24 JAN 2015 by ideonexus
The Dilemma of Human Diversity Across the Cosmos
When life spreads out and diversifies in the universe, adapting itself to a spectrum of environments far wider than any one planet can encompass, the human species will one day find itself faced with the most momentous choice that we have had to make since the days when our ancestors came down from the trees in Africa and left their cousins the chimpanzees behind. We will have to choose, either to remain one species united by a common bodily shape as well as by a common history, or to let our...04 JAN 2012 by ideonexus
Ecological Approach to Nutrition
The interactions of man with his environment are so complex that only an ecological approach to nutrition permits an understanding of the whole spectrum of factors determining the nutritional problems that exist in human societies.Because our interactions with our environments are so complex. Reminds me of Polan's comment that we have to stop looking at vitamins and nutrition in isolation from their foods.
16 SEP 2011 by ideonexus
Convergent Evolution in Mammals and Marsupials
The most famous example of different species filling similar roles involves the marsupial mammals, now found mainly in Australia (the Virginia opossum is a familiar exception), and placental mammals, which predominate elsewhere in the world. The two groups show important anatomical differences, most notably in their reproductive systems (almost all marsupials have pouches and give birth to very undeveloped young, while placentals have placentas that enable young to be born at a more advanced ...Although they have very different reproductive strategies, the two groups have many parallels in species adapted to the same environments.