Evolutionary biology
-
On meditation and the birth of the universe.
How we compose ourselves is everything.
anti-matter, big bang, biology, birth of particles, birth of stars, birth of the cosmos, Buddha, Buddha meditating, chaos engines, chaos machines, chemistry, composition of matter, consciousness, cosmology, dark energy, drug chemistry, drugs, emergent physics, emergent properties, energetics of life, entropy, expanding universe, false vacuum, goal of meditation, hallucination, Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, how to meditate, hydrogen fusion, hyperinflation, inflation, Jesus, Jesus meditating, LSD, mantra, mantra meditation, matter, meditate, meditation, meditation function, meditation guide, meditation practice, meditation retreat, metastable, more is different, nuclear fusion, Odin, Odin meditating, organization of matter, origin of consciousness, origin of intelligence, origin of life, origin of planets, origin of structure, origin of the cosmos, origin of the universe, particle physics, physics, practice, practice makes better, psychedelic, psychedelic meditation, psychedelics, quantum mechanics, RNA world, RNA world hypothesis, sat nam, Shiva, Shiva meditating, star formation, statistical mechanics, structure of matter, teaching in jail, THC, thermodynamics of life, transcendental meditation, tsar bomba, uncertainty, vacuum energy
-
On domestication and Sue Burke’s ‘Semiosis’
With every generation, our species changes. If we found ourselves on the cusp of survival, an alien world could easily reshape us to fit its needs.
aggression, alien life, artificial selection, Belyayev, coevolution, conscious plants, directed evolution, domesticated foxes, domestication, evolution, flowering plants, fruiting plants, future humans, human domestication, human evolution, intelligent plantlife, intelligent plants, Russian fox experiment, science fiction, selective breeding, selective pressure, self-domestication, Semiosis, Semiosis review, Sue Burke
-
On birds watching.
We humans have massive brains, but will our kind be more successful than the dinosaurs?
animal cognition, animal communication, animal intelligence, animal research, animals, bird brains, bird cognition, bird intelligence, birds, brain soup, chickens, corvids, crow communication, crow facial recognition, crow intelligence, crows, dinosaur, dinosaur brains, dinosaur cognition, dinosaur intelligence, dinosaurs, evolution of birds, evolution of dinosaurs, extinction, facial recognition, how smart are birds, how smart were dinosaurs, jail, lab animals, laboratory animals, neuron counts, neuron density, oncology, pigeon, pigeon diagnosing biopsy, Suzana Herculano-Houzel, teaching in jail
-
On the study of naked mole-rats.
Naked mole-rats: impervious to acid, cancer, asphyxiation, even time itself. But are they impervious to us?
acid, acid resistance, aging, animal research, animal welfare, biological research, biology, caloric restriction, cancer, cancer biology, cancer immunity, carbon dioxide, chemotherapy, climate change, Eliot Weinberger, eusocial, eusocial mammals, eusociality, gas chamber, global warming, hyaluronan, Jennifer Jarvis, laboratory animals, lifespan, lifespan after reproduction, lifespan elongation, naked apes, Naked Mole-Rats, naked molerats, oxygen, oxygen deprivation, pain response, Park et al., Richard Alexander, science, scientific research, starvation, The Biology of the Naked Mole-Rat, Thomas Park, Venus, violence against animals, Weinberger, Xiao Tian
-
On Darwin and free love.
I suddenly saw a link between Erasmus Darwin’s belief in free love and Charles Darwin’s “Origin of the Species”! The only problem? The former was just slander.
affairs, Bargh, behavioral priming, behavioral psychology, brain soup, Charles Darwin, compulsary research studies, Darwin and free love, Darwin belief in free love, Darwin feminism, Darwin feminist, Darwin free love, Emmy Brockman, Erasmus Darwin, Erasmus Darwin evolution, Erasmus Darwin free love, everything from shells, evolution, evolution by natural selection, extramarital daliance with consent, extramarital daliances, Fara, free love, French Revolution, how many neurons in the human brain, I am a scientist, love, love life, many love, many loves, natural selection, neuron counts, Origin of the Species, Patricia Fara, plant neurobiology, plant poetry, Plants Neither Possess nor Require Consciousness, polyamorist, polyamory, priming, psychological priming, psychology research, publication bias, reproducibility crisis, risque plant poetry, romance, Science Is for Me, scientific bias, scientific misconceptions, scientific publishing, slander, supposedly pornographic poetry, survival of the fittest, Suzana Herculano-Houzel, teleological fallacy, teleological misconception, The Human Advantage, The Loves of Plants, theory of evolution, walking speed, was Darwin a polyamorist, was Erasmus Darwin a polyamorist
-
On the ethics of eating.
It took violence and oppression to create our world … which we can recognize without perpetuating.
autotroph, carbon cycle, carbon uptake, chaos machines, diet, energy, ethics, ethics of eating, ethics of veganism, evolution, evolution of intelligence, evolution of life, evolution of neurons, food, food web, gene duplication, gratitude, heterotroph, human diet, legacy of oppression, legacy of violence, life, moral philosophy, oppression, origin of intelligence, origin of neurons, philosophy, plant competition, plants, prehistory of intelligence, prehistory of violence, the cost for us to be here, thermodynamics of life, trees, utilitarian, utilitarianism, vegan, veganism, vegetarian, why we can think
-
On sexuality and freedom of choice.
If men were more helpful, we might not need to intimidate women with ghost stories.
-
On the evolution of skin color.
Over thousands of years, our ancestors evolved. Epidermal melanin protects us from the sun. Seems reasonable. But contemporary racism throws a wrench in the discussion.
African ancestry, ancestry, Asatru, biology of human evolution, books to prisoners, brain evolution, chance in evolution, chance in human evolution, Denisovan, Denisovans, diet in human evolution, domestication, edda, epidermal melanin, evolution, evolution of agriculture, evolution of brain size, evolution of epidermal melanin, evolution of great apes, evolution of human brain, evolution of human intelligence, evolution of intelligence, evolution of skin color, evolutionary advantage, evolutionary pressure, examples of evolution, explanation of human evolution, farming, folate hypothesis, history of human migration, history of human race, Homo sapiens, Homo sapiens evolution, how long does evolution take, Human ancestry, human body plan, human evolution, human migration, human race, human species, humanity, Icelandic, Icelandic mythology, Icelandic poetry, impact of agriculture on human evolution, incarceration, jail, latitude and skin color, learning, mass incarceration, melanin, Midwest Pages to Prisoners, Midwest Pages to Prisoners Project, migration, migration and evolution, mythology, Neanderthal, Neanderthals, neo-paganism, neopagan, neopaganism, neural plasticity, Norse mythology, Northern European ancestry, Northern European evolution, Odin, odinism, outdoor rec, paganism, Pages to Prisoners, pre-christian religion, prehistory of agriculture, prison, prison education, race, racial disparities in the criminal justice system, racial injustice, racism, racist police enforcement, racist policing, random factors in evolution, religion, skin color, skin color evolution, starfish evolution, stickleback evolution, sunlight, teaching evolution, The Edda, The Poetic Edda, The Prose Edda, UV damage, Viking myths, Viking religion, what does melanin do?, what does skin color do, white supremacists, white supremacy, why do people have different skin color, why skin color
-
On bowerbirds, process, and happiness.
In a world where not everyone wins, we can either prepare to mope or learn to enjoy the process of our lives.
abolition, abolitionism, art, attention economy, Bestiary, birds, Bower, bowerbird, bowerbirds, children, corvids, crow family life, crow intelligence, crow smarts, crows, crows using tools, Donika Kelly, goal-oriented, goals versus process, jail, jail poetry, mass incarceration, mate choice, mate selection, mating, mating behavior, non-coercive mating, parenting, poetry, process-oriented, psychology, self-actualization, self-help, sexual choice, sexual selection, social media pyramid, storytelling, suffering in jail, teaching in jail, teaching poetry, teaching poetry in jail, tool use, tropical birds, War on Drugs, writing
-
On the celebration of Neanderthals.
Neanderthal were more like us than scientists once thought … but, in our current political atmosphere, I can’t feel comfortable celebrating them.
45, epidermal melanin, extinction, genetic inheritence, Homo sapiens, human evolution, human extinction, human migration, immigration, inherited privilege, macrofauna extinction, migration, migration laws, Neanderthal, Neanderthal DNA, Neanderthal genes, Neanderthal stories, Neanderthals, prehistory, President Trump, race, racism, Trump, white supremacists, white supremacy
Frank Brown Cloud 