How can it be that there exists not a single example of a working wheel in nature, which after all gave us (among other things) the eyeball?
posted by It ain't over yet
on Sep 23, 2007 -
41 answers
What are the biological and/or evolutionary purposes behind a runny nose brought on by spicy foods?
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posted by afx114
on Jul 23, 2007 -
9 answers
I saw someone on the street recently wearing a black baseball cap that had "evolutionist" written on it. I've searched online since then to see where I could buy one, but haven't had any luck. Does anyone know where I can get one?
posted by jsmolenski
on May 19, 2007 -
11 answers
"A human is halfway in size between an atom and the known universe"... This is a paraphrased quote I have come across several times. I like it. Who said it first? How true is it in the most literal sense? And, finally, what errors arrive in postulating a universe, or an atom, which can be measured AT ALL from our singular, relativistic, perspective?
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posted by 0bvious
on Feb 18, 2007 -
14 answers
Evolutionary Mechanisms Filter: Help me argue evolution with a friend, there's
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posted by sepsis
on Feb 12, 2007 -
24 answers
Why can't vaccination encourage the evolution of viral potency?
posted by freebird
on Oct 5, 2006 -
16 answers
I-believe-in-evolutionism-but... Filter: I am wondering what evidence exists that man descended from apes.
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posted by Sijeka
on Aug 22, 2006 -
52 answers
Calling all audiophiles and music know-it-alls: Help a biologist explain evolution to college kids, using music as an analogy.
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posted by caution live frogs
on Aug 15, 2006 -
28 answers
Why do humans and animals(?) urinate from their sex organs? Are these two bodily functions in some way related?
Are their examples of animals that pee & have sex with parts of their bodies that are spaced far apart?
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posted by selton
on Jul 22, 2006 -
32 answers
What tv shows would you recommend for learning about history and evolution of human society and connections across times and places and disciplines ?
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posted by studentguru
on Jun 29, 2006 -
10 answers
Suppose it was possible to move between 2006 and thousands/millions of years ago.
And suppose I snatched a baby from a 2006 maternity ward and swapped it with a baby born in the year 0006 as they lay in their maternity ward.
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posted by selton
on Jun 17, 2006 -
16 answers
Is there any evidence that physical laws have changed, or could possibly change over time? For example, has the speed of light - since the beginning of the universe - been the same, and will it always remain the same into the future?
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posted by extrabox
on May 31, 2006 -
23 answers
Ive read that cancer can be pretty clever - securing nutrition by releasing hormones which cause the creation of blood vessels, employing various methods of fooling our immune system etc. All these seem (at least to my layman's mind) to be pretty specialized eh... 'behaviors' i guess is the word. My question is, how would they evolve?
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posted by Tryptophan-5ht
on May 18, 2006 -
22 answers
linguists: i vaguely remember a story that i can't verify. the gist is this: two groups of people who spoke the same language became separated by some minor geographical obstacles, like hills, and remained so for a period of years (decades, i think). upon analysis some years later, their common tongue had forked noticeably into fairly different languages. is this true?
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posted by patricking
on May 13, 2006 -
17 answers
What experiments have been carried out where animals perform
better than us at particular cognitive tasks?
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posted by 0bvious
on May 9, 2006 -
13 answers
Any thoughts on why we (humans) roll our eyes back while thinking. We also sometimes crunch our brows. I notice people, including myself, do this when no one is looking at them as well as a signifier during conversation. But it is the action acted out alone that interests me? Could this action actually improve the brains ability to think? What, if any, evolutionary advantage could this offer?
posted by shawnzam
on May 5, 2006 -
15 answers
I've been reading about evolutionary computing and artificial life and suchlike. As an exercise, I would like to make a multi-player online game where players can design creatures, which would then compete for survival.
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posted by MetaMonkey
on May 4, 2006 -
18 answers
Say that interethnic breeding has created a homogenous-looking mixed-race human species in the far-flung future. What kind of effect would this have on biodiversity?
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posted by chrominance
on Apr 14, 2006 -
22 answers
Using concepts from economics as a way to understand/explain evolution -- Does anyone know any good online or print resources that develop or discuss this?
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posted by jfwlucy
on Feb 23, 2006 -
6 answers
Are there any animals that have evolved a use for radioactivity? If so, what ways is it used? If not, why has this not happened?
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posted by 0bvious
on Nov 23, 2005 -
32 answers
This question will either prove my ignorance, or that of the "intelligent design" crowd: Why doesn't antibiotic resistance prove the theory of evolution?
posted by CMichaelCook
on Nov 7, 2005 -
45 answers
Selfish penguin theory: I just saw March of the Penguins and observed the chick-stealing behavior. How is this at all adaptive?
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posted by nev
on Oct 24, 2005 -
13 answers
What do you think is going to happen to the USA if "Intelligent Design" is successfully placed into the science curriculum?
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posted by five fresh fish
on Oct 10, 2005 -
48 answers
From what I understand, homosexuality among humans throughout history (to the best of our knowledge) remains at 10%. Why is this? Are enough homosexuals propogating through heterosexual means to keep the genetic causes for homosexuality in the population?
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posted by geoff.
on Sep 21, 2005 -
34 answers
Evolutionary Biologists: A friend and I were walking through the woods, saw a deer and started pondering our ability to survive with primitive tools. We couldn't get within 40 meters of the deer before it took off. I couldn't see myself making a missile weapon to kill it at that range even with years of experience. My friend asserted that evolutionary pressures have produced deer that are quite a bit more skittish than the deer our distant ancestors had to hunt...
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posted by cadastral
on Aug 19, 2005 -
20 answers
Name that 3D wire-frame evolving-creature-in-a-hostile-environment Amiga game from 15ish years ago.
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posted by cortex
on Aug 16, 2005 -
10 answers
I was introduced to a fantastic image linked here on MetaFilter years ago. The image was a standard riff on the
ascent of man motif, with the final Homo Sapiens looking up to the stars, and a message along the lines of "At NASA, we know where our future lies." If my memory stills works, it was originally a poster. Can anyone help me locate this? Apparently, my google-fu hasn't evolved since then, and constant browsing of NASA's
image archive has been fruitless.
posted by jgee
on Jul 19, 2005 -
5 answers
Inspired by this question, does anyone remember an illustrated, sci-fi book that came out about 15-20 years ago, which consisted mostly of possible forms that human evolution would take, and full-colour illustrations of what these future humans would look like?
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posted by Big Fat Tycoon
on Jun 13, 2005 -
3 answers
