Life's Solution
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Spontaneous Generation of Life Is the Inevitable Outcome of Time, Chance, and the Right Chemical Conditions
“The origin of life appears almost a miracle, so many are the conditions which would have had to be satisfied to get it going.” –Francis Crick, co-discoverer of the DNA double helix structure1 Introduction According to evolutionary theory, all life – bacteria, plants, and people – evolved from a hypothetical first cell, which allegedly arose spontaneously from chemical substrates. This is said to have happened over 3 billion years ago. That hypothetical first cell has been called LUCA (last universal common ancestor). This first cell is assumed to be at the very base of Darwin’s hypothetical “tree of life”. It is almost universally claimed that life came from non-life (abiogenesis). Is this good science? It is almost universally claimed that spontaneous generation of life is the inevitable outcome of time, chance, and the right chemical conditions. Is this claim even remotely credible? School curricula, textbooks, educational science programs, and countless museums consistently insist there is a strong scientific case for the spontaneous origin of life. From a naturalistic evolutionary perspective, it should not be surprising that spontaneous generation is assumed to be feasible, as it is essential to the evolutionary story. We can’t have Darwin’s “tree of life” without the trunk, which emerged from the primordial seed of that first cell. We are continuously told stories that sound like plausible scenarios for how simple inorganic molecules might have come together to give rise to the first living cell. However, upon careful examination, we find that the stories being told are not only extremely speculative – they are rationally indefensible. -
The Taxonomic History of the South American Cricetid Genera Euneomys
AMERICAN MUSEUM NOVITATES Published by OF NATURAL HISTORT Number 541 THE AMERICAN NewMUSeUMYork City June 16, 1932 59.9, 32 C (8) THE TAXONOMIC HISTORY OF THE SOUTH AMERICAN CRICETID GENERA EUNEOMYS (SUBGENERA EUNEOMYS AND GALENOMYS), A ULISCOMYS, CHELEMYSCUS, CHIlNCHILLULA, PHYLLOTIS, PARALOMYS, GRAOMYS, ELIGMODONTIA AND HESPEROMYS BY G. H. H. TATE This is the second of a series of short papers on the systematic status of Neotropical mice. The intention is to concentrate in one article the scattered taxonomic information of the genera and species in question and to present it in such form that it is readily available for s ibsequent work. The genera treated are close allies and their histories interlock repeatedly. The history of each successive genus or subgenus is presented in chronological order, and placed after it is a summary setting forth the present status, based upon the opinions of recent writers, of all forms concerned, together with their type localities. HISTORICAL STATEMENT EUNEOMYS Coues Subgenus Euneomys Coues 1837. Waterhouse described (p. 17) Mus micropus (n. sp.) and placed it (p. 21) in Abrothrix, n. subg. of Mus. 1839. Waterhouse further described (p. 61) Mus micropus Waterhouse. He described (p. 72) Reithrodon chinchilloides (n. sp.) (later designated by Coues the type of Euneomys). He erected (p. 75) Hesperomys, n. g., to contain almost all forms of Cricetida of the Western Hemisphere. Micropus was presumably included in this genus. 1842. Lesson placed (p. 136) micropus in Mus (Abrothrix) and listed (p. 143) chinchilloides under Mus (Reithrodon). 1843. Wagner (p. 520) placed micropus in Hesperomys, subgenus of Habrothrix, and (p. -
The Neurobehavioral Nature of Fishes and the Question of Awareness and Pain
Reprinted with permission from CRC Press. 2000 NW Corporate Blvd. Boca Raton, FL 33431, USA Tel: 1(800)272-7737 http://www.crcpress.com 2.1. Reviews in Fisheries Science, 10(1): 1–38 (2002) The Neurobehavioral Nature of Fishes and the Question of Awareness and Pain James D. Rose Department of Zoology and Physiology, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY 82071 * Send correspondence to: Dr. James D. Rose, Department of Zoology and Physiology, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY 82071. e-mail: [email protected] 1064-1262 /02/$.50 ©2002 by CRC Press LLC ABSTRACT: This review examines the neurobehavioral nature of fishes and addresses the question of whether fishes are capable of experiencing pain and suffering. The detrimental effects of anthropomorphic thinking and the importance of an evolutionary perspective for understanding the neurobehavioral differences between fishes and humans are discussed. The differences in central nervous system structure that underlie basic neurobehavioral differences between fishes and humans are described. The literature on the neural basis of consciousness and of pain is reviewed, showing that: (1) behavioral responses to noxious stimuli are separate from the psychological experience of pain, (2) awareness of pain in humans depends on functions of specific regions of cerebral cortex, and (3) fishes lack these essential brain regions or any functional equivalent, making it untenable that they can experience pain. Because the experience of fear, similar to pain, depends on cerebral cortical structures that are absent from fish brains, it is concluded that awareness of fear is impossible for fishes. Although it is implausible that fishes can experience pain or emotions, they display robust, nonconscious, neuroendocrine, and physiological stress responses to noxious stimuli. -
2008-2009 Annual Report
ANNUAL REPORT 2008-2009 Photo: Shona Dion Photo: CONTENTS : annual report 2008-2009 Green College is a graduate residential college at the University of British Columbia, Principal’s Report............................p. 2 with a mandate to promote advanced 2008-2009 Highlights......................p. 4 interdisciplinary inquiry. The College offers Academic Programming................p. 5 resident membership to graduate students, Cecil H. and Ida Green Visiting Professorships........p. 6 Writer-in-Residence........................................................ p. 7 postdoctoral scholars and visiting faculty at Weekly Interdisciplinary Series.................................... p. 8 Monthly Interdisciplinary Series................................. p. 11 UBC, and (non-resident) faculty membership Conferences, Colloquia, and Workshops.................. p. 16 Special Lectures............................................................... p. 17 to UBC and other faculty. The College is committed to the cultivation ofintellectual College Committees......................p. 18 Standing Committees......................................................p. 18 and creative connections at the edge of the Faculty Council................................................................ p. 19 Residents’ Council.......................................................... p. 19 main disciplinary and academic space of the Resident Committees................... ................................. p. 20 university. To that end, it provides extracurricular Green -
“Little Tibet” with “Little Mecca”: Religion, Ethnicity and Social Change on the Sino-Tibetan Borderland (China)
“LITTLE TIBET” WITH “LITTLE MECCA”: RELIGION, ETHNICITY AND SOCIAL CHANGE ON THE SINO-TIBETAN BORDERLAND (CHINA) A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Cornell University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Yinong Zhang August 2009 © 2009 Yinong Zhang “LITTLE TIBET” WITH “LITTLE MECCA”: RELIGION, ETHNICITY AND SOCIAL CHANGE ON THE SINO-TIBETAN BORDERLAND (CHINA) Yinong Zhang, Ph. D. Cornell University 2009 This dissertation examines the complexity of religious and ethnic diversity in the context of contemporary China. Based on my two years of ethnographic fieldwork in Taktsang Lhamo (Ch: Langmusi) of southern Gansu province, I investigate the ethnic and religious revival since the Chinese political relaxation in the 1980s in two local communities: one is the salient Tibetan Buddhist revival represented by the rebuilding of the local monastery, the revitalization of religious and folk ceremonies, and the rising attention from the tourists; the other is the almost invisible Islamic revival among the Chinese Muslims (Hui) who have inhabited in this Tibetan land for centuries. Distinctive when compared to their Tibetan counterpart, the most noticeable phenomenon in the local Hui revival is a revitalization of Hui entrepreneurship, which is represented by the dominant Hui restaurants, shops, hotels, and bus lines. As I show in my dissertation both the Tibetan monastic ceremonies and Hui entrepreneurship are the intrinsic part of local ethnoreligious revival. Moreover these seemingly unrelated phenomena are in fact closely related and reflect the modern Chinese nation-building as well as the influences from an increasingly globalized and government directed Chinese market. -
Senate Senate
2514 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD--SENATE MARCH 9 1645. Also, resolution adopted by the board of elders of YELLOWSTONE BASIN COMPACT the Montcoal Presbyterian Church of :2-d:ontcoal, W. Va., The VICE PRESIDENT laid before the Senate a letter protesting against the favoring of exemption of ministers of from Clyde L. Seavey, representative of the United States the gospel from coming under control of the Social Security in connection with the Yellowstone Basin compact, report Act: to the Committee on Ways and Means. ing relative to the progress made pursuant to an act of Con 1646. Also, resolution by the Logan County Industrial gress approved August 2, 1937 (50 Stat~ 551), granting con Union Council of Logan, W. Va., protesting against any sent of the Congress to the States of Montana and Wyoming amendments to the Wagner Labor Relations Act; to the to negotiate and enter into a compact or agreement for an Committee on Labor. equitable division and apportionment of the waters of the Yellowstone River, and making recommendation in the prem ises, which, with the accompanying report, was referred to SENATE the Committee on Indian Affairs. THURSDAY, MARCH 9, 1939 DISPOSITION OF EXECtJTIVE PAPERS The Chaplain, Rev. Z~Barney T. Phlllips, D. D., offered the The VICE PRESIDENT laid before the Senate letters from follo~ngprayer: the Archivist of the United States, transmitting, pursuant to law, lists of papers and documents on the files of the Depart Almighty and everlasting God, who hatest nothing that ments of the Treasury, the NavY, the Interior, and Agricul Thou hast made and dost forgive the sins of all those who ture, United States Civil Service Commission, Veterans' Ad are penitent: Create and make in us new and contrite ministration, and the former United States Coal Commission, hearts, that ·we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledg which are not needed in the conduct of business and have ing our wretchedness, may 9btain of Thee, the God of all no permanent value or historical interest, and requesting mercy, perfect remission and. -
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Behavioral Ecology Symposium ’96: Cushing 165 MYRMECOMORPHY AND MYRMECOPHILY IN SPIDERS: A REVIEW PAULA E. CUSHING The College of Wooster Biology Department 931 College Street Wooster, Ohio 44691 ABSTRACT Myrmecomorphs are arthropods that have evolved a morphological resemblance to ants. Myrmecophiles are arthropods that live in or near ant nests and are considered true symbionts. The literature and natural history information about spider myrme- comorphs and myrmecophiles are reviewed. Myrmecomorphy in spiders is generally considered a type of Batesian mimicry in which spiders are gaining protection from predators through their resemblance to aggressive or unpalatable ants. Selection pressure from spider predators and eggsac parasites may trigger greater integration into ant colonies among myrmecophilic spiders. Key Words: Araneae, symbiont, ant-mimicry, ant-associates RESUMEN Los mirmecomorfos son artrópodos que han evolucionado desarrollando una seme- janza morfológica a las hormigas. Los Myrmecófilos son artrópodos que viven dentro o cerca de nidos de hormigas y se consideran verdaderos simbiontes. Ha sido evaluado la literatura e información de historia natural acerca de las arañas mirmecomorfas y mirmecófilas . El myrmecomorfismo en las arañas es generalmente considerado un tipo de mimetismo Batesiano en el cual las arañas están protegiéndose de sus depre- dadores a través de su semejanza con hormigas agresivas o no apetecibles. La presión de selección de los depredadores de arañas y de parásitos de su saco ovopositor pueden inducir una mayor integración de las arañas mirmecófílas hacia las colonias de hor- migas. Myrmecomorphs and myrmecophiles are arthropods that have evolved some level of association with ants. Myrmecomorphs were originally referred to as myrmecoids by Donisthorpe (1927) and are defined as arthropods that mimic ants morphologically and/or behaviorally. -
The Cognitive Animal Empirical and Theoretical Perspectives on Animal Cognition
This PDF includes a chapter from the following book: The Cognitive Animal Empirical and Theoretical Perspectives on Animal Cognition © 2002 Massachusetts Institute of Technology License Terms: Made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ OA Funding Provided By: The open access edition of this book was made possible by generous funding from Arcadia—a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin. The title-level DOI for this work is: doi:10.7551/mitpress/1885.001.0001 Downloaded from http://direct.mit.edu/books/edited-volume/chapter-pdf/677472/9780262268028_f000000.pdf by guest on 29 September 2021 Introduction There are as many approaches to studying ani- and The Expression of the Emotions in Man and mal cognition as there are definitions of cogni- Animals (1872). Consequently, both disciplines tion itself. This diversity is reflected in the essays are almost inextricably linked to the concept of that follow, to a degree that we believe is un- instinct. Darwin viewed instinct primarily in be- paralleled in any other volume that has been havioral terms and considered his ability to ex- produced on this subject. This diversity is philo- plain instinct through natural selection to be one sophical and methodological, with contributors of the most critical tests of his theories. Thus he demonstrating various degrees of acceptance or compared closely related species of bees to ex- disdain for terms such as ‘‘consciousness’’ and plain the evolution of hive building and closely various degrees of concern for the rigors of lab- related species of ants to explain the origins of oratory experimentation versus the validity of slave making. -
The Contribution of Temperature and Continental Fragmentation to Amphibian Diversification
Received: 25 May 2018 | Revised: 30 March 2019 | Accepted: 2 April 2019 DOI: 10.1111/jbi.13592 RESEARCH PAPER The contribution of temperature and continental fragmentation to amphibian diversification Jonathan Rolland1 | Fabien L. Condamine2 1Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Abstract Columbia, Canada Aim: Abiotic factors such as global temperature or continental fragmentation may 2 CNRS, UMR 5554, Institut des Sciences favour speciation through the ecological and geographical isolation of lineages, but de l'Evolution de Montpellier (Université de Montpellier), Montpellier, France macroevolutionary quantifications of such effect with both fossil and phylogenetic data are rarely performed. Here, we propose to use biogeographical estimations and Correspondence Jonathan Rolland, Department of Zoology, palaeo‐environmental diversification models to estimate whether and how palae‐ University of British Columbia, #4200‐6270 otemperature and the sequential break‐ups of Pangaea, Gondwana and Laurasia University Blvd., Vancouver, BC, Canada. Email: [email protected] have affected the diversification of amphibians through time. Location: Global. Funding information University of British Columbia, Grant/Award Methods: Using a time‐calibrated phylogeny for 3,309 amphibian species and a Number: 151042; Agence Nationale de la genus‐level fossil record, we estimated the diversification rates of the group with Recherche, Grant/Award Number: ANR‐10‐ LABX‐25‐01 birth–death models allowing rates to depend on the temporal variations of the envi‐ ronment. We used estimates of global palaeotemperature and an index of continental Editor: Richard Ree fragmentation through time to test the association between speciation and/or ex‐ tinction rates and past temperature and fragmentation. We also estimated the bio‐ geographical history based on a time‐stratified parametric model informed by the global palaeogeography. -
Donald Griffin Was Able to Affect a Major Revolution in What Scien- Tists Do and Think About the Cognition of Nonhuman Ani- Mals
NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES DONALD R. GRIFFIN 1915– 2003 A Biographical Memoir by CHARLES G. GROSS Any opinions expressed in this memoir are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Academy of Sciences. Biographical Memoirs, VOLUME 86 PUBLISHED 2005 BY THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS WASHINGTON, D.C. DONALD R. GRIFFIN August 3, 1915–November 7, 2003 BY CHARLES G. GROSS OST SCIENTISTS SEEK—but never attain—two goals. The M first is to discover something so new as to have been previously inconceivable. The second is to radically change the way the natural world is viewed. Don Griffin did both. He discovered (with Robert Galambos) a new and unique sensory world, echolocation, in which bats can perceive their surroundings by listening to echoes of ultrasonic sounds that they produce. In addition, he brought the study of animal consciousness back from the limbo of forbidden topics to make it a central subject in the contemporary study of brain and behavior. EARLY YEARS Donald R. (Redfield) Griffin was born in Southampton, New York, but spent his early childhood in an eighteenth- century farmhouse in a rural area near Scarsdale, New York. His father, Henry Farrand Griffin, was a serious amateur historian and novelist, who worked as a reporter and in advertising before retiring early to pursue his literary inter- ests. His mother, Mary Whitney Redfield, read to him so much that his father feared for his ability to learn to read. His favorite books were Ernest Thompson Seton’s animal 3 4 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS stories and the National Geographic Magazine’s Mammals of North America. -
SA Spider Checklist
REVIEW ZOOS' PRINT JOURNAL 22(2): 2551-2597 CHECKLIST OF SPIDERS (ARACHNIDA: ARANEAE) OF SOUTH ASIA INCLUDING THE 2006 UPDATE OF INDIAN SPIDER CHECKLIST Manju Siliwal 1 and Sanjay Molur 2,3 1,2 Wildlife Information & Liaison Development (WILD) Society, 3 Zoo Outreach Organisation (ZOO) 29-1, Bharathi Colony, Peelamedu, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu 641004, India Email: 1 [email protected]; 3 [email protected] ABSTRACT Thesaurus, (Vol. 1) in 1734 (Smith, 2001). Most of the spiders After one year since publication of the Indian Checklist, this is described during the British period from South Asia were by an attempt to provide a comprehensive checklist of spiders of foreigners based on the specimens deposited in different South Asia with eight countries - Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The European Museums. Indian checklist is also updated for 2006. The South Asian While the Indian checklist (Siliwal et al., 2005) is more spider list is also compiled following The World Spider Catalog accurate, the South Asian spider checklist is not critically by Platnick and other peer-reviewed publications since the last scrutinized due to lack of complete literature, but it gives an update. In total, 2299 species of spiders in 67 families have overview of species found in various South Asian countries, been reported from South Asia. There are 39 species included in this regions checklist that are not listed in the World Catalog gives the endemism of species and forms a basis for careful of Spiders. Taxonomic verification is recommended for 51 species. and participatory work by arachnologists in the region. -
L:\PM IJA Vol.3.Pmd
© Indian Society of Arachnology ISSN 2278 - 1587 SPIDER FAUNA OF RADHANAGARI WILDLIFE SANC- TUARY, CHANDOLI NATIONAL PARK AND KOYNA WILDLIFE SANCTUARY Suvarna More and Vijay Sawant* P. V. P. Mahavidyalaya, Kavathe Mahankal, Sangli. *Former Professor and Head, Department of Zoology, Shivaji University, Kolhapur. ABSTRACT Diversity of spiders from Radhanagari Wildlife Sanctuary, Chandoli Na- tional Park and Koyna Wildlife Sanctuary in Western Ghats is studied for the first time. A total of 247 species belonging to 119 genera and 28 families are recorded from the study area during 2010-2012 with a dominance of Araneid, Salticid and Lycosid spiders. Key words: Spider diversity, Western Ghats INTRODUCTION Spiders comprise one of the largest (5-6th) orders of animals. The spider fauna of India has never been studied in its entirety despite of contributions by many arachnologists since Stoliczka (1869). The pioneering contribution on the taxonomy of Indian spiders is that of European arachnologist Stoliczka (1869). Review of available literature reveals that the earliest contribution by Blackwall (1867); Karsch (1873); Simon (1887); Thorell (1895) and Pocock (1900) were the pioneer workers of Indian spiders. They described many species from India. Tikader (1980, 1982), Tikader, and Malhotra (1980a,b) described spiders from India. Tikader (1980) compiled a book on Thomisid spiders of India, comprising two subfamilies, 25 genera and 115 species. Of these, 23 species were new to science. Descriptions, illustrations and distributions of all species were given. Keys to the subfamilies, genera, and species were provided. Tikader and Biswas (1981) studied 15 families, 47 genera and 99 species from Calcutta and surrounding areas with illustrations and descriptions.