#Microevolution

[theriu]

Just reading Genesis and now I’m thinking about how even some Christians argue that Earth can’t literally be 6,000–7,000 years because of all the varieties of animal subspecies, like microevolution doesn’t WORK that fast, it MUST be a metaphor that Creation only took seven days!

But if you’re going by the Bible, it also says people used to live over 900 years? Which def isn’t how we humans work anymore? And all humans and animals today descended from those on the Ark, yet we don’t hear of inter-family marriage being forbidden for a few generations at least, possibly suggesting intensely rich genes pools that hadn’t yet been thinned out enough for closely-related unions to cause genetic deformities?

I’m just saying, we might be assuming a lot to think biology today is anywhere NEAR identical to what may have been goin’ on in the early days.

[billloguidice]

Microevolution can be used to predict longer term evolution, new study shows

Microevolution can be used to predict longer term evolution, new study shows #evolution #microevolution #macroevolution #study #climate #evolvability #change #selection #science

A new paper published in Science, Evolvability predicts macroevolution under fluctuating selection, shows that evolvability, which is the ability of populations to evolve and adapt over just a few generations, can help us understand how evolution works on deeper time scales. While our relatively stable past environment has limited selective pressures, current climate change has caused more rapid…

[tj-crochets]

Hey y'all! My brother (not the one I live with) and I have birthdays fairly close together, and he'd like to get together and do some kind of joint celebration, but I have no idea what to do. He's an anti-vaxxer but is willing to wear a mask around me, but his kids won't so effectively whatever we do has to be outside Do you have suggestions of things we could do that are A. outside B. suitable for small children (youngest is old enough to run around and talk but not really reading yet) and C. no flashing lights?

[hanzajesthanza]

the rest of the hanza addressing or speaking of angoulême: “girl,” “brat”

regis addressing or speaking of angoulême: “my dear child,” “our darling angoulême”

[kissycat]

Thinking about my high school biology teacher who was Christian and critical of evolution theory and he believed in microevolution (small scale, e.g. evolution from wolves to dogs) but NOT macroevolution (evolution from species into new different ones). Okay

[lifesteal-headcanons]

All these headcannons debating whether or not a lifestealer is human or hybrid or demon…. I say that it all varies depending on which season and which time. Sure, they start out with their normal forms. But as lifestealers come into contact with all sorts of violence, void deaths, hacking, etc, their code is warped and corrupted by those influences. And thus, their code adapts to save them or help them, sometimes at the cost of humanoid traits. Think microevolution.

Lifestealers are a unique set of players, and can’t be categorized as either human or not-human. They are the product of their origins and experiences and general mindset, ever evolving as their surroundings and allegiances waver. Some lifestealers can even have different code effects for the same event.

Example: Vitalasy used to resemble a human with fox hybrid traits, but as he became more and more involved with the Wormhole and becoming a tyrant, he started to change. His eyes became more and more fox-like, and his hood starting covering more and more of his face, giving him a more sinister, unapproachable appearance. It sure helped intimidate his enemies and maintain his facade. Example: In season five when players were possessing one another to win wars, personalities would literally clash. Possessions would often be accompanied by glitch particles, and patches of the original player’s skin peeking through. Sometimes, the possessed body would have a mind of its own too, using the possessed user’s speech patterns, habits, and tics. All in an effort for the player fighting against the possession to regain control of their body.

Example: In season four, to survive the barrage of hacking, Parrot’s code dulled his ability to sense banned objects to save his admin-coded self from insanity. Whereas the 3HT actually became more sensitive to it, to become aware of imminent attacks early on and give them more time to prepare.

— 🌀 anon

.

[script-a-world]

Submitted via Google Form:

I can't seem to find much resources on microevolution of body hair especially when it comes to cultures/lineages who tend to do more swimming/diving activities like those raised on islands/coasts. And when I do find information on body hair microevolution it has never mentioned anything about swimming, just temperature and all sorts of other stuff instead. Anything searched when I include swimming is just beauty/athletes/body hair removal stuff…

Tex: Body hair is… not so much a microevolution as it is genes being turned on or off, and this is environmentally dependent. For swimming, in particular, hair’s hydrophobic properties mean very little in contrast to things like subcutaneous fat for its insulating properties for various internal organs.

Additionally, the ability to swim is a learned skill, which means it is something that can be practiced regardless of one’s original place or culture of birth. The practice of hair removal is common for competitive swimmers who are judged based on their skill at being fast swimmers (rather than endurance swimmers), where their skill is measured in milliseconds and any reasonable advantage they can take is going to be taken into account.

[panda-studiesmed]

16 Days Till Med School Entries

Today I was at the library with a really good friend of mine 🤗 we laughed too hard!

It's always so nice to have friends around especially while studying! It makes it easier since the struggle is shared lmao by this being said...*cough* @claykitty-studyblog *cough* still waiting for u to come with me 😏

I did:

Microevolution ��️

Macroevolution ✅️

Crossingover ✅️

Thanks to @study-diaries for the tag!!

Last song I listened to: according to my Spotify it was Imam Chovek by Itzo Hazarta (not expecting anyone to know it lmao)

Currently watching: Magnificent century 👌 👑 it's a turkish historical series and it's SOOO good!! Just binged 3 episodes lmao

Sweet / Savoury / Spicy?: sweet for sure!! 🍰

Relashionship status: happily taken for 2 years now 🌎💕

Current obsession: bruh, I don't think I have one atm

I tag: @claykitty-studyblog @glassingshards @rain-is-studying @zzzzzestforlife @medstudsposts @anna--studies @thequeerlibrarian-studyblr

[mallowmaenad]

trans women who aren't really enthusiastically out until their late 20s eventually creates a wondrous phenomenon of "milf with the whimsy and enthusiasm of a teenage schoolgirl" which i think is an important microevolution in our ecosystem with the one drawback of despite many flocking towards these beauts to call them mommy they are in dire need for someone else to be the mommy for them so media literacy and acting skills are both important things to cultivate which is best done doing erp with strangers on the internet rather than the traditional school of "band class" which does not produce the desired chemical reactions as instead it creates a person who thinks standing around like waluigi is considered a joke on its own

[texasdreamer01]

Atlantis Expedition: Science Division Departments - Life Sciences Department

We're a bit further from the original post, having already done the medical department, so now it's time for the Life Sciences.

Much like the medical department, the notes for this underwent significant revision (nearly entirely re-done), to better granulate expectations for the department's duties and how they interact, primarily, with the medical department. Below is the original estimation, with struck text indicating revisions:

> Head: OC > Contains: Earth biologists, bio- & biochemical engineers, astro/xeno-biologists, botany, environmental chemistry, zoology, microbiology > Function: Auxiliary to Medical Department needs > Examples of function: pharmaceutical synthesis, analysis of unknown species, biological database creation, gene therapies (pharmaceutical adjacent) > Personnel quantity: 1 (Head) + 2 (Earth biologists) + 2 (bioE & biochemE) + 1 2 (astro/xenobio) + 1 (botany) + 1 (envchem) + 1 (zoo) + 2 1 (microbio) = 11 > Personnel quantity: 1 (Head) + 1 (physiologist) + 1 (geneticist) + 1 (astrobiologist) + 1 (xenobiologist) + 1 (microbiologist) + 1 (botanist) + 1 (zoologist) + 1 (biomedical engineer) + 1 (biochemical engineer) + 3 (medical laboratory scientists) = 13 > A/N: Both biologists also have training/specialization in genetics/gene mapping (assists both Carson and Katie), some input in requesting gate missions based on in-house needs > A/N: Focus is on medical logistics and supporting Medical Department needs, research parameters fulfill SGC outlines of studying microevolutions and drug technology development.

Following on the parameters of 1) putting people through the inter-galactic theoretical shredder is expensive, and 2) said gate shredder will only be open for a certain amount of time, the vast majority of this department's work will be geared toward the analysis, creation, testing, and preparation of pharmaceutical drugs and other inventions of medical context.

Think compounding pharmacy but better equipped, and capable of researching new things - this department specializes in medical logistics. Wikipedia has a better description of this, so I'll pull a quote:

Medical logistics is the logistics of pharmaceuticals, medical and surgical supplies, medical devices and equipment, and other products needed to support doctors, nurses, and other health and dental care providers.[1] Because its final customers are responsible for the lives and health of their patients, medical logistics is unique in that it seeks to optimize effectiveness rather than efficiency.

As with most things contrived by the SGC, there's going to be a lot of blended specialties and overlap, heavily bolstered by technological innovation. These are people Carson Beckett likely hired, or at least had a heavily-weighted opinion when Rodney was going through the application packets, because the Life Sciences is at a one-step remove from actually handling patients, and handles a significant amount of labwork and research.

The revised numbers weigh heavily in favour of biologists, due to the sheer breadth and depth of the subject, and the fact that most of these are likely to have some sort of SGC training that would make them well-versed on what to expect on the expedition in terms of disease research and thus treatment solutions.

Unlike the medical department, which handles patients directly in different aspects, this is all one "team". If you're looking for a group of scientists that can technically have the same generic appellation that would make one of them go, "Well, actually-", this is the place to look.

On to the breakdown, notes included:

> Earth biologists  » 2x of these  » Specialties?   ⇛ Human physiology (academic rather than medical context)   ⇛ May function as a knowledge base to study how the physiology of the expedition changes by long-term habitation in Atlantis, assists in studying long-term effects of the ATA gene therapy, development of knowledge base as Earth-based physiology changes in reaction to Pegasus galaxy habituation (exposure to local diseases, eating of local foods, etc)   ⇛ Geneticist   ⇛ Same as the human physiologist, but in a genetic context   ⇛ Studies genetic drift of the expedition and builds knowledge base for comparisons of baseline to genetic mutations that build up over time > Astro/xenobiology  » 2x of these   ⇛ 1 of each  » SGC special  » Studies the species and speciation of non-human humanoid species   ⇛ Imports from studying the Jaffa, Goa'uld, and Replicators (xenobiologist in particular)   ⇛ Overlap with parasitology and immunology/histocompatibility (Goa'uld and Jaffa, respectively) > Microbiology  » "Most microbiologists specialize in a given topic within microbiology such as bacteriology, parasitology, virology, or immunology."  » Studies the species and speciation of bacteria, algae, fungi, and some types of parasites and their vectors > Botany  » Study of species and speciation of plant species  » Outline of botany > Zoology  » Study of species and speciation of non-human animal species  » Outline of zoology > Biomedical engineer  » REVAMP from bio-engineering  » Actually makes the pharmaceuticals based on the feedstocks and processes biochem engineers designed for them   ⇛ Works with biochem engineers to feedback on the design process of drug manufacturing   ⇛ Biologics as well as inert (in comparison) materials for drug development   ⇛ Pharmacology    ⟹ Most likely all drugs are powdered for shelf-stability and ease of transportation     ⭆ So their responsibility in this would be referencing the SGC formulary (how many books to a Frasier) on reconstituting these drugs      ➾ Compounding     ⭆ What about topical prescriptions? Gel-based? Powder for gels, as well      ➾ More complex formulation     ⭆ What about gases, for sedation?      ➾ Probably compressed canisters? > Biochemical engineer  » Would not have existed in the early 2000s as a field related to process engineering, so an SGC special  » Also useful for researching food preservation methods  » Synthesizes information from peers in this department to create pharmaceutical drugs and their manufacturing process > Medical Laboratory scientist  » Does the legwork of processing samples for everyone, so needs a wide range of skills   ⇛ 3x of these   ⇛ Specialties    ⟹ Immunology/histopathology/hematology     ⭆ Human tissues    ⟹ Microbiology/bacteriology     ⭆ Bacterial forms of infection    ⟹ Virology/mycology/parasitology     ⭆ Non-bacterial forms of infection      ➾ Routes of non-bacterial infection > Environmental chemistry  » Role covered under biochem engineering  » Biochem engineers can cover the study of pollution that envirochems specialize in

Environmental chemistry section preserved to properly annotate the revisions, and what their original role was supposed to be (i.e. study pollution to solve Earth's pollution issues).

It occurred to me, while revising personnel lists, that the biologists in particular will need to divide their research into some broad categories, if they want to properly develop their research topics and what category of formulations they would require from the non-biologists in the department.

We have human species, yes, but that can be parsed from Milky Way to Pegasus galaxies, and from there Earth-based humans vs Jaffa (vs Goa'uld), and Pegasus-based humans (presumably humans, as they probably wouldn't know for sure that the Ancients were the default sentient or even default humanoid species in the Pegasus galaxy).

The human microbiome is incredibly important to understanding homeostasis, disease pathology, and various other interconnected factors. Because of this, the medical laboratory scientists will be heavily relied upon to develop cultures for study. I'm willing to believe that they have some nifty adapted technology to help them study all of these subjects I've shoved under multiple umbrellas, in the form of culturing processes, reagents, microscopes, analyzing software, preserving agents/methods, and the like.

After that, testing to see how these diseases - or potential diseases, if someone in the Pegasus galaxy hosts a bacteria, virus, fungus, or parasite that their immune system is natively robust to - might infect a member of the expedition. This is where a lot of back-and-forth would be done between the Life Sciences and Medical departments, so it wouldn't be uncommon to see people like, say, Biro (pathology) and Katie Brown (botany) jointly doing research on a pathogen.

There's already a lot of canonical evidence to support this specialist overlap being a necessary concern, from the the Hoffan drug (and the subsequent Michael arc), John Sheppard's infection from an Iratus bug bite in Conversion, Asurans, Lucius' drug, the crystals of M3X-387, Kirsan fever, Jennifer Keller's infection from something that was turning her into a Wraith hiveship in The Seed, and the Second Childhood parasite.

Depending on the type of infection, a lot of the personnel in this department will coordinate with each other to develop a knowledge base, including potential therapeutic remedies. If something already in stock cannot be used (see: a potential cross-applicability of penicillin), then they might make a request to the head of the expedition for a gate team to travel based upon any information they might have (ex: Teyla and Ronon going out for samples of the Enchuri plant for treating Kirsan fever).

Because of their support role as a department, the fact that all the scientists here can be used as in-house reference for the medical department, and their unique position to recommend gate missions for consideration on the roster, this department functions well as a bridging gap for the various demands the expedition has placed on them by the IOA and the SGC.

Total Life Sciences Department Personnel

Head of Department: 1

Biologists: 5

Engineers: 2

Laboratory Scientists: 3

Botany: 1

Zoology: 1

Total total: 13

I'll be going over canonical personnel such as Katie Brown in their own posts, but for now this is a general accounting of the expedition’s life sciences department.

[swiftpooldoesstuff]

Can we get some lore about Time Keeper

Lore about Time Keeper

Time looks over the Sacred Timeline, obviously. Everything that happens has to be approved by them. Big hurricane sweeping through a coastal town in the Victorian era? Sure, won’t be too disastrous and we need a bit of spice around here anyway. Microevolution of a species? Yeah we can work that in.

Their realm is a vast desert surrounded by an ocean of white water. An array of hourglasses and clocks litter the landscape, acting as the foundation of the timeline.

Since the beginning, Time’s power has been unstable and finicky. They’re constantly patching holes and stabilizing the timeline, hourglasses, and clocks because they will randomly break.

OFnR (Placeholder name for my story surrounding Swift) starts with the Sacred Timeline becoming unstable and starting to unravel. I’m a panic, Time had to freeze a section of the timeline, which caused a chain reaction and for the hourglasses (holding up the older half of the timeline) to start to crack.

Time immediately called Space and asked them to keep an eye on the timeline while they went into the timeline to get a patron and try to fix it from the inside.

So yeah that’s what Time is up to

You could say they’re

Having a time

*ba dun ching*

They need a redesign but here’s their TH

[mybeautifulchristianjourney]

Scriptures Proving That Theistic Evolution is False

by Jack Wellman | Evolution and creation both cannot be true and theistic evolution is not biblical. Problems with a Theory Evolution and creation both cannot be true and theistic evolution is not biblical. The first problem that arises with evolution is that many believe that microevolution and macroevolution are the same thing and work in similar fashion, but…

Link: https://www.whatchristianswanttoknow.com/scriptures-proving-that-theistic-evolution-is-false/

[floraviee]

30.10.23 — PM UPDATE

today was semi-productive! had a really good breakfast, but a super late start to my day in general so energy levels were low regardless. i managed to get all of my chemistry revision done I had planned for the day.

but i only got microevolution and speciation done for bio... however i'm not too worried because i still have seven days, so i'll catch up on what i left out today tomorrow!

[inkintheinternet]

The Tree of Unanswered Questions (Answered)

By Arjuwan Lakkdawala 

Ink in the Internet 

I have often been confused by the theory that we are primates, and that chimps and humans have 98% DNA similarity, and therefore it is "evidance" that we are primates. Darwin's Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection is often cited by many as the backing for this claim, or that it is at the root of it.

I decided to investigate the claims regarding human evolution to the best of my ability. I wanted to get answers that would be clear for people who have not studied human evolution. It's one of the toughest research I have done.

Evolution in itself is such a sprawling subject, one would not know from where to begin.

I decided to make it as simple as possible, I would write the subject as a tree. My own version of the evolutionary tree, not the scientific one with its many intricate details and dead ends. Because to understand that most regular readers might lose their brain cells. I say this because anyone doing research on human evolution will find quotes like "it's complex" "not enough fossil evidance" "it's a tangled web." and so on.

So here I start, let us speak about the highest branch first.

Branch 1 - Hominins (ancient human  species)

Early humans are called hominins and there are according to evolutionary biologists many extinct species of humans from the genus Homo, but we the Homo Sapiens are the only living ones on earth.

In this branch there is Homo Erectus (upright human) this species is said to be the first "most human-like ancient hominin."

It is said that ancient hominins first appeared on earth six million years ago and they walked on four.

Bipedalism - the ability to walk on two legs evolved four million years ago in humans.

So Homo Erectus are the first to walk on two, they lived two million years ago, until at least 250,000 years ago.

I have seen online artificial imagineering of their faces, and you get a human face according to the artificial intelligence software.

But according to evolutionary biology they are not modern humans.

As with the example of Homo Erectus many hominin fossils have been found, and basically each has been classified as an extinct ancient human species.

There are hominins thought to be older ancrstors to Homo Erectus and those are called "super archiac."

Then in the branch after many hominins comes two of our most famous and closest cousins the Neanderthals and Denisovans.

Again not modern humans according to scientific classification.

Neanderthals went extinct about 40,000 years ago.

Denisovans are said to have gone extinct 40,000 to 30,000 years ago.

Denisovans are closer to Neanderthals than modern humans according to the science.

It is said Neanderthals and modern humans interbreeded.

There is no explanation as to why or how Neanderthals became extinct.

How does evolution take place? Answer: By mutations.

According to the science of evolution it happens in two types of periods.

1. The Microevolution (short period) in this period minor changes get made to species according to natural selection. The difference in anatomy is considered not to be significant.

2. The Macroevolution (long period) in this period great changes get made to a species, and even evolving it into a whole new species.

But there has to be the existence of an intermediate species in the chain or branch of evolutionary changes.

Example: 

Charles Darwin was hoping to get palaeontological evidance of an intermediate species. Two years after the publication of his book 'On the Origin of Species' the fossil 'archaepteryx' was found. The fossil link between birds and dinasaurs.

"This extraordinary fossil—bearing feathers as well as teeth, claws, a bony tail and other reptilian traits—was just the sort of creature that Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection predicted should exist. The feathers left no question that the Jurassic Archaeopteryx was a bird, but the creature also had a suite of saurian traits that pointed to a reptilian ancestry." - Smithsonian Megazine

However, anthropologist Briana Pobinar, says that the term "Missing Link" is not accurate because it depicts a linear chain in evolution, which is not the pattern they see.

Pobinar says evolution “produces a tree-like branching pattern with multiple descendants of an ancestor species existing at the same time, and sometimes even alongside that ancestor species.” - Smithsonian Megazine.

The human that is supposed to connect modern humans with primative ancestors has never been found.

So much so that it appears that it's a "ghost" species. What it means is that there is no fossil or DNA evidance to make a scientific connection. 

In fact a new study published in Nature Journal challenges previous notions about hominin contribution to modern Homo Sapiens.

"New model for human evolution suggests Homo sapiens arose from multiple closely related populations.

A new study in Nature challenges prevailing theories, suggesting that Homo sapiens evolved from multiple diverse populations across Africa, with the earliest detectable split occurring 120,000-135,000 years ago, after prolonged periods of genetic intermixing." - Scitech Daily

This means that modern humans evolved from similar other modern humans. There is no genetic evolutionary notable impact from primate like hominins.

(Study is very new released in May 2023) 

So what really makes modern humans different to so called other species of humans. I would say it's the brain and cognitive ability, and this brings me to the second branch of the tree.

Branch 2. (Human Brain Development)

The fossils so far found of "extinct human species" help scientists determine bone structure and facial features of those individuals, but brain tissue is not preserved well, so scientist know little about the cognitive abilities of these species.

So archealogy is the best option for researchers to try and understand the thinking abilities of more recent species like Neanderthals and Denisovans.

As I have read in an article, this too is extremely complicated, as it raises the question are the primitive tools found in excavations and cave paintings really a sign of limited intelligence or underdeveloped environment. Can we really assume that Neanderthals and Denisovans if in a modern world would not be able to think like a modern human?

Researchers have observed differences in brain case size of extinct humans. But does this imply higher or lower cognitive abilities.

To answer to this question or shed some light on it as I was so curious, I decided to take my research from evolutionary biology, history, and archaeology to neuroscience and investigate the development of the human brain.

The confusion of brain development and cultural effect is because of neuro plasticity. In a study done chimps it appeared had rigid neuro plasticity compared to humans. So what is brain plasticity? It is the brain's ability to rewire itself structurally and functionally according to experience and injury. There are even ongoing studies about if plasticity itself can evolve. The more plasticity the stronger cognitive abilities.

Neuroscience is one of the hardest and active field of research. So I'll not get into other aspects of the brain. Here I'll examine the aspect of brain development in regard to neuro plasticity.

"The neocortex—the outermost layer of the brain characterized by the squiggly sulci, or brain folds—is the region that gives all primates their exceptional intelligence. In both chimps and humans, this brain region continues to grow and organize for years after birth, allowing us to learn and develop socially. The brain's ability to reorganize in response to environmental cues is known as plasticity, and it is this flexibility that allows us to learn things we never knew at birth." - Science.org

There lingers the question of brain size regarding the hominins or Neanderthals, Denisovans, if brain tissue of their fossils cannot be examined, we can instead try to find out if a larger brain (large brain cases of fossils) mean higher intelligence or the ability for modern human cognition.

"Having an unusually large brain doesn't necessarily make someone a genius, and large-scale research suggests only a slight and tenuous relationship between brain size and intelligence." - Psychology Today.

With this I conclude the second branch, and start the third branch which is about intelligence in apes and other animals.

Branch 3. (Intelligence in the animal kingdom)

Animals that have shown high Intelligence in comparison to most animals are apes, parrots, crows, ravens, mice, elephants, dogs, and new research suggests octopuses.

"The more that researchers examine octopus genetics, brains and sensory capabilities, the more they find startling similarities to our own minds, hand in hand (or sucker-covered arm in sucker-covered arm) with bizarre differences between how our species experience the world." - Discover.

However, there is nothing close to the level of human intelligence.

Charles Darwin had based his theory on physical changes, he did not know about genetics. 

The Theory of Evolution incorporated with the study of genetics is called 'Modern Evolution Synthesis."

What I have done in this tree is summarise the theory of human evolution based on physical and biological research. 

What I have found is so far scientifically there is no fossil or genetic evidance that says Homo Sapiens evolved directly from apes.

We are in the 21st century with sophisticated technologies and molecular biology. There is nothing stopping scientists from searching for fossil or genetic evidence except that it can't be found. 

Neanderthals and Denisovans have said to have existed in the Ice Age, and there were hominins in the Stone Age.

Copyright ©️ Arjuwan Lakkdawala 2023

Arjuwan Lakkdawala is an author and independent journalist. Twitter: @Spellrainia Email: arjuwan.writer@gmail.com

Sources:

Metode Science Studies Journal, 7 (2017)

Human Brain Evolution - How increase in brain plasticity made us a cultural species - Aida Gomez Robles and Chet C. Sherwood

What Is Neural Plasticity?

Rommy von Bernhardi et al. Adv Exp Med Biol. 2017.

Smithsonian Megazine - Riley Black, Natural History Museum- Katie Pavid

Natural History Museum- Josh Davis

National Geogrphic - Tim Vernimmen

YourGenome.org - Society and Behaviour

Australian Museum - A Timeline of Gissil Discoveries - Fran Dorey

Britannica - Homo Sapiens

Smithsonian: National Museum of Natural History - Introduction to Human Evolution

Live Science: What is Darwin's Theory of Evolution - By Ker Than, Ashley P. Taylor, Tom Garner

Discover Megazine

Psychology Today

Daniel Graham, Ph.D.

A Bigger Brain is Not Necessarily Better

Science.org - David Shultz

New DNA Research Changes Origin of Human Species -

Scitech Daily - University of California - Davis

National Library of Medicine - National Center for Biotechnology Information -

Front Hum Neurosci. 2013; 7: 707. 

Published online 2013 Oct 30. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2013.00707

PMCID: PMC3812990

PMID: 24194709

Evolution, development, and plasticity of the human brain: from molecules to bones

Branka Hrvoj-Mihic,1,2 Thibault Bienvenu,1 Lisa Stefanacci,1,2 Alysson R. Muotri,2,3 and Katerina Semendeferi1,3,*

What may have given modern humans an edge over Neanderthals, according to new research

By Katie Hunt, CNN

Study.com - People and Society in the Stone Age

Jessica Holmes, Joanna Harris

[rh1nest0neluvvsu]

yeah sure. sooner or later tuning out the chirp is going to be ingrained into the dna of africans americans, we are watching microevolution take place real time

Fuck yeah.

[script-a-world]

Submitted via Google Form, Follow Up:

Some clarifications about the various human races question. (https://scriptaworld.wordpress.com/2024/04/01/submitted-via-google-form-where-do-various-human-races-come-from-when-building-a-sci-fi-story/) First of all, my story is sci-fi mainly because it takes place over a dozen planets over multiple solar systems in a universe I've created from scratch. All the humanoid species started from the same ancestors and spread over the universe in the distant past due to outside interference and had parallel evolution. But the creation of racial traits is microevolution due to local environment unchanging and people not mingling. How do I build all these various things across planets. On earth, we know how race evolved and where people have been and are still discovering connections. But I'm creating entirely new planets and new but habitable terrain. So.. microevolution will likely not be the same across different planets. How can I create such variations? How similar will these microevolutions on different planets? How do I make the terrain and microevolution match up with history on those particular planets? Racial dynamics are even more fluid and are not caused by evolution at all, it's just society itself. Also because the history will be completely different than real life... that will completely change what kind of racial dynamics that might be possible. Such variations will however, be rather important for identification however... race also the the result of how to give these variations names that will help distinguish someone from others. Regardless of any solving of societal issues arising from such tension, when people share or don't share microevolution traits - it is a distinguisher.

Tex: People on Earth look like people from Earth. Presumably people from Venus will look like they’re from Venus, so on and so forth. No matter how large a planet is - and planets are very, very large - there will still be baseline environmental factors at play, such as a planet’s magnetosphere and atmospheric gas composition. There might be a few degrees difference in particular nice environments, but it’s not generally large enough to produce entirely different species unless you’re keen on segregation.

To pull from my extant example, would someone from southern Venus look noticeable different from someone on northern Venus? What about a Venusian living at a higher elevation than another Venusian living at a lower elevation? This would likely introduce some genetic drifts if the societies in different areas only reproduced with their neighbors, yes? Would they all still be people from Venus? Also yes. From an outside perspective, you would likely be able to distinguish the commonalities that make it a singular race.

Addy: If you’re looking at microevolution, I’d say to look at Earth for some ideas. Extreme changes, like gills or tails, probably won’t happen - they’d take significant amounts of restructuring in the body to get to that point. But smaller changes are totally doable. Maybe some people can hold their breath underwater for significant periods of time due to enlarged spleens* and changes in their blood. Maybe you’ve got people adapted to planets with thinner atmospheres, with traits like what you’d find in high-altitude populations –  more nitric oxide in the blood, better energy reserve molecules, more efficient red blood cells, and/or more efficient lungs (such as IRL Sherpas or Andean people). Gravity/climate differences - how do heights vary? Maybe some people are average tall (like Danish people, who average ~5'6" for women and ~5'11" for men) or average short (like Himalayan people, who average ~5' for women and ~5'4" for men). Arm length, general disorders (thalassemia, for example, helps provide resistance to malaria), muscle insertion (tradeoff between strength and finesse)... you’ve got a lot of flexibility for different traits.

* While the IRL Bajau people can hold their breath impressively long (3-5 minutes), there’s a common figure floating around that claims 13 minutes. One of the men being interviewed claimed he could hold his breath for up to that long in his youth, but I have seen no confirmation of anything like that.

If you’re looking for ideas on how to get terrains and traits for those terrains, think about the problems that could arise from a given environment. Lower gravity means thinner atmosphere, for one, but also means less pressure on joints and fewer demands on bone and cartilage. Dark vs bright planet, how do eyes change for that (blue-eyed people actually have better night vision than dark-eyed people, but can have light sensitivity issues during the day)? Humidity, climate, all kinds of things. Play around with it.

And racial dynamics… don’t forget that things as simple as accents can absolutely change how people perceive in-group vs out-group behavior.