What are some good resources to help explain the Big Bang, evolution and, the meaning of life to my delightful 5 year-old nephew? Fairly equal emphasis for each, but I am stumped most by "but why are all the things and people here, mayurasana?" than the rest.
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posted by mayurasana
on Apr 5, 2013 -
10 answers
I'm a cataloging librarian who works a couple hours a week on the reference desk. This morning I had a patron come in to ask me for sources that back up the claim that the probability that life on earth formed by random chance is so small that some kind of divine intervention is more likely.
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posted by rabbitrabbit
on Feb 14, 2013 -
33 answers
Why do kittens, bunnies, puppies, and their ilk seem so much cuter than human babies? This is something I've always wondered, and I am surprised that it doesn't seem to have been asked here. I've seen some idle speculations about the reasons in various places around the Web, but nothing resembling evidence. Is there any actual research related to this topic? Or is the question based on flawed assumptions somehow?
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posted by fermion
on Feb 7, 2013 -
46 answers
Further science/philosophical reading about human evolution and the woes of our modern life. Looking for suggestions, please!
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posted by alex_skazat
on Jul 27, 2012 -
13 answers
Which animal has the hardest eyes? I was thinking about how eyes are pretty soft and it might be advantageous for a creature to have "natural goggles" protecting its squishy eyes. Which animal's eyes have the toughest coating? (I do not care to hear about the protective qualities of retractable eyeLIDs, only the surface which can not be retracted, and which must be seen through.)
posted by Greg Nog
on Jul 20, 2012 -
12 answers
What could slow down the pace of change (religious/scientific/economic/cultural) in a civilization? (Please see specific details inside.)
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posted by Wretch729
on Jul 11, 2012 -
23 answers
How were the ideas expressed in
The Origin of Species received among country people and laypersons in Victorian England?
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posted by Miss T.Horn
on Jun 26, 2012 -
10 answers
How many generations am I (or you) the product of? That is, how long is the continuous sequence of paired organisms in the chain of reproduction for a human in the 21st century?
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posted by cincinnatus c
on Jun 15, 2012 -
8 answers
Was reading about microchips that are designed to allow a few mistakes (known as '
Sloppy Chips'), and pondering equivalent kinds of 'coding' errors and entropy in biological systems. Can a fair comparison be made between the two?
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posted by 0bvious
on Jun 5, 2012 -
4 answers
How and why do we become accustomed to smells? What makes some odours personally super-pungent one day and unnoticed 'background noise' later on, despite the smell remaining objectively unchanged?
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posted by peacay
on May 19, 2012 -
7 answers
Why are there no lobsters the size of horses or horses the size of shrimp?
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posted by jeb
on Apr 25, 2012 -
23 answers
Looking for recommendations for books on Christian apologetics that take seriously the reality of evolution rather than denying it in favor of the argument from design.
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posted by huxham
on Apr 3, 2012 -
12 answers
Evolutionary biologists: I'm trying to recall the concise explanation a professor gave in an evolution and ecology course about why dragons just plain did not exist.
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posted by hegemone
on Feb 6, 2012 -
13 answers
Conversations with my Father-in-law have lead him to lose his faith in God. My mother-in-law is not coping well with this and blames me. What do I do?
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posted by holdkris99
on Jan 5, 2012 -
26 answers
What are some article length studies readily available on the internets that summarize the evidence for evolution?
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posted by holdkris99
on Dec 1, 2011 -
8 answers
Does anyone know how to hunt down an animated film they used to (or still do) show at the Smithsonian's
National Museum of Natural History? It was attached to the marine life/oceans exhibit and was about the origins of life and natural selection. Absent finding a copy of the film online, does anyone else remember seeing this?
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posted by whitewall
on Aug 20, 2011 -
6 answers
Do paleontologists ever assume that a fossil was the only animal of its kind? Couldn't unique fossils have been mutants that never bred?
posted by vash
on Jun 27, 2011 -
25 answers
If an exoplanet had a light side and a dark side (like Earth's moon, slowly spinning in orbit to keep one face towards earth), might life evolve around the penumbra?
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posted by rdc
on May 23, 2011 -
14 answers
Half-remembered board game ID question: In the mid-'90s, my family was visiting some friends who owned a strange board game involving evolution, species, a hexagonal grid, and lots and lots of dice. What was it?
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posted by Johnny Assay
on May 23, 2011 -
7 answers
Sometime in the late '80s or early '90s I read, in a computer magazine, a review of a game where you had to create a creature by manipulating "genes" for various traits then release it into a wireframe ecosystem. Did this game ever actually exist? Anyone heard of it?
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posted by A Thousand Baited Hooks
on May 13, 2011 -
6 answers
Why do humans (and most mammals) have two nostrils instead of one? Seems redundant.
posted by bardic
on May 8, 2011 -
18 answers
Can'tFindThisVideoAgainFilter: YouTube, perhaps; within last 6 months. A couple of guys go back in time (!) and keep a diary. They return to the present and assert that birds are just dinosaurs. Pretty sure the punchline was something close to my tagline above. Much better than as described...
posted by TigerMoth
on Apr 26, 2011 -
1 answer
I can't remember the title of a very thorough "defense of evolution" type book. It presented hundreds of arguments used against evolutionary theory and argued against them, usually only with a paragraph or two. It was large, detailed, straightforward, and non-polemical.
posted by blargerz
on Apr 11, 2011 -
4 answers
Did the word "evolve" exist before Darwin came up with the theory of evolution?
posted by Glendale
on Apr 5, 2011 -
5 answers
What traits can a group of organisms possess that an individual cannot possess (e.g. a ratio of males to females)? To put it more generally: in reference to units of selection, can you cite any examples of a whole being greater than the sum of its parts (particularly the sum of its genes)?
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posted by Vic Morrow's Personal Vietnam
on Apr 4, 2011 -
8 answers
Looking for a chronologically sequenced, preferably animated, geographical map of human evolution
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posted by heylight
on Mar 3, 2011 -
3 answers
Evolution: What would be a simple and clear way of explaining to an 8 year old how African people with dark skin, big eyes and curly hair turn into Japanese people with lighter skin, smaller eyes and straighter hair over
X amount of years?
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posted by querty
on Feb 22, 2011 -
28 answers
Given enough time and the right circumstances, would it be possible for non-land-based mammals to develop human levels of intelligence? What about non-mammals, land-based or otherwise?
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posted by Afroblanco
on Feb 18, 2011 -
42 answers
Can you help me find a decent primer on natural history, from the beginnings of grey matter and the start of the universe, through to the present - including the evolution of humans?
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posted by mrme
on Jan 15, 2011 -
5 answers
What are some good books about the history or evolution of different plants or animals? Overblown metaphor aside, I really liked Michael Pollan's 'The Botany of Desire' and would be interested in learning the history of other domesticated plants like roses or oranges. Or books on evolution that get into things like insects or whales.
posted by Caravantea
on Jan 9, 2011 -
24 answers
How do I gently but firmly steer a very misguided 14-year-old to respect science? I'm not a teacher, but I am in a mentoring role and feel I owe it to her to try.
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posted by AnOrigamiLife
on Jan 5, 2011 -
51 answers
Is there a website out there where I can enter the names of two species and be given the approximate date when their last common ancestor lived? Bonus points if it tells me what sort of species this ancestor probably was, and for showing me the part of the tree of life relating to these species.
Thanks!
posted by chorltonmeateater
on Sep 10, 2010 -
6 answers
What sci-fi or dystopian (or even utopian) stories of the future involve a form of humanity that has outgrown the need for any corporeal manifestation in favor a completely cerebral existence?
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posted by mediocritease
on Aug 30, 2010 -
40 answers
Amateur coder looking to make a "toy" Neural Net and also genetic/phenotypic DNA evolution/breeding system for a "virtual pet" game. Any tools that can make this approachable for me, preferably in Python?
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posted by DetonatedManiac
on Aug 20, 2010 -
7 answers
