Reflectorites
Below are web articles for the period 6 - 11 March, with my comments in
square brackets.
Steve
PS: I have been utterly blown away in my Biology classes over last two
weeks by the *fantastic* molecular machinery of the cell, e.g. ATP
synthesase's proton pump motor. But yesterday we had the DNA-RNA
transcription-translation-replication machinery. I had heard about RNA
polymerase but not Ozaki fragments and RNA ligase. And then came
ribosomes! The lecturer emphasised that all this had to have originated
very early in life's history because of the universality of the genetic
code.
Darwin stated that "If it could be demonstrated that any complex organ
existed, which could not possibly have been formed by numerous,
successive, slight modifications, my theory would absolutely break down".
(On the Origin Of Species (1859), Chapter VI: Difficulties of the
Theory. http://www.infidels.org/library/historical/charles_darwin/origin_of_species/Chapter6.html).
If Darwinists cannot demonstrate how this absolutely *fundamental*
molecular machinery which *all* known life needs to have each and every
component working together as a total, integrated system, then their
theory *has* absolutely broken down. Darwinists can of course invent
imaginary `just-so' stories to explain just about anything (and its opposite)
but I think even their imagination would fail here! Darwinism, as a general
theory, is therefore either falsified or unfalsifiable.
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http://www.latimes.com/obituary/20000311/t000023433.html Los Angeles Times
Obituaries William D. Hamilton; Biologist Helped to Advance Darwinism ...
March 11, 2000 ... By ELAINE WOO, Times Staff Writer William D. Hamilton,
whose seminal theories on the evolution of animal behavior-particularly altruism
and sex--made him one of the greatest evolutionary biologists since Darwin, has
died at 63. ... Hamilton was a leader of what has been called "the second
Darwinian revolution," a group that includes evolutionary theorists Richard
Dawkins and John Maynard Smith. "He offered some explanations for some
persistent problems that remained after Darwin formulated his theory--the problem
of altruism and the problem of sex," ... Hamilton was best known for his theory of
kin selection, which addressed a baffling conundrum in Darwinian thinking:
Namely, if natural selection favors the survival of the fittest, why do some
individuals sacrifice themselves for the good of the group or others? Evolution
should produce selfish, not altruistic, individuals. As Darwin had observed, the
extreme cooperation seen in colonies of bees and ants made no sense from an
evolutionary standpoint. ... The answer, according to Hamilton, was genetic
relatedness. The bees were all so closely related to one another that, although it
seemed as though they were sacrificing themselves for the hive, their chief interest
was to preserve the gene pool. What appeared altruistic was, in fact, selfish... His
gene's-eye view influenced other major evolutionists, such as Oxford biologist
Dawkins, who considered Hamilton one of the most important Darwinians of the
20th century and who went on to write the bestseller "The Selfish Gene."
Hamilton's ideas also inspired the field of sociobiology, which attempts to reduce
social science to a branch of biology. ... The focus of Hamilton's later work
focused on another puzzle of evolution: why sex exists. From an evolution
standpoint, sexual reproduction, which takes two individuals and much time and
energy, is a wasteful activity compared to the more efficient asexual propagation
of species. ... "The problem of why sex exists, and in particular why the vast
inefficiency of maleness exists, seems to me biology's greatest, most exciting
problem," ... Also at:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=000920277651983&rtmo=lQAzl7kt&atmo=99999999&pg=/et/00/3/11
/ebhami11.html
Electronic Telegraph ... ISSUE 1751 ... 11 March 2000 ...The question that
obsessed Hamilton, if none of his peers, was how altruism could evolve as an
instinct. The prevailing mood in evolutionary biology saw animal behaviour as
always devoted to the "good of the species". Hamilton ... thought this made no
sense, because an animal's closest competitor was often a member of its own
species, so evolution should produce selfish, not altruistic individuals. Yet it plainly
did not. As Darwin had been worried to observe, the extreme cooperation seen in
the social insects - termites, bees and ants - seemed hard to explain. The answer
that Hamilton came up with was that animals might be selected to have altruistic
instincts towards relatives, whose genes they share, because that would cause the
spread of those instincts. So altruism will evolve in rabbit warrens if on average the
rabbits are sufficiently closely related. ... He illustrated his theory, which became
known as kin selection or inclusive fitness, with a study of the social Hymenoptera
- ants, bees and wasps whose unusual genetics put them in the strange position of
being more closely related to their sisters than their daughters and who have
delegated reproduction to each colony's queen. ... his ideas were taken up by more
lively teachers, notably John Maynard Smith, Richard Dawkins, Edward Wilson
and Robert Trivers, all of whom dated their conversion to gene-centred thinking to
their first encounters with Hamilton's work.... Hamilton ... was an enthusiast for
evolutionary psychology ... [Hamilton's altruism theory has been tested and found
not to be true. See "Wasps put a sting in the tail of altruism theory" (New Scientist
29 April 1989. http://archive.newscientist.com/archive.jsp?id=16624800. Register
free for a week or email me for the article). And BTW besides the problem of
altruism, the problem of sex also remains unsolved by Neo-Darwinism!]
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=000920277651983&rtmo=glNGrNZu&atmo=gggggggK&pg=/et/00/3/9
/ecnrape09.html
Electronic Telegraph 09.03.00 ... Outrage as professors claim rape is natural By
Roger Highfield A CLAIM by two "evolutionary psychologists" that rape is as
natural as a leopard's spots comes under widespread criticism this week. The
"evolutionary psychologists" Craig Palmer, of the University of Colorado, and
Randy Thornhill, a professor at the University of New Mexico, argue that rapists
father children. Because these men pass on their genes by force, any genes
favouring that behaviour are passed to the next generation, ensuring the
persistence of rape, they claim in A Natural History of Rape, by MIT Press. The
assertions have prompted furious opposition from women generally and feminists
in particular, for it argues that sex, not power, is the motivation for rape. Other
scientists attack the book, claiming that it is flawed and inflammatory. The authors
of the book ...write: "We fervently believe that, just as the leopard's spots and the
giraffe's elongated neck are the results of aeons of past Darwinian selection, so
also is rape. Human rape arises from men's evolved machinery for obtaining a high
number of mates in an environment where females choose mates ... This week a
review will be published in the journal Nature written by Drs Jerry Coyne, of the
University of Chicago, and Andrew Berry, of Harvard University. They take the
book's leading argument and demonstrate that it rests on a foundation of untestable
"just-so" stories. They write: "A Natural History of Rape is advocacy, not
science...a woefully incomplete perspective on human behaviour." The Nature
reviewers further claim that: "Thornhill and Palmer cloak themselves in the
authority of science, implying that the controversy over their ideas is purely
political, and that the underlying biology is unimpeachable. This is a serious
misrepresentation." ... "The authors have used statistical sleight of hand to buttress
their argument," say the reviewers. Both sides attack the claim that the book
suggests rape is good because it is natural. The book's authors stress that: "There
is no connection here between what is biological or naturally selected and what is
morally right or wrong. To assume a connection is to commit what is called the
naturalistic fallacy." ... Also at:
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20000307/sc/rape_as_biology_1.html ... Yahoo!
... March 7 ... Scientists Assail Book on Rape By JOSEPH B. VERRENGIA AP
Science Writer Two scientists have launched a new attack on the year's most
provocative book, "A Natural History of Rape," which portrays rape as a natural
product of evolution and suggests all men could be rapists. In Thursday's issue of
the scientific journal Nature, the two scientists describe the book as scientifically
flawed. The journal's editors took the unusual step of releasing the book review in
advance. "The authors' evidence either fails to support their case, is presented in a
misleading or biased way, or equally supports alternative explanations," said the
reviewers, Jerry Coyne of the University of Chicago and Andrew Berry of
Harvard's Museum of Comparative Zoology. The review angered the book's
authors, Randy Thornhill of the University of New Mexico and Craig T. Palmer of
the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs. They questioned the credibility and
objectivity of both the reviewers and the influential journal. "These anti-evolution
critics don't like evolution applied to any feature of life, but especially not to
human traits," said Thornhill, a biologist. ... [This is priceless. Thornhill and Palmer
label leading non-theistic biologist Jerry Coyne as an "anti-evolution critic"!]
http://www.cnn.com/2000/TECH/space/03/10/mars.interior/index.html ... CNN ...
Peek under Mars' surface reveals ancient channels ... By Richard Stenger CNN
Interactive Staff Writer March 10, 2000 ... GREENBELT, Maryland (CNN) -
Peering under the surface of Mars with new laser-assisted techniques, NASA
scientists have uncovered evidence of wide, ancient channels that could have
formed from the flow of enormous volumes of water... The prospect of large
amounts of past water excites planetary scientists, who wonder if the red planet
ever was alive. "The ancient water courses, we believe, may have flowed into a
possible ocean, a harbinger of a time in Mars' past that could have had life," ...
Also at: http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000308/sc/space_mars_1.html ...By
connecting the geology to the climate scientists may be able to determine what is
controlling climate change on Mars, if the planet ever had a climate that could have
sustained life and if it did not, why not. ... A review board is looking at budget,
management structure and schedules of the NASA Mars program and is to present
its findings in mid-March. ... [In view of NASA's past history of playing the origin
of life card when it is threatened with budget cuts, I wonder if there is a connection
between these two items?]
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_672000/672924.stm BBC ... 10
March, 2000 ... Lunar rock reveals life's clues ... By BBC News Online science
editor Dr David Whitehouse Measurements made of a speck of lunar dust may tell
us how life blossomed on Earth.... The scientists have analysed the history of
impact cratering on the Moon and say they have found a surprising increase in the
frequency of meteor impacts over the past 400 million years. The clear inference is
that the Earth also would have experienced a similar frequency of impacts over the
same period ... The analysis suggests that the impact cratering rate had dropped
steadily after a period of heavy bombardment when the Solar System was young,
but then increased rapidly about 400 million years ago. ... Richard Muller,
professor of physics at UC Berkeley, said: "...it is difficult to conceive of a
mechanism that could trigger an increase, particularly one that lasted 400 million
years." ... The astronomers point out that the sudden increase coincides with the
so-called "Cambrian explosion", a period in which life on Earth went through a
dramatic increase in the number and diversity of species. ... The Berkeley team
looked at a gram of lunar soil brought back by the Apollo 16 astronauts in 1971.
In it they found 155 glassy spherules. These are formed when droplets of molten
basalt are splashed out of a crater by the force and heat of an impact. ... Analysis
showed that the spherules came from approximately 146 different craters. The age
of the spherule, determined by isotope measurements, gives a record of lunar
bombardment. ... "Even though we don't know which crater was the source of
each spherule, the distribution of the ages of the spherules from a single lunar site
should reflect the age distribution of craters on the Moon," ... Muller suggests that
the sudden increase in cratering 400 million years ago offers indirect evidence for a
distant companion star to the Sun that orbits it every 26 million years. ...called
Nemesis ... "The increase in impacts could be due to a sudden change in the orbit
of Nemesis," .... "If a passing star perturbed Nemesis into a more eccentric orbit,
that would account for the increase in impacts. "This work opens up a new field
that tells us something about the history of our Solar System that was totally
unanticipated. Until now we did not realise how peculiar the past 500 million years
has been." [If these meteor impacts began to increase 400 mya, then they are about
150 myr too late to be a cause of the Cambrian Explosion! I doubt that we can set
much store on extrapolating hundreds of millions of years of meteor impacts on
Earth, based on such uncertain evidence.]
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=000920277651983&rtmo=glNGrNZu&atmo=gggggggK&pg=/et/00/3/9
/ecnmars09.html
Electronic Telegraph 09.03.00 ... Meteorite study finds no trace of life on Mars By
Roger Highfield A STUDY of a Mars meteorite has found that it does not contain
evidence of alien biology. Strictly inorganic: scientists have failed to find evidence
of life using isotope ratios in Martian meteorites The conclusions rule out living
things as the cause of variations in sulphur isotopes found on ALH84001, the
meteorite that made headlines worldwide in 1996 Nasa scientists when said it
contained evidence of ancient Martian life. A consensus has emerged that the
evidence of living things in the meteorite is, at worst, wrong and, at best,
inconclusive. However, many remain convinced that Martian life is a possibility
because of the extraordinary conditions tolerated by some bacteria on Earth. ...
chemical processes that produced the variations in sulphur isotopes on many of the
meteorites that were blasted from the surface of Mars millions of years ago and
recovered on Earth appear to be purely inorganic, that is, not biological. On Earth,
if you see a large variation in the sulphur isotope ratio it generally, though not
exclusively, means living processes are at work ... Prof Thiemens and colleagues
examined the sulphur in the Martian meteorites to find clues to the evolution of the
Martian atmosphere, a major puzzle for planetary scientists. They have shown that
the sulphur-isotope ratios in the meteorites have a component that can only be
explained by atmospheric chemical reactions. The measurements are the first from
a group of Martian meteorites. ... Only 12 of these meteorites have been recovered
over the past two centuries. ... [The final kiss of death on ALH84001? But that's
OK. NASA's got Europa now! ;-)]
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000306/sc/japan_cloning_2.html ... Yahoo! ...
March 6 ... Greenpeace Urges EU to Reject New GM Crop Strains By Andrew
Osborn BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Environmentalist group Greenpeace urged the
European Commission Monday to scrap a proposal to approve commercial use of
three genetically modified crops GMOs), saying they could not be controlled
safely. "It would be totally unacceptable and crazy to allow any of these crops.
These crops should be banned more than any others," ... Greenpeace said
approving the GM varieties would cause genetic pollution because rapeseed and
fodder beet were indigenous to Europe and, if planted, would spread unchecked
and corrupt "natural" crops. ... No new GM crops have been approved in the EU
since April 1998 as consumer fears have increased about the safety of food
containing GMOs. This has angered life science companies and the United States
... [It is interesting that Greenpeace is opposing genetic modifications of crops and
humans on the grounds that it is not "natural".]
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000310/sc/health_childbirth_1.html Yahoo! ...
March 10 ... Childbirth Can Trigger Post-Traumatic Stress By Patricia Reaney
LONDON (Reuters) - Labor and childbirth can trigger post-traumatic stress
symptoms usually associated with war or other violence, British psychologists said
...They suspect that up to three percent of mothers may suffer from fear, anxiety,
recurrent nightmares, intrusive thoughts and flashbacks weeks after the birth,
especially if the pregnancy was unwanted or the woman feared for her own safety
... Much more important was how women perceived the labor and birth, along
with preexisting or long-term issues. ... Slade and Dr Jo Czarnocka assessed 264
women within 72 hours of a normal birth and six weeks later. ... Three percent had
severe post-traumatic stress symptoms. ... [This may have some bearing on Gn
3:16?]
HIV/AIDS:
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000306/sc/aids_rabies_1.html ... Yahoo! ...
March 6 ... Rabies Virus Used in AIDS Vaccine By Maggie Fox, Health and
Science Correspondent WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Researchers trying to find a
vaccine against the AIDS virus said on Monday they may have found an ally in
another feared and deadly virus -- the one that causes rabies. A team at Thomas
Jefferson University in Philadelphia said they had combined the rabies virus with a
crucial part of the AIDS virus to make a vaccine that seems to have worked in
mice. Although they are a long way from trying such a vaccine in people, they said
it was a promising new approach to making vaccines against a range of viruses,
from HIV to hepatitis. "This is a first look at whole group of viruses called
rhabdoviruses ... (which) may be better than some of the others," ... Scientists have
tried using just one or two pieces of the HIV virus in vaccines, such as the gp120
or gp-160 proteins found on its surface. But such approaches have not worked
well because the proteins take on different forms in different strains of the virus
and can elude the immune system. ... They said the rabies virus is easy to work
with and does not seem to be able to reconstitute itself in the body, or to mix with
other viruses, as HIV can. ... they don't have cytopathic effects -- they don't kill the
cells that the vector is in." Also, unlike retroviruses such as HIV, rhabdoviruses do
not integrate themselves into the human genome. .... Their vaccine, when injected
into mice, stimulated both arms of the immune system. It prompted the production
of antibodies, which flag infected cells to be killed, and also the production of killer
T-cells to destroy infected cells. The researchers stressed they have a long way to
go. ... Pomerantz, who said his team was negotiating with "a few" pharmaceutical
companies ... Experts agree that a vaccine is the only answer to the HIV epidemic.
More than 70 vaccines are in testing but most are in the early stages. Only
AIDSVAX, developed by VaxGen Inc. of California, is in the final, Phase III stage
of testing in human volunteers. ... [Note the bit about "his team was negotiating
with "a few" pharmaceutical companies"! Now that drug cocktails have failed,
although still being administered at great financial cost and suffering to patients,
the drug companies are now going to try a cocktail of vaccines in order to keep
their profits high and shareholders happy.]
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"At the higher level of evolutionary transition between basic morphological
designs, gradualism has always been in trouble, though it remains the
"official" position of most Western evolutionists. Smooth intermediates
between Bauplane are almost impossible to construct, even in thought
experiments; there is certainly no evidence for them in the fossil record
(curious mosaics like Archaeopteryx do not count). Even so convinced a
gradualist as G. G. Simpson (1944) invoked quantum evolution and
inadaptive phases to explain these transitions." (Gould S.J. & Eldredge N.,
"Punctuated equilibria: the tempo and mode of evolution reconsidered,"
Paleobiology, Vol. 3, 1977, pp.115-147, p.147)
Stephen E. Jones | sejones@iinet.net.au | http://www.iinet.net.au/~sejones
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