This is truly weird. The deep ocean still has some very interesting creatures that are seldom seen.
Thatâs cool, but hereâs a rare hybrid monkey:
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That was a fun video. The alien life in the deep seas is truly mind boggling.
Although being a terrestrial creature, Iâm struck by some of the mind boggling creatures that I get to witness. Dragonflies have always been among my favorite superhero creatures, since being fascinated by them in early childhood. Then learning they were among the first to master flight and are among the oldest, with origins eventually being documented to well over 300,000,000 years ago. In the past half century everything weâve learned just keeps on making them even bigger rock stars. 
https://fortheland.org/meet-dragonfly-one-oldest-flying-insects/
While different species typically donât produce viable offspring if they mate, very closely related species may occasionally interbreed in the wild to create hybrids. For example, northern pig-tailed macaques ( Macaca leonina ) and southern pig-tailed macaques ( Macaca nemestrina ) interbreed in certain parts of Thailand, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). However, interbreeding species are typically similar and belong to the same evolutionary group, or genus â proboscis monkeys and silvery langurs do not. âŠ
And that makes me think of Africa a few million years ago.
Mitochondrial Eve confirms the âout of Africaâ theory, but the evidence also supports interbreeding between Homo sapiens and other hominins: Neanderthals, Denisovans, and Homo heidelbergensis .
This article explains how interbreeding between early H. sapiens and archaic hominins occurred. (fast forward) The availability of edible insects in East Asia aided the spread of the unaggressive, highly cooperative Neanderthals, who interbred with H. sapiens in Asia, resulting in a higher admixture of Neanderthal DNA in East Asian populations. âŠ
The process would have worked as follows: Many Homo groups lived during a period known as the Middle Pleistocene, about 789,000 to 130,000 years ago, and were too closely related to have been distinct species.
These groups would have occasionally mated with each other while traveling through Africa, Asia and Europe. A variety of skeletal variations on a human theme emerged among far-flung communities. Human anatomy and DNA today include remnants of that complex networking legacy, proponents of this scenario say.
Itâs not clear precisely how often or when during this period groups may have mixed and mingled. But in this framework, no clear genetic or physical dividing line separated Middle Pleistocene folks usually classed as H. sapiens from Neandertals, Denisovans and other ancient Homo populations.
⊠Here we draw from our collective research across various organisms, illustrating some of the ways in which gene exchange can structure genomic/phenotypic diversity within/among species. We present a range of examples relevant to questions about the evolution of hominins.
These examples are not meant to be exhaustive, but rather illustrative of the diverse evolutionary causes/consequences of hybridization, highlighting potential drivers of human evolution in the context of hybridization including: influences on adaptive evolution, climate change, developmental systems, sex-differences in behavior, Haldaneâs rule and the large X-effect, and transgressive phenotypic variation.
âŠ
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Oh lordie, once we start down this path, thereâs no end to it (they keep coming up with more evidence, evidence that has a way of surprising many. I wonder why.),
One of the more startling discoveries arising from genomic sequencing of ancient hominin DNA is the realisation that all humans outside Africa have traces of DNA in their genomes that do not belong to our own species.
âŠ: the Neanderthals. East Asians and Oceanians have also inherited a small amount of ancestry from the Denisovans, another close relative of Homo Sapiens .
Now a new study, published in Science Advances, suggests that early humans living inside Africa may also have interbred with archaic hominims. These are extinct species that are related to Homo sapiens .
The interbreeding outside Africa happened after our Homo sapiens ancestors expanded out of Africa into new environments. It was there they had sex with Neaderthals and the related Denisovans. âŠ
Itâs amazing what 13 billion years of evolutionary processes can create.
The variety of life and living creatures that Nature and mother Earth has spawned is truly breathtaking.
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Speaking of evolution, bet youâll like this one.
âIf certain conditions are presentâ
davidrandallmiller
This is a report of a software project that created the conditions for evolution in an attempt to learn something about how evolution works in nature.This is for the programmer looking for ideas for interdisciplinary programming projects, or for anyone interested in how evolution and natural selection work.
Before commenting on the religious/theological implications of this simulation, please note that this video in no way purports to explain all the mysteries of life and the universe.
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Now consider that microtubules are the organelle involved in mitosis (cell division) and the copying of genes!
Figure 1: Drawing of chromosomes during mitosis by Walther Flemming, circa 1880
This illustration is one of more than one hundred drawings from Flemmingâs "Cell Substance, Nucleus, and Cell Division." Flemming repeatedly observed the different forms of chromosomes leading up to and during cytokinesis, the ultimate division of one cell into two during the last stage of mitosis.
© 2001 Nature Publishing Group Paweletz, N. Walther Flemming: pioneer of mitosis research. Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology 2, 72 (2001). All rights reserved.
Figure 2: Types of microtubules involved in mitosis
During mitosis, several types of microtubules are active. The motor proteins associated with the interpolar microtubules drive the assembly of the spindle. Note the other types of microtubules involved in anchoring the spindle pole and pulling apart the sister chromatids.
© 2013 Nature Education All rights reserved. [
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5 posts were split to a new topic: Microtubules the seat of Consciousness
What do we mean by âintegrated informationâ? To answer this question, we must first agree on a definition of information.
I will here use that described by Claude Shannon and known as âShannon informationâ (Shannon 1948); which is essentially a measure of correlation between the degrees of freedom of a sender and receiver of a message, measured in bits.Neuronal firing rates thereby encode information about the outside world because some of its degrees of freedom are correlated with degrees of freedom of the outside world. I note that, in some theories of consciousness, causation is required in addition to correlation (Landauer 1991; Tononi et al. 1998).
Finally found an answer to a question I keep asking, what is this mystical âinformationâ I keep see talked about with such elegance.
essentially a measure of correlation between the degrees of freedom of a sender and receiver of a message, measured in bits
Well, splendid.
Is there anyone alive that knows what that means?
Or how it could be measured and computed?
It doesnât help that scale seems to left to the eye of the beholder.
I mean what are we taking about, the âinformationâ possessed within a quantum wave collapse, or information that drives a nano component of biology, or information that a brain needs to integrate? Or are they all more or less the same thing? Which brings me back to, how the heck could that work?
Then I go for a walk with Maddy, when a careless misstep could hurt, as I scramble around the river thatâs still flowing and the trees, roughish terrain. In fact, had a fall today, which reminded me that, âbuyer bewareâ, pay attention.
Thing is I do a lot of observing and meditate on all the various levels of information flowing into me from the environment, same time as Maddy and I track each other, and being amazed at the rapport weâve established and how we understand each other without discussion, well, I do speak to her a fair amount and sing.
Those are the things my mind is occupied with, and I canât see any connection with those cascades and these wondrous mathematical conceptions and the reductions of consciousness into imagined geometric things or this wave collapse, bits of information reflecting degrees of freedom from sender to receiver, and, a;lkdjfha[sdofgihawe][osfgihew[asofguabs[dovnas[ovbnasodgvnbawsdogvbn[dewoasvbn[adfbv a[dfsbnv[adsibnvadbvasjdjbvadsfvbarjvbakjrdfsbvakjrdsf, and so on
[quote=âcitizenschallengev4, post:13, topic:9463â]
Well, splendid.
Is there anyone alive that knows what that means?
Or how it could be measured and computed?
I believe that is the reason for the expression ânon-computableâ, a problem for which no algorithm can be written. And that seems to produce a certain freedom of interpretation, such as differences in color perception or the differences in preferences of taste, smell, and different interpretations of meaning in response to stimulation.
It doesnât help that scale seems to be left to the eye of the beholder.
Precisely, if that were not the case we would be robots acting and reacting alike, bound by purely deterministic mathematical algorithms. There would be no such thing as âchoiceâ.
I mean what are we talking about, the âinformationâ possessed within a quantum wave collapse, information that drives a nano component of biology, or information that a brain needs to integrate? Or are they all more or less the same thing? Which brings me back to, how the heck could that work?
How does it work in a real computer? The difference is that in organic brains the âinformationâ is compared to experiential data stored in memory that produces an âexpectationâ of what data the brain is processing IOW the brain makes a best guess of what the data represents and from that guess creates an internal âimageâ (hologram?)
Remember Anil Seth; âwe create our reality from the inside out as much as from the outside inâ .
This non-computable process is now employed by the new GPT series AI and remarkably these AI are able to engage in spontaneous conversation that sometimes passes the Turing test. And it it still in its infancy!!!
Do check out the Interviews with LETA an advanced GPT AI that needs no pre-programmed answers, but makes the best guess of what words come next in context of the subject under discussion. IOW, the AI is actually engaged in thinking.
It seems that we are on the right track in copying the organizational processes (the orchestration) of data by an âintelligentâ network, regardless if it is biological or artificial.
WE ARENâT Fân COMPUTERS!
Thatâs a non sequitur - a problem for which no algorithm can be written is the reason we interpret colors and tastes differently? What ever happened to Occamâs razor, there are much for proximal explanations for why colors and tastes, etc. are perceived differently (by different people and in different circumstances) - that are rooted in biology, chemistry and color theory and that donât require impossibly creative mathematical tricks to explain.
I hope you read the next paragraph ⊠
[quote=âcitizenschallengev4, post:16, topic:9463â]
Thatâs a non sequitur - a problem for which no algorithm can be written is the reason we interpret colors and tastes differently? Whatever happened to Occamâs razor, there are much for proximal explanations for why colors and tastes, etc. are perceived differently ( by different people and in different circumstances ) - that are rooted in biology, chemistry and color theory and that donât require impossibly creative mathematical tricks to explain.
Yes, and by Occamâs razor it is the non-computable part that yields the different interpretations in individuals.
Again Anil Seth; âwhen our controlled hallucinations agree on what it is we are observing we call that realityâ
Even data processing rooted in biology is a form of computing, by definition.
And that is what sets humans apart from algorithmic computers and is why the new GPT series AI also exhibit choice of preference and answers to questions with multiple answers.
Thursday, June 28th, 2018
The Mind, the Brain and the Computer
by Brian Hayes, Journalist in Residence
Five monthsâ immersion in the program on The Brain and Computation at the Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing has given me a new perspective on those glib analogies. The connections between computer science and neuroscience are even deeper than I knew, but also subtler. The brain is indeed a computational device, subject to the same rules that define the capabilities of a Turing machine or a silicon chip.
But the differences between technological and biological computation are at least as important as the similarities. Knowing what goes on inside my laptop is not an ideal starting point for understanding what goes on inside my head.
It is the differences that now are being closed by the new AI and that allows the new AI to learn, be curious, have preferences, and even exhibit some of the human foibles of âfakingâ it when it doesnât know exactly what the question means.
Donât forget, for all its processing power the human brain is limited and can be wrong as is often displayed on forums like this âŠ
Now this is a scary evolutionary phenomenon.
Amazonian âzombieâ fungus bursts through flyâs body in grisly, contest-winning photo
By Brandon Specktor published 1 day ago
Stalks of âzombie fungusâ burst through a dead flyâs body in the Peruvian Amazon. (Image credit: Roberto GarcĂa-Roa)
On a leaf in the Peruvian Amazon, a flyâs exoskeleton bursts open. Seven fungal stems emerge, flaring outward in a twisted bouquet. The fungus already took control of the flyâs mind and body â now, itâs time to find a new victim.
This grim scene, which captures the simultaneous death of a fly and life of a so-called âzombieâ fungus that preys upon insects, is the grand prize winner in this yearâs BMC Ecology and Evolution Image Competition â the second annual photo contest hosted by the scientific journal BMC Ecology and Evolution.
Roberto GarcĂa-Roa, an evolutionary biologist and conservation photographer with the University of Valencia in Spain, snapped the winning image while undertaking research in the Tambopata National Reserve in southeastern Peru.
âThe image depicts a conquest that has been shaped by thousands of years of evolution,â GarcĂa-Roa said in a statement. âThe spores of the so-called âzombieâ fungus have infiltrated the exoskeleton and mind of the fly and compelled it to migrate to a location that is more favorable for the fungusâs growth. The fruiting bodies have then erupted from the flyâs body and will be jettisoned in order to infect more victims.â
And the thing that fascinates me is, if thereâs this incredible diversity and weirdness on lil old earth, which in the scheme of things is relatively young and tiny, just imagine whatâs âout thereâ. There might be forms of intelligent life we wouldnât even recognize as life! Or even as a âthingâ at all.
A long time ago I read a short story, - I think it was in Omni Magazine, if anyone remembers that one, - Someone exploring / observing on a new planet. Didnât see anything remarkable at first. But somehow he slowed down to the point that he realized the rocks were alive.
Omni magazineâŠwow, I remember that, it was a great magazine.
Working on bringing tasmanian tiger back to life
