150th Anniversary of the Theory of Natural Selection!

It was 150 years ago today that Darwin’s theory(and Wallace for that matter, as it happened at the same meeting) was announced at the Linean Society. It was without fanfare, and was well before our modern understanding of the DNA. It laid the corner stone of biology, and modern medicine.

A double whammy for Canadians, as today is also Canada Day…

» Happy 150th Birthday Evolution Theory!!!!! Dvorak Uncensored:: “”

It is not all roses for us British Columbia residents though…The damn Gordon Campbell Liberals have started the new Carbon tax today! IMHO, it is a new tax to take money from regular citizens(meaning not well off…), and giving it to the wealthy…Stealing in other words…This carbon concern is a big fucking hoax…It is a way for stocks in “green companies” to go up. Who buys all these stocks? The wealthy…Good luck trying to convince rural residences to take the bus!There isn’t one…

B.C. carbon tax kicks in on Canada Day:

Enough local politics…

I am awaiting 2 friends to “step up to the plate“, and start adding some new content and perspective to the site. If you know of someone that would like to contribute to atheist.nu, have them send me an email to larrinski. If you have thought it might be fun to blog, then don’t be shy! Drop me a line…

Happy Evolution Day!

Evolution: Science keeps building mountain of evidence

With a recent find of an early 4 legged animal fossil, scientists are saying, “told ya so“…in response to the creationists who say there are no transitional species in the fossil record. Here is an article over at the BBC website.

[From BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Fossil fills out water-land leap]

Some evolutionary biologists are suggesting that amendments need to be made to Darwin’s evolutionary theory. Well, isn’t this what science is all about? Modern DNA analysis just adds to the story, IMO.

[From Darwin Still Rules, but Some Biologists Dream of a Paradigm Shift – New York Times]

Remember not too long ago, environmentalists warned that “one day” the Arctic poles would completely melt? Well, it looks like this year is the year! I really feel for those arctic species.

[From The Independent – Print Article]

On a much more recent note, America is collectively losing it’s mind. Apparently it is OK to torture terrorist suspects, and if the Bush administration just calls it “harsh interrogation”, everything is fine…WTF? Very sad.

[From Have Americans Lost Thier Collective Minds? Torture Is OK???]

[From » The Limits Of Torture Dvorak Uncensored: General interest observations and true web-log.]

Evolution observed in a laboratory

Evolution has been observed many times in the past. It is normally quite a slow process, and many times genetic mutations are not passed on to future generations, so varying traits aren’t passed on, or if they are they may not be easily observed.

Now evolution has been observed in a laboratory! Here is a link to a full article on recent evolutionary studies in laboratory settings. As well, it goes on to demystify common misconceptions on evolution.

Daily Kos: State of the Nation:

So, was Darwin wrong? Here is the answer…

Maybe it is time atheists started to Advertise? I wonder what would happen?

From cectic.com

And lastly, here is a funny picture! At least I think so…

Volcano Erupts on the Galapagoes

The internationally protected and famous Galapagoes islands are home to countless diversity, and constant threat from human intervention. Now there is a new threat to life on the islands. A volcano. There is nothing that can be done, but natural selection favours those that can adapt. Here is a small video over at National Geographic about it.

[From VIDEO: Eruption Changing Galapagos]

I have written about Darwin and Wallace before(see the related posts!), and have found a nicely written article over at the Smithsonian about the origins of Evolution, and how it was presented to the world 150 years ago. It turns out that it didn’t make a big splash to start!

[From Smithsonian Magazine | Science & Nature | On the Origin of a Theory]

Lastly, here is a very funny comic from Cectic.com. It reminds me of the Life of Brian!

Science has a dangerous history

Scientists have a long history of experimentation, and discovery. With this keen curiosity, there have been great discoveries and tragedies, with many famous people who were injured or even died for science. Who ever thought that science could be so dangerous?

[From Top 10 Scientists Killed or Injured by Their Experiments – The List Universe]

One very famous study is still ongoing. It doesn’t seem ‘dangerous’, but 40,000 generations later, I guess the danger is to not give it the credit it deserves! It is a huge amount of data and observation of the evolution of bacteria. Not the most exciting job, but fascinating for the rest of us!!

[From The Loom : A New Step In Evolution]

It has been 150 years since Darwin published the Origin of Species along with Wallace’s ideas to the Linnean Society in London. So long ago, but still causing waves…

[From ‘Darwin still causing waves after 150 years’ by News Daily – RichardDawkins.net]