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jtotheizzoe:

Louisiana Senator Wants to Know if E. Coli Could Evolve Into a Human

A heroic teacher sat before Louisiana state senator Mike Walsworth and attempted to describe an amazing experiment that demonstrates the truth and beauty of the theory of natural selection. I call her a “hero” because she somehow didn’t flip the table over at 0:50.

She attempts to explain how Richard Lenski has been growing E. coli bacteria, diluting them every day into new liquid food, observing their constant change and adaptation along the way, allowing their fast reproduction to accelerate our observation of evolution. It is the single most elegant proof of evolution that I know of in biology.

Then, he asks her if they could evolve into a human.

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We share a common ancestor, billions of years ago. That doesn’t mean they are our ancestors. Trees of life have branches. Two leaves on opposite sides of a tree do not grow from the same twig, but they originated from the same seed. This is an important thing to GET when it comes to evolution. 

So no, E. coli could not evolve into a human. Nor could chimpanzees, or dinosaurs. That’s right. Shockingly, this guy would have more chance of becoming a chicken:

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Keep up the good fight for science, folks. You’re the next generation of thinkers. Given a little time, you can help the world evolve into a more science literate place.

(via Gawker)

breakingnews: 11 killer whales free after being ‘locked’ in ice, mayor says NBC News: Eleven killer whales that were “locked in” by ice in a Canadian bay are now apparently free, possibly due to a change in current that helped open up a path to the sea, the mayor of a nearby village says. Two scouts sent to check in on the whales found a passage of water had been created in Hudson Bay all of the way to the open sea, nearly 25 miles away. The ice hole the killer whales had been trapped in was empty, says Petah Inukpuk, mayor of Inukjuak. Photo: Clement Rousseau via NBC News
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breakingnews:

11 killer whales free after being ‘locked’ in ice, mayor says

NBC News: Eleven killer whales that were “locked in” by ice in a Canadian bay are now apparently free, possibly due to a change in current that helped open up a path to the sea, the mayor of a nearby village says.

Two scouts sent to check in on the whales found a passage of water had been created in Hudson Bay all of the way to the open sea, nearly 25 miles away. The ice hole the killer whales had been trapped in was empty, says Petah Inukpuk, mayor of Inukjuak.

Photo: Clement Rousseau via NBC News

i-knew-youd-never-fly: “The story and picture of a man and his dog has gone viral and was described on Fox News Thursday without a dry eye left in the house. Schoep, a 19 year-old shepherd mix, is experiencing so much pain from arthritis that he can’t sleep like a normal dog could, he can only sleep when his owner does something unique to ease his pain. John Unger’s love for his companion of almost 2 decades prompts him to carry Schoep into Lake Superior and cradle him while he gets some sleep every day. The water eases the pain by taking pressure off his bones and joints, letting Schoep get the much needed sleep he’s missing. Unger is seen in the picture cradling a sleeping Schoep in the water. Each day Unger realizes this may be his last with Schoep. With pain medication not working for Schoep, Unger might have to put his best friend down, but ironically the picture may have prolonged Schoep’s life for a while longer. The picture has captured the nation’s heart and donations are coming in for Schoep to get a laser surgery that would ease his pain.” Omg…this right here is love <3 
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i-knew-youd-never-fly:

“The story and picture of a man and his dog has gone viral and was described on Fox News Thursday without a dry eye left in the house. Schoep, a 19 year-old shepherd mix, is experiencing so much pain from arthritis that he can’t sleep like a normal dog could, he can only sleep when his owner does something unique to ease his pain.

John Unger’s love for his companion of almost 2 decades prompts him to carry Schoep into Lake Superior and cradle him while he gets some sleep every day. The water eases the pain by taking pressure off his bones and joints, letting Schoep get the much needed sleep he’s missing. Unger is seen in the picture cradling a sleeping Schoep in the water. Each day Unger realizes this may be his last with Schoep.

With pain medication not working for Schoep, Unger might have to put his best friend down, but ironically the picture may have prolonged Schoep’s life for a while longer. The picture has captured the nation’s heart and donations are coming in for Schoep to get a laser surgery that would ease his pain.”

Omg…this right here is love <3 

Curious Where To Watch Curiosity?

jtotheizzoe:

  • Check out NASA TV’s online coverage starting a little later this evening (8:30 PM Pacific). They’ll have briefings and up-to-the minute coverage
  • Phil Plait (the Bad Astronomer) will be doing a live Google+ Hangout with a few other space folks starting at 8:00 PM Pacific. Always smart stuff from Phil.
  • The Radiolab guys will have their own Google+ Hangout going on too starting about the same time as the others. Robert Krulwich makes everything sound better, so this should be great.
  • Follow @MarsCuriosity on Twitter for live coverage from the self-aware artificial intelligence onboard the rover.

I suppose you could follow me on Twitter for updates, too. But I’ll probably be too busy biting my nails and being excited to remember to tweet it all?

We are very much supportive of the family — the biblical definition of the family unit.

Chick-fil-A President Dan Cathy, adding that he’s “guilty as charged” when it comes to donations he has made to anti-gay organizations. (via producermatthew)

Damn.  I’m going to miss you, Chick-Fil-A, but no sandwich is worth bigotry / hatred / vitriol towards human rights. 

*considers the honey bbq sauce…*

No… Not even with the Chick-Fil-A honey bbq sauce.  

(via thepoliticalb)

(Source: matthewkeys)

Kids play T-ball, then baseball; they play games and have practice every week and, if they’re serious about it, pre-season and post-season too. We never think, “Let’s have kids play baseball for eight weeks in seventh grade,” and then expect that in five years they can join the majors or even be on a college team. But for some reason we do this with civics. We say, “We’re going to have you do a penny harvest in fifth grade and a service learning project in tenth grade, and then we’ll teach you abstractly about government for a semester in twelfth grade.” Then our students enter the major leagues of citizenship, and we give them the vote and expect them to keep our country going. And that’s just crazy!

Meira Levinson talking about her new book No Citizen Left Behind. (via bostonreview)

Wow. Just, wow. Quote of the week.

(via motherjones)
wolfdancer: Right now, your boss or school can demand that you hand over your Facebook or email password, and there is nothing you can do to stop them. Some people have even been fired from their jobs for refusing to reveal their passwords! But the US government could be about to take the lead and change all that. Wherever we live, these “Give up your password or else” policies are a blatant invasion of our privacy, but there are no explicit laws currently that protect users from this practice. The recent introduction of the Password Protection Act in the US could set a precedent - and is something we should all support. All attempts by lawmakers have failed thus far, in part because the internet community has not spoken out. With the Password Protection Act, we now have an opportunity to get the US to set a national and international standard for safeguarding our online identities. Sign the Access petition to the right, calling for the immediate passage of the Password Protection Act, and we’ll deliver your signatures to Congress before they vote on the bill. Sign the petition click on pic
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wolfdancer:

Right now, your boss or school can demand that you hand over your Facebook or email password, and there is nothing you can do to stop them. Some people have even been fired from their jobs for refusing to reveal their passwords! But the US government could be about to take the lead and change all that. Wherever we live, these “Give up your password or else” policies are a blatant invasion of our privacy, but there are no explicit laws currently that protect users from this practice. The recent introduction of the Password Protection Act in the US could set a precedent - and is something we should all support. All attempts by lawmakers have failed thus far, in part because the internet community has not spoken out. With the Password Protection Act, we now have an opportunity to get the US to set a national and international standard for safeguarding our online identities. Sign the Access petition to the right, calling for the immediate passage of the Password Protection Act, and we’ll deliver your signatures to Congress before they vote on the bill.

Sign the petition click on pic

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