evolution

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Florida Schools Must Teach Evolution

But science teachers must present it as theory, not fact

(Newser) - Teachers in Florida's public schools must for the first time teach evolution, but they must present it as a "scientific theory" rather than a fact, the Tallahassee Democrat reports. The state's Board of Education approved the new curriculum standards today. The old ones made no mention of evolution. Religious...

Angry Students Block Pope Visit
Angry Students Block Pope Visit
Jan 16, 2008 4:31 AM CST

Angry Students Block Pope Visit

Profs say appearance would be affront to 'people of science'

(Newser) - Pope Benedict XVI has scrapped plans to speak at a prestigious Italian university after unprecedented protests by furious students and professors who accused him of justifying Galileo's trial and "affronting" people of science, the Los Angeles Times reports. The pope once described as "reasonable" the 400-year-old heresy trial...

Evolution Coming to Space Race
Evolution Coming to Space Race
Jan 9, 2008 2:33 PM CST

Evolution Coming to Space Race

Engineers apply natural-selection algorithm to flight paths for spacecraft

(Newser) - Engineers have devised a way of coming up with flight paths for space missions by using the laws of natural selection, Space.com reports. An algorithm called "differential evolution" treats different paths as individual organisms, which then "mutate," and the best solutions survive to the next generation....

Scientists Spot 6 Giraffe Species
Scientists Spot 6 Giraffe Species
Dec 24, 2007 3:40 AM CST

Scientists Spot 6 Giraffe Species

And some are in trouble

(Newser) - Giraffes had long been thought to be one species with several subspecies, but researchers now believe they have identified six distinct species—some of which are on the brink of extinction, reports the BBC. Only 160 Nigerian giraffes remain. But there's hope the researchers' find will spur greater conservation efforts.

Earliest Whale Ancestor a Deer?
Earliest Whale Ancestor a Deer?
Dec 20, 2007 1:50 PM CST

Earliest Whale Ancestor a Deer?

Cat-sized animal, Indohyus, lived 48 million years ago

(Newser) - Quick: What's the the whale's earliest-known ancestor? Wrong. It may not have been Bambi, but it was a deer about the size of a domestic cat, the Guardian reports. Fossil hunters have named the small deer-like animal that waded in lagoons and munched on vegetation Indohyus. It lived 48 million...

Nature's Back-Up Plan Keeps Pregnant Women Upright

Evolutionary changes help fight gravity

(Newser) - Scientists have found slight differences in the lower back and hip joints of men and women—results of evolution—that help women keep their balance and avoid serious back pain while pregnant, the AP reports. “(Women) are experiencing a pretty impressive challenge. Evolution has tinkered ... to the point where...

Humans Evolving at Warp Speed
Humans Evolving
at Warp Speed
Dec 11, 2007 3:59 AM CST

Humans Evolving at Warp Speed

New research contradicts theory that easier life slowed development

(Newser) - The pace of human evolution switched to the fast track when people began forming agrarian societies 10,000 years ago, researchers have discovered. Scientists had theorized that evolution would slow as challenges to survival waned, but the opposite appears to be the case with changes occurring surprisingly quickly, the Los ...

Altruism Linked to Gene
 Altruism Linked to Gene
Dec 9, 2007 6:35 AM CST

Altruism Linked to Gene

People with active AVPR1a gene more likely to give away money in study

(Newser) - Researchers have identified a gene that may influence altruism, reports the BBC. Test subjects who had the choice of keeping money or giving it away were 50% more likely to give it away if they had a more active version of the gene AVPR1a. The gene is linked to arginine...

Religion Remains Flashpoint With Huckabee

GOP candidate sounds off on creationism in schools, Romney's Mormon faith

(Newser) - A month before the Iowa caucuses, Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee reacted with frustration when asked if creationism should be taught in public schools, the AP reports. Huckabee, a Southern Baptist minister who has said he does not believe in Darwin's theory of evolution, said his personal views on religion...

Creation Geologists Rock World
Creation Geologists Rock World
Nov 25, 2007 7:10 AM CST

Creation Geologists Rock World

They're well-credentialed and unafraid of data

(Newser) - Today's creationist geologists are not who the secular may think. Numerous and thriving, many hold advanced degrees from top universities, and are making evangelicals more open to scientific evidence. And they are experts for the nearly half of Americans who believe God created the Earth in the last 10,000...

To Be, or Not: That Is the Question for Irregular Verbs

Study shows language evolves à la Darwin, less-used forms die off

(Newser) - Irregular verbs, much like the Kennewick Man, evolve. But, much like the woolly mammoth, sometimes they vanish altogether, and linguists and evolutionary theorists have teamed up to compute their extinction times—in terms of half-lives. The study, published this week in Nature, shows that irregular forms of lesser-used verbs are...

What's Baby Got That Chimps Don't?
What's Baby Got That Chimps Don't?
Sep 7, 2007 12:05 PM CDT

What's Baby Got That Chimps Don't?

Study pits toddlers against primates to see how human brains are different

(Newser) - What makes humans smarter than their primate relatives? Into the ongoing debate comes a new study that concludes it's not just size, it's the particular kind of computing power. A study matching human toddlers with chimps and orangutans compared their performance on a battery of different kinds of tasks. The...

Lucy Debuts in Houston
Lucy Debuts
in Houston
Aug 29, 2007 5:20 AM CDT

Lucy Debuts in Houston

But dem bones ain't made for traveling, say scientists

(Newser) - Lucy kicks off her public debut  at the Houston Museum of Natural Science tomorrow amid controversy that the world's favorite human ancestor should never have left her home in Ethiopia. The public wants the chance to the 3.2 million-year-old remains, but scientists say Lucy's too fragile to travel.

Women Have Been Falling for Brad Pitt Types for 2.6M Years

Rules of attraction haven't changed much

(Newser) - The facial proportions of the average hot guy haven't changed much throughout human  evolutionary history, finds a new study that compares contemporary human skulls with skulls from 2.6 million years ago. Women have been selecting for males with short, broad faces—think Brad Pitt and Will Smith—since the...

Kenyan Fossil Rattles Human Family Tree

Skull suggests two precursors were actually concurrent

(Newser) - Two of our ancestors apparently lived alongside each other in Africa rather than evolving from one to the next on the path to Homo sapiens, as scientists once believed. National Geographic reports that a Homo habilis skull dug up in Kenya is surprisingly young, making its 1.4 million-year-old owner...

Macho Men Seen as Cheaters, Poor Dads

Beefcakes perceived as poor dad material more likely to cheat on spouses

(Newser) - Macho-looking men are perceived as poor parenting material and more likely to cheat on their mates, according to recent study on sex and masculinity. "When people look at masculine faces they see dominance, which is a good thing in evolution but less good in a long-term partner," said...

Frozen DNA Survives After 8 Million Years

Microorganisms from Antarctica look like Martian data

(Newser) - Scientists have nixed the notion that glaciers are lifeless blocks of ice by thawing chunks containing Antarctic organisms and watching them successfully divide on their own, the Los Angeles Times reports. The study suggests that these microorganisms, ranging from 100,000 to 8 million years old, could yield DNA and...

Why Fat is Phat
Why Fat
is Phat
Aug 7, 2007 10:09 AM CDT

Why Fat is Phat

The body's most maligned cells are actually critically valuable players

(Newser) - Fat is underappreciated, New York Times health columnist Natalie Angier writes: just because a lot of people now have too much of it doesn't mean it should be villified. The fat cell is in fact a marvel of science, a sophisticated mechanism finely tailored not only for energy storage but...

Muslim Creationists Damn Darwin
Muslim Creationists Damn Darwin
Aug 2, 2007 6:31 PM CDT

Muslim Creationists Damn Darwin

Turkish anti-evolution tract distributed worldwide

(Newser) - A Muslim group in Turkey is widely disseminating a 768-page tome that slams evolution and promotes Islam-inflected creationism, the Christian Science Monitor reports. The Council of Europe has issued warnings—particularly to schools—against the "Atlas of Creation," which has been published in 80 countries and 59 languages.

The Mind Thinks More Than It Knows
The Mind Thinks More Than It Knows
Jul 31, 2007 3:46 PM CDT

The Mind Thinks More Than It Knows

Subconscious works behind the scenes of decisions, judgments

(Newser) - After just handling a stranger’s coffee, people make subconscious judgments about personality, psychologists say. Asked to hold a lab assistant’s cup of hot or iced coffee, Yale students associated cold drinkers with selfish personalities, the Times reports. The experiment is part of a body of research that leads...

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