3572
Mismatch: Why our world no longer fits our bodies
The review of this 2006 title in Nature, Feb. 8, 2007, caught my eye because of the 1/3 page photo of an obese guy, remote in one hand, huge bowl of chips in the other, sitting on the edge of his easy chair so his belly could rest on his thighs, bathed in the blue light of the TV, probably watching a sporting event while reliving the memories of the days he could put one foot in front of the other without heavy breathing. According to Michael Sargent, the reviewer who is a developmental biologist at the National Institute for Medical Research in London, authors Gluckman and Hanson believe humans are not adapting in the proper evolutionary way to increased energy dense food and our 21st century sedentary ways. Look at that guy. He has adapted just fine! All that's happened is he's just not "evolving" in the direction biologists had hoped. According to their theories, those species who don't adapt, die off. Aren't we doing just that? No. We just get fatter--and they've been keeping track since our Civil War. But the line that really made me burst into laughter (well, OK, just a smile) was Sargent's: "[I was] horrified by persistent references to the 'design' of organisms--a usage notably obstructive to an understanding of the evolutionary process, the disclaimer notwithstanding." Mr. Sargent, sir, deal with it!

Mismatch: why our world no longer fits our bodies, by Peter Gluckman and Mark Hanson, Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2006.Source URL: https://maryelizabeth-winstead.blogspot.com/search/label/evolution
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3494 Why we need dissenters in science

Global-warming predictions are currently hampered by uncertainties about the amount of heat and carbon dioxide that the southern ocean will take up according to a report in the Journal of Climate, v. 19, 2006:6382-6390. A computer model developed by Joellen Russell of the University of Arizona in Tucson suggests that the ocean will be able to absorb more than previously thought. How much more? No way to know, plus she has to bow before the warming throne to even get this much research published.

And they've decided upon analyzing 580 million years old rock* that oxygen entered the deep oceans at the end of an ice age known as the Gaskiers glaciation. Fossil evidence indicates that large multicellular organisms appeared on the sea floor shortly after (i.e., 5 million years). End of an ice age? This was apparently some time before the industrial revolution and humankind messing everything up. Science: Vol. 314. no. 5805, p. 1529

Egyptologists have been arguing with materials scientists for about 20 years on whether the pyramids have blocks made up of a synthetic mix like concrete. Fifteen samples scanned by electron microscopes show calcium and magnesium which do not exist in nearby limestone. See? Scientists don't agree on a lot of things. The limestone guys probably are trying to shut down the synthetic mix guys with threats of "denial" charges. Journal of American Ceramics Society v.89, 2006:3788-3796.

Battle of the biofuels is heating up. Follow the money. Prairie grass will mop up more carbon than it produces, dwarfing the amount of carbon dioxide released during production and combustion. Look out corn and soybean growers. I still think the inputs will cost more than any benefit we get from this, so we REALLY need to encourage dissension in this field.

A 60 year old Somalian woman has had her IUD removed in Seattle. She continued to have children after it was inserted and (it) migrated after perforating her uterus. Seems they do that about 1-2 cases per 1000 insertions. Would you fly if 1-2 out of every 1000 jets disappeared? New England Journal of Medicine 356(2007);4:397

*I personally don't believe the earth is that old, but I can read and report it without having my mind all bent out of shape like the evolution people.Source URL: https://maryelizabeth-winstead.blogspot.com/search/label/evolution
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3482 Can you believe Scripture and be a scientist?

Sure. But it makes the academics awfully mad if Christians are more liberal (in the true sense of the word) than they are, that Christians will study and discuss and write about ideas and theories that are in conflict with their own, but academics can't.

This young man's research is impeccable. But some find these concepts "imponderable." He is able to describe events that happened 10 million years ago, but personally believes the earth is 10,000 years old. So do you have to believe in warlocks and witches to read Harry Potter?

"May a secular university deny otherwise qualified students a degree because of their religion? Can a student produce intellectually honest work that contradicts deeply held beliefs? Should it be obligatory (or forbidden) for universities to consider how students will use the degrees they earn?"

And they claim it isn't discrimination. Can you believe they're debating whether to even admit committed Christians who don't follow the party line to advanced degree programs? "Graduate admissions committees were entitled to consider the difficulties that would arise from admitting a doctoral candidate with views "so at variance with what we consider standard science." She [Eugenie C. Scott] said such students "would require so much remedial instruction it would not be worth my time." Remedial instruction? What makes her think she has to brainwash graduate students? Will religious questions be part of the college interview now? She's right up there with the "some of my best friends are black" folk who want Christians in the back of the academic bus.Source URL: https://maryelizabeth-winstead.blogspot.com/search/label/evolution
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3459 What are they so afraid of?

Over at Bloomberg.com Susan (Boom Boom) Antilla writes about the new Answers in Genesis Creation Museum in Kentucky. The sarcasm, the smears, the snarls and sneers--what are these guys so afraid of? Don't they know they are winning the battle for men's minds, and everyday in every way we are getting better and better? Gracious, the Departments of Biology at colleges and universities across this country have renamed themselves so the word "Evolution" is prominent--letting anyone who even entertains a thought outside that box will know not to enroll. Yes, we are all evolving to be sooooo open minded and newyorkerd that we aren't even threatened by a new or different thought. But I digress.

"Forget Disney World and Epcot Center," writes Antilla. "You haven't seen anything until you've seen the Creation Museum set to open in Petersburg, Kentucky, this year." I don't think she's actually been there or seen it (opens in June), but relies on second hand information with the fair and balanced title, "American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America" by Chris Hedges, a former reporter for the New York Times, obviously an unbiased source.

I don't care if Ms. Antilla and Mr. Hedges want to believe they've evolved from something slimy and not human--if that's what gets them up every day and helps them live a better life, fine. Be my guest. But don't drag me down to your level.Source URL: https://maryelizabeth-winstead.blogspot.com/search/label/evolution
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