Category Archives: Evolution

Five years ago, Gregory Chaitin, a co-founder of the fascinating and mind-bending field of algorithmic information theory, offered a challenge:1

The honor of mathematics requires us to come up with a mathematical theory of evolution and either prove that Darwin was wrong or right!

In Introduction to Evolutionary Informatics2, co-authored by William A. Dembski, Winston Ewert, and myself, we answer Chaitins challenge in the negative: There exists no model successfully describing undirected Darwinian evolution. Period. By model, we mean definitive simulations or foundational mathematics required of a hard science.

We show that no meaningful information can arise from an evolutionary process unless that process is guided. Even when guided, the degree of evolutions accomplishment is limited by the expertise of the guiding information source a limit we call Baseners ceiling. An evolutionary program whose goal is to master chess will never evolve further and offer investment advice.

Here I answer ten frequently posed questions about and objections to Introduction to Evolutionary Informatics.

1. Why yet another book dissing Darwinian evolution?

Solomon was right. Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body.3 There are gobs of books written about evolution, pro and con. Many are excellent. So whats so important about Introduction to Evolutionary Informatics? On the topic of evolution, the conclusion is in: There exists no model successfully describing undirected Darwinian evolution. Hard sciences are built on foundations of mathematics or definitive simulations. Examples include electromagnetics, Newtonian mechanics, geophysics, relativity, thermodynamics, quantum mechanics, optics, and many areas in biology. Those hoping to establish Darwinian evolution as a hard science with a model have either failed or inadvertently cheated. These models contain guidance mechanisms to land the airplane squarely on the target runway despite stochastic wind gusts. Not only can the guiding assistance be specifically identified in each proposed evolution model, its contribution to the success can be measured, in bits, as active information.

And, as covered in Introduction to Evolutionary Informatics, we suspect no model will ever exist to substantiate the claims of undirected Darwinian evolution.

2. But Darwinian evolution is so complicated, it cant be modeled!

If this objection is true, we have reached the same conclusion by different paths: There exists no model successfully describing undirected Darwinian evolution.

3. You model evolution as a search. Evolution isnt a search.

We echo Billy Joel: We didnt start the fire! Models of Darwinian evolution, Avida and EV included, are searches with a fixed goal. For EV, the goal is finding specified nucleotide binding sites. Avidas goal is to generate an EQU logic function. Other evolution models that we examine in Introduction to Evolutionary Informaticslikewise seek a prespecified goal.

The evolution software Avida is of particular importance because Robert Pennock, one of the co-authors of the first paper describing Avida,4 gave testimony at the Darwin-affirming Kitzmiller et al. v. Dover Area School District bench trial. Pennocks testimony contributed to Judge Joness ruling that teaching about intelligent design violates the establishment clause of the United States Constitution. Pennock testified, In the [Avida computer program] system, were not simulating evolution. Evolution is actually happening. If true, Avida and thus evolution are a guided search with a specified target bubbling over with active information supplied by the programmers.

The most celebrated attempt of an evolution model without a goal of which were aware is TIERRA. In an attempt to recreate something like the Cambrian explosion on a computer, the programmer created what was thought to be an information-rich environment where digital organisms would flourish and evolve. According to TIERRAs ingenious creator, Thomas Ray, the project failed and was abandoned. There has to date been no success in open-ended evolution in the field of artificial life.5

Therefore, there exists no model successfully describing undirected Darwinian evolution.

4. You are not biologists. Why should anyone listen to you about evolution?

Leave aside that this question reeks of the genetic fallacy used in debate to steer conversation away from the topic at hand and down a rabbit trail of credential defense. The question is sincere, though, and deserves an answer. Besides, it lets me talk about myself.

The truth is that computer scientists and engineers know a lot about evolution and evolution models.

As we outline in Introduction to Evolutionary Informatics, proponents of Darwinian evolution became giddy about computers in the 1960s and 70s. Evolution was too slow to demonstrate in a wet lab, but thousands and more generations of evolution can be put in the bank when Darwinian evolution is simulated on a computer. Computer scientists and engineers soon realized that evolutionary search might assist in making computer-aided designs. In Introduction to Evolutionary Informatics, we describe how NASA engineers used guided evolutionary programs to design antennas resembling bent paper clips that today are floating and functioning in outer space.

Heres my personal background. I first became interested in evolutionary computation late last century when I served as editor-in-chief of the IEEE6 Transactions on Neural Networks.7 I invited top researchers in the field, David Fogel and his father Larry Fogel, to be the guest editors of a special issue of my journal dedicated to evolutionary computing.8 The issue was published in January 1994 and led to David founding the IEEE Transactions on Evolutionary Computing9 which today is the top engineering/computer science journal dedicated to the topic.

My first conference paper using evolutionary computing was published a year later10 and my first journal publication on evolutionary computation was in 1999.11 That was then. More recently my work, funded by the Office of Naval Research, involves simulated evolution of swarm dynamics motivated by the remarkable self-organizing behavior of social insects. Some of the results were excitingly unexpected12 including individual member suicidal sacrifice to extend the overall lifetime of the swarm.13 Evolving digital swarms is intriguing and we have a whole web site devoted to the topic.14

So I have been playing in the evolutionary sandbox for a long time and have dirt under my fingernails to prove it.

But is it biology? In reviewing our book for the American Scientific Affiliation (ASA), my friend Randy Isaac, former executive director of the ASA, said of our book, Those seeking insight into biological or chemical evolution are advised to look elsewhere.15 We agree! But if you are looking for insights into the models and mathematics thus far proposed by supporters of Darwinian evolution that purport to describe the theory, Introduction to Evolutionary Informatics is spot on. And we show there exists no model successfully describing undirected Darwinian evolution.

5. You use probability inappropriately. Probability theory cannot be applied to events that have already happened.

In the movie Dumb and Dumber, Jim Careys character, Lloyd Christmas, is brushed off by beautiful Mary Samsonite Swanson when told his chances with her areone in a million. After a pause for introspective reflection, Lloyds emergent toothy grin shows off his happy chipped tooth. He enthusiastically blurts out, So youre telling me theres a chance! Similar exclamationsare heard from Darwinian evolutionist advocates. Darwinian evolution. So youre telling me theres a chance! So again, we didnt start the probability fire. Evolutionary models thrive on randomness described by probabilities.

The probability-of-the -gaps championed by supporters of Darwinian evolution is addressed in detail in Introduction to Evolutionary Informatics. We show that the probability resources of the universe and even string theorys hypothetical multiverse are insufficient to explain the specified complexity surrounding us.

Besides, a posteriori probability is used all the time. The size of your last tweet can be measured in bits. Claude Shannon, who coined the term bits in his classic 1948 paper,16 based the definition of the bit on probability. Yet there sits your transmitted tweet with all of its a posteriori bits fully exposed. Another example is a posteriori Bayesian probability commonly used, for example, in email spam filters. What is the probability that your latest email from a Nigerian prince, already received and written on your server, is spam? Bayesian probabilities are also a posteriori probabilities.

So a hand-waving dismissal of a posteriori probabilities is ill-tutored. The application of probability in Introduction to Evolutionary Informatics is righteous and the analysis leads to the conclusion that there exists no model successfully describing undirected Darwinian evolution.

6. What about a biological anthropic principle? Were here, so evolution must work.

Stephen Hawking has a simple explanation of the anthropic principle: If the conditions in the universe were not suitable for life, we would not be asking why they are as they are. Gabor Csanyi, who quotes from Hawkings talk, says, Hawking claims, the dimensionality of space and amount of matter in the universe is [a fortuitous] accident, which needs no further explanation.17

So youre telling me theres a chance!

The question ignored by anthropic principle enthusiasts is whether or not an environment for even guided evolution could occur by chance. If a successful search requires equaling or exceeding some degree of active information, what is the chance of finding any search with as good or better performance? We call this a search-for-the-search. In Introduction to Evolutionary Informatics, we show that the search-for-the-search is exponentially more difficult that the search itself! So if you kick the can down the road, the can gets bigger.

Professor Sydney R. Coleman said after the Hawkings MIT talk, Anything else is better [than the Anthropic Principle to explain something].18 We agree. For example, check out our search-for-the-search analysis in Introduction to Evolutionary Informatics.

7. What about the claim that All information is physical?

This is a question we have heard from physicists.

In physics, Landauers principle pertains to the lower theoretical limit of energy consumption of computation and leads to his statement all information is physical.

Saying All computers are mass and energy offers a similar nearly useless description of computers. Like Landauers principle, it suffers from the same overgeneralized vagueness and is at best incomplete.

Claude Shannon counters Landauers claim:

It seems to me that we all define information as we choose; and, depending upon what field we are working in, we will choose different definitions. My own model of information theorywas framed precisely to work with the problem of communication.19

Landauer is probably correct within the narrow confines of his physics foxhole. Outside the foxhole is Shannon information which is built on unknown a priori probability of events which have not yet happened and are therefore not yet physical.

We spend an entire chapter in Introduction to Evolutionary Informatics defining information so there is no confusion when the concept is applied. And we conclude there exists no model successfully describing undirected Darwinian evolution.

8. Information theory cannot measure meaning.

Poppycock.

A hammer, like information theory, is a tool. A hammer can be used to do more than pound nails. And information theory can do more than assign a generic bit count to an object.

The most visible information theory models are Shannon information theory and KCS information.20 The consequence of Shannons theory on communication theory is resident in your cell phone where codes predicted by Shannon today allow maximally efficient use of available bandwidth. KCS stands for Kolmogorov-Chaitin-Solomonoff information theory named after the three men who independently founded the field. KCS information theory deals with the information content of structures. (Gregory Chaitin, by the way, gives a nice nod-of-the-head to Introduction to Evolutionary Informatics.21)

The manner in which information theory can be used to measure meaning is addressed in Introduction to Evolutionary Informatics. We explain, for example, why a picture of Mount Rushmore containing imagesof fourUnited States presidents has more meaning to you than a picture of Mount Fuji even though both pictures might require the same number of bits when stored on your hard drive. The degree of meaning can be measured using a metric called algorithmic specified complexity.

Rather than summarize algorithmic specified complexity derived and applied in Introduction to Evolutionary Informatics, we refer instead to a quote from a paper from one of the worlds leading experts in algorithmic information theory, Paul Vitnyi. The quote is from a paper he wrote over 15 years ago, titled Meaningful Information.22

One can divide[KCS] information into two parts: the information accounting for the useful regularity [meaningful information] present in the object and the information accounting for the remaining accidental [meaningless] information.23

In Introduction to Evolutionary Informatics, we use information theoryto measure meaningful information and show there exists no model successfully describing undirected Darwinian evolution.

9. To achieve specified complexity in nature, the fitness landscape in evolution keeps changing. So, contrary to your claim, Baseners ceiling doesnt apply in Darwinian evolution.

In search, complexity cant be achieved beyond the expertise of the guiding oracle. As noted, we refer to this limit as Baseners ceiling.24However, if the fitness continues to change, it is argued, the evolved entity can achieve greater and greater specified complexity and ultimately perform arbitrarily great acts like writing insightful scholarly books disproving Darwinian evolution.

We analyze exactly this case in Introduction to Evolutionary Informatics and dub the overall search structure stair step active information. Not only is guidance required on each stair, but the next step must be carefully chosen to guide the process to the higher fitness landscape and therefore ever increasing complexity. Most of the next possible choices are deleterious and lead to search deterioration and even extinction. This also applies in the limit when the stairs become teeny and the stair case is better described as a ramp. As Aristotle said, It is possible to fail in many wayswhile to succeed is possible only in one way.

Heres an anecdotal illustration of the careful design needed in the stair step model. If a meteor hits the Yucatan Peninsula and wipes out all the dinosaurs and allows mammals to start domination of the earth, then the meteors explosion must be a Goldilocks event. If too strong all life on earth would be zapped. If too weak, velociraptors would still be munching on stegosaurus eggs.

Such fine tuning is the case of any fortuitous shift in fitness landscapes and increases, not decreases, the difficulty of evolution of ever-increasing specified complexity. It supports the case there exists no model successfully describing undirected Darwinian evolution.

10. Your research is guided by your ideology and cant be trusted.

Theres that old derailing genetic fallacy again.

But yes! Of course, our research is impacted by our ideology! We are proud to be counted among Christians such asthe Reverend Thomas Bayes, Isaac Newton, George Washington Carver, Michael Faraday, and the greatest of all mathematicians, Leonard Euler.25 The truth of their contributions stand apart from their ideology. But so does the work of atheist Pierre-Simon Laplace. Truth trumps ideology. And allowing the possibility of intelligent design, embraced by enlightened theists and agnostics alike, broadens ones investigative horizons.

Alan Turing, the brilliant father of computer science and breaker of the Nazis enigma code, offers a great example of the ultimate failure of ideology trumping truth. Asa young man, Turing lost a close friend to bovine tuberculosis. Devastated by the death, Turing turned from God and became an atheist. He was partially motivated in his development of computer science to prove man was a machine and consequently that there was no need for a god. But Turings landmark work has allowed researchers, most notably Roger Penrose,26 to make the case that certain of mans attributes including creativity and understanding are beyond the capability of the computer. Turings ideological motivation was thus ultimately trashed by truth.

The relationship between human and computer capabilities is discussed in more depth in Introduction to Evolutionary Informatics.

Take Aways

In Introduction to Evolutionary Informatics, Chaitins challenge has been met in the negative and there exists no model successfully describing undirected Darwinian evolution. According to our current understanding, there never will be. But science should never say never. As Stephen Hawking notes, nothing in science is ever actually proved. We simply accumulate evidence.27

So if anyone generates a model demonstrating Darwinian evolution without guidance that ends in an object with significant specified complexity, let us know. No guiding, hand waving, extrapolation of adaptations, appealing to speculative physics, or anecdotal proofs allowed.

Until then, I guess you can call us free-thinking skeptics.

Thanks for listening.

Robert J. Marks II PhD is Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Baylor University.

Notes:

(1) Chaitin, Gregory. Proving Darwin: Making Biology Mathematical. Vintage, 2012.

(2) Marks II, Robert J., William A. Dembski, and Winston Ewert. Introduction to Evolutionary Informatics. World Scientific, 2017.

(3) Ecclesiastes 12:12b.

(4) Lenski, R.E., Ofria, C., Pennock, R.T. and Adami, C., 2003. The evolutionary origin of complex features. Nature, 423(6936), pp. 139-144.

(5) ID the Future podcast with Winston Ewert. Why Digital Cambrian Explosions FizzleOr Fake It, June 7, 2017.

(6) IEEE, the Institute of Electrical and Electrical Engineers, is the largest professional society in the world, with over 400,000 members.

(7) R.J. Marks II, The Joumal Citation Report: Testifying for Neural Networks, IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks, vol. 7, no. 4, July 1996, p. 801.

(8) Fogel, David B., and Lawrence J. Fogel. Guest editorial on evolutionary computation, IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks 5, no. 1 (1994): 1-14.

(9) R.J. Marks II, Old Neural Network Editors Dont Die, They Just Prune Their Hidden Nodes, IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks, vol. 8, no. 6 (November, 1997), p. 1221.

(10) Russell D. Reed and Robert J. Marks II, An Evolutionary Algorithm for Function Inversion and Boundary Marking, Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Evolutionary Computation, pp. 794-797, November 26-30, 1995.

(11) C.A. Jensen, M.A. El-Sharkawi and R.J. Marks II, Power Security Boundary Enhancement Using Evolutionary-Based Query Learning, Engineering Intelligent Systems, vol. 7, no. 9, pp. 215-218 (December 1999).

(12) Jon Roach, Winston Ewert, Robert J. Marks II and Benjamin B. Thompson, Unexpected Emergent Behaviors from Elementary Swarms,Proceedings of the 2013 IEEE 45th Southeastern Symposium on Systems Theory (SSST), Baylor University, March 11, 2013, pp. 41-50.

(13) Winston Ewert, Robert J. Marks II, Benjamin B. Thompson, Albert Yu, Evolutionary Inversion of Swarm Emergence Using Disjunctive Combs Control, IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man and Cybernetics: Systems, v. 43, #5, September 2013, pp. 1063-1076.

Albert R. Yu, Benjamin B. Thompson, and Robert J. Marks II, Swarm Behavioral Inversion for Undirected Underwater Search, International Journal of Swarm Intelligence and Evolutionary Computation, vol. 2 (2013). Albert R. Yu, Benjamin B. Thompson, and Robert J. Marks II, Competitive Evolution of Tactical Multiswarm Dynamics, IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man and Cybernetics: Systems, vol. 43, no. 3, pp. 563- 569 (May 2013).

Winston Ewert, Robert J. Marks II, Benjamin B. Thompson, Albert Yu, Evolutionary Inversion of Swarm Emergence Using Disjunctive Combs Control, IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man and Cybernetics: Systems, vol. 43, no. 5, September 2013, pp. 1063-1076.

(14) NeoSwarm.com.

(15) Review of Introduction to Evolutionary Informatics, Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith, vol. 69 no. 2, June 2017, pp. 104-108.

(16) Claude E. Shannon, A mathematical theory of communication, Bell System Technical Journal 27: 379-423 and 623656.

(17) Gabor Csanyi Stephen Hawking Lectures on Controversial Theory, The Tech, vol. 119, issue 48, Friday, October 8, 1999.

(18) The bracketed insertion in the quote is Csanyis, not ours.

(19) Quoted in P. Mirowski, Machine Dreams: Economics Becomes a Cyborg Science (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002), 170.

(20) Cover, Thomas M., and Joy A. Thomas. Elements of Information Theory. John Wiley & Sons, 2012.

(21) Review for Introduction to Evolutionary Informatics.

(22) Paul Vitnyi, Meaningful Information, in International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation: 13th International Symposium, ISAAC 2002, Vancouver, BC, Canada, November 21-23, 2002.

(23) Unlike our approach, Vitnyis use of the so-called Kolmogorov sufficient statistic here does not take context into account.

(24) Basener, W.F., 2013. Limits of Chaos and Progress in Evolutionary Dynamics. Biological Information New Perspectives. World Scientific, Singapore, pp. 87-104.

(25) Christian Calculus.

(26) See, e.g., Penrose, Roger. Shadows of the Mind. Oxford University Press, 1994.

(27) Hawking, Stephen. A Brief History of Time (1988). AppLife, 2014.

Photo credit: Postman85, via Pixabay.

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Top Ten Questions and Objections to Introduction to Evolutionary Informatics - Discovery Institute

Forbes

Ubisoft's 'Black Flag' Evolution, 'Skull and Bones,' Steals The Show At E3 Forbes Ubisoft did not disappoint when it came to surprises at E3 today, chief among them the first look at Skull and Bones, a new ship-based, pirate combat game built on the bones of Assassin's Creed: Black Flag, but existing as an entirely separate entity ... and more »

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Ubisoft's 'Black Flag' Evolution, 'Skull and Bones,' Steals The Show At E3 - Forbes

Whether youre a Nearshore IT servicesvendor or a BPO provider, a highproficiencywith the English language within your team is essential for successful business with the United States.English levels vary across all countries in Latin America, but as Nearshore becomes a stronger industry, so too must the bilingual talent pool.

In the first of a new series of spotlight articles on the evolution of English, we take a look at Chile, which has long been known as an underdog in the region due to the elitist stigma and high costs associated with studying the language a perception that is still suffered today.

Slow Growth at A Governmental Level

In recent years, a large emphasis has been placed on English language development in Chile by the government and private sector. While it ranked 36th on the lastEF English Proficiency index, the country has seen some success with itsEnglish Opens Doors Program (EODP), which was established in 2003 and is still going strong today.

There has also been aninvestment in developing English skills at a young age to support innovation within the country, with more hours in school dedicated to English learning, and organizations, such as the Production Development Corporation (CORFO), dedicatingfunds to send students to English-speaking countries for immersion studies.

Were not struggling to find English talent, but its not necessarily easy either, said Pablo Rossel Estay, Senior Vice President and Country Manager at CGS Chile. Since 2014, the government of Chile has made it a priority to increase the English-speaking talent pool. The efforts weve seen are more dedicated funding to programs and a shift in education, helping to grow this pool. It may be slower than we want, but its a huge step in the right direction.

Considering it takes years to develop English skills in young students, and years more for them to be eligible to work, are these initiatives too little, too late?

For Estay, his main takeaway is that Chile is moving forward as a country in terms of English language capabilities, albeit slowly.Chile is well-known for its technology capabilities, but we are considered mid-range in our English-speaking skills compared with other Latin American and European countries, he said. However, were into the process of changing that.

Costs are Still too High

According to a study by the British Council, 55% of non-learners said it was too expensive to study English, while 33% said there was no access to government-funded programs. Even so, 82% of non-learners said they would study English toimprove their employment prospects.

There are numerous private English providers in Chile, but generally only upper- and middle-class students have the means to enroll at such schools. Its likely that the countrys recent education reforms will change how language is administered,as some of the new policies place pressure on private schools to reduce costs. Along with the EODP, we could see the language accelerate faster in the next few years.

However, with a focus on primary school English only becoming stronger around three years ago, and as long as English language learning in Chile continues to be tied to income, class, and occupation,the country is unlikely to develop a fast enough pace to keep up with Nearshore demand.

In the next Nearshore English Evolution, well be checking in with Argentinato find out about the internal initiatives companies are using to compliment new government programs, and if this South American giant has retained its top spot for regional Englishskills.

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The Nearshore English Evolution: Chile's Slow Upward Momentum - Nearshore Americas

Deadline

Sean Levy, 21 Laps Partners On Shingle's Dramatic Evolution ... Deadline Director Sean Levy was joined by partners Dan Levine and Dan Cohen for a Produced By session on the evolution of their company, 21 Laps. and more »

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Sean Levy, 21 Laps Partners On Shingle's Dramatic Evolution ... - Deadline

A look at the many manifestations of the superheroine on-screen.

Have you heard theres a Wonder Woman movie out? Of course you have, its all anyones been talking about for the last few weeks. The film is a commercial success, a critical success, hell, its a social success, and our glee at its success is due in no small part to the long and obstacle-ridden road the character took to the big screen.

Most folks can only remember the Lynda Carter TV series from the 70s, but there have been far more televisual and cinematic interpretations of Diana Prince than just that, like a series prior to Carters, several animated takes, and a couple projects that have crashed and burned before the public could see them like a feature based on a Joss Whedon script and an NBC live-action series starring Adrienne Palicki (Friday Night Lights).

In the latest supercut from Burger Fiction, the on-screen evolution of Wonder Woman is traced through its past struggles to its recent triumph, telling a story every bit as wonderful as the one currently conquering the worldwide box office.

Wonder Woman

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Once Upon a Time on Paradise Island: The Cinematic Evolution of Wonder Woman - Film School Rejects

Two views of a composite reconstruction of the earliest known Homo sapiens fossils from Jebel Irhoud based on micro computed tomographic scans of multiple original fossils. Dated to 300 thousand years ago these early Homo sapiens already have a modern-looking face that falls within the variation of humans living today. However, the archaic-looking virtual imprint of the braincase (blue) indicates that brain shape, and possibly brain function, evolved within the Homo sapiens lineage.

Philipp Gunz

View looking south of the Jebel Irhoud site in Morocco. The remaining deposits and several people excavating them are visible in the center. At the time the site was occupied by early hominins, it would have been a cave, but the covering rock and much sediment were removed by work at the site in the 1960s.

Shannon McPherron

The mandible from the individual dubbed Irhoud 11 is the first, almost complete adult mandible discovered at the site of Jebel Irhoud. The bone morphology and the dentition display a mosaic of archaic and evolved features, which the researchers believe place it close to the root of our own lineage.

Jean-Jacques Hublin

Here are some of the fossils being uncovered at Jebel Irhoud. In the center of the image, in a slightly more yellow brown tone, is the crushed top of a human skull (Irhoud 10) and visible just above this is a partial femur (Irhoud 13) resting against the back wall.

Steffen Schatz

Some of the Middle Stone Age stone tools from Jebel Irhoud. Pointed forms such as a-i are common in this period. Also characteristic are the so-called Levellois prepared core flakes.

Mohammed Kamal

Scientists Shannon McPherron (left) and Abdelouahed Ben-Ncer discussing the new fossils finds from Jebel Irhoud. The crushed skull from Irhoud 10 is just barely visible above the blue dustpan.

MPI EVA Leipzig

Daniel Richter drilling into the site of Jebel Irhoud as part of his work dating the deposits containing the fossils and stone tools. Richter applied thermoluminescence dating to heated flints coming from the excavations, and demonstrated that the site is about 300 thousand years old. The holes are drilled for dosimeters which measure the background radiation of the sediments for an entire year. Knowing the background radiation and the charge trapped in the heated flints, the age can be determined.

Shannon McPherron

Until this week, the earliest known fossils of Homo sapiens were about 200,000 years old. But two recent papers in Naturehave obliterated that date with a report of 300,000 year-old skull fragments from five individuals found in Morocco. The researchers who discovered the fossils call them "early Homo sapiens." But other scientists say this misrepresents the complex story of human evolution.

The Moroccan remains tell a complicated tale. While their faces are shaped almost exactly like those of modern humans, their skulls are sloped and elongated like much earlier species. While the media exploded with reports about how we've discovered the "earliest" Homo sapiens, the real story isn't that simple.

These papers are just part of a much larger debate about how and where humans evolved.

The five early humansthree adults, a child, and an adolescentwere found in what would have been a roomy, pleasant cave about 300,000 years ago. Located on a Moroccan hillside between Marrakesh and the Atlantic coast, the site known as Jebel Irhoud was until recently beena mine and a quarry. Miners first discovered human remains there in the 1960s, but they were identified as 40,000 year-old Neanderthals. Max Planck Institute evolutionary biologist Jean-Jacques Hublin wasn't satisfied with this explanation.

Unable to let go of his hunch, Hublin started periodically excavating at Jebel Irhoud in the 1980s. In 2004, he got lucky: Hublin's team uncovered an area of the site untouched by decades of quarrying. There, he told reporters at a press conference, they found a perfectly-preserved package of red clay about 3 meters deep, withlayers containing the remains of five humans along with campsite debris such as stone tools, butchered animal bones (mostly gazelle), and charcoal from a fire. Some of the bones and tools were burned too, perhaps from cooking.

The charred remains were another stroke of luck. They meant that evolutionary biologist Daniel Richter, Hublin's colleague at Max Planck, could determine the age of these objects using a technique called thermoluminescence (TL) dating. Put simply, TL dating works by measuring how much radiation an object has absorbed since it was last heated. It works only on materials like rocks and sediments with crystalline structures.

By averaging the results of TL dating on several tools and sediment layers at Jebel Irhoud, Richter determined that the fossils were about 300,000 years old, from a period called the Middle Stone Age. This date was also found using another technique, electron spin resonance dating, used on the tooth enamel from some of the fossil finds.

The dates were solid, so Hublin and his colleagues analyzed the fossils to see where they fit in the human evolutionary tree. There were no traces of DNA in the fossils, so they had only cranial shapes to guide them. Perhaps the most striking thing about the Irhoud people was their faces. These ancient people could easily have wandered around in a modern city and passed as one of us"as long as they wore a hat," Hublin joked. Their faces and tooth shapes were modern, but their elongated skulls looked more like much earlier hominins. At that point, Hublin and his colleagues dubbed them "early Homo sapiens." In an e-mail to Ars, Hublin clarified that they aren't modern humans, but instead "representative of populations directly ancestral to us."

Composite reconstruction of a fossil skull from Jebel Irhoud, based on micro computed tomographic scans of multiple original fossils. The brain case is roughly the size of a modern human's, but it slopes backward instead of creating a taller, bulbous shape.

Perhaps most important, these individuals were hunting in North Africa, far from Ethiopia and South Africa, where previous examples of ancient humans have been found. This undermines the hypothesis that humans evolved in sub-Saharan Africa and spread out from there into Eurasia. Hublin and colleagues call the Jebel Irhoud finds strong evidence for the Pan-African hypothesis, which holds that modern humans evolved all over the continent. Disputing the popular notion that there's an East African "Eden" or cradle of humanity, Hublin argued: "If there is an Eden, it's the size of Africa."

No scientists I spoke with disputed the Irhoud fossil ages, but some were less than impressed with the magnitude of Hublin and his colleagues' discovery. University of Hawaii geneticist Rebecca Cann, known for dating humanity's last common female ancestor (so-called Mitochondrial Eve), called the Nature papers "incremental at best." An evolutionary biologist who preferred to remain anonymous added that calling any ancient human fossil in Africa "the earliest whatever" is "clickbait."

These scientists don't like the way Hublin and his colleagues suggest that the "earliest" Homo sapiens walked the Earth 300,000 years ago. Evolution is a constant process, with no perfect beginnings and endings, so there can never really be an "earliest" version of humanityonly transitional forms between one species and the next. Cann elaborated in a series of e-mails with Ars:

We figure the genetic lineage of our species is placed in Africa, with dates that vary depending on which set of loci/chromosomes/geographic group/SNP vs. [whole genome sequence] gets assayed. The rough estimate of the split between Neanderthal and Homo sapiens is placed at 500-600,000 years ago. So this site should have hominins on the Homo sapiens side, roughly half way down to modern. Most evolutionary biologists would say: "OK that's lots of variation over space/time, so expect transitional forms." What do I see? Transitions. [It's a] nothingburger.

Cann suspectsthe Jebel Irhoud people are just another transitional stage in hominin evolution, and hardly the "earliest" Homo sapiens. If anything, they're a middle stage, stuck halfway between our common ancestor with Neanderthals and modern humans. This is nice, but it's hardly news; as she put it, it's an evolutionary nothingburger. Other scientists felt that the results weren't a breakthrough, given that they just confirm evolution is a series of gradual changes. As Arizona State University evolutionary biologist Curtis Marean put it, the findings are "very important to know, but perhaps not unexpected."

Philipp Gunz, another Max Planck evolutionary biologist who worked with Hublin on the fossils at Jebel Irhoud, said the team isn't disputing any of this. Still, he thinks the "earliest" Homo sapiens label fits. "Our view is that Jebel Irhoud falls close to the root of the Homo sapiens lineage," he told Ars via e-mail. "I recognize that species do evolve over time, and I am convinced that the Homo sapiens fossils from Jebel Irhoud are a beautiful illustration of such changes within an evolving lineage."

For his part, Hublin thinks the problem ultimately boils down to semantics. "In the end if one does not call them 'sapiens,' what should they be called?" he asked via e-mail. "A new name of species like [scientists would have done] in the 19th century? Or a generic term mixing all sorts of unrelated fossils? All this seems a bit ridiculous when any geneticist would tell you that most likely all the hominins of the last 2 million years could interbreed."

You have very early skulls from Spain, some people call them Homo antecessor, that have some of the facial features of modern humans over 700,000 years ago. Maybe that early population is connected to the common ancestors of humans and Neanderthals. If that were the case, its not too surprising to see some similar facial features in a later African population. It might be closer to modern humans, but it might also represent a different offshoot of that early ancestral population.

Our flattened, delicate facial features may actually be from an ancestor who pre-dated both Neanderthals and the Jebel Irhoud line. If that's the case, we're likely to see a lot of early groups of hominins running around Africa and Eurasia with so-called human faces. That doesn't mean they all evolved into modern humans.

Added Hawks, "I don't think we should redefine 'modern human' to include things like Jebel Irhoud. That just avoids the interesting questions. How were these complex hominins interacting? How did they all coexist on this continent?"

Listing image by Philipp Gunz

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300000 year-old early Homo sapiens sparks debate over evolution - Ars Technica

Birds in cities often sing at a higher pitch, perhaps to be better heard against higher levels of background noise. Photograph: Sue Tranter RSPB Images/PA Wire

Foxes loitering around rubbish bins and pigeons roosting in train stations: urban animals are widely regarded as the dregs of the natural world.

However, according to biologist Simon Watt, cities represent some of the worlds hotspots for evolution and behavioural adaptation. Speaking at the Cheltenham science festival, Watt, who is founder of the Ugly Animal Preservation Society, said: The ice caps are melting, the rainforest is shrinking, the one environment that is growing is cities. If were going to look for evolutionary shifts right now in our world, the place to look is cities.

In his talk, Watt cited a host of examples of how the urban environment is prompting new genetic shifts and unexpected behaviours. A proportion of black cap warblers, which used to migrate to Morocco or southern Spain, have shifted their route to Britain where urban heat islands and garden bird feeders allow them to survive at more northerly latitudes than was previously possible.

The ones that come to Britain are starting to get shorter wings better for manoeuvrability, worse for long flights and longer beaks, which are better to get through the wee bars of garden bird feeders, although worse for things like fruits and berries.

In Australia, the mating croak of the male pobblebonk frog has been steadily rising in pitch, an adaptation that means it can still attract females in the presence of the background rumble of motorway traffic.

Pobblebonks never hear their parents, so its an evolutionary shift, said Watt. Outside the urban setting the frogs with the deepest croak tend to be most attractive to females. They still would be the most attractive males if they could be heard, but its become an advantage to have a falsetto, he added. Barry White is out, Justin Bieber is in.

Birds have also changed their vocalisations, although this appears to be acclimatisation rather than evolution. In general we can say that birds in cities have a couple of things in common. They tend to sing at a higher pitch, they tend to use fewer notes and they tend to sing faster, he said. They have their own urban music. This happens across all the species, they sing at different times at night because theyve got street lights. They are not quite sure when its bedtime. It does mean that some of these birds are stressed out.

A weed, called Crepis sancta which looks like a delicate version of the dandelion, is evolving to release higher numbers of heavy seeds and fewer light floaty ones (the plants produce a mixture) because of its concrete-bound existence. If youre in concrete, theres no point in distributing your seeds widely, youre better to just land your seeds in the patch next to you, said Watt.

There is even a species, sometimes known as the London Underground mosquito, which has adapted from a southern mosquito variety to survive in the warm underground spaces of northern cities.

Watt said the types of species that are able to thrive in urban environments tend to be adaptable omnivores, relatively intelligent and scavengers by nature.

In other words theyre rather a lot like us, he said. He added that the changes taking place in the urban environment were sometimes neglected, even by the scientific community. We dont have to go to Borneo to watch evolution in action.

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Cities should be studied as evolutionary hotspots, says biologist - The Guardian

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Mitsubishi has revealed that it will eventually bring a successor to the legendary Lancer Evolution; however, that model wont happen for another six years. Speaking withAustraliasMotoring,Mitsubishis global boss, Trevor Mann, revealed that a new performance model is under consideration and will likely be a crossover instead of a sedan.

According to Mann, the Evos successor is part of a long-term plan rather than mid-term. Mann also indicated that Mitsubishi wants a halo car; however, its still undecided what type of vehicle that will be for the Japanese brand. Mitsubishi discontinued the Lancer Evolution back in 2015 when it revealed the Final Edition model. That particular model had an updated 2.0-liter turbo-four rated at 303 hp and 305 lb-ft of torque paired exclusively to a five-speed manual transmission. In the U.S., only 1,600 units of the Lancer Evolution Final Edition were available.

On the same interview, Mann also hinted that Mitsubishi is evaluating the possibility returning to motorsport. Thanks to the Lancer Evolution, Mitsubishi has a rich rally heritage and competed with fellow Japanese automaker Subaru back in the 1990s and even early 2000s. Mann toldMotoringthat returning to motorsport has been discussed within the company recently and that it has to consider it because of its heritage since it has the technology for it.

Source: Motoring

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Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution Could Get Successor in Six Years - Motor Trend

Her all-flats-all-the-time habit might be new, but that keen sense of style, it turns out, is deeply rooted albeit a bit different than we know it today.

The former Miss Universe contestant had a handle on the corset-over-clothes trend waybefore Kim Kardashian, and while these days she appears to opt for glamorous gowns and tailored suiting, she has been pulling off the teeniest of tiny dresses with ease for years.

Join us as we fangirl out over years of this superheros super style below.

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At the Miss Universe pageant.

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With Miss Italy Laia Manetti and Miss Ireland Cathriona Duignam ahead of the Miss Universe pageant.

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With Miss Norway Kathrine Sorlandahead of the Miss Universe pageant.

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AtMaxim's "Women of the Israeli Defense Forces" celebration.

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At the premiere of "Fast & Furious."

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At the premiere of"The Beautiful Life: TBL."

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At the World Premiere of "Fast & Furious 6."

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At a reception forJaguar and Playboy Magazine.

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At the "Fast & The Furious 6'" premiere.

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At Comic-Con.

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At"Jimmy Kimmel Live."

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At the "Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice" New York Premiere.

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Out in New York City.

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At "Jimmy Kimmel Live."

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At a photocall for "Batman v Superman."

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At "Jimmy Kimmel Live."

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At theEuropean Premiere of "Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice."

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Atthe premiere of "Keeping up with the Joneses."

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At "The Late Late Show with James Corden."

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At theU.K. Premiere of "Criminal."

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Atthe 2017 MTV Movie and TV Awards.

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At theGolden Globe Awards.

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Out in New York City.

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At the "Wonder Woman" premiere.

At a press conference for "Wonder Woman."

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At the premiere of "Wonder Woman" in Mexico.

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Gal Gadot's Unbelievable Style Evolution - HuffPost

New York Times

3 Books on the Evolution of the Gay Rights Movement New York Times As gay pride month kicks into gear, culminating in ebullient parades across the country, here are three books that take a look at the history of the gay rights movement. Photo. VICTORY (2012) The Triumphant Gay Revolution By Linda Hirshman 443 pp.

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3 Books on the Evolution of the Gay Rights Movement - New York Times