Last night the Guelph Skeptics were fortunate enough to hold an even featuring one of my favorite science bloggers Larry Moran. The talk was entitled Evolution as a Fact and Theory, and addressed just that. We had just over 80 people show up for the talk, and plenty of discussion right until the school started shutting lights off. Our good friend Andrew from Campus for Christ showed up and gave an entertaining debate on creationism and evolution with Moran.

He asked one of the age old questions about how a bug with chemicals that would explode on their own could evolve. Larry didn’t know the specifics to answer him back, but Ryan (an evolutionary biology prof here at Guelph) has been kind enough to give resources for an answer.

The executives of the Guelph Skeptics took Moran out to dinner before the event. This was nice… I wished it would have been longer, and that my co-executives would have stopped talking so much about biology, there were so many projects I’m working on that I wanted to share with Moran, and so much about religion I would have liked to hear his opinion on. However - I have a very chatty vice-president so I didn’t get to much of what I wanted to say being as quiet as I often am. Such is life, and perhaps I’ll run into him at CFI one of these days and get to talk a little more.

La geolgie, est par definition, la science de la Terre.

Most of what I’ve read in geology and paleontology in the past three – six months has either been in French or been really old. (Hutton’s book is almost impossible to read. All of his “s”s are “f”s and all of his “g”s are “p”s. It petf fliphtly irritatinp.

Anyway, the purpose of me coming here today was to look into the look at the estimate with regards to the time of the Earth, to look into a question or two about climate that were given to me yesterday and for interests sake read about the changes for which the Earth has undergone and in what time frame. In the middle of my perusing through the shelves of geology books I came to the “fossil record and evolution” section – much to my delight as it’s been a topic that I’ve been talking about with a few people the past little while. Not much to my delight there was someone else at the books, reading and scoffing.

“What’s the problem?” I asked stupidly.

“I can’t believe this is in this section.” The 20 something year old said to me.

“What section would you suggest the geology books would be in, besides the geology section?”

“The religion and culture section.” He suggested.

“Maybe we should sit down for this.” I suggested.

We found a table, introduced ourselves – I learned his name is Everest (like the mountain) and that he was in the library for the same reason as I am – something to do. So we both knew we weren’t keeping each other from productive work. I let him make his case first.

“Well, geology is just like a religion. It’s mind blowing that it’s considered to be one of the hard sciences. Geology proposes to explain life the universe and everything. Can you even give scientific examples of WHY the earth remains in the constant states of motion that it does?

It is almost exactly like the bible and Christianity. It is cosmically oriented. The whole story of geological history explains how humans have gained power, and how it cases human productivity. It is a simple story of cause and relation creating a story, a fictional story, that people try to use as real “evidence” for the world.”

First of all, geology isn’t a hard science, here is why:

Concept	Hard science/Hard theories	Earth science/geology
Basis	Controlled by a study and scientific method	Take it [the earth] as it is. Look at the formations and try to develop an understanding of why it looks like it does
Goal	Develop theories that explain the earth (or whatever you happen to be studying)	Develop understanding and appreciation. Create a story
Emphasis	Idealizations; general principles presumed to apply at all times to all places	Real phenomena; concrete and particular happenings
Characteristics	Experimental/ Predictive/ Mathematical	Experimental/ Historical/ Observational
Method	Controlled experimental group or model simulation	Observation to stimulate hypothesis
Tools	Facts and previous theories	Observation
Role of Data	Verification of model predictions	Sings providing indices of casual process
Logic	Valid reasoning in regards to what we can say about the earth	Meaningful reasoning which emphasizes what the Earth does and “says”

So it’s not a hard science. I am sure there are people out there who would like to call it a hard science, but it’s just not. It’s a mixed science. Some people do the hard science side of it, others do the presumptive and social work of it – but all together it’s not a hard science.

As for explaining everything – it’s almost entirely impossible… obviously, so why would any sane person propose that their subject defines everything? Every geologist I know admits that there are gaps in things, and still questions being asked. If there weren’t, why would bother studying it? But yes, we can explain why the earth remains in the constant states of motion that it stays in.

The land we rest on is not simple and original, but it is a composition and has been formed by the operation of second causes. There are 2 fundamental processes.

1. Convection – the Earth is hot, so hot that it’s not stable. The condition of stability is explained by this equation:

(ςT/ςP)_s = αT/ρC_p
Where T and P represent temperature and pressure, S is constant entropy, α is the coefficient of the thermal expansion, ρ is density and C_p is heat capacity at constant pressure. This is the driving force for plate tectonics. They are in constant motion as heat changes, and don’t stop. One of our constant states of motion.

2. Radial Compositional Differentiation – in short … Gravity. Elements or ionic groups with low density rise, denser elements sink. The redistribution lowers the potential energy of the earth and stabilizes it. Now – most of this happened in the original “formation” or the earth – which is why we have a Fe-Ni core, but it is a constant process, just not as hardcore as when the earth started forming.

As for the geology being cosmically oriented? … It’s just not. It’s not a story or origin or a greater creator. It is a history of casual relations that create what is under our feet today. The fossil record just happens to explain a lot of what life is. Hutton’s theory of uniformitarianism is the same idea that Darwin used to create his theory of evolution. … Things happen as a process, and a slow one at that. Coupled with biology, sure geology explains a lot of where life came from, but not in the same way as a religion.

Comparing geology to a religion because it tells a story is just silly.

A quote by Hobbes popped into my mind “For what is the heart but a spring, and the nerves but so many strings, and the joints but so many wheels giving motion to the whole body”

But Everest’s definition of geology as a religion, biology has also just fallen in because it explains the human body, where we get our “power”, how we adapt and change over time to optimize our bodies… etc.

“No, biology is not a religion because it uses proof that is here right now to back up what it is doing. Geology just uses history to create a story and to write hypothesis on how the world may have started. Just like in the bible there are gaps in how people are made. What is there Precambrian that gives us any proof of life? That backs up any of a geologist’s claims for evolution? Nothing! The whole scale of how life evolved just doesn’t flow together. I have never seen a chart in which you can show a non-nucleus organism linked to humans. Yet geologists say their “fossil record” indeed shows this.”

Well, Everest, it does. A while ago I made this “tree of life”…(yeah, that’s what I do in my spare time) It doesn’t go back as far as non-nuclei but pre what I have on that photo there was asexual bacteria with no nucleus… They were tiny little cells that obtained energy by either fermentation, photosynthesis or chemosynthesis (aerobic respiration, anaerobic respiration and lithotrophy aka the one I always forget.) We there were prokaryotes, primitive eukaryots and then fungi and yadda yadda… eventually making a frog – and the rest is history.

Everest had to go, but it was one of the strangest conversations I have ever had with someone. The theory of geology being a religion is not one I had ever heard. But it did give me my mental run for the day, which was nice. Any opportunity I can have to run my mouth for a while on geology is fine by me. Sadly – this isn’t “my area”. Mine is rocks. Current day rocks. …Like… classification. I know – I have no future.

I hate the library. People type too loud, or they talk in quite areas, or they keep sniffing instead of blowing their noise, or they try to eat quietly and fail, or they listen to bad music too loudly on their headphones, or they are wearing too much stink or not enough, or they stare at you… I always forget why I don’t come here.

The world’s largest nuclear plant.

In Kashiwazaki, Japan a 6.8-magnitude earthquake disrupted a nuclear plant on Wednesday creating a radioactive leak. At the time they reported that about 100 barrels had fallen over polluting surrounding areas. Well, turns out it was actually about 400 barrels, with the lids coming off 40 of them.

The amount that leaked into the Sea of Japan was one-billionth of Japan’s legal limit. Other productions were halted because of quake damage at major parts suppliers such as Toyota, Nissan, Mitsubishi and Fuji. Repairs workers are climbing all over charred machinery and unstable structures. There are cracks in the buildings and roads, toppled fences and walls and buckled sidewalks.

Still none of this dismay and damage excuses that the company first said there was no leak, and understated the environmental damage. There are currently being multiple safety checks run to ensure that not only are they being truthful about the amount spilled, but also that the conditions are good enough for workers to continue to be working.

This isn’t the first leak found at this particular plant either. In 2001 a radioactive leak was found. And this is the world’s largest nuclear power plant. After the spill there was also a report that 50 other malfunctions were happening around the plant. Although the information hasn’t been released there are speculations that the fault line may actually be running directly underneath the power plant. The plant has been warned about being too close to a fault line, and many residents had filed lawsuits claiming that the government had failed to conduct sufficient tests and reviews before allowing the construction of the plant. However, in 2005 the Tokyo government threw out 33 complaints saying there were no real grounds for their complaints and concerns and that the government had done a fine job of inspecting the site pre-construction.

We have yet another preventable problem all because people are unwilling to invest money and time into ensuring that people and the environment are safe.

Over all the quakes’ fatalities are at 11, and 8000 residents are being housed in shelters. Many of these residents work in the power plants, and besides not working they’re dealing with heavy rains, landslides, and power/water outages.

Cross posted at Appletree

Dinos likely didn’t really have feathers…

The theory that dinosaurs gave rise to birds has been dealt a blow by palaeontologists who have examined critical evidence from a Chinese fossil.

The discoverers of the turkey-sized dinosaur Sinosauropteryx say it would have had primitive feathers, supporting the bird-from-dinosaurs theory.

But the latest research says these ‘proto-feathers’ are really frilly structures on the creature’s back.

The meat-eating dinosaur was covered in these fibers that looked like they could have been primitive feathers. These feathers were not said to be used of flight but were there only for aesthetic purposes.

Under a high powered microscope it turns out the feathers were actually the remains of a frill of a collagen fiber that would have ran down the dinos back. THis is the same sort of fiber that is found on the back of common day reptiles.

However this small set back doesn’t discredit the amount of other discoveries that could link dinosaurs to birds. The archaeopteryx (seen in the picture at the top of this post) is known as the very first bird, and most definitely evolved from dinosaurs… it fills in a huge gap in the fossil record, but still leaves a lot of space for debate.

The theory that dinosaurs evolved into birds mostly stands on the shoulders of the idea that smaller dinosaurs gained their evolutionary advantage by growing feathers to keep warm and to fly to high levels for safety. 

The animal with the earliest sexual differentiation.

Name: diictodon (DY-ik-toe-don) means two teeth
animal: therapsid reptile
size: 45 cm long
diet: herbivore
lived: 256 - 252 mya
found: Africa and Asia
fossil:

In the late Permian period, the same time as the gorgonopes, these extremely common mammal-like synapsids burrowed deep in the ground living in couples, probably staying with the same partner its entire life. It’s head was large, with a beak that had no teeth except two saber like tusks. The tusks are extremely important as they are the characteristic of the first sexual dimorphism in all of animal history. Only the males were found having the pair of tusks. It lived in deep narrow tunnels protecting it from harsh weather and larger predators - making it an extremely successful animal of its time.

The diictodon were abundant, not only would you find multiple burrows within the same patch of land, their fossils also make up about 1/2 of all backboned animals in South Africa from the Late Permian Period. None of the burrows were interconnected further stressing the theory that the diictodon were strictly monogamous. A small chamber at the end of the burrow would have vegetation for comfort, this is where the diictodon female would have and raise her children.

These underground burrows would have been excellent for times of drought. The burrows would have remained cooler, and had a damp environment. The diictodon could also feed on the roots that were underground. The animals would, however, build their burrows in areas that were not so great, such as river banks. They burrows would often flood killing the animals. The particular fossil above is a pair of diictodon that were cuddled together when flood struck.

The diictodon’s arms and legs did not lack in strength, still they were strictly herbivores. It had an excellent sense of balance, sight and smell. It would use these keen senses to dart in and out of its burrow knowing danger was not near. It would then use its beak to break of vegetation and other plant pieces to eat and use in their housing.

The diictodon is widely studied since it is such an abundant animal. Not only was it the first animal with sexual differentiation, it was also the missing link between reptiles becoming mammals. This little reptile is thus a hugely important link in the evolutionary chain.

The finding of the sexual dimorphism led scientists to believe there was an extremely complex set of social behaviors within the diictodon community. They could have been used to combat other males in an attempt to find a mate, or could have been used ritualistically.  These tusks gave rise to unbelievably huge developments in mammals in the near future.