaning.

Hint: Using the reasoning of folks who portray these arguments you would have to explain why the many rewrites of thousands of years did not fix this apparent contradiction. Do you really think the folks who came thousands of years before you on both does of the fence never raised the issue before?


152 posted on 04/27/2008 1:57:36 PM PDT by Raycpa
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To: CarrotAndStick

If I told you that Jesus spoke to Thomas after His crucifixion and burial, and told Thomas to put his fingers into the place where the nails were placed, what would you do next?


153 posted on 04/27/2008 1:59:15 PM PDT by WVKayaker ( "Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It's the transition that's troublesome..." I. Asimov)
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To: Raycpa
1 Chron 16 is clearly poetry.... your so called proof of a flaw only proves that scientists cannot appreciate poetry. (You might want a refund from your theology course) I assume of course you could make the case that the bible is wrong because the earth is clearly not glad or the fields are not jubilant but then you would walk your argument far beyond the point of absurdity

So then tell me then; what parts of the Bible are to be taken as literary poetry and prose and what parts of the Bible are to be taken as hard scientific facts?
154 posted on 04/27/2008 1:59:47 PM PDT by Caramelgal (Rely on the spirit and meaning of the teachings, not on the words or superficial interpretations)
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To: WVKayaker

I would ask you if your beliefs are still as strong, when I demonstrate the repeatability of process of in-vitro synthesis of prions.

Would you still be laughing?


155 posted on 04/27/2008 2:03:46 PM PDT by CarrotAndStick (The articles posted by me needn't necessarily reflect my opinion.)
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To: CarrotAndStick

What is the origin of prions? Make me laugh!


156 posted on 04/27/2008 2:07:40 PM PDT by WVKayaker ( "Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It's the transition that's troublesome..." I. Asimov)
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To: allmendream
It is not a difficult concept, yet it seems to be the main bugaboo of creationists.

Creationists are not only a disgrace to science but a disgrace to the Bible too. The Bible stresses faith. Than can't have very much if they keep searching for proof.

157 posted on 04/27/2008 2:07:43 PM PDT by Soliton (McCain couldn't even win a McCain look-alike contest)
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To: WVKayaker

After that, I would show how synthetically spliced blastocysts develop into two identical twins, and then ask you if both of them will have a soul each, or just one, since your God intended the original blastocyst to develop into only one viable living being, which I just made into two.

Does God have a spare supply of souls for such instances?


158 posted on 04/27/2008 2:07:49 PM PDT by CarrotAndStick (The articles posted by me needn't necessarily reflect my opinion.)
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To: WVKayaker
Please provide a reasonable hypothesis, from your religion, “science”.

Before science took over there was a big invisible guy in the sky who could do anything. He created himself from nothing, but nothing else can be created from nothing because I say so.

159 posted on 04/27/2008 2:10:40 PM PDT by Soliton (McCain couldn't even win a McCain look-alike contest)
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To: WVKayaker

” Osherovich and colleagues were able to create an artificial prion by fusing the oligopeptide repeats to an expanded polyglutamine tract.

By creating artificial hybrid prions, Osherovich and colleagues showed that the two discrete elements of prion-forming domains are portable and work together regardless of their origins. The authors suggest that other artificial prions could be used as a model system to study different types of aggregation sequences, such as those found in the human prion protein responsible for Creutzfeldt-Jakob’s disease or the misshapen plaques of proteins that contribute to Alzheimer’s disease.”

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/03/040323070139.htm


160 posted on 04/27/2008 2:13:53 PM PDT by CarrotAndStick (The articles posted by me needn't necessarily reflect my opinion.)
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