Yeast Reflection

This is a rather silly reflection, but nevertheless one I found quite fun to entertain.  As I was making my famous home-made pizza dough, I took the yeast out of the refrigerator, as I've done dozens of times before, and sprinkled it over the warm water and sugar solution I had prepared.  It suddenly struck me how amazing this yeast was, having been transported to this home from our previous two houses, covering a period of roughly four years!  Yet it still becomes active under the conditions I prepare ahead of time.  What does this mean?  The yeast has been stored in its jar, completely inactive in the cold temperatures, as lifeless as the jar it was sitting in.  I've heard of much more simple viruses reviving after being frozen in time for 30,000 years.  The virus sat completely lifeless, frozen solid, a matrix of lipids and proteins until suddenly "animated" by being placed in the right conditions.  Doesn't this start to blur the line between the organic and inorganic?  This is precisely the problem some Creationists have with the earliest evolutionary accounts of life: how does life make the jump between inanimate molecules to animate organisms?  What if part of the answer lies within my pizza dough?  What if it's simply a matter of the proper conditions?

Now who wants a slice?  :)

Dear pithecus

Dearest pithecus

I write you again to inquire about your life.

What was it like to step into the world that first time? What were your thoughts? Could I understand their content? Did you bring fire with you or did you learn to make it? What manner of weapons did you fashion? What did you kill and what did you eat? You became a traveler. Perhaps you met others, somewhat different than you? Did you kill and eat them or did you love them? How did you live out your days upon the earth?

Tell me, did you have a god or gods? Did they aid or harm you? I have heard that man developed a fear of the shadows early on as a survival advantage. I suppose not every dark corner of the forest harbours a demon, but thinking so might protect one from a sabretooth on occasion. To this day our sense of the supernatural may still be hard-wired, as it were. It is a legacy left over from your day my darling pithecus. What do you think? Perhaps there is no difference to you between a sabretooth and a demon...

What was your impression of the sun and moon, those great lights of day and night? What did you long for? What cambrian thoughts burned beneath your brow?

I'm full of questions dear pithecus but perhaps you have nothing to say? That's right you're a man of action.. but I wonder sometimes about that first step.. not a literal step mind you, but the impulse to move out into the world. A great deal has happened since then. I wonder what you would think of it all.. I'm excited at the prospect of one day receiving an answer from you.

Your loving child,

H. Sapiens

Icarus Fall

The only rational course for those who had no other object than the attainment of truth was to accept Darwinism as a working hypothesis and to see what could be made of it. T.H. Huxley- On the publication of Origin of Species

Palaeontologists have known of the existence of intermediate “avian” species for some time. The earliest birds evolved from dinosaurs over 125 million years ago. Their present-day descendents are indeed considered “living dinosaurs” by some scientists (I’ve often observed turkeys nearby, running at speed, and cannot fail to have the eerie sense that I’m seeing something incredibly ancient in their reptilian-like gait). Those who claim there is no evidence of “missing links” or transitional fossils between species is either profoundly ignorant, or wilfully deceptive (or shall we say, ideologically motivated). Two such intermediate species are Archaeopteryx and Confuciusornis, fundamentally, two dinosaurs with feathers. These two basal “birds” are quite similar, though separated by one major difference: Archaeopteryx lacks the avian-like highly vascular bone structure of Confuciusornis. Archaeopteryx’s bones are parallel-fibred, common in reptiles. Confuciusornis, so it seems, was one step closer to its avian descendents than Archaeopteryx. (The significance of Confuciusornis for this reason cannot be overstated. No doubt the media will eventually catch up with the scientific research and Confuciusornis will be getting more publicity in the future). Neither creature could fly, but both could likely glide. This was due to scapular orientation, i.e. they couldn’t raise their arms high enough for the recovery stroke, a crucial requirement of flapping flight. That would come later.

For some time I have studied evolutionary science. First I was a sceptic, one who decided to approach the science critically but fairly. Then I was convinced. The evidence is just too great. Species evolve over time: including the species from which humans evolved. Upon hearing this admission, anyone who is still immersed in the ideological and cultural background I came from will feel as though they have been hit by a thunderbolt, or perhaps they will quickly dismiss these statements. That is fine. In the future, however, I plan on posting tidbits about my own personal research into human origins. So my friend: “if you wish to strive for peace of soul and pleasure, then believe; if you wish to be a devotee of truth, then inquire.”