http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/creation/ en-us Thu, 31 Dec 2009 05:14:41 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2418163/posts Did our Neolithic ancestors turn to agriculture so that they could be sure of a tipple? US Archaeologist Patrick McGovern thinks so. The expert on identifying traces of alcohol in prehistoric sites reckons the thirst for a brew was enough of an incentive to start growing crops... Here is how the story likely began -- a prehistoric human picked up some dropped fruit from the ground and popped it unsuspectingly into his or her mouth. The first effect was nothing more than an agreeably bittersweet flavor spreading across the palate. But as alcohol entered the bloodstream, the brain started sending... Der Spiegel http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2418163/posts#comment Thu, 31 Dec 2009 05:14:41 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2412600/posts This is the first report of venom in the lineage that leads to modern birdsLAWRENCE, Kan. — A group of University of Kansas researchers working with Chinese colleagues have discovered a venomous, birdlike raptor that thrived some 128 million years ago in China. This is the first report of venom in the lineage that leads to modern birds. "This thing is a venomous bird for all intents and purposes," said Larry Martin, KU professor and curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Natural History Museum and Biodiversity Institute. "It was a real shock to us and we made a special trip... University of Kansas http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2412600/posts#comment Tue, 22 Dec 2009 00:02:57 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2414235/posts An ancient dwarf whale unearthed in southeastern Australia captured its prey by slurping up mouthfuls of mud, a new study says. The fossil whale, thought to between 25 and 28 million years old, hints that mud sucking might have been a precursor to the filter feeding used by today's baleen whales... The newfound fossil whale, which measures just nine feet (three meters) long, shares the same distinct jaw and skull structures as today's baleens. But the tiny whale also had teeth, said study author Erich Fitzgerald, a paleontologist at Museum Victoria in Melbourne, Australia. The odd combination suggests that the... National Geographic News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2414235/posts#comment Thu, 24 Dec 2009 03:28:17 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2414216/posts The entire grove of trunks is in fact one plant, a newly discovered Palmer's oak (Quercus palmeri) that researchers estimate is over 13,000 years old, making it one of the oldest plants on Earth... none of its 70 stems get more than a few feet tall, and it grows in a boulder pile that doubles as shelter from the area's buffeting winds. At first glance, the scientists thought it was an isolated grove of trees, but something didn't add up: None of them produced fertile acorns, so the plants couldn't reproduce... Genetic analysis confirmed their suspicion. Each of the 70... Discovery http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2414216/posts#comment Thu, 24 Dec 2009 02:46:09 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2412993/posts Believers in human-caused global climate change have been placed under an uncomfortable spotlight recently. That is thanks to the Climategate scandal, centering on e-mails hacked from the influential Climate Research Unit (CRU) at England’s University of East Anglia. The e-mails show scientists from various academic institutions hard at work suppressing dissent from other scientists who have doubts on global warming, massaging research data to fit preconceived ideas, and seeking to manipulate the gold standard “peer review” process to keep skeptical views from being heard. Does this sound familiar at all? To me, as a prominent skeptic of modern Darwinian theory,... Human Events http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2412993/posts#comment Tue, 22 Dec 2009 15:53:44 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2411613/posts Mortals are playing God when they move into changing climate and moving continents and sludging taxpayers and kissing up to unbelieving loudmouths and passing legislation that will gouge Americans and so forth. God is God. This particular planet, along with the entire universe, is God's. He is Maker and Owner. He is the one in charge of sun, moon, stars, seasonal changes and everything else related to creation. God has His hand upon it all. His claim is tagged to every part of it. The Magic City Morning Star http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2411613/posts#comment Sun, 20 Dec 2009 13:09:43 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2411012/posts Earlier today scientists funded by NOAA and the National Science Foundation released video of an underwater volcano eruption. This eruption is the deepest erupting volcano ever discovered and recorded. The video of this eruption is more than awesome, it is spectacular. In an area near Fiji, Tonga and Samoa, the West Mata volcano was discovered in May. The volcano lies almost 4,000 feet below the surface of the Pacific Ocean. The scientists say they found a type of lava they have never seen erupting from an active volcano before. They also witnessed molten lava flowing across the deep-ocean seafloor for... Interesting, Weird, and Educational Videos http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2411012/posts#comment Sat, 19 Dec 2009 07:23:20 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2410059/posts Evidence of what could be Australia's earliest human occupation has been found on the fringe of desert in the country's remote northwest, according to archaeologists. Peter Veth, of the Australian National University, said an artefact dated at between 45,000 and 50,000 years old found near the shores of Lake Gregory could be the start of a 25-year study into Australia's first humans. "This is the first evidence of human activity ... in the arid northwest of the continent which can be dated to a time before the last great Ice Age," he said in a statement. It was likely to... Times of Malta http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2410059/posts#comment Fri, 18 Dec 2009 01:43:33 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2410066/posts ...The plateau, with an average altitude above 4,000 meters and known as "the Roof of the World" in southwestern China, is one of the most challenging areas in the world for human settlement due to its environmental extremes, such as extreme cold and low oxygen levels. ...with the drastic drop of temperature on the Earth in the Last Glacial Maximum of the Late Paleolithic Age, about 23,000 years ago, many species could not adapt to the changes and died out... From the perspective of genetic continuity studies, geneticists had also attempted to find out when modern humans settled on the... Xinhua http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2410066/posts#comment Fri, 18 Dec 2009 01:48:00 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2409845/posts In a stone-age version of "Iron Chef," early humans were dividing their living spaces into kitchens and work areas much earlier than previously thought, a new study found. So rather than cooking and eating in the same area where they snoozed, early humans demarcated such living quarters. Archaeologists discovered evidence of this coordinated living at a hominid site at Gesher Benot Ya'aqov, Israel from about 800,000 years ago. Scientists aren't sure exactly who lived there, but it predates the appearance of modern humans, so it was likely a human ancestor such as Homo erectus. Yet this advanced organizational skill was... Live Science http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2409845/posts#comment Thu, 17 Dec 2009 20:32:43 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2408674/posts PARIS (AFP) – Experts on prehistoric man are rethinking their dates after a find in a southern French valley suggested our ancestors may have reached Europe 1.57 million years ago: 200,000 years earlier than we thought. What provoked the recount was a pile of fossilised bones and teeth uncovered 15 years ago by local man Jean Rouvier in a basalt quarry at Lezignan la Cebe, in the Herault valley, Languedoc. In the summer of 2008, Rouvier mentioned his find to Jerome Ivorra, an archaeological researcher at France's National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS). The subsequent dig uncovered a large variety... AFP http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2408674/posts#comment Wed, 16 Dec 2009 14:22:20 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2408401/posts Genetic changes that apparently allow humans to live longer than any other primate may be rooted in a more carnivorous diet. These changes may also promote brain development and make us less vulnerable to diseases of aging, such as cancer, heart disease and dementia. These key differences in lifespan may be due to genes that humans evolved to adjust better to meat-rich diets, biologist Caleb Finch at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles suggested. The oldest known stone tools manufactured by the ancestors of modern humans, which date back some 2.6 million years, apparently helped butcher animal bones.... livescience http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2408401/posts#comment Wed, 16 Dec 2009 02:44:02 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2406475/posts Proof of God's Existence 1. I am an atheist who wants his difficulties answered without being accused of moral depravity. I believe, in the ultimate analysis, with Pascal, that there are two classes of men, those who are afraid to find God, and those who are afraid to lose God. But, to spare you, I will admit that your fear that there might be a God may be perhaps unconscious. Of those who say that they are atheists some are merely unintelligent and do not think; others do think, but merely reject false ideas of God, without knowing how to... Celledoor.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2406475/posts#comment Sun, 13 Dec 2009 06:25:17 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2405822/posts New Delhi: A genetic study has found that Indians are the ancestors of the Chinese and other East Asian populations. The study, a joint project of 10 Asian countries, found that India received a wave of migration from Africa 60,000-70,000 years ago and these early humans subsequently moved to East and Southeast Asia. The earlier belief was that humans from Africa reached India and East and Southeast Asia separately. The study has important implications, especially in the understanding of human migratory patterns and in the investigation of genetics and disease. The findings of the five-year study -- conducted by a... DNA http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2405822/posts#comment Sat, 12 Dec 2009 00:39:58 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2405568/posts Long, long ago, some of the first dinosaurs walked the Earth. But scientists have not known with any confidence where those initial dino prints were made. Much more recently, hikers stumbled across a few bits of bone at Ghost Ranch in New Mexico, leading to the discovery of a game-changing dinosaur that reveals where it all began. The dinosaur, now called Tawa hallae, had a body that was only the size of a medium to large dog, but its remains have helped scientists shore up where dinosaurs came from. The research team used the extremely well-preserved and complete skeletal remains... livescience http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2405568/posts#comment Fri, 11 Dec 2009 18:38:25 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2405560/posts Monkey Alarm Calls Provide Clues To Origins Of Human Language Monkeys form very primitive sentences, scientists have discovered, in research that brings us closer to understanding the origins of language. Richard Alleyne, Science Correspondent 11 Dec 2009 A team found the Campbell's monkey can add a simple sound to its alarm calls to create new ones and then combine them to convey even more information. Human language is incredibly complex, but one defining feature is the process of adding a prefix or suffix to a word to change its meaning. For example, adding "hood" to the word "brother" to form... Telegraph(UK) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2405560/posts#comment Fri, 11 Dec 2009 18:31:48 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2405120/posts Ostrich eggshell (OES) beads from SDG site reflect primordial art and a kind of symbolic behavior of modern humans. Two different manufacturing pathways are usually used in the manufacture of OES beads in Upper Paleolithic. Pathway 1 is identified from these collections; blanks are drilled prior to being trimmed to rough discs. Based on stratigraphic data and OSL dating, these ostrich eggshell beads are probably in Early Holocene (? 10 ka BP)... According to previous observation and study systems of Western scholars and the specific characters of OES beads from SDG site, this study found that the two pathways of... PhysOrg Mobile (as in PDA) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2405120/posts#comment Fri, 11 Dec 2009 03:24:42 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2405128/posts Canada’s Macleans news site recently published an article titled “Darwin movie too evolved for U.S. audiences”. The article refers to the decision of US film distributors to “pass” on the film “Creation”—the dramatized story of Charles Darwin’s struggle while writing the Origin of Species. The refusal to distribute a film premiered and acclaimed at the Toronto Film Festival seems to have again roused the Canadian media’s scorn of the “backward Americans” of which—according to Gallup—only 39% believe Darwin and his evolutionary theory. It is interesting how very differently the Canadian and world media treated America during WW II when far... CMI http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2405128/posts#comment Fri, 11 Dec 2009 03:40:29 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2405002/posts At National Review Online, conservative curmudgeon John Derbyshire has weighed in on the Climategate scandal by encouraging conservatives not to jump on the anti-science bandwagon. I share his worry and find his advice is good so far as it goes; but I think Derbyshire’s defense of science might actually encourage the skepticism he wants to prevent. Most of the trouble comes from his invocation of the word “science,” and his claim that science has a magisterium.His article is called “Trust Science.” I’m not sure what that means. What is “science,” and how do we “trust” it? Imagine if someone said:... The American http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2405002/posts#comment Fri, 11 Dec 2009 00:24:15 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2404674/posts New species might arise as a result of single rare events, rather than through the gradual accumulation of many small changes over time, according to a study of thousands of species and their evolutionary family trees. This contradicts a widely accepted theory of how speciation occurs: that species are continually changing to keep pace with their environment, and that new species emerge as these changes accrue. Known as the 'Red Queen' hypothesis, it is named after the character in Lewis Carroll's book Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There who tells a surprised Alice: "Here, you see, it takes... Nature News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2404674/posts#comment Thu, 10 Dec 2009 17:27:01 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2404772/posts Last February I mentioned the events that would commemorate the life and work of Charles Darwin in 2009. I had no idea at the time that I would be invited to participate in one of these events. But there I was, precisely 150 years after On the Origin of Species first appeared, seated with other scientists in front of a packed room that featured, among other interesting things, a life-sized model of a baleen whale. The venue was the National Museum of Natural History in Stuttgart, Germany, and the occasion was a panel discussion titled Design without a Designer? [1]... Biologic Institute http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2404772/posts#comment Thu, 10 Dec 2009 19:03:19 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2404624/posts David Queller and Joan Strassmann, evolutionary biologists at Rice University, recently proposed a new way to describe what makes an organism a unified whole. They defined an organism as an entity made up of parts that cooperate well for an overall purpose, and do so with minimal conflict. But how do parts like these get together, and where does purposeful behavior come from?... ICR News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2404624/posts#comment Thu, 10 Dec 2009 16:12:50 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2404590/posts With millions of eyes on Copenhagen, this seems an appropriate time to ask whether ID thinking has any relevance to understanding the Earth's environment. Can design concepts help us weigh the diverse and often conflicting messages? I think ID is helpful, because features of the Earth's environments and ecologies start to take on new meaning. In this blog, I am thinking particularly of negative feedback mechanisms. Human design engineers will use negative feedback to promote stability and positive feedback to amplify an input signal. They select the mechanisms they need to achieve the desired effect. By analogy, if the Earth... Science Literature http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2404590/posts#comment Thu, 10 Dec 2009 15:24:11 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2403954/posts The Mediterranean Sea as we know it today formed about 5.3 million years ago when Atlantic Ocean waters breached the strait of Gibraltar, sending a massive flood into the basin. > But exactly how the waters cut their way through and how long it took them to do so wasn't known. > Live Science http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2403954/posts#comment Wed, 9 Dec 2009 20:16:53 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2404250/posts “Darwin’s finches” are a variety of small black birds that were observed and collected by British naturalist Charles Darwin during his famous voyage on the H.M.S. Beagle in the early 1800s. Years later, Darwin argued that subtle variations in their beak sizes supported his concept that all organisms share a common ancestor (a theory known as macroevolution). The finches, whose technical name is Geospiza, have since become classic evolutionary icons... ICR News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2404250/posts#comment Thu, 10 Dec 2009 02:13:57 GMT