TX education - evolution = sadface

It's been almost a year since I moved to Texas (seriously!) and I vaguely remember freaking out how conservative everyone would be. Turns out, I'm in a liberal bubble in Austin (yes, I realized that I wasn't in too much danger but the combination of gun-toting mixed with liberalism is something I'm unfamiliar with).

However, a friend's daughter asked for some help the other night with her science homework. I was handed a public school, 6th grade science book. DUH DUH DUH DUNHHHHH.

Obviously, there's no mention anywhere in the book of evolution. Or natural selection. I really could not believe this, but it's true. I mean, I'd heard stories, of course. We all have. But I saw no chapters called "The Origin of Life" or any such thing that would help a young, curious mind figure out where we came from or how the earth came into existence. There were chapters titled "Prokaryotes to Eukaryotes" and "Single Cells to Multi-Cell Organisms." Ok...

I've harped on this in the past and it makes me want to cry. I cannot imagine growing up with such a huge chunk of my science education and understanding just... missing. How would I look at the natural world without realizing that everything is connected and came into being over this incredibly long process? It's amazing in the truest sense of the word.

So on Election Day, with the state election board up for the vote in Texas, good grief, I hope y'all have voted for some good change.

Cetaceans >>> humans... again.

I was telling someone last night how if I don't sleep for a few days (you know that half sleep when you're stressed and you wake up at 5am and give up and read or watch Parks & Rec til an acceptable time to be out of bed?), I fall apart. We NEED sleep. It certainly feels like a weakness and reading that dolphins don't need sleep for over 2 weeks at a time only intensified that feeling.

In theory, only half of a dolphin brain "sleeps" so the other half can remain vigilant and prevent the creature from drowning (dolphins must consciously take breaths, it isn't an automated behavior). They have to remain alert to predators such as sharks, in which they use echolocation to take stock of their mental landscape and can spot danger.

Side note: I remember furiously writing a paper on echolocation in 4th grade and it basically confirmed my belief that dolphins were the coolest animal on the planet (I'm also sure the assignment was something like "talk about your favorite animal" and I went way overboard and included citations from various sources). 

Even with half of their brain in a resting state, dolphins are able to accurately echolocate, or map, their surroundings. They are able to rotate which half of the brain remains alert as well. I can't wait for the inevitable conversation about how we can tap into what dolphins are doing and only sleep with half of our brain and productivity will go up and crime will go down and everyone will live forever. But seriously, dolphins are cool as shit.

Fist pumps for DNA and science and things!

I was pumped when I caught a segment from this week's Science Friday on NPR (caught? who am I kidding... I auto-download them all and then binge out on them on lazy Saturdays at the lake). First, I learned how to pronounce Denisovans, which was nowhere near how I was saying it in my head. Secondly, human ancestor remains DNA sequenced... FROM A MOLAR. This is the kind of thing that makes me fist pump and yell "sciiiiiience!" in some weird accent ($10 goes to whoever can tell me where I'm quoting that from. Seriously, I can't figure it out, but I know the second syllable is emphasized).

Sometimes seemingly simple things astound me. We are able to sequence a genome from a PIECE of what used to be an individual. A tooth. Scientists also have a small fragment of a finger bone. And from that, we know that Denisovans were their own unique group. I think we take it for granted that researchers are able to figure out the genetics of something CSI-style. Like, we've always been able to do that, right?

It's truly amazing and exciting to find another pre-modern human group that overlapped with Neandertals. Go listen to the segment here and high-five whoever's around you.

Okla Elliott, on atheism/agnosticism and the wonder of the world around us

My friend, Okla Elliott wrote this amazing piece on atheism/agnosticism and it reminded me so thoroughly of something I would write (only he writes infinitely better than I can). I will stipulate that I probably wouldn't have written misconception #2 because I can't comprehend a situation in which I would be shown something that's proof of a deity. Perhaps that makes me close-minded (I'm assured it does), but that possibility is out of the realm of my imagination. Regardless, it is a beautifully written piece that succinctly narrates some common misconceptions about atheists and has the added benefit of being full of even more amazing quotes from some of the best thinkers of the past.

This struck me in particular:

We are the ones willing to admit our limits without having to fabricate deities to patch over the holes in our all-too-fallible human reason and capacity for knowledge. And I don’t want to speak for anyone else here, but I myself am filled with existential awe at the universe and all its mysteries and am overjoyed at the fraction of it I’ve been able to experience and partially understand. I would never want all this mystery and unknowing taken away by some deity. This is part of what makes being human so expansively interesting, to my mind anyway.

Exactly.  One of the arguments I find myself in frequently revolves around the missing gaps in what science can or cannot tell us right now. I am in constant awe of the massive amounts of information and knowledge we've amassed in just the few short centuries since "enlightened" thinking began. Criticizing non-believers for not knowing everything today seems ridiculous. When I think about all of that scientific information (DNA, how to cure disease, how the body works, the solar system, the oceans, dinosaurs), I just want to take it all in my arms and not let go. Everything is not perfect and it doesn't have to be. It's the journey of discovery that makes us human and constantly increases our richness as a species, marveling at the world inside us and around us.

Pre-modern human ménage à trois

In 2008, Svante Pääbo and colleagues discovered hominoid fragments at Denisova Cave in southern Siberia. Most importantly, an intact 10mg finger bone fragment that allowed scientists to perform extensive DNA testing on this previously undiscovered species. Using new methods, the fragment was scanned thirty times and the genome is likely more accurate than that of most modern human samples we have. We now know that this group was part of an extinct group of humans, as closely related to modern humans as Neandertals. Go back and read that again. An undiscovered group of modern-day humans. It blows my mind how little we actually know about our species' ancestors. It's equally as exciting, though, that we're still filling in the path we took to become what we are today.

There she is, the fragment that's telling us all.

So why do we care that there were other groups of humans similiar but distinct from modern humans floating around at the same time? Well for one, modern-day human ancestors were getting freaky with Denisovans AND Neandertals. This solidifies the idea that the path of species evolution is more like a branching tree, with overlapping subspecies and those with a common ancestor living at the same time. Evolution is not a straight-forward path where an previous species must die out for the next to succeed. Other similar groups of humans lived concurrently with modern-day human ancestors. Ahh, so now you're asking, why did the other groups die out? That's one of science's biggest questions. Why did "we" succeed while other groups eventually disappeared?  With the entire genome of these other groups sequenced, we can directly compare them to modern-day humans. This can be done by potentially cloning Denisovan and Neandertal DNA (Finally, some cloning I can actually get behind!). This will give us insight as to what changed that allowed modern humans to evolve and spread out of Africa approximately 100,000 years ago. Another potential goldmine, we can use the genome of related humanoid species to determine the genetic differences that have allowed human-specific diseases to arise in the population. Scientists studying HIV, polio, and smallpox, for example, may be able to deduce how these diseases evolved and potentially how to cure them.

One of the most exciting pieces of this story is that the group that did the initial research is making their results open to the public. Anyone who wishes to use the sequenced genome can go online and download it for free. This flies in the face of the typical competitive, closed-door policy many researchers have  of carefully guarding their findings. I applaud this approach to open science and using information toward the greater good. If you'd like to see what a genome sequence looks like (even if you don't have ANY idea what the hell it means), check it out here. It'll give you a good idea of just how complex we really are. 

Oh, I just play with uranium ore in my free time, nbd

This story about boy genius Taylor Wilson is so amazingly good that I read it through twice without stopping. It sounds like the plot to a Chuck Palahniuk book: Wunderkinder fascinated with radioactivity decides to build a nuclear reactor. However, instead of then massacring a small city, he successfully finds a team of supporters in his parents, the University of Nevada, and even the Department of Homeland Security. Typically, I'd be envious of this kid's miraculous intelligence and drive to succeed. But I'm not. I cannot even imagine the struggle Taylor had trying to find ways to entertain and challenge himself in public school. Usually these stories are sad because the protagonist is socially awkward and unable to express and explain their desires to us "normal" folks. Taylor Wilson, though, is sociable AND a genius. I'm in awe and it gives me hope that people like this come along at all, love science, and have the brains and the drive to change the world. 

Read the full article from PopSci here. 

Teeeeeexas

I've started taking things that are said about Texas... personally. Not because I'm in disagreement or even that I'm offended. It's just that, now that I live here, it affects me. And no, I would certainly die before sending my fictional children to public school in Texas. But I still have to put up with the snarky tweets from my more liberal friends that still don't understand the decision to come here. Keep your enemies closer...?

When I came across an article calling Texas out for its science standards only receiving a grade of "C" from a national board, I was honestly surprised. From the media attention, I would've thought Texas science standards were graded on a John-Paul-Matthew sort of scale. Well, the people stirring up controversy and trying to usher creationism into the curriculum are apparently not necessarily the majority. While religious-political ideology has been promoted at different points, it's had a harder time actually becoming part of statewide education. And that's fine with me. Left alone, Texas science education has done a decent job at least addressing evolution (many states simply drop it from their curriculum to avoid controversy completely).

The thing that struck me about the article, however, was not that Texas is succeeding or failing at teaching science and evolution. It was a quote from the former Chairman of the State Board of Education for Texas, Don McLeroy. He declared, boldly in my opinion, "somebody's got to stand up to the experts" on the subject of evolution.

WHAT.

INTHEACTUAL.

FUCK.

No, seriously. Let's reeeeeally digest what McLeroy is saying here. He's conceded that scientists are the experts on evolution. And then, he's put a call out to FIGHT BACK against the experts. With me so far? He's blatantly saying, fuck the scientists, fuck the experts in this field, I KNOW BETTER. This so appropriately, accurately, and efficiently sums up how I see the general public facing science these days: pitchforks of ignorance raised high in protest to something they haven't bothered learning or trying to understand.

The greatest symphonic show on earth

It doesn't get much nerdier than this. And by nerdy, I of course mean effing awesome. Attenborough, Dawkins, Bill Nye? And the orangutan baby? C'monnnnnn.



This also reminds me to remind YOU, if you haven't watched David Attenborough's Life of Mammals series, check it out. It's simply amazing.

Oh, you mean to tell me God has this much free time?

One of ID'ers (those that subscribe to "Intelligent Design" or thinly veiled creationism) favorite arguments is that evolution CAN'T EXPLAIN THE ANIMAL EYE. It's surely too complex to have simultaneously evolved in multiple creatures from simpler processes and random genetic mutations. Michael Behe (learn his name and henceforth scoff every time it's mentioned in conversation if you'd like props from your educated friends) coined the term "irreducible complexity" to describe situations like the eye. Therefore, evolution must have some guiding hand and these "gaps" can be filled in by God's ever-omnipotent force and wisdom. I've said it many times before, but it bears repeating: I believe that science can (and will continue to) determine exactly how evolution has performed to produce such amazingly complex structures like the eyeball. And that takes much less faith than the chasmatic leap it would take for me to believe that (G)od had anything to do with it.

Now let's look at a fairly simple diagram of how scientists believe evolution of the eye probably happened. Pretty awesome, right?

And finally, just for fun... check out these amazing macro images of a few different types of eyes from around the animal kingdom. #evolutioninaction 

Discus fish

Horse

Caiman

Find the full gallery from Suren Manvelyan here. 

Shut up, Rick Perry -- I refuse to acknowledge you as my governor.

It's a little bit sad that this guy dropped out (got forced out) of the GOP race. At least he was forcing the discussion. Now, no one's talking about science except to deny it.


One of the phrases I keep hearing passed around is "You're entitled to your own set of opinions, but not your own set of facts." Well…. duh. It seems like common sense but I realize that most of the time when I debate people, or hear others debate, they're not debating opinions anymore. They're debating the validity of the set of facts they're using. However, the definition of "debate" involves "consideration" and "deliberation." To me, that includes logical, rational, thoughtful time-spent analysis over the validity of all sides of an argument.

Take the GOP debates as a perfect example of opinion pandering. No one watches the candidates to determine if they're intelligent, well-educated, or even thinking long-term. The general populace is watching to gauge whether or not the candidates say things that reinforce their own opinions. We want validation for what we already think we know. WE LIKE PEOPLE THAT AGREE WITH US. It's easier that way. Disagreements or gaps in our knowledge leave us feeling… empty, lost, confused. 

A perfect explanation for why people refuse to learn about evolution (or any science). We simply don't know everything. We can't know everything (yet, probably ever). And that makes some people very, very uncomfortable, and perhaps a bit depressed and lost. Does that mean life is pointless? Of course not. Maybe I'm an exception (and I don't really think that's true), but that particular lack of knowledge EXCITES ME. It's an undiscovered frontier! In the same way that explorers used to travel to distant lands and name them, we can travel inwards and outwards (to the level of atoms, and outer space, and everywhere in between). 

Facts are rock-solid. Facts are scientifically-backed, tried and tested. Facts are reality.

Wait, but... why are there stupid people?

Lately, I have a friend that continually asks me, "How can X exist if natural selection controls everything? How does Y prevail if evolution exists?" I've had to take a step back and analyze this line of reasoning. Maybe I've done a bad job of explaining evolution and the natural world. Obviously, natural selection doesn't operate in black and white terms, though it's much easier to explain that way. I think I begin losing people when I'm constantly stipulating my statements with "Well, it operates this way except when it doesn't because…" Well, because nature is inherently chaotic. We've made up a lot of rules that it supposedly follows and then get flustered when it (nature) doesn't adhere to them.

Back to evolution. Natural selection operates on many different levels. Dawkins would explain that it works at the level of the selfish gene while David Sloan Wilson would argue it operates at the community level. There are those that argue just about everything in between as well. Regardless of its modus operandi, fallacies exist. What does this mean? Nothing's perfect. It means that just because something is detrimental or useless, doesn't mean it automatically gets wiped out of a population. If that were the case, none of us would be here (seriously, think about it).

As a fun and totally objective mental game, why then does stupidity exist? Cipolla writes that "a stupid person is a person who causes losses to another person or to a group of persons while himself deriving no gain and even possibly incurring losses." What the f%$!? Obviously, they don't then know that they're incurring losses, right? It doesn't come from a place of malevolence, per se. I would argue that what Cipolla is describing is actually what I like to call a "person of ignorance." I'm henceforth going to define ignorance as the mental state when an individual hasn't been given the facts and doesn't know any better (ignorance is bliss, oblivion is bliss, etc.). Stupidity, therefore, requires a certain amount of willfulness. An individual has been given at least some facts or evidence but has chosen to ignore them.

So why DOES stupidity prevail in the modern world? Wouldn't natural selection play at least some role in weeding these dim bulbs out? For sure, if their stupidity caused them to walk into oncoming traffic (pity) or play with crocodiles and stingrays on a daily basis (too soon?). However, the type of stupidity I'm referring to is more broad. At the cultural level, something similar to herd mentality takes over. When large numbers of people band together around a single view or group of ideals, the lowest common denominator rules (remember MATH, guys?).


Why does this LCD phenomenon remain so prevalent (and in my opinion, has skyrocketed in the last generation)? There are two sides to it (that of the stupid people and that of the non-stupid people). If you're a stupid person, it's because you're easily swayed, but you're also probably not reading this (kidding, tons of stupid people read this blog). But really, there is a culture of willful ignorance (I'm going to call it the "celebration of stupidity" --trademarked, don't you dare) that's overwhelming the United States. It's most obvious in the political sphere but as we all know, this eventually and unfortunately extends into a plethora of other aspects. Politicians speak to the lowest common denominator, that's how they get your vote.

 "My father mined these coal shafts with his bare hands, one hand tied behind his back even! And we didn't eat on Tuesdays, we were so poor."

 "Psh, global 'warming'? [malicious/sarcastic finger quotes thrown up] Trust scientists? NOT ME, NOT NOW."


The idea is to not alienate their constituents, right? And don't you feel like part of a club when you're all bashing on those Gore-loving polar bears with their stupid temperature restrictions?

 The bigger issue is that this "celebration of stupidity" runs along the same lines as religion. It's a fear of the unknown and worse yet, appearing to not know. So blindly follow the party line because you don't need to learn any new information and it doesn't interfere with the carefully crafted story in whatever holy book you subscribe to.

The other side, from that of the non-stupid people, is perhaps the biggest challenge (and failure) of this conversation. As Cipolla writes, "non-stupid people always underestimate the damaging power of stupid individuals." What's the danger in letting this culture of ridiculous ideologies prevail? Well, for starters, the planet is being destroyed at a rate we can't even accurately predict (Want more doom and gloom? I can go much further). And with the next generations growing up with this mentality of education being a sin or an embarrassing relic of times past, we're fucked.

One of the interesting terms being thrown around lately is "wisdom of the crowd" where any group making a decision is better than a single expert. The idea is that a group will weed out extreme (crazy) opinions and come to a collective opinion. This is an amazing trend that's grown tremendously with the advent of sites like Wikipedia, Yahoo answers, Digg, etc. BUT WHAT IF the group's opinion isn't actually better than the expert? In this case, what if the conservative masses are out-yelling the number of scientists quietly promoting evolution?

The Children Save Atticus
To Kill a Mockingbird — MOVIECLIPS.com

My takeaway? It's much easier to become part of a lowest common denominator group that's intentionally or unintentionally hurting the progression of ideas because it's EASY. Learning and changing your opinions, and growing as a society, take effort. What could be accomplished if the group was used for good? Endless possibilities of rainbows and free health care for all, I imagine. That would be true evolution of culture. As much as we'd like to believe we dictate the rules of nature, even human behavior is often out of our hands. Unfortunately for us non-stupids, evolution works pretty slowly and I don't see the guy who keeps using bad pickup lines at the bar being smited any time soon.