Archive for the 'Biology' Category

18AugCreationists make me laugh, and so does evolution

A handful of the people I interact with on a regular basis seem to be convinced that every scientific theory is part of a consipiracy against god. A frequent topic that comes up is creationism, which is probably the most commonly accepted complete falsehood I know of. Many of the proponents of creationism and/or intelligent design point to aspects of humans and animals that couldn’t have evolved. The complex eye, human brain and even the platypus have all been cited as too complex or strange to have evolved. However, I recently heard of a new one that is my new favorite. Laughter.

I can see how laughter could initially seem like a useless feature. How could such a frivilous little feature some how sneak through the process of natural selection? Does the ability to tell a good joke make somebody less likely to be eaten by a tiger? In reality, laughter has a very important role and the pre-cursors to humor are common in primates.

To explain why laughter and humor are an evoluationary advatage, they have to be broken down to their simplest form. In humans, even young infants laugh. The most common example of infant humor is peek-a-boo. A parent or adult unexpectedly appears and re-appears causing the baby to laugh. This element of the unexpected is continued later on. My 3 year old son thinks it’s hillarious to take an object and try to convince us it’s something else.

This basic humor is what makes laughter important. Say a group of chimps is deep in the jungle and startled by an approaching noise. The chimps begin to panic and adreniline starts to pump. Finally a baby chimp bursts out of the bushes and one of the chimps laughs. This laughter at the unexpected baby chimp notfies the rest of the troop that everything is ok. It acts kind of like a big cancel button for the fight or flight response.

To me, it seems like a vauable tool in our survival toolbox and yet another pointless arguement for fundamentalist anti-science.

in Biology. 0 Comments

17AugRussia may be in Georgia, but Bigfoot isn’t

If you watch any of the major news networks, you’ve likely heard about the Bigfoot found in Georgia. Over at http://searchingforbigfoot.com/ they’ve got some photos of the “Bigfoot” stuck in a freezer. The company promoting the find promised a press conference on the 15th, during which they would provide photographs, DNA evidence and other proof. Needless to say, the press conference never happened and no proof has been provided.

Cryptozoology is tough to tackle. While most of it is obviously bullshit, such as the Chupacabra, every once in a while something turns out to be true. The white orca, giant squid and saola are all real and were mostly discovered due to efforts from people who claim to cryptozoologists. A few success stories have made people think that every imaginary creature could be real.

Since these myths do occasionally turn out to be true, here are a few reasons why Bigfoot isn’t.

First of all, primates aren’t native to North America, so any large primate would have to have migrated over with humans. The Sasquatch would have to be pretty widespread and likely exist in northern Asia and most of North America. To survive this long, there would likely have to be a substantial population. We’re not talking about a small population in a localized area, this would be a large population spread across the entire continent. The chances of thousands of 7 foot tall primates going unnoticed for thousands of years on a continent with half a billion people is pretty slim.

Some people have said that the reason we haven’t found a sasquatch is because they’re really good at hiding. Unfortunately, no dead animal is good at hiding, so we probably would’ve found a least a bone or two. Even if they are good at hiding, omnivorous mammals, like bears and raccoons, have a penchant for human trash. Logic would say that any grocery store’s dumpster would be a sasquatch’s dream buffet, and catching a glimpse of one would be as easy as taking a trip to your local Piggly Wiggly after dark.

With all this in mind, the complete and total lack of evidence seals the bigfoot’s fate. It’s fake. Sorry. If you need a pick me up, go watch Harry and the Hendersons; just keep your cryptid garbage out of my news. This includes you Montauk!

in Biology. 0 Comments

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