Category Archives: Evolution

SAN DIEGO, Calif. The ancestors of whales used to walk on land, and San Diego scientists are working to uncover mysteries about how the evolution from land to sea took place. Theyre turning to whales teeth to find answers.

More than 50 million years ago, whales ancestors walked on land. Now, they still have features that link the land tendencies.

Theyre air-breathing mammals that are fully aquatic today but their ancestors walked on land with four legs. That transition from a four-legged terrestrial mammal to a fully aquatic marine animal that swims with a tail is an amazing transition and the fossil record preserves the details of that land to sea transition, said Eric Ekdale, a lecturer of Biology at San Diego State University.

Ekdale and fellow scientist Tom Demere, who is the Curator of Paleontology at the San Diego Natural History Museum, decided to dig deeper into this transition.

Fossil records show that millions of years ago, whales had teeth. Now, whale fetuses have teeth, but those teeth disappear by birth and are replaced with something called baleen, which is the same substance that makes up human hair and nails.

But what happened in between? And when?

Using CT scans, Ekdale and Demere analyzed fossils from the middle of those two time frames and discovered that those whales had both teeth and baleen. This tells them that there was a gradual overlap before whales lost teeth.

Whats really intriguing though is were able to use this modern technology to investigate a fossil. We couldnt have done this 25 years ago, said Demere.

The two say that it might seem like an insignificant thing to analyze, but its an important piece of the puzzle when looking at a big-picture transition. Its also rare for mammals to lose teeth the way whales have.

To lose teeth is kind of a big deal. Most mammals have teeth but the animals that dont have teeth, theyve done something different. We view this in an evolutionary perspective as an adaptation, said Demere.

Baleen whales are the largest animal to have ever lived on this planet. They include blue whales, humpback whales, gray whales, and more.

There is currently a display of this research on the third floor of the San Diego Natural History Museum.

This story was originally published by Leah Pezzetti at KGTV.

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Scientists use teeth to analyze evolution of whales walking on land to swimming in ocean - KXLF Butte News

Revolution in an RNA-packaging capsid

Artificial nucleocapsid proteins, which could be analogous to those used by viruses to package their genomes, are a promising way to protect and deliver RNAs. Using an escalating challenge by nucleases, Tetter et al. evolved a protein that forms multimeric, spherical cages into a highly efficient capsid that selectively packages its own encoding RNA. Cryoelectron microscopy of the final design and intermediates revealed a stepwise expansion in size, enabled by destabilizing amino acid substitutions and a domain swap that results in a change of oligomerization interfaces for the base units of the cage. In addition to altering the protein, directed evolution resulted in changes to the encoding RNA structure that enabled efficient uptake versus other cellular RNAs.

Science, abg2822, this issue p. 1220

Viruses are ubiquitous pathogens of global impact. Prompted by the hypothesis that their earliest progenitors recruited host proteins for virion formation, we have used stringent laboratory evolution to convert a bacterial enzyme that lacks affinity for nucleic acids into an artificial nucleocapsid that efficiently packages and protects multiple copies of its own encoding messenger RNA. Revealing remarkable convergence on the molecular hallmarks of natural viruses, the accompanying changes reorganized the protein building blocks into an interlaced 240-subunit icosahedral capsid that is impermeable to nucleases, and emergence of a robust RNA stem-loop packaging cassette ensured high encapsidation yields and specificity. In addition to evincing a plausible evolutionary pathway for primordial viruses, these findings highlight practical strategies for developing nonviral carriers for diverse vaccine and delivery applications.

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Evolution of a virus-like architecture and packaging mechanism in a repurposed bacterial protein - Science Magazine

Veronica, who works in human resources, was reading through the resumes that a recruiter sent for a new opening in the learning and development group. She noticed several candidates referred to themselves as learning experience designers. After reviewing the lists of accomplishments, Veronica figured this must be a new synonym for instructional designer. Did Veronica come to the correct conclusion?

The name of a business, the title of a career, or even a nickname can be arbitrary, or it can be revealing. Learning experience design is a great example of this paradox. As with much terminology in our industry, learning experience design has multiple meanings, depending on your perspective.

As a result, our industry adopted many of the relevant practices and tools from the user experience (UX) community. For example, developing personas, using empathy maps, and creating learning journey maps come from the UX world. This gave instructional designers a new toolkit and somewhat of a new approach. From this perspective, learning experience design is instructional design merged with user experience design. Think of a Venn diagram.

The evolved learning experience designer will be better equipped to solve the messy and complex challenges introduced by rapid technological change, constant disruption, global communities, inclusion strategies, flattening of organizational hierarchies, and new workforce models.

Im advocating for the term learning experience design to be a meaningful change, not an arbitrary oneone that gives us greater leverage and authority to solve the right problems with the right solutions. One that allows us to say that training wont solve every problem. Most importantly, it will give us a role where we transition from order taker to solution builder and change agent.

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The Evolution to Learning Experience Design - ATD

SAN DIEGO, Calif. (KGTV) - The ancestors of whales used to walk on land, and San Diego scientists are working to uncover mysteries about how the evolution from land to sea took place. Theyre turning to whales teeth to find answers.

More than 50 million years ago, whales ancestors walked on land. Now, they still have features that link the land tendencies.

Theyre air-breathing mammals that are fully aquatic today but their ancestors walked on land with four legs. That transition from a four-legged terrestrial mammal to a fully aquatic marine animal that swims with a tail is an amazing transition and the fossil record preserves the details of that land to sea transition, said Eric Ekdale, a lecturer of Biology at San Diego State University.

Ekdale and fellow scientist Tom Demere, who is the Curator of Paleontology at the San Diego Natural History Museum, decided to dig deeper into this transition.

Fossil records show that millions of years ago, whales had teeth. Now, whale fetuses have teeth, but those teeth disappear by birth and are replaced with something called baleen, which is the same substance that makes up human hair and nails.

But what happened in between? And when?

Using CT scans, Ekdale and Demere analyzed fossils from the middle of those two-time frames and discovered that those whales had both teeth and baleen. This tells them that there was a gradual overlap before whales lost teeth.

Whats really intriguing though is were able to use this modern technology to investigate a fossil. We couldnt have done this 25 years ago, said Demere.

The two say that it might seem like an insignificant thing to analyze, but its an important piece of the puzzle when looking at a big-picture transition. Its also rare for mammals to lose teeth the way whales have.

To lose teeth is kind of a big deal. Most mammals have teeth but the animals that dont have teeth, theyve done something different. We view this in an evolutionary perspective as an adaptation, said Demere.

Baleen whales are the largest animal to have ever lived on this planet. They include blue whales, humpback whales, gray whales and more.

There is currently a display of this research on the third floor of the San Diego Natural History Museum.

See the original post here:

San Diego scientists use teeth to analyze evolution of whales walking on land to swimming in ocean - 10News

Old Glory has taken many different forms over the years, while still always showing off her red, white and blue.

In celebration of Flag Day, I'm exploring the colorful history of the American flag, starting way back from before even the Declaration of Independence.

This is widely considered the first flag of the United States. It's known as the "Continental Colors" or "Grand Union" flag, and it was in use at the time the American colonies declared independence.

On June 14, 1777, the second Continental Congress adopted a resolution proclaiming, "That the flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation." That's why today is known as flag day.

However, that's a pretty vague statement. And a flag that was flown aboard a captured British frigate in 1779, the Serapis or Franklin flag, was one interpretation. It may look strange, but it was at the time internationally recognized by the Dutch.

After congress adopted the flag resolution in 1777, multiple non-standardized flag designs were going around. One of them was known as the Francis Hopkins flag.

Francis Hopkins was a naval flag designer and actually billed the young congress for having designed the flag which was never officially adopted. It featured 13 stars and 13 alternating red and white stripes.

In 1779, the War Board and George Washington worked to adopt a standard.

This flag, known as the Betsy Ross flag, is still widely known today. Although, there is no proof that Betsy Ross ever actually stitched this flag, nor that she ever had contact with George Washington or the continental congress.

Two stars and two stripes were added to the flag after Vermont and Kentucky were admitted into the Union. This 15-star and 15-stripe flag flew over Fort McHenry in 1812 and is what inspired a certain Francis Scott Key to write a poem known as the "Defense of fort M'Henry," which would later become the Star Spangled Banner.

As more states were admitted into the Union, Congress passed a resolution to add 20 stars to the flag and add an additional star every time a state joined, while the number of stripes was reset to 13 one for each of the American colonies.

By the time the Civil War broke out in 1861, the number of stars on the flag had increased to 33. Some in Washington D.C. wanted to remove the stars of the southern states from the flag, but Abraham Lincoln refused to do so, believing it granted legitimacy to the Confederacy.

Prior to 1912, there was no standard arrangement for the stars on the flag. But when New Mexico and Arizona joined the Union in 1912, a national standard was finally adopted with the updated 48-star flag.

With the addition of Hawaii as the 50th state, a 50-star flag began flying on July 4, 1960. And in 2007, the 50-star flag became the longest tenured flag in U.S. history.

Should a 51st state be added perhaps Washington D.C. a 51-star flag has already been designed by the United States Army Institute of Heraldry.

So if you've got a Betsy Ross flag or perhaps even a 28-star flag from the time when Texas became a state, what can you do with them? According to the U.S. Army Institute of Heraldry, any version of the American flag throughout history never becomes obsolete. Any officially approved American flag, regardless of the number or arrangement of the stars and/or stripes may continue to be used and displayed until no longer serviceable.

So fly Old Glory proudly, no matter how many stars or stripes she might have. In the words of Johnny Cash, we're kind of proud of that ragged old flag.

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The evolution and history of the American flag - ABC10.com KXTV

BOCA RATON, FL, June 15, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Mitch Gould doesnt follow. He leads.

As a third-generation retail professional, Gould has worked with major brands and retailers.

During his 30-year career, Gould, who has placed hundreds of brands with large and small chains throughout the country, has seen many product manufacturers struggle to break into the U.S. consumer market.

After watching them scuffle in a new consumer market, Gould decided to create a better mousetrap.

Ive seen the traps that international product manufacturers would fall into when they decided to launch their brands in the U.S., said Gould, founder and CEO of Nutritional Products International, a global brand management firm based in Boca Raton, Fl. They would spend on office space, hire a marketing agency, and add salespeople. Before they even sold one unit, they would have eaten into their profit margin.

Watching these companies fail led Gould to develop his Evolution of Distribution retail platform.

They needed a new approach that would keep costs down and emphasize speed to market, Gould said. To help them succeed, I developed a turnkey operation that offered all the services they needed to succeed in the U.S. They didnt have to reinvent the wheel. I put all the expertise under the NPI banner, Gould said.

Goulds Evolution of Distribution platform combines sales, logistics, regulatory compliance, and marketing into a one-stop-shop.

Without my Evolution of Distribution, these product manufacturers were throwing money at the problem without any hope of succeeding, he added.

NPI works with international companies to ship their products to America and meet all U.S. Customs and FDA guidelines. NPI provides warehousing, product liability insurance, sales expertise, and promotion through strategic public relations and social media campaigns.

NPI becomes the U.S. headquarters for our international clients, said Jeff Fernandez, president of NPI.

The key to NPIs success is the years of experience that Gould, Fernandez, and the NPI team have in the health and wellness industry.

I met Mitch when I was part of the team at Amazon that created the health and wellness category from ground zero, Fernandez said, adding that Gould helped place more than 150 brands with Amazon in the early 2000s when the online giant was only selling books and electronics.

Jeff, who also worked as a buyer at Walmart, and I helped created a billion-dollar revenue stream for Amazon, Gould added.

Fast-forward to the present and Gould and Fernandez continue working with product manufacturers who want to launch their brands in the U.S.

I talk to CEOs of companies almost every day, Gould said. Many of them want to sell their products in the U.S. This is where NPI and the Evolution of Distribution can help.

For more information, visit Nutritional Products International online.

MORE ON NPI AND ITS FOUNDER

NPI is a privately-held company specializing in the retail distribution of nutraceuticals, dietary supplements, functional beverages, and skincare products. NPI offers a unique, proven approach for product manufacturers worldwide seeking to launch or expand their products' distribution in the U.S. retail market.

Mitch Gould, founder and CEO of NPI, is a third-generation retail distribution and manufacturing professional. Gould developed the "Evolution of Distribution" platform, which provides domestic and international product manufacturers with the sales, marketing, and product distribution expertise required to succeed in the world's largest market -- the United States. Gould, known as a global marketing guru, also has represented icons from the sports and entertainment worlds such as Steven Seagal, Hulk Hogan, Ronnie Coleman, Roberto Clemente Jr., Chuck Liddell, and Wayne Gretzky.

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Mitch Gould Leads the Health and Wellness Industry With His - GlobeNewswire

Sandvik are evolving this popular down-the-hole drill rig to support fully autonomous blasthole drilling

SANDVIK Mining and Rock Solutions are evolving their Leopard DI650i down-the-hole (DTH) drill rig to support fully autonomous operation. The new iDrill automation platform expands the existing on-board automated drilling cycle and matches seamlessly with AutoMine Surface Drilling to allow fully autonomous Leopard DI650i fleet operation from a control room.

The latest development is a major step on Sandviks DTH drill rig automation journey, said Jari Lantinen, product manager for surface drilling. This means shifting from individual automated tasks and sequences towards a genuine ecosystem of automation platforms and operating with a connected fleet of automated mining equipment.

This will also change the role of one operator handling a single machine into a specialist controlling multiple drill rigs remotely and utilizing their expertise to optimize drilling process productivity.

The new iDrill automation for Leopard DI650i complements existing automated drilling functionalities with several new features such as drilling stabilization, automated collaring, automated cleaning and detaching from hole. The result is an optimized iDrill drilling cycle where the operator only needs to monitor the process.

The iDrill drilling cycle of Leopard DI650i is engineered to ensure consistent high-quality drilled holes. It supports the fleet operator by minimizing common drilling errors, such as hole inclination, depth and positioning inaccuracies. The intelligent iDrill drilling cycle handles and optimally controls the DTH drilling tools for best possible service life without compromising drilling performance.

The iDrill drilling cycle starts with automated positioning, where the TIM3D drill navigation system guides the rig to the correct spot according to the drill plan. Feed beam and boom are automatically positioned to the correct drilling angle. The drill rig is automatically stabilized and the feed beam is accurately aligned to match the drill plan to ensure high-quality holes.

The existing cycle has been upgraded with new features such as anti-jamming pullback monitoring and intelligent collaring sequence, including suction head automatics and centralizer automatics to match the hammer and pipe size for optimal support while collaring.

In full-power drilling, the iFlow control system automatically adjusts the air pressure and volume levels and the iTorque drilling control system monitors the rotation torque and automatically optimizes the feed force to match the rock conditions.

The pipe-handling system adds and removes pipes automatically. An intelligent hole finishing sequence eliminates any harmful tensile stresses due to inaccuracies and prevents dirt from entering into the DTH hammer. Finally, detaching from the hole sequence makes the drill rig ready to move safely to the next hole.

The iDrill drilling cycle allows manual intervention and can be activated or deactivated at any stage of the cycle. In addition, the operator can add optional wait stages between automated sequences, if additional checks are needed for safety reasons or challenging drilling conditions are encountered. After intervention, the cycle will commence automatically until the desired hole depth is reached and the hole sequence is finished.

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Evolution of the Sandvik Leopard DI650i - Agg-Net

One of the ultimate truths in life is that things change over time. In just the last ten years, I have graduated college, got married, had a child and moved three times. Social media platforms have exploded and changed the media game, and streaming services have made cable and satellite television near obsolete.

The same is true in the NBA and with the Memphis Grizzlies. Ten seasons ago, the Memphis Grizzlies made the playoffs for the first time in what came to be known as the Grit n Grind era. They were an eight seed matched up with the mighty San Antonio Spurs who were 60-22 on the year. Memphis went on to not only snap an 0-12 playoff record with the first win in franchise history, but did the improbable and won that first round series and took the Oklahoma City Thunder to 7 games in round 2.

Ten years later, the Grizz Next Gen era began its quest in the NBA Postseason. Although they did not advance past the first round, they did manage to win their first three* postseason games. The success on paper looks slightly different for the two teams, but the similarities between the 10-11 and 20-21 teams are very interesting as well as the contrasts.

The similarities after a decade in each eras first playoff run are kind of nuts. For starters, both teams featured 3 non 2-way rookies on their rosters. Greivis Vasquez, Xavier Henry and Ish Smith played alongside the Core Four, while this season featured Desmond Bane, Xavier Tillman and Jontay Porter.

In 2010-11, the future franchise cornerstones were a point guard and a big were under 25. Go figure, in 2020-21 the cornerstones are a point guard and a big fall in the same category. Each teams most experienced player was a bruising rebounder in the front court Zach Randolph and Jonas Valanciunas. Both teams had a starting wing player who relished in being a defensive menace, also known as Trick-or-Treat the OG and Trick-or-Treat 2.0.

When it came to their playoff debuts as a team, both teams were the 8 seed, and both featured four players to average over 10 points per game. Each team had two starters with previous playoff experience Tony Allen and Zach Randolph; Jonas Valanciunas and Kyle Anderson.

Perhaps the craziest similarity as people try to move this team beyond the Grit n Grind style of play, is that both teams led the NBA in steals 2010-11 had 9.4 per and 2020-21 averaged 9.1 per. This led to each of these groups to be top 10 in opponent turnovers per game. A not so fun similarity is that both teams attempted and made less threes per game than their opponents. Perhaps GNG will never fully die as a franchise embodies the city they reside in...

While the similarities between the teams an entire decade apart are borderline eerie, the differences are perhaps more telling about how the NBA has evolved and the Memphis Grizzlies have had to catch up.

The veteran on the current roster is 8 year pro Jonas Valanciunas. A decade ago, the Grizzlies featured two 9 year vets in Zach Randolph and Shane Battier as well as an NBA Champion in Tony Allen. That roster bolstered 102 games of playoff experience, including two separate Finals appearance by the Grindfather. As it was noted heading into the play-in game against Golden State, this years Grizzlies roster had 77 amongst 3 players.

This year Memphis featured six players ages 25 and under and only 2 older, that averaged 10 minutes or more per game, while a decade ago the ratio was 5-4. In the playoffs, ZBo was the only Core Four member to average over 20 points per contest. This year both Ja Morant (30) and Dillon Brooks (25.8) joined elite company in the NBA 25 and under to score over 25 club.

The starters this season were responsible for 93 points per game, good for 78% of the teams total scoring. While we rave about the depth of this bench, the 2010-11 bench had a larger rotation and contributed more to the team. Those starters scored 68 points per game at 68% of the total scoring. So while the scoring has increased (league wide), this years group had to (or chose to) carry more of the load.

The shift in style of play is apparent in these numbers alone. The Grizzlies took 11.2 less shots from 2 than a decade ago but were still third in the NBA. Their opponents shot the same percentage from three but due to the volume now, they are towards the middle of the pack defensively. The Next Gen Grizzlies grabbed practically the same amount of offensive rebounds, as the team that coined the term ZBound but finished 4 spots higher in the association.

The NBA today, as our eyes tell us, has shifted from the paint to the arc. Memphis has taken more threes, but still struggle to make them. They still have this decade old approach at times, while still playing fast. Its like the team plays the Kyle Anderson way a slo-mo fast break... oxymoronic.

As mentioned before, both teams were an eight seed headed into the first playoff run of their era. To get a better feel for what they faced, I did a little (more) research.

Some of these stats are mind boggling. The Spurs were a middle of the road defense allowing less than 100 per game and the Jazz are lauded as an amazing defense giving up closer to 110 per game.

The most gaudy difference was the three point attempt rate. Almost half of the Jazzs offense are three point shots and they are hitting nearly 40% of them absolutely bonkers I must add. The Spurs were SIXTH in the NBA at 29% of their offense coming from behind the perimeter. Neither iteration of the Grizzlies are particularly great at defending the perimeter, but this years team ran into an offensive juggernaut.

The Spurs were a fine offense, top 10 in most categories that mattered, but their defense was middle of the league or worse in a lot of categories. The Jazz are an elite offense that boasts an elite defense only team in the NBA to be top 5 in both. One last crazy stat is that both teams had a similar offensive rebound rate, but the Jazz were 3rd in the league while the Spurs were 21st.

The Next Gen Grizzlies really had no chance. While being a better offense than the Grizz of yore, it was never going to be enough against one of the better offenses the NBA has seen. The Spurs did not scare you on defense and the Grizzlies had the right mixture of vets and skill sets to exploit their weaknesses. This Jazz team just did not seem to have a weakness, coupled with an extremely youthful team (3rd youngest in all major sports).

Joe Mullinax said it best, the best version of the Memphis Grizzlies is yet to come. They went up against a significantly stronger one seed and you feel like there should have been a game 6 or 7. While the 2010-11 Grizz went on to win the first playoff series in franchise history (and go to game 7 in round 2), this Grizzlies team took even bigger leaps forward. Contending is no longer a thing of the past, this team is here to stay.

For more Grizzlies talk, subscribe to the Grizzly Bear Blues podcast network on Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, and IHeart. Follow Grizzly Bear Blues on Twitter and Instagram.

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The Memphis Grizzlies and the Evolution of Grit n Grind - Grizzly Bear Blues

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Culture that surrounds the human race is now helping it to evolve more quickly as a species than changes to our genetics, a new study claims.

Researchers at the University of Maine determined culture - which they define as learned knowledge, skills and practices - is becoming the driving force of evolution, helping humans adapt to environments and overcome challenges better and faster than genetics.

Cultural adaptions, according to the team, appear to happen faster in larger groups, which suggests evolution has become more group-orientated.

'The 'society as organism' metaphor is not so metaphorical after all. This insight can help society better understand how individuals can fit into a well-organized and mutually beneficial system,' Tim Waring,who is an associate professor of social-ecological systems modeling at the University of Maine, said in a statement.

'Take the coronavirus pandemic, for example. An effective national epidemic response program is truly a national immune system, and we can therefore learn directly from how immune systems work to improve our COVID response.'

The study, published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, concluded that humans are experiencing a 'special evolutionary transition' in which culture is becoming the dominant force guiding human evolution instead of our genes.

'This research explains why humans are such a unique species. We evolve both genetically and culturally over time, but we are slowly becoming ever more cultural and ever less genetic,' said Waring.

The notion stems from the idea that humans no longer need to survive in the wilderness and instead need to be more strategic in a modern world.

Speaking to Live Science, Zach Wood, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Maine, gave an example of a virus attacking a species.

The species will eventually become immune to the virus by means of genetic evolution.

However, this is a slow process and results in many members of the species dying that are unable to ward off the virus.

Modern-day humans do not wait for an outbreak to pick off the weak, but combat it by developing vaccines and medical treatments all of which stem from learned knowledge, skills and practices.

'Scientific medical practice is generally considered a cultural adaptation with clear advantages,' the researchers wrote in the study.

'However, scientific medicine can also act to obviate natural selection by promoting the health and reproduction of individuals with otherwise harmful genetic conditions.

'In doing so, scientific medicine may tend to weaken the genetic determination of phenotype and fitness.'

The study provides an example of the evolution of the Caesarean section procedure, a cultural adaptation to treat dangerous and deadly birth complications.

The success and spread of the Caesarean procedure has marginally relaxed genetic selection in humans.

Another cultural evolution is the adaptation of gestational surrogacy, in which couples who cannot bear children themselves elect to have another woman carry and birth their genetic offspring through the implantation of an egg fertilized in vitro.

This innovation has bypassed genetics, by allowing families to have children when genetic reproduction was not possible.

'In the very long term, we suggest that humans are evolving from individual genetic organisms to cultural groups which function as superorganisms, similar to ant colonies and beehives,' said Waring.

Warning also explained that culture is also more flexible than genes: gene transfer is rigid and limited to the genetic information of two parents, while cultural transmission is based on flexible human learning and effectively unlimited with the ability to make use of information from peers and experts far beyond parents.

'As a result, cultural evolution is a stronger type of adaptation than old genetics,' researchers shared in a statement.

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Culture is becoming the driving force behind human evolution - msnNOW

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When I entered the profession nearly 20 years ago if you'dhave told me that you could run a document-heavy commercial disputeto trial without using a printer in anger, I would have looked atyou with scepticism, but I would have been inspired. My colleagues,who had by that time been in practice for 20 years, would have lookat you as if you had just arrived from another planet.

Therein lies the problem with the legal sector's slownessto adopt technology. Experienced practitioners have tried andtested approaches to resolving disputes that work, and introducingnew technology carries with it risk and uncertainty. For everyfrontier, however, that has ever been conquered there was always apioneer who pushed the boundaries. Thankfully, a handful oftechnologists and practitioners have pushed the boundaries and weare now seeing the adoption of certain technologies, once seen astrailblazing, as the norm.

The last decade has seen an acceleration in disputes tech butfor some the profession just hasn't quite yet been ready. InOctober 2020 Artificial Lawyer1reported thatCourtQuant, the litigation prediction pioneer, had ceased to trade.Co-founder Jozef Maruscak cited the conservative nature of thelegal sector as one of the reasons for its failure.

CourtQuant was not alone in its attempts to harness big data andAI to predict the outcome of litigation. Its claims to predict theoutcome of litigation were perhaps difficult for most lawyers ortheir clients to put their trust in. Other providers of litigationanalytics such as Gavelytics and Solomonics take a moreconservative approach to the claims they make. Both combine bigdata analytics with human input. They provide a dashboard view onboth quantitative and qualitative data arising from previous courtdecisions to supplement the nuanced advice provided bypractitioners. Practitioners can make use of statistical data whenchoosing, for example, appropriate Counsel for a case or how todeploy certain arguments before certain judges. The statisticalinformation is supported by the ability of lawyers to drill downinto the qualitative material from which they can substitute theirown judgment. Neither tools currently can predict the outcome of adispute, but they do give lawyers a better chance of doing so.

The prospect of AI-based advice and letters of claim is,however, not entirely science fiction. Canadian based MyOpenCourtuses AI to analyse authorities and predict the outcome ofemployment claims. It provides users with an initial advice onmerits and a draft letter of claim which one of its panel law firmswill review and tailor to a Claimant's case. The technologyhas wider utility, particular where disputes arise out ofindustry-standard form contracts such as the ISDA Master agreement.It still relies, however, on an overlay of human intervention.

One area within dispute resolution in which technology has madethe greatest impact is disclosure. Initially, e-disclosureplatforms just provided the technology upon which large sets ofdocuments could be manually reviewed. They now do much moreincluding providing a wide range of big data analysis dashboardssuch as OpenText's Axcelerate software. The importance ofthese tools is recognised by litigators as the Disclosure Pilotlooks set to stay albeit with modification. Their utilityin investigations and arbitration is equally obvious. With aninitial core set of custodian data, it is much easier to nowidentify other custodians who may be relevant by data mappinginteraction between data custodians making it easier to focus onwhat is relevant and dispatch attempts to go on a fishingexpedition by the opponents.

Document production and case preparation in the last year hasseen perhaps the greatest seismic shift thanks to the pandemic,which has bought about through necessity arealisation that practitioners and judges can, and should, adapt toworking from electronic bundles. Encouraging experiencedpractitioners to ditch paper bundles for electronic bundles was anuphill battle until the pandemic hit but now it has become thenorm. To make it work, however, firms have had to quickly adoptbundling and case preparation software.

Opus 2 has become a staple product for many larger firms, butnew cloud-based provider Hyperlaw looks set to offer bundling andcase preparation at a relatively low cost per user making itaccessible to the wider market. By working with digital casepreparation software from the outset of a claim it significantlyreduces the time spent preparing case papers for variousstakeholders throughout a dispute; whether that be providinginitial disclosure, instructions to Counsel, instructions to anexpert, bundles for interim hearings, and trial bundles. Once thedocuments are in the system, production time and the associatedcosts are greatly reduced. One thing is certain, gone are the daysof seeing barristers' clerks lugging sack trolleys of leverarch files down Fleet Street.

The introduction of opt-out class actions2andproliferation of the representative action for common causes ofaction such as data breach3has sparked a grouplitigation gold rush in England and Wales. Other similar actionsafoot or likely to be pursued shortly include claims by over 10,000Uber Drivers following the Supreme Courtdecision4in a decision that addressed theirworker status and claims by VW and Mercedes vehicleowners arising out of the so-called defeat device.These actions bring with them administrative challenges thatpractitioners have historically struggled to grapple with, namelymanaging large volumes of Claimants or prospective Claimants in acost-effective manner.

Disputed.io's Casefunnel software provides an alternativesolution to engaging class action administration firms to serviceconsumer demand. Allowing law firms and their claim marketeers tofunnel Claimants directly into the software Casefunnel allowslawyers to capture important case data and documentary evidenceearly, in a manner that appeals particularly to consumers usingsmartphones. Where API's are available, such as vehicle checkdata via the DVLA, law firm can pre-qualify Claimants in aninstant. The system also tackles client onboarding signing upClaimants to funding and engagement documents as well as dealingwith the law firm's KYC obligations.

The funding of claims is also going digital. Recently launchedonline marketplace Finlegal provides an online marketplace forinitial market appraisal and the funding (litigation funding andATE insurance) of claims through a single online application thatcan be analysed by multiple funders. The unique online applicationprocess seeks to break down the data in a funding request to enablefunders and insurers to better triage applications to their fundingcriteria.

We will continue to see an increase in the intersection oftechnology and legal practice. Technology is unlikely to replacethe lawyer anytime soon, but it will increasingly support thelawyer in their practice, cutting out low level quantitative andqualitative analysis and reducing administrative aspects of thework via automation. It provides a real opportunity to add value toclients by reducing costs and speeding up service. It is alsofundamental to increasing access to justice by making more casesand causes of action viable. It is unlikely, however, to spark arevolution and we will most likely see a continuation of theexisting evolution of its integration with our practices.

This article was first published on the London InternationalDisputes Week website on 28th April 2021.

Footnotes

1https://www.artificiallawyer.com/2020/10/07/litigation-prediction-pioneer-courtquant-to-close/

2 Which appear to have the support of the SupremeCourt see Mastercard Incorporated and others v Walter Hugh MerricksCBE [2020] UKSC 51

3 See Richard Lloyd v Google LLC [2019] EWCA Civ1599

4 Uber BV and others v Aslam and others [2021] UKSC5

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