Jerry coyne why evolution is true pdf

Log in with Facebook Log in with Google. Remember me on this computer. Enter the email address you signed up with and we'll email you a reset link. Need an account? Click here to sign up. Download Free PDF. Jerry A. Ron Good. A short summary of this paper. Coyne: Why Evolution is True. Why Evolution Is True is his first book on evolution for a general audience.

The back dustcover of Why Evolution Is True contains brief comments on the book by two eminent evolutionary biologists, Edward O. Wilson and Richard Dawkins, and they are worth quoting here. For anyone who wishes a clear, well-written explanation of evolution by one of the foremost scientists working on the subject, Why Evolution Is True should be your choice. Edward O. I should now update my statement.

Richard Dawkins In nine chapters about pages Coyne clearly presents the main lines of evidence for evolution, showing why modern science recognizes evolutionary theory to be just as well R. Good established as any other important scientific theory. It is easy to imagine Professor Coyne using these quotes in the evolution courses he teaches at the University of Chicago, helping students better understand and feel the human side of Darwin in particular and of science in general.

In Chap. Coyne identifies six components of modern evolutionary theory: evolution, gradualism, speciation, common ancestry, natural selection, and nonselective mechanisms genetic drift. Of these, natural selection is what Darwin considered his greatest intel- lectual achievement. Common ancestry, where humans are concerned, was considered by religious believers to be highly objectionable as they believed their god had created us apart from other animals. This kind of religious belief continues years after the publication of On the Origin of Species.

For these and other predictions, many examples are provided throughout the remainder of the book. By the early placement of this chapter and extensive use of figures, it shows that Coyne thinks fossil record evidence is of utmost importance in helping students understand and accept evolutionary theory. Examples of fossilized evolution and speciation include data graphs of actual organisms from core samples taken from the ocean floor representing millions of years of evolution.

Shubin predicted that transition forms should be found in fresh water sediments about million years old and after searching for 5 years in the Arctic Ocean north of Canada, they found Tiktaalik rosea in Tiktaalik has fins, gills, and scales but also has a neck, which fish do not have, robust fins that could serve as legs, and eyes and nostrils on top of its head. Another example of transitional fossils is Archaeopteryx lithographica discovered in a limestone quarry in Germany in Its age of about million years places it just about where one would expect to see a transitional form between reptiles and birds and Coyne notes that it is really more reptile than bird, with only two birdlike features—large feathers and an opposable big toe.

A third example of transitional forms is the land mammal-to-whale scenario and Coyne again uses a figure as an aid to help students see more clearly the changes in skeletal features as the land mammal evolves from a wolf-sized animal called Pakicetus 52 million years ago to the modern whale Balaena. This theme of modification of existing features for new uses is repeated throughout the book as Coyne emphasizes the plasticity of body parts in evolu- tionary change. The tiny middle ear bones of mammals are remodeled jawbones of their reptilian ancestors and the wings of birds were refashioned from the legs of dinosaurs.

Natural selection can change only what already exists and the fossil record confirms this prediction. Why would a supremely intelligent designer SID create wings on flightless birds like the ostrich, rhea, emu, and kiwi? Why would a SID create creatures like underground moles with eyes that cannot see? Why create humans with an appendix and a vestigial tail? She began drinking and attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings to escape the house.

Has any royal in the last years seen prison time? They will have opportunities to try to get the case dismissed on other grounds. As the case develops, the two sides must exchange potential evidence — such as emails, text messages and telephone records — and submit to depositions at which lawyers can question potential trial witnesses.

Giuffre has been through many such depositions before in lawsuits against Maxwell and other people, but Andrew has never been questioned about the matter under oath — something he may want to avoid at all costs. The judge then makes rulings that may help lawyers understand the risks of going to trial. The outcome? Already preordained: rather than expose his doings to the light of day, R. The royals have deep pockets, and do you think the Queen would even allow Andrew to fight the accusations against her son?

Will we reach a million deaths? Remember when , deaths was an inconceivable figure? These are Indians fighting for the British army. Today they use rocket-propulsion to get the pilot out and way away from the plane:. The charges were all confected by Stalin to get rid of his opponents, which in this case he saw as mostly Jews:. He served 20 years. He lost all his toes from frostbite on that one, which pretty much ended his climbing career, but he went on to get a Ph.

Armstrong-Jones of course had access to the royals and many other notables. The picture is by Paulina. From Jesus of the Day :. He didn't tell anyone about it. One day, without anyone knowing, he put it on. Pope Francis denounces cancel culture as "a form of ideological colonization" at a Vatican event. Tweets from Matthew. And they account for nearly all the genetic variation we see in height.

Usually we get only a fraction of the total segregating variation, but this study had a huge number of subjects. Rajagopal doctorveera January 11, Audrey and Scoot pic. Last month Matthew asked me about herbivory in reptiles, and part of my reply was that there are few or no reptiles that are exclusively herbivorous. The ones that came closest that I could think of were the true land tortoises family Testudinidae, sensu stricto.

The video, of a giant tortoise Aldabrachelys giganteus on the island of Fregate in the Seychelles eating a noddy Anous tenuirostris, a member of a genus of common tropical terns , accompanied a paper on the incident published last August by Anna Zora and Justin Gerlach in Current Biology.

Wikipedia makes an amusing observation about noddies :. Noddies are often unwary and were well known to sailors for their apparent indifference to hunters or predators. The sailors were right— the noddy, it seemed to me, though not fledged, could have gotten away. Perhaps it had a strong aversion to moving away from the immediate vicinity of its nest.

The Fregate tortoises are probably introduced from Aldabra, but the systematics of Indian Ocean tortoises is not entirely settled, and there have been a number of claims of tortoises surviving from the Seychelles populations that are usually thought extinct. As far as reptile feeding in general goes, snakes, crocodilians, and the tuatara are exclusively carnivorous in the broad sense of feeding on any kind of animals, including carrion , lizards range from carnivorous to omnivorous with a large herbivorous component e.

Gerlach, J. Muir and M. The first substantiated case of trans-oceanic tortoise dispersal. Journal of Natural History 40 41—43 : — Zora, A. Giant tortoises hunt and consume birds. Current Biology RR Not a word of criticism do they utter, nor is there any attempt to seek out scientist-critics of this unbelievable myth.

Examples include how to capture animals and how to navigate the South Pacific. See whether you find the claims credible. The article is based on an original paper published by Anderson et al. But it comes as no shock to some iwi as this had always been known, but methods of recounting indigenous history do not receive the same recognition as western or academic literature. The first recorded sighting of Antarctica was during a Russian expedition in , and the first person to touch the mainland of Antarctica was an American explorer in But how did the authors know this?

NZ Wehi et al. Well, author of the original paper William van Uitregt says that having evidence in writing is actually inimical to finding truth:. And there you have it: the real admission that MM is not the same thing as modern science.

For empirical evidence or archaeological evidence, not in existence in this case is not enough to support a truth claim. It seems so. Well enough of that palaver. This one I have the pdf for, so if you want to see it, make a judicious request. The paper is now online, so click to acsess. It appears paywalled, but, as always, a judicious request may bet you the pdf. The paper is short—5. It all rests on oral transmission, of course, and hinges crucially on the translation of what is orally transmitted.

It rests on a seemingly mythical voyage of a Polynesian canoe constructed entirely of human bones! That alone makes it unlikely, but authors of the paper above persist in their inquiry. The rocks growing out of the sea beyond Rapa Island; the monstrous waves; the female dwelling in those waves, with her hair waving and fl oating on the surface of the ocean; the tai-uka-a-pia [the frozen sea]; the deceitful animal seen on the sea, which dived below the surface — a very gloomy and dark place, where the sun is not seen.

There is also there [a kind of] rock whose summit pierces the sky with steep bare cli ff s where vegetation does not grow. Such was the work of this vessel at that time; and also to convey people to all the islands. Except for the rocks beyond Rapa, the things mentioned in it have no particular geographic provenance. They are anonymous rocky reefs, large waves, marine mammals, mountainous islands, bare cli ff s etc.

The list was interpreted imaginatively by Smith , pp. Finally, the authors consider whether Polynesian vessels of that era would even have survived such a voyage, and consider it very unlikely. They tender these conclusions at the end of their paper:. Analysis of the origin and content of these sources does not support that conclusion. Insofar as there is material evidence of Polynesian voyaging, it did not go beyond the northern islands of the subantarctic zone.

But I want to add a digression of sorts that Anderson et al. These [traditional] stories, presented without nuance, quali fi cation or critique, make extraordinary claims without o ff ering commensurable evidence. Here, it is contended that they must be evaluated critically.

In doing so, they prove debatable on key points of interpretation and plausibility. Although widely discussed in positive terms, notably in environmental sciences e.

Hikuroa ; McAllister et al. There is no simple solution to this dilemma. Historical scholarship, at least, has to contend with the whole story, but critically. The contrasting approach of Wehi et al. This is the method, comprehensively criticised e. Sorrenson , of Percy Smith and Elsdon Best more than a century ago.

An analytical approach Tau , pp. And that, my best beloved, is why no MM should be taught as coequal to science unless the empirical claims of MM have been verified using the methods of science. Here a scholarly analysis of an unlikely claim shows that claim to be what it seemed to be from the outset: bogus. Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand. Anderson, A. Parata-Goodall, M.

Stevens, and T. This is something I not only see happening all the time, but also worry about it happening to myself. The phenomenon is this: someone of a liberal bent gets called out, demonized, or canceled on social media by the Woke, and is more or less blindsided because of it. Then a series of semi-predictable steps occurs, with many stopping before the last step, which corresponds to the lowest circle of Hell.

Remains a liberal. Example: Nick Cohen. Person continues to strike back, writing several accounts or emitting several tweets about their cancellation. Person, however, remains liberal.

Examples: J. Rowling, Abigail Shrier. Person goes into more general critiques of Wokeism, more or less making their living attacking the Woke.

Politics begin to move rightward Example: Bari Weiss. Person moves much further towards the right, becoming more or less a conservative Example: James Lindsay, who voted for Trump, apparently as a reaction to wokeness. This is akin to having abandoned your ideological principles in the service of revenge, but it never works because the Woke never forgive. And there are exceptions.

Although Andrew Sullivan was center-right, the follies of the Right have moved his politics toward the center. As for me, I constantly worry about the excesses of the Left moving me towards the Right. A tweet by Colin Wright expressing my concerns is mentioned by reader Michael Hart in comment 4 below:. My political journey in a nutshell. I may be missing steps, and am loath to give examples lest I insult people.

But feel free to weigh in. Today we have a rarity: photos of social insects. His captions are indented, and you can enlarge his photos by clicking on them. Apoica flavissimais is a member of a small genus of neotropical wasps distinguished by being nocturnal. During the day they are almost always to be found resting on the nest in this formation.

The neotropical Angiopolybia pallens is is the commonest social wasp in some parts of its broad range. Although it shows high alertness when approached and has a moderately painful sting, it is surprisingly slow to fly off the nest and attack.

Members of the genus Miscyocyttarus show a great diversity of nest structure. An extreme nest form is seen in M.

This is expensive in building material, but it presumably allows the wasps to camouflage the nest as a vine against visually-searching predators. Parachartergus colobopterus is notoriously docile and can only with difficulty be provoked to a stinging attack. Note that I have broken off the stick on which this nest is based and am holding it in my hand.

No one has yet found a physical character to distinguish the sympatric Mischocyttarus alfkeni and M. The use of genetic characters confirms that they are two different species. Parachartergus fraternus makes a very fine-textured nest from plant hairs.

When a colony absconds the workers commonly return to the old nest over several days to salvage the valuable carton from the nest envelope.

In contrast to P. All studied Polistes spp. This Polistes exclamans has the forelegs raised and vibrating side to side, the wings raised and fluttering at low amplitude, and the abdomen bent and probing in a stinging motion. Social wasps forage readily for water. This P. The abundance of algae in the water presumably aids her in standing on the surface without sinking. The conspicuous laminae descending from the envelope of this Polybia scutellaris nest may serve as drip tips that conduct rain water rapidly off the surface.

Costa Rica. Where palms with spiny trunks are abundant, Mischocyttarus labiatus preferentially bases its nests at the tips of such spines.

This presumably serves a defensive function against ants, which would have to walk up a great many spines in searching for any given wasp colony. I bought it a few years ago, and it must have been less than that. I have a few bottles left from different vintages.