Daily Archives: July 12, 2021

Hypori is already the leading secure virtual mobility provider for zero-footprint data on Bring Your Own Devices being used within the Department of Defense. With backing from GreatPoint Ventures to the tune of $20 million in Series A financing, the company is now poised to expand both within DOD and into new industries, including healthcare and finance, leaders said.

But Hyporis story is about more than expansion, said CEO Jared Shepard, who recently spun off Hypori Inc. into an independent startup from Intelligent Waves LLC, a defense and intelligence contractor, which he founded. Instead, its a way of thinking about mobility and cybersecurity that drastically reduces the risk of large-scale threats and allows data access anywhere from any device operating on any platform.

We believe the next evolution in mobility is breaking ties to the device, said Shepard. What if you could have all of that access to information, all of that capability from the device anywhere, and in a secure fashion that you dont ever have to worry about replacing it or losing it?

Want to upgrade your device? No problem. Is the battery dead? Access all your data securely on someone elses phone, log into Hypori, and youre back on your phone once more.

In the U.S., an estimated 60% of homes have at least one PC, Shepard estimates, but many operate with much less power than they could. Hypori, he said, allows users to access secure data center speeds, bandwidth, computing power, memory and more regardless of how up to date their device is.

If you used the Hypori device, you could launch it for television with a keyboard and mouse and have a more powerful PC than most people have at home, Shepard said. And now you have a 72-inch monitor.

If the arrival of laptop computers and cellular phones marked turning points in the world of mobility, breaking ties to the device is the next major step, Shepard said.

A Different Approach to Edge Security

As more government and non-government organizations adopt Bring Your Own Device or Bring Your Own Approved Device to work policies, the time is ripe for next-level security solutions, Shepard said. In addition, securing the edge network-connected computing that takes place outside a cloud environment has long been cited as a concern among cybersecurity specialists.

For years, IT providers have focused on extending data from a secure data center to the edge and then protecting data while it resides there. As the edge expands to include exponentially smarter mobile devices, the attack surface that needs protection has also expanded, and specialists have scrambled to figure out how to secure it. Hypori takes a whole new approach.

This drops the need to protect the edge because we take the edge out of the equation, Shepard said. The data never leaves the data center. We only empower the edge to interact with the data inside the data center. There is no actual data in transit or at rest, other than simply pixels and telemetry.

Changing where the data resides removes several security concerns. Since the data cant be downloaded, it cant reside on the device and therefore cant be accessed, even if the device itself is compromised, Shepard said. In addition, bad actors cant ransom the data because they arent in possession of the data.

It is a virtual access solution thats more dynamic and more diverse and more secure than anything else thats offered today, he said.

For years, tech giants worked to move the desktop environment to mobile devices. Hyporis approach is to get the mobile environment to work anywhere.

On a desktop, on a mobile phone, on a laptop, on a tablet, on a PC, or a television, on a kiosk it doesnt matter, right? Shepard said. If you can enable one common operating system for anybody to access from anywhere and do so in a secure fashion that doesnt depend upon the security of the edge device? Thats transformational.

Expanding Within and Beyond DOD

A military veteran, Shepard spent 40 months deployed into combat zones in Iraq and Afghanistan where he said he gained a deep understanding of the need for user-friendly systems that can be accessed even under challenging situations. For Hypori, that means planning for users to be able to access data even when the device is out of date or compromised in some way.

That way, you can get the same cloud-powered user experience from even that edge device thats already been compromised or is operating poorly, or maybe its three or four years old, you get the same level of interaction and capability through Hypori that you would get on a brand-new device inside of the secure environment, he said.

When Shepards services company, Intelligent Waves, acquired the assets of Hypori earlier this spring, he knew the use cases he saw inside DOD could have broader applications.

Hypori is the largest secure mobility solution inside the DOD under the National Security Administrations Commercial Solutions for Classified Program. But company leaders see growth within the defense and intelligence community as only the beginning. So, Hyporis next focus will be on expanding to industries with a strong need to protect their IP, communications and the user or patient information.

Were growing out our sales team, were growing out our leadership team, were growing out our development team because were going to be able to do the same thing that were doing for the Department of Defense for multiple other healthcare, finance, business industry verticals across the world, Shepard said.

Looking Ahead

Shepard is excited for the possibilities ahead, which include transforming the security of point-of-sale transactions. It would have the potential to eliminate, for example, threats in which bad actors hack into credit card machines or attach data lifters to ATMs.

You could actually make a point-of-sale interaction so secure that when you swipe the credit card, the actual credit card number never resided on the edge device and only resides inside the secure environment, Shepard said. With us, we take the edge out, which means were dramatically reducing the size of the footprint that you have to defend actively.

The partnership with GreatPoint Ventures adds a level of experience, knowledge and access to strategic partners that will strengthen Hyporis posture as it works to expand, Shepard said.

Founded in 2015, GreatPoint has been involved in the success of several leading companies, including Beyond Meat, Sidecar Health, Skyhawk Therapeutics, Extend, Vim Business, Kinetica and Excision.

They have that kind of expertise, and theyre going to help us understand, scale and plan effectively to be able to enter those new markets and grow, Shepard said.

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Hypori CEO Jared Shepard on Looks to the 'Next Evolution in Mobility' - WashingtonExec

Life reconstruction of Heterodontosaurus vocalizing on a cool Jurassic morning. Credit: Viktor Radermacher

An international team of scientists has used high-powered X-rays at the European Synchrotron, the ESRF, to show how an extinct South African 200-million-year-old dinosaur, Heterodontosaurus tucki, breathed. The study was published in eLife on July 6, 2021.

In 2016, scientists from the Evolutionary Studies Institute at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, came to the ESRF, the European Synchrotron in Grenoble, France, the brightest synchrotron light source, for an exceptional study: to scan the complete skeleton of a small, 200-million-year-old plant-eating dinosaur. The dinosaur specimen is the most complete fossil ever discovered of a species known as Heterodontosaurus tucki. The fossil was found in 2009 in the Eastern Cape of South Africa by study co-author, Billy de Klerk of the Albany Museum, Makhanda, South Africa. A farmer friend of mine called my attention to the specimen, says de Klerk, and when I saw it I immediately knew we had something special on our hands.

Fast forward some years: the team of scientists, using scans and new algorithm developed by ESRF scientists to virtually reconstruct the skeleton of Heterodontosaurus in unprecedented detail, and thus show how this extinct dinosaur breathed. This specimen represents a turning point in understanding how dinosaurs evolved explains Viktor Radermacher, corresponding author, South African PhD now at the University of Minnesota, US.

Digital Heterodontosaurus South African dinosaur skeleton produced by the scanning at the ESRFn the European Synchrotron, France, that shows complete specimen and new anatomy. Credit: Vincent Fernandez, ESRF, NMHN

Not all animals use the same techniques and organs to breathe. Humans expand and contract their lungs. Birds have air sacs outside their lungs that pump oxygen in, and their lungs dont actually move. For a long time, paleontologists assumed that all dinosaurs breathed like birds, since they had similar breathing anatomy. This study, however, found that Heterodontosaurus did notit instead had paddle-shaped ribs and small, toothpick-like bones, and expanded both its chest and belly in order to breathe.

Heterodontosaurus is one of the oldest and first-evolving Ornithischians, the group that includes favorites like Triceratops, Stegosaurus, and duckbilled dinosaurs. Heterodontosaurus lived in the early Jurassic period, about 200 million years ago, surviving an extinction at the end of the prior Triassic period. Understanding how this dinosaur breathed could also help paleontologists figure out what biological features allowed certain dinosaurs to survive or caused them to go extinct.

Weve long known that the skeletons of ornithischian dinosaurs were radically different from those of other dinosaurs, explains Richard Butler, from the School of Geography, Earth, and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, UK. This amazing new fossil helps us understand why ornithischians were so distinctive and successful, he adds.

The new Heterodontosaurus tucki specimen AM 4766 affectionately called Tucky. Digitally reconstructed anatomy on the right, thanks to ESRF scans. Credit: Viktor Radermacher

This study is the result of a long-standing collaboration between paleontologists based in South Africa and at the ESRF, where non-invasive techniques have been developed specifically for palaeontological studies. You could only do this study with a synchrotron, says Vincent Fernandez, scientist at the Natural History Museum in London, UK, co-author of the study and former ESRF scientist. The characteristics of the ESRFs X-rays, combined with its high energy beamline configuration, made scanning this complete turkey-sized dinosaur possible.

This is a perfect example of the diversity of life on Earth. The takeaway message is that there are many ways to breathe, Radermacher said. And the really interesting thing about life on earth is that we all have different strategies to do the same thing, and weve just identified a new strategy of breathing.

Studies like this highlight how South Africas fossil record once again helps us understand evolutionary origins, said senior author Jonah Choiniere, Professor at the Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa.

Reference: A new Heterodontosaurus specimen elucidates the unique ventilatory macroevolution of ornithischian dinosaurs by Viktor J Radermacher, Vincent Fernandez, Emma R Schachner, Richard J Butler, Emese M Bordy, Michael Naylor Hudgins, William J de Klerk, Kimberley EJ Chapelle and Jonah N Choiniere, 6 July 2021, eLife.DOI: 10.7554/eLife.66036

Authors Viktor Radermacher, Kimberley Chapelle, and Jonah Choiniere were supported by grants from the NRF-African Origins Platform, Centre of Excellence in Palaeosciences, and the Palaeontological Scientific Trust. South African participation in the ESRF, the European synchrotron, is supported by the NRF and DSI.

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200-Million-Year-Old Fossil Sheds Light on the Evolution of How Dinosaurs Breathed - SciTechDaily

Chris Lusk/Supplied

These plants are closely related. On the right, a divaricate called Coprosma propinqua, or mingimingi. On the left, a broadleaved relative called coprosma robusta, or karamu. How did these evolve so differently?

Perhaps the longest-running debate about the evolution of New Zealand plants may have been resolved thanks to new research among their genes.

Divaricates are mostly shrubs or low trees, with small or tiny leaves, and densely interlaced and wiry stems. They are immensely twiggy and overseas the habit is called cage architecture. They are popular in many New Zealand gardens for their distinctive shapes and colours, and for attracting native insects, lizards and birds.

About 13 per cent of New Zealand woody plant species are divaricates, a much higher percentage than anywhere else.

The distinctive nature and prevalence of these NZ plants was noted in the late 1800s by European scientists and two competing theories arose.

READ MORE:* 23-million-year-old leaves hint trees might 'breathe' easier in high-carbon air* Ancient Northland kauri tree reveals secrets of Earth's polar reversal* Save these natives - plant them in your garden* Pitpat trees do it tough thanks to being high on the menu

The first held that divaricating was an evolutionary response to browsing by moa birds. In short, the modest amount of nutritious leaf material combined with the low nutrition twigs meant moa were better off eating other plants. That encouraged these plants to keep evolving as divaricates.

The second theory held that as divaricates most often occur in frosty and droughty regions, such as the east coast of the South Island, the habit is probably an adaptation to climate. Its thought that small leaves survive cold and dry conditions better than big, fleshy leaves.

In recent times, a synthesis theory has emerged that asked, Why not both?.

Enter the genetics research done by Kevin Maurin in his PhD thesis in biological sciences at the University of Waikato. He showed that divaricating started to emerge in New Zealand about 5 million years before present. In evolutionary terms, thats not very long.

But it probably matches up with a time when the continent Zealandia was undergoing a colder and drier period, suggesting climate played a strong role.

And it has a flip side as well. Moa ancestors were browsing Zealandias shrubs and small trees long before 5m years ago, and if moa had an evolutionary impact on a habit this widespread, then science would expect much older evidence of divaricates.

It is therefore now very difficult to argue that avian browsing alone was responsible for its over-representation in the New Zealand flora, concluded Maurin. Instead, this age is consistent with a strong influence of Pliocene-Pleistocene climates, although it does not exclude a role of avian browsing.

Indeed, the effect of browsing by moa was also probably involved, Maurin wrote.

Other insights arose out of the research by Maurin and his thesis supervisor, associate professor Chris Lusk, including that most divaricates probably werent of Gondwana origin a reference to the ancient super continent from which Zealandia eventually split.

Rather their ancestors probably arose in Australia and dispersed eastwards to these islands before encountering a cold, dry climate and moa.

They also noted that divaricates are browsed these days by wild deer, but that pressure probably wont lead to widespread loss because deer, like moa, get better nutrition from other plants.

But they were less certain about the impact of climate change. Thats expected to lead to drier zones, such as on the east side of the South Island, and its not clear how the divaricates will adapt to even drier conditions.

Meanwhile, having adapted to cold conditions, they face an increase in temperatures that may threaten their survival unless their caged architecture can somehow help them adapt further.

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Moa had minor role in evolution of twiggy native shrubs - Stuff.co.nz

Character evolution has become one of the things fans of The Walking Dead love seeing most. Supporting your favorites can be rewarding and painful at times, depending on where their story goes. But at the end of the day the twists, turns and developments keep the show fresh!

The show really puts everyone living in the undead world through their paces. We see this take a toll on their physical appearance to reflect where they are; personally, they all have become their own hairdressers, too, along with everything else they have learned. First impressions really matter in the destruction they are surrounded with, so keeping yourself as regulated and organized as possible is a helpful bonus to other potential new allies.

There are many presentable characters with well-kept hair in the show, considering they are living through an apocalypse. However, one man that stood out from the crowd with his super slick Kentucky Waterfall was Dr. Eugene Porter (Josh McDermitt). What a hairstyle!

Josh McDermitt as Dr. Eugene Porter The Walking Dead _ Season 5, Episode 5 Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC

Eugenes arc has to be one of the biggest growths in the entire TWDU, along with his hair. Eugene first appeared in 410 Inmates, very quiet and afraid as he emerged from a military vehicle alongside his traveling companions Sgt. Abraham Ford (Michael Cudlitz) and Rosita Espinosa (Christian Serratos). From the off, we saw Eugene wasnt great at using weapons to kill walkers but oh, how times change, and he became a fighter.

If we look at Eugenes physical appearance, this too has changed alongside his weaponry and communication skills. From his first appearance on screen until 816, Wrath Eugene kept his Tennessee top hat well-groomed along with being a part of who he was, and it definitely drew attention from people. I think the only time Eugenes mullet looked slightly untidy was in 815 Worth when he hid under ashes and returned to the Sanctuary entirely covered in soot, but he still looked great and fashioned it out.

During this entire period, Eugene had his times of really trying to fight even though he really didnt want to because he was scared. Rosita knows this all too well as he didnt participate in her weapons class, but hey, come on, he was protecting the people there in open-toed shoes! I am not saying the entire time Eugene had his mullet, he was scared to fight, but he did have many times in tears because of his fears that restricted him.

Josh McDermitt as Dr. Eugene Porter, Elyse Dufour as Frankie The Walking Dead _ Season 8, Episode 11 Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC

Eugene and the mullet of life had brave moments. In 510 Them, he helped the group hold the barn doors shut during the raging storm, he saved Tara and stood up to Nicholas in 514 Spend, faced his fears in 609 No Way Out as he joined the fight to help save Alexandria. Hedrove the RV away to save Maggie and his group in 616 Last Day on Earth after handing Rick a bullet-making recipe (wouldnt that become important for Eugene later on). He rigged the bullets to massively contribute to helping win and end the All Out War against Negan and the Saviors in 816 Wrath.

However, the biggest change we have seen in Eugene began in 901, A New Beginning, and he came not only with an amazing ponytail but also his new cowboy hat. This change allowed us to see he began engineering again and even got another Rick Grimes thank you Go Eugene!

Josh McDermitt as Eugene Porter- The Walking Dead _ Season 10, Episode 20 Photo Credit: Josh Stringer/AMC

Coming into later episodes of Season 9 and Season 10, fans have been blessed to see Dr. Porter evolve once more and style a braid. Even a denim jacket and a bolo tie in 1016 A Certain Doom, along with new fighting skills, facing villains along with running into fires to save much-loved communities and civilians. He really has begun to run with newfound confidence, and I could not be prouder of the character!

Whether you love him or hate him, his importance cant be denied. He has seen and been through a lot during the apocalypse in a time that hasnt been easy for anyone. Eugene, you really are a survivor and a brilliant one at that, and I cant wait to see where he goes next lets hope its him finding his happiness!

The Walking Dead returns for Season 11 on AMC August 22, Star on Disney Plus August 23 for UK viewers.

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TWD: The evolution of Eugene and his hair - Undead Walking

Photo: Visitors admire the iconic Darwin statue at London's Natural History Museum, by Thomas Fabian, via Flickr.

Editors note: Last week, Scientific American viciously smeared all critics of Darwinian theory with an article titled, Denial ofEvolution Is a Form of White Supremacy, by Allison Hopper. As promised, we are presenting some of our extensive past coverage of the tight links between racism and evolution. This article was originally published on November 23, 2020.

A recent article by Livia Gershon examines so-called Bizarre Theories of the American School of Evolution. She tries to implicitly distance Darwin from racism by suggesting that his outspoken critic, famed paleontologist Edward Drinker Cope (1840-1897), opposed womens suffrage and equality for African Americans as two perils of the Indo-European. These racist and misogynistic views, insists Gershon, were shared by the American School of evolutionary anthropology, a group that had morphed from the polygenism of a previous generation led by men like Samuel George Morton (1799-1851), Louis Agassiz (1807-1873), and Josiah Clark Nott (1804-1873) into a new brand of neo-Lamarckian theory. According to the article, They [Cope and his colleagues] rejected Charles Darwins theory of evolution. Instead, they built on the work of French naturalist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (1744-1829). Unlike Darwin, Lamarck believed that acquired characteristics like strong muscles could be passed on to descendants. Gershon continues, In humans, Lamarck argued, sentiment emotional responses to physical sensations gradually made physical changes in the body.

It is this sentimental view that allegedly permitted the kind of racial and gender-biased calculus to permeate the thinking of the American School in contrast supposedly to Darwin, whose random, amoral process of blind evolution simply allowed the chips to fall where they might without such judgmental prejudices. Actually, Gershon is merely highlighting an article by Rutgers University Womens and Gender Studies professor Kyla Schuller, Taxonomies of Feeling: The Epistemology of Sentimentalism in Late-Nineteenth-Century Racial and Sexual Science, written in a dense, anfractuous academese. It is best not to wander too deeply into Schullers intellectual weeds except to say that it only adds tortuous detail to the summary errors of Gershons briefer piece. So in the interest of keeping this simple, lets just say that the most bizarre aspect of this is not neo-Lamarckism, but rather the strange bifurcated equation that neo-Lamarckism = racial and gender bias while Darwinism = objective science shorn of all prejudicial baggage. This is demonstrably wrong historically and scientifically.

Historically, Darwin and his cohorts were just as racist and gender biased as Cope or anyone else of their era. As I have pointed out, Darwin was certainly as racist as the notorious species fixistLouis Agassiz. And Darwins Bulldog, Thomas Henry Huxley (1825-1895), was no better, arguing shortly after the American Civil War that blacks were doomed now that they were cut free from the purported protective influences of their owners. Huxley stated boldly that no rational man, cognizant of the facts, believes that the average negro is the equal, still less the superior, of the average white man. In fact, one man did, the Darwinists arch enemy Richard Owen (1804-1892). A fascinating examination of this important point is presented in Christopher E. CosansOwens Ape & Darwins Bulldog.

As for women, Darwin was no champion of gender equality. As he stated in theDescent of Man, Man is more courageous, pugnacious, and energetic than woman, and has a more inventive genius. With their male counterparts having a brain that is absolutely larger, Darwin doubted that women could possibly surmount their biological limitations. Nevertheless, social class could create, for Darwin, a state of general improvement for women. But according to Darwin it wasmale selectionmediated by social class that made the difference. Again in theDescenthe writes,

It appears to me with justice, that the members of our aristocracy, including under this term all wealthy families in which primogeniture has long prevailed, from having chosen during many generations from all classes the more beautiful women as their wives, have become handsomer, according to the European standard of beauty, than the middle classes; yet the middle classes are placed under equally favourable conditions of life for the perfect development of the body.

There is, of course, no mention of this by the gender studies expert Schuller.

Gershon and Schuller seem to imply that part of Copes problem was that Many Anglo-Saxons looked forward not just to ongoing biosocial evolution but also to a millennial ascent into perfection. Perhaps, but so did Darwin! Writing to the Rev. Charles Kingsley (1819-1879) on February 6, 1862, he stated, It is very true what you say about the higher races of men, when high enough, replacing & clearing off the lower races. In 500 years how the Anglo-Saxon race will have spread & exterminated whole nations; & in consequence how much the human race, viewed as a unit, will have risen in rank. He voiced the same sentiment years later in a letter to Irish philosopher and political economist William Graham (1839-1911) on July 3, 1881, Remember what risks the nations of Europe ran, not so many centuries ago of being overwhelmed by the Turks, and how ridiculous such an idea now is. The more civilised so-called Caucasian races have beaten the Turkish hollow in the struggle for existence. Looking to the world at no very distant date, what an endless number of the lower races will have been eliminated by the higher civilised races throughout the world.

For Darwin, racial superiority was survival of the fittest put into terms of national expansion and even of human progress. Moreover, that progress was defined in explicitly racial terms. Darwin believed this was confirmed in the science of craniotomy, the idea that races could be ranked by measuring the cranial capacities of their respective skulls. If Cope could be a racist by sentiment, Darwin could confirm his racism in the cold, hard facts of his racialized science.

It is inaccurate to divide 19th-century evolutionary racial theory on the basis of a Lamarckian litmus test in any case. The reason is that although Cope was a neo-Lamarckian, so was Darwin. Neither Gershon nor Schuller mentions Darwins pangenesis theory of inheritance, which was Lamarckian. As evolutionary historian Peter Bowler has point out inEvolution: The History of an Idea, Darwins lifelong commitment to a limited amount of Lamarckism and to what was later called blending inheritance (the mixture of parental characters) were integral parts of his worldview. Biologist Rupert Sheldrake inScience Set Freeagrees:

In Darwins day, most people assumed that acquired characteristics could indeed be inherited. Jean-Baptiste Lamarck had taken this for granted in his theory of evolution published more than fifty years before Darwins, and the inheritance of acquired characteristics was often referred to as Lamarckian inheritance. Darwin shared this belief and cited many examples to support it. In this respect Darwin was a Lamarckian, not so much because of Lamarcks influence but because he and Lamarck both accepted the inheritance of acquired characteristics as a matter of common sense.

Such a historical context makes Lamarckian distinctions racial or otherwise meaningless.

Of course Lamarckism need not be expressed as benighted racial and gender prejudice. Gershons characterization of Lamarckian evolution as bizarre is simply scientifically wrong. For example, geneticistEva Jablonkais presently arguing for a more Lamarckian approach, as is bioengineerRaju Pookottil, cell biologistMariusz Nowacki, and biophysicistYoav Soen. Again, Rupert Sheldrake sheds some light:

The taboo against the inheritance of acquired characteristics began to dissolve around the turn of the millennium. There is a growing recognition that some acquired characteristics can indeed be inherited. This kind of inheritance is now called epigenetic inheritance. In this context, the word epigenetic signifies over and above genetics. Some kinds of epigenetic inheritance depend on chemical attachments to genes, particularly of methyl groups. Genes can be switched off by the methylation of the DNA itself or of the proteins that bind to it.

Schullers blinkered views are only magnified by Gershons repeating them. It is astonishing that such stunning ignorance of history and science can be displayed in an academic publication, only to be repeated by way of summation. But this is what happens when an article peer-reviewed or not says the right things. Clearly, historical and scientific accuracy takes a back seat to providing cover for Darwins own views on race and gender. Details and facts are easily swept under the rug when sanitizing Darwin. But finger-pointing at bizarre theories and one-sided race-baiting are thin disguises for a worldview that lives in a glass house.

What Schuller and Gershon are trying to protect Darwinism from are the social applications to which it has been so prone. Indeed, Darwin was as much committed to a racialized and misogynistic ethos as any of his generation. What Adrian Desmond and James Moore wrote nearly thirty years ago inDarwinremains as true as ever:

Did he [Darwin] see society, like nature, progress by culling its unfit members? Social Darwinism is often taken to be something extraneous, an ugly concretion added to the pure Darwinian corpus after the event, tarnishing Darwins image. But his notebooks make plain that competition, free trade, imperialism, racial extermination, and sexual inequality were written into the equation from the start Darwinism was always intended to explain human society.

Historian of science and social anthropologist Henrika Kuklik (1942-2013) was even more emphatic, stating that scholars have wasted their time trying to exonerate Darwin of responsibility for Social Darwinism, for he was a Social Darwinist.

What a shame that Schuller sent Gershon on such a fools errand. Both returned empty-handed and ended up looking either deceitful or ignorant. Ill assume the latter; it seems the more charitable conclusion.

Editors note: For more on Darwinisms enduring legacy of racism, watch the award-winning documentaryHuman Zoos:

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Distancing Darwin from Racism Is a Fool's Errand - Discovery Institute

Photo credit: Charles Daghlian, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

On a new episode ofID the Future, author and biologist Michael Behe talks with host Andrew McDiarmid about how the once seemingly humble cilium is actually even more irreducibly complex than Behe suggested in his first book,Darwins Black Box. Indeed, its even more complex than his review of cilia in his update in 2007, The Edge of Evolution. At the time Behe described cilia as irreducible complexity squared. But as noted in arecent article here at Evolution News, even more layers of sophistication in cilia and their Intraflagellar Transport (IFT) system have now been discovered.

So, does that mean we are now looking at irreducible complexity cubed? Listen in as Behe and McDiarmid revel in the engineering sophistication of this fascinating molecular machine. They discuss why, more than ever, it appears to point away from any form of mindless evolution for its cause. Download the podcast or listen to it here.

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Michael Behe and Cilia 3.0 or, Irreducible Complexity Cubed - Discovery Institute

Photographer Jeremy Cowart has created what he calls a Lightograph, a patent-pending evolution of both the cinemagraph and standard photography that moves light through a still photo without adding any motion or shift in perspective.

Cowart touts the Lightograph as a wholly new form of art because it is not a motion picture because there is no motion, and its not a standard photograph because the light can change and evolve. For him, the Lightograph is a breakthrough method for visual art that allows light to tell more than one story in a still image and can forever change what is possible in portraiture.

The finished photos are at first blush akin to what has been done in the past especially with cinemagraphs but after closer inspection, the differences are stark. Cowart says that he has been using this method for years, but it wasnt until recently that he realized how unusual it is.

I actually did the entire process in 2014 but didnt realize what I had on my hands until now, he tells PetaPixel. It wasnt until the NFT boom over the last couple of months that made me start digging harder, wondering how I could bring motion to photographs and portraits. It was then that I realized Oh, Ive been doing this for years and didnt even how special this process is. It just needed a couple of tiny tweaks to flesh out the process and make it what it is today.

Cowart says that as amazing as photography, cameras, and light are, he found that constantly shooting the same way would lead to boredom.

There are only so many places you can place a light, right? I cant shoot the same lighting on a white seamless all day. A lot of photographers love those shoots. I cant stand it. I think my natural A.D.D. is always driving me to be curious and figure out whats next. How can I keep evolving and mix things up to make digital photography evolve?

To his knowledge, this process has never been done before, at least not with portraiture. He also says that no computer graphics or 3D software is used to make these photos.

This is truly a new method of art-making and analog photography, he says. Light can now tell multiple stories in a single image. It can show the hero and villain side of a person in the same portrait with a simple shift of light. Humans are multi-faceted. Were constantly changing and evolving.

A Lightograph represents our evolving dynamic as humans. It can show all our emotions at once. One Lightograph can go from super flattering to scary to dramatic to warm to cool back to flattering. And so much more. The possibilities are endless. Lightography can also be applied to almost every genre of photography. So it can work for commercial, lifestyle, fine art, fashion, beauty, editorial, studio, music, entertainment, families, travel, business, headshots, automotive, stock, products, architecture, even babies and pets if they can stay still or are sleeping, he adds with a laugh.

Cowart believes that there are huge implications for this method in advertising photography because it adds so much more depth and interest to a still image in a way that people simply arent used to seeing.

I keep hearing people say, I cant stop looking at this,' Cowart says.

One challenge with moving images is how they are shared since Lightographs are more than a standard photograph. Additionally, the finished result isnt quite a movie, either. Cowart says he believes these could find a home in digital media.

I see it as the future of digital media. So, magazine covers for example. Future issues of any magazine could have Lightographs as their covers. Imagine scrolling on your iPad, reading an article and as you scroll, the lighting is evolving as the story evolves, he says. This is just one example of thousands that could be applied. Imagine driving past a digital billboard and the light changes completely in those three seconds that you drive past it. Its incredibly interesting and exciting. Netflix movie posters could be Lightographs that evolve as you sit on your couch and scroll through movie titles.

Its a significant development in the history of photography, Cowart says. I remember when the cinemagraph was introduced in 2011. I was so fascinated by it and amazed that a new form of art could be introduced when it seems like everything has been done before. I never thought I would have my own important discovery. But I always say, the more you learn technically, the more you can achieve creatively. That thought has been true for me. Ive spent thousands of hours in my studio over the last decade playing with my Profoto strobes and Canon DSLRs. Its so cool that all that play-time has translated to an innovation like this.

While the specifics of how he creates Lightographs is only revealed in his tutorial, Cowart does say that its a detailed and technical process, though and says that multiple factors play a part in how long it takes to make one of these images.

Its quite a technical process. Seasoned, experienced photographers who understand lighting will catch on quickly. he says. But there are so many subtle nuances and tricks that go into it that are not so easy to figure out. Im amazed it hasnt been done before and Im so honored I get to introduce it to the industry. Its truly a new, unique form of art-making.

Cowart has launched a tutorial on how to create Lightographs for those who want to make their own, and to see more examples on the Lightograph website.

Additionally, Cowart will release several NFTs on Foundation that use this method starting on July 15.

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Lightograph Unveiled: The 'Next Evolution of the Photograph' - PetaPixel

Markets are reminiscent of ecosystems in the natural world. Because of this, there are concepts in ... [+] biology which can help you become a better thinker in the realm of business and startups.

Business to a degree works as the applied science brother of economics. So, even though not all theoretical economical knowledge is directly applicable to business (especially in macroeconomics), concepts from economics like supply and demand equilibrium, opportunity costs, marginal costs, economies of scale, and so on are still very useful for entrepreneurs to be familiar with. They provide you with mental models that you can utilize when thinking of your own business and the environment in which it operates.

Other scientific fields, however, can be equally useful in that regard. For example, markets are extremely reminiscent of ecosystems in the natural world. Because of this, there are concepts in biology which fit the business world surprisingly well and can help you become a better thinker when it comes to entrepreneurship and startups.

Evolution By Natural Selection Applied to Startups

Mutations in organisms drive differential reproductive success, which means that the successful traits get passed on, while the unsuccessful ones are driven into extinction.

This process is entirely blind every trait has costs and benefits, and its the environment that ultimately determines what is valuable and what isnt.

Thanks to the work of Richard Dawkins, we know that this is true not only of genes but also of memes ideas and behavior that get passed on in a similar manner (e.g. building a nest in a particular way, etc.).

And while companies dont have genes, they most certainly can be viewed as an amalgamation of memes.

Because of this, the environment in which companies live (the market) determines which behaviors are beneficial to the success and survival of the company, and which are detrimental.

In other words - the market shapes the product features, business models, startup culture, marketing or financial practices, etc. of the businesses that operate in it.

This is vital to understand if you plan to do things differently. In a static environment a stable, unchanging market, new behaviors and practices (memes) are unlikely to be beneficial. The current companies would have converged on the best way to do business. Such markets are likely to be extremely hard to disrupt.

In a turbulent, chaotic market, however, exploration of new behaviors is vital, and the most adaptive of businesses are the ones who will be successful. It is in such markets that startups have a huge advantage over big businesses because of their much greater flexibility. It is exactly for that reason that market timing is arguably the number one most important factor when you are choosing which startup market to enter.

Biological And Business Niches

In order to survive, most species specialize in a niche of their own. This is a way to differentiate themselves from other species and to reduce the level of direct competition to a minimum.

If two species are competing in the same niche, however, the likelihood that one of the two would be forced extinct in time is high because they are competing over the same limited resources.

This is also true for businesses, especially in the digital era with its low marginal costs and strong network effects. Tech startup niches are often winner-takes-all economies.

Consequently, one of the best ways to ensure the success of your startup is to avoid competing directly with other businesses over the same customers with the same proposition. Differentiating your offering meaningfully and tailoring it to a unique segment of consumers is a great way to ensure your business exists in an abundant rather than scarce environment, which will allow it to thrive.

The Red Queen Effect In Biology And Business

Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. Alice in Wonderland

Evolution by natural selection forces species to be in a constant evolutionary arms race. The ones that fail to adapt go extinct.

This is also true of businesses and especially of startups. Markets are rarely static, especially in the technological age. Over time, the only constant thing is change.

This means that ensuring success in the long run you have to pay extremely close attention to changes in the market and to constantly adapt.

Summary

A few important lessons for startups that could be derived from concepts in biology are:

Link:

Using Evolutionary Thinking To Gain An Advantage In The Realm Of Startups - Forbes

This book should give the reader a rational and logical explanation of creation, as it manifests itself, showing a close correlation with the character of God, what He tells us about ourselves and what He tells us about the rest of creation.

GLENDALE, Ariz. (PRWEB) July 11, 2021

Author John Constantine Capleton uses the order of the natural universe as testimony of its divine Creator in The MYTH about EVOLUTION ($17.99, paperback, 9781662819162; $27.99, hard cover, 9781662819179; $8.99, e-book, 9781662819186).

Through both observation and study, Capleton has learned that an ordered universe requires some intelligence behind it, as well as maintanence to keep it going. He believes the Word of God when it tells readers that God is both Creator and maintenance crew for our universe, and explains this approach to his own readers.

This book should give the reader a rational and logical explanation of creation, as it manifests itself, showing a close correlation with the character of God, what He tells us about ourselves and what He tells us about the rest of creation, said Capleton.

John Constantine Capleton is an engineer with a Masters degree in Manufacturing Engineering. He grew up on the north coast of Jamaica with an innate ability and passion for creating and building, which he has pursued throughout his lifetime.

###

Xulon Press, a division of Salem Media Group, is the worlds largest Christian self-publisher, with more than 15,000 titles published to date. The MYTH about Evolution is available online through xulonpress.com/bookstore, amazon.com, and barnesandnoble.com.

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Xulon Press presents a logical debunking of the theory of evolution - PR Web

When Nat Fyfe arrived at Fremantle at the end of 2009 as a skinny, shy but talented draftee, he immediately struck new teammate Matt de Boer as a player with an "anti-authoritarian streak" who was going to challenge the norms.

With a desire to be the best as soon as he could, it was that tendency to push boundaries and question the way things were done that initially rubbed some teammates up the wrong way.

But 12 years and 199 games on, it is a trait that has shaped the champion midfielder's career and allowed him to become a superstar of the competition and a unique leader of a young team.

"He was clearly in a hurry to make a mark," de Boer recalled ahead of Fyfe's 200th game on Saturday.

"He was shy with a bit of anti-authoritarian about him, and he was happy to push boundaries.

"He thinks differently and wants to do things in his own way, whether it was weights or touch, he would have his own take on it. But that was always coupled with a team element and a will to win."

De Boer describes his close friend as "anti-normal" in the way he thinks deeply about why things are done and then takes the actions he believes are needed to improve, rather than falling into line out of habit.

He had a clear plan from an early age to be the game's best player, de Boer said, which would lead him to do his own research and seek out his own specialists when they were needed.

"The fact that he always had a purpose to not just get better but to be the best, that was the different between him and other players," de Boer said.

"He aimed high and wanted to be the best, which took him to another level."

Michael Barlow is another former teammate who remains close with Fyfe and recognised the anti-authoritarian and challenging side of his personality early on.

"That's exactly the way he is wired," Barlow said. "To challenge normal essentially and do things his own way in the confines of an elite program and team sport."

Barlow believes Fyfe is different to 99 per cent of AFL players in the extent of his professional ambition.

He is motivated by team success but is also acutely aware of the role he can play in that if he reaches the pinnacle individually, as he did twice as a Brownlow medallist in 2015 and 2019.

"This is not to put pressure on him, but he would sit there and think 'I can be the greatest of all time'." Barlow said.

"He would be driven by the team success but also the involvement and significance of his own individual performance.

"He is top 1 per cent in his field. He's one of the outliers in terms of performance and expectation, and with that comes a fair bit of behaving differently and finding different edges."

Barlow left Fremantle at the end of 2016 before Fyfe was made captain the following season, but he saw the midfielder's leadership style emerging.

The Werribee VFL coach has also remained in touch with the 29-year-old, sharing ideas on leadership, where Fyfe again brings a unique style.

"He's tapped into a little bit more about personal relationships and finding a little niche with every player," Barlow said.

"He might do a gun club with Brett Bewley once a week, and then he'll do surfing with James Aish, but each individual is different, and it might be 15 minutes a week where he invests in each individual in different ways.

"He has genuine care in people and he is very direct and invested in your life. It's a pretty special element of his character."

Former Docker Brady Grey has become a regular training partner for Fyfe in the off-season after the pair struck up a close friendship during their recoveries from injury in 2016.

He has watched Fyfe grow as a captain and believes his desire to be the best player is now matched with his desire to be the best possible leader of a young Fremantle team.

"It's starting to reflect in the way Freo are playing and how everyone accepts him for who he is and how he leads," Grey said.

He's worked out who he wants to be a leader and he is bring the young guys along with him and really embracing that everyone is their own individual.

"His ability to connect with different generations and different players has made him a better player and a better leader."

Grey, who will join Fyfe up and down the WA coast for training stints, or in-land at the star's Lake Grace home, can still see the three-time All Australian's desire burning to be the best player in the competition.

Goalkicking issues have prevented him reaching those heights in an otherwise excellent season, but there have been performances in 2021 that show the champion Docker still has that level in him.

"Something that has been a constant is that he is not complacent about being good or great he wants to be the best and I don't think that's changed," Gray said.

"There's a reason why he's played 200 games and had the success he's had as an individual, but he always comes back to how can we win a premiership?

"He knows that if he's in that position where he's the best player in the comp then Freo can achieve something special."

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The evolution of Fyfe: From 'anti-authoritarian' kid to inspirational leader - Fremantle Dockers