17 MAY 2012 by ideonexus
Scientists are Like Children
Scientists have one thing in common with children: curiosity. To be a good scientist you must have kept this trait of childhood, and perhaps it is not easy to retain just one trait. A scientist has to be curious like a child; perhaps one can understand that there are other childish features he hasn't grown out of. 1 
notes
notesThey must have curiosity to be successful, and they may have other childish behaviors with this.
04 JAN 2012 by ideonexus
Schools Kill a Child's Curiosity
All children are curious and I wonder by what process this trait becomes developed in some and suppressed in others. I suspect again that schools and colleges help in the suppression insofar as they meet curiosity by giving the answers, rather than by some method that leads from narrower questions to broader questions. It is hard to satisfy the curiosity of a child, and even harder to satisfy the curiosity of a scientist, and methods that meet curiosity with satisfaction are thus not apt to f... 1 notes
notesBy giving them answers instead of letting them find the answers themselves. If adults maintained a questioning attitude, they would question authority.
16 SEP 2011 by ideonexus
Clarification of the Term "Vestigial"
Opponents of evolution always raise the same argument when vestigial
traits are cited as evidence for evolution. “The features are not
useless,” they say. “They are either useful for something, or we haven’t
yet discovered what they’re for.” They claim, in other words, that a trait
can’t be vestigial if it still has a function, or a function yet to be found.
But this rejoinder misses the point. Evolutionary theory doesn’t say
that vestigial characters have no function. A trai... 1 notes
notesA trait is vestigial not because it no longer serves a purpose, but because it no longer serves its original purpose.
08 JUN 2011 by ideonexus
The Evolution of Photosynthesis
When the first single-celled organisms appeared on Earth, more than 3 billion years ago, they fed upon carbohydrates—sugars—dissolved in the sea. The sugars had their origin in chance chemical reactions. Life, however, multiplied exponentially; one cell made two, two made four, four made eight, and so on. Self replication is the essence of life. It was inevitable that burgeoning organisms in the sea would outstrip their catch-as-catch-can food supply It would seem that life was doomed to ...Folksonomies: evolution natural history
Folksonomies: evolution natural history
1 notes
notesIf a microorganism did not evolve this trait, then early life would have quickly consumed all the naturally occuring sugars in the ocean.
