Category Archives: Evolution

Perhaps one of the most famous uses of the M1911 came when Alvin York won the Congressional Medal of Honor. In October 1918, during the battle of Meuse-Argonne, York was charged by a squad of Germans. As they came into pistol range, York drew his M1911 and killed six attackers. That day he single handedly killed a total of 25 German soldiers and captured 132 more.

This painted scene depicts Alvin York at the Battle of Meuse-Argonne with an M1911 pistol in hand.

Frank Schoonover

In 1926, after some lessons learned during World War One, Colt overhauled the M1911 by including a shorter trigger and frame cut-outs behind the trigger, a longer spur on the pistol grip safety, an arched mainspring housing, a wider front sight, and a shortened hammer spur. Following these changes, the pistol was designated the M1911A1, a weapon that would also fight a world warjust like its predecessor.

The Colt soldiered on into the 1980s until the U.S. launched the Joint Service Small Arms Program, which aimed to select a new pistol that could be used by all of the armed services. After a tough competition between designs from Colt, Walther, Smith & Wesson, Steyr, FN, and SIG, a winning design was selected, the Italian Beretta 92. The Beretta formally replaced the M1911A1 in 1986 as the M9.

Even though the military had found its new gun, the 1911 still remains in use by some units such as the U.S. Marine Force Recon Units and Special Operation Command as the refurbished M45, surpassing a century of service.

Marine Corps students using the M9 during rapid-fire drills, 2005.

Justin Lago/Marine Corps

But the M9 beat out the venerable Colt because it fired the smaller 9x19mm round, which made learning to shoot easier, and it had a much larger magazine holding 15 rounds while using a single-action/double-action trigger. While some complained it lacked the 1911's .45 ACP stopping power, the M9 served the U.S. military well for over 30 years.

It has seen hard service during the Gulf War, the War in Afghanistan, and the Iraq War. In March 2003, during Operation Iraqi Freedom Marine Corporal Armand E. McCormick won the Silver Star when he drove his vehicle into an Iraqi position before dismounting and clearing enemy defenses with his M9.

But as technology advanced and new pistol designs emerged, the Army needed a new sidearm to match the times. In the early 2000s, a series of trials led eventually to the Modular Handgun System program. The Army wanted a lighter, more adaptable pistol which could be fitted to individual soldiers. After several years of testing entries from Glock, Beretta, FN, and Smith & Wesson, the SIG P320 won out.

The U.S. Army's newest pistol, the SIG P320.

Sig Sauer

The new pistol, designated the M17, is lighter, more compact, has a standard 17-round magazine capacity, and is fully ambidextrous. It has a fiberglass-reinforced polymer frame with an integrated Picatinny rail to allow lights and lasers to be mounted, much like the M9's slide-mounted manual safety.

But the most innovative aspect of the M17 is its modular design. The pistol's frame holds an easily removable trigger pack, which along with the barrel and slide, can be removed and simply dropped into another frame. This gives troops in different roles with different requirements some much needed flexibility.

The SIG P320 is completely unrecognizable from M1775, held in the hands of American founding fathers. Much like America itself, the soldiers' handgun has evolved massively over the last 240 years, but the principle of the sidearm remains the samethe absolute last line of defense.

Wars may not be won with pistols, but a soldier's sidearm can still be the difference between life and death.

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The 240-Year Evolution of the Army Sidearm - Popular Mechanics

A recent Gallup poll regarding American views on creation and evolution returned some unprecedented results.

The acceptance of Creationism, the belief that God made humans as they are today and did so roughly 10,000 years ago, has hit its lowest point since Gallup began asking the question 35 years ago.

Only 38 percent of the respondents chose it to describe their understanding of how we all ended up here.

The same percentage of people picked a more hybrid explanation of life as we know it, agreeing that gradual change over very long periods of time has occurred, but adding that God has been guiding the process.

19 percent believe in evolution as a stand-alone explanation of human existence.

RELATED: A look at religion in US schools

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Students from the MDQ Academy Islamic School participate in daily prayers while students from Saint Anthony's High School observe during a field trip at the Roman Catholic school in Huntington, New York, U.S., April 26, 2017. Picture taken April 26, 2017. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton

WASHINGTON, DC- SEPTEMBER 23: Several catholic school students are greeted by Pope Francis outside the Apostolic Nunciature to the United States in Washington, D.C. on September 23, 2015. (Photo by Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

CORRECTION - Science teacher Virginia Escobar-Cheng works with her students in a science class in a high school in Homestead, Florida, on March 10, 2017. Texas state legislators are now considering a bill introduced in February that would offer teachers like Garlington some legal protection, by giving them latitude to present science 'that may cause controversy' as a debatable theory. Texas is one of eight US states where such laws have been proposed since the beginning of the year. South Dakota, Oklahoma, Iowa, Alabama, Indiana, Florida and Arkansas are the others. / AFP PHOTO / RHONA WISE / The erroneous mention[s] appearing in the metadata of this photo by RHONA WISE has been modified in AFP systems in the following manner: [March 10, 2017 instead of [March 10, 2010]. Please immediately remove the erroneous mention[s] from all your online services and delete it (them) from your servers. If you have been authorized by AFP to distribute it (them) to third parties, please ensure that the same actions are carried out by them. Failure to promptly comply with these instructions will entail liability on your part for any continued or post notification usage. Therefore we thank you very much for all your attention and prompt action. We are sorry for the inconvenience this notification may cause and remain at your disposal for any further information you may require. (Photo credit should read RHONA WISE/AFP/Getty Images)

Muslim students hold a prayer before a rally against Islamophobia at San Diego State University in San Diego, California, November 23, 2015. REUTERS/Sandy Huffaker

Middle School student Isabella Merle prays during a vigil for Marine Lance Cpl. Squire K. "Skip" Wells, one of the five military servicemen slain last week in Chattanooga in a domestic terror attack, at Sprayberry High School in Marietta, Georgia July 21, 2015. Wells, 21, a reservist, was the youngest victim of an attack being investigated as an act of domestic terrorism. He was killed last Thursday when authorities say Mohammod Youssuf Abdulazeez opened fire at a Naval Reserve Center in Chattanooga, Tenn., slaying Wells and three other Marines. A sailor later died of his wounds. REUTERS/Chris Aluka Berry

DENVER, CO - MAY 22: Men pray during a Sikh religious observance at East High School on Sunday, May 22, 2016. This was Denver's first ever Sikh parade. The event was held to celebrate the culture of the growing Sikh population in the area. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post via Getty Images)

WASHINGTON, DC - SEP30: Rabbi Jonathan Roos, Rabbi at Temple Sinai synagogue in Washington, DC, blows the Shofar September 30, 2016, for nursery school children at Temple Sinai, in honor of Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year which begins Sunday night. (Photo by Evelyn Hockstein/For The Washington Post via Getty Images)

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In a release about the poll results, Gallup notes, "This is the first time since 1982 when Gallup began asking this question using this wording that belief in God's direct creation of man has not been the outright most-common response."

Education-level questions asked during the creation or evolution poll revealed that those who had attended college were more apt to give a response involving evolution, be it divinely assisted or not.

While education certainly appears to have a great influence on how one explains life at large, a survey by the Pew Research Center conducted in 2014 suggests that people's overall views on religion are changing.

SEE ALSO: Iran says it has built third underground ballistic missile factory

After questioning 35,000 people, the center found, "that the percentages who say they believe in God, pray daily and regularly go to church or other religious services all have declined modestly in recent years."

It also learned, "A growing share of Americans are religiously unaffiliated, including some who self-identify as atheists or agnostics as well as many who describe their religion as 'nothing in particular.'"

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Poll: Beliefs in divine creation over evolution hit all-time low in US ... - AOL

May 23, 2017 Children taught genetics first increase their understanding of evolution. Credit: Miki Yoshihito, Flickr

Evolution is a difficult concept for many students at all levels, however, a study publishing on May 23 in the open access journal PLOS Biology has demonstrated a simple cost-free way to significantly improve students' understanding of evolution at the secondary level: teach genetics before you teach them evolution.

Currently in the UK setting the two modules are taught in isolation often with long time intervals between. The team, led by Professor Laurence Hurst at the Milner Centre for Evolution, University of Bath hypothesised that since core concepts of genetics (such as DNA and mutation) are so intimately linked to the core concepts of evolution, then priming students with genetics information might help their understanding of evolution.

The researchers conducted a large controlled trial of almost 2000 students aged 14-16 in 78 classes from 23 schools across the south and south west of the UK, in which teachers were asked to teach genetics before evolution or evolution before genetics.

The students were tested prior to teaching and after. The five year study, found that those taught genetics first improved their test scores by an average of seven per cent more than those taught evolution first.

Teaching genetics before evolution was particularly crucial for students in foundation classes, who increased their understanding of evolution only if they were taught genetics first. The higher ability classes saw an increase in evolution understanding with both orders, but it was greatest if genetics was taught first.

The team also tested the students' understanding of genetics and found that the genetics-first effect either increased genetics understanding as well or made no difference, meaning that teaching genetics first doesn't harm students' appreciation of this subject.

Professor Hurst, commented: "These are very exciting results. School teachers are under enormous pressure to do the best for their students but have little time to make changes and understandably dislike constant disruption to the curriculum."

"To be sensitive to their needs, in the trial we let teachers teach what they normally teach - we just looked at the order effect."

First author on the paper Dr Rebecca Mead, a former teacher herself, said: "It's remarkable that such a simple and cost-free intervention makes such a big difference. That genetics-first was the only intervention that worked for the foundation classes is especially important as these classes are often challenging to teach. This research has encouraged teachers to rethink how they teach evolution and genetics and many schools have now changed their teaching practice to genetics-first. I hope more will follow."

The team also looked at whether students in the study agreed or disagreed with the scientific view of evolution. They found that whilst the teaching of evolution increased acceptance rates to over 80 per cent in the cohort examined, the order of teaching had no effect.

Qualitative focus group follow-up studies showed that acceptance is heavily conditioned by authority figures (teachers, TV personalities, religious figures) and the correlation between the students' understanding of evolution and their acceptance of it is weak.

Dr. Mead commented: "Some students reported that being told that key authority figures approve of the scientific evidence for evolution made a big difference to their learning experience. It would be worth testing alternative ways to help students overcome preconceptions."

Explore further: Evolution and religion: New insight into instructor attitudes in Arizona

More information: Mead R, Hejmadi M, Hurst LD (2017) Teaching genetics prior to teaching evolution improves evolution understanding but not acceptance. PLoS Biol 15(5): e2002255. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.2002255

Evolution can be an emotionally charged topic in education, given a wide range of perspectives on it. Two researchers from Arizona State University are taking an in-depth look at how college professors handle it.

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Improve evolution education by teaching genetics first - Phys.Org

May 23, 2017 by Siv Schwink A 3-D graph depicting evolutionary trajectories constrained by a phenotypic trade-off. Credit: David T. Fraebel, U. of I. Department of Physics and Center for the Physics of Living Cells.

Organisms in nature adapt and evolve in complex environments. For example, when subjected to changes in nutrients, antibiotics, and predation, microbes in the wild face the challenge of adapting multiple traits at the same time. But how does evolution unfold when, for survival, multiple traits must be improved simultaneously?

While heritable genetic mutations can alter phenotypic traits and enable populations to adapt to their environment, adaptation is frequently limited by trade-offs: a mutation advantageous to one trait might be detrimental to another.

Because of the interplay between the selection pressures present in complex environments and the trade-offs constraining phenotypes, predicting evolutionary dynamics is difficult.

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have shown how evolutionary dynamics proceed when selection acts on two traits governed by a trade-off. The results move the life sciences a step closer to understanding the full complexity of evolution at the cellular level.

Seppe Kuehn, an assistant professor of physics and member of the Center for the Physics of Living Cells at the U. of I., led the research. The team studied populations of the bacterium Escherichia coli, which can undergo hundreds of generations in a single week, providing ample opportunity to study mutations and their impact on heritable traits.

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The team selected populations of E. coli for faster migration through a porous environment. A quantitative model revealed that populations could achieve the fastest migration by improving two traits at onceswimming speed and growth rate (cell division).

Kuehn explains, "This study sheds new light on how evolution proceeds when performance depends on two traits that are restricted by a trade-off. Though a mathematical model suggests that the fastest migrating populations should be composed of cells that swim fast and reproduce quickly, what we found was that populations achieve faster migration through two divergent evolutionary paths that are mutually exclusive: in other words, these populations improved in either swimming speed or reproduction rate, but not both."

David T. Fraebel, a U. of I. graduate student in Kuehn's lab group, is lead author on the study. He comments, "Most experiments apply selection pressure to optimize a single trait, and trade-offs are observed in this context due to decay of traits that aren't being selected rather than due to compromise between multiple pressures. We selected for swimming and growth simultaneously, yet E. coli was not able to optimize both traits at once."

The selection environment created by the team determined which evolutionary trajectory the populations followed. In a nutrient-rich medium, faster swimming meant slower reproduction; in a nutrient-poor environment, however, slower swimming and faster reproduction led to the same desired outcome: faster migration through the porous environment.

By sequencing the DNA of the evolved populations, the team identified the mutations responsible for adaptation in each condition. When they genetically engineered these mutations into the founding strain, these cells demonstrated faster migration and the same phenotypic trade-off as the evolved strains.

"Our results support the idea that evolution takes the direction that's genetically easy," says Kuehn. "In a nutrient-rich environment, it's easy to find a mutation that enables the cells to swim faster. In a nutrient-poor environment, it's easy to find a mutation that makes cell division faster. In both cases, the mutations are disrupting negative regulatory genes whose function it is to reduce gene expression or protein levels."

"Other recent studies have shown that microevolution is dominated by changes in negative regulatory elements. The reason: it's statistically easy to find a mutation that breaks things versus one that builds new function or parts.

When selection acts on two traits restricted by a trade-off, the phenotype evolves in the direction of breaking negative regulatory elements, because it's an easy path statistically. It relates to the availability of useful mutations."

Kuehn summarizes the finding's value: "Improving predictive modeling of evolution will involve understanding how mutations alter the regulation of cellular processes and how these processes are related to trade-offs that constrain traits. Uncovering the general principles that define the relationship between regulation and trade-offs could enable us to predict evolutionary outcomes."

These findings are published in the online journal eLife.

Explore further: At molecular level, evolutionary change is unpredictable

More information: David T Fraebel et al. Environment determines evolutionary trajectory in a constrained phenotypic space, eLife (2017). DOI: 10.7554/eLife.24669

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Genetic mutation trade-offs lead to parallel evolution - Phys.Org

A video appreciation of the action star weve always deserved.

Chris Pratt isnt just the action star we need right now, hes the action star weve always deserved. His characters have down-home charm in equal measure with good-natured braggadocio, they are as strong as they are vulnerable, capable as they are aloof, and dramatic as they are comedic. His swagger stumbles on occasion in the most likable of ways, and his weaknesses are a virtue for their ability to highlight his overwhelming humanity. Hes also, as Im told by my wife, frequently, quite easy on the eyes. You add all that up, and what you get is a template for a prototypical A-list action star; but Pratt is more than prototypical.

Because hes also a good man off-screen, one of faith who avoids the trappings and pitfalls of celebrity despite being one of the biggest movie stars on the planet. Hes a humble family man, and a man who wears his gratitude for his fortunes on his sleeve right next to his heart. Hes your neighbor, your buddy, your brother, your son, your dream boyfriend or BFF, an everyman we can all relate to, and a kind of success we can all aspire too: one that doesnt overtake your best qualities, rather one that amplifies them.

Am I being hyperbolic and a tad bit heavy-handed? Probably, but Chris Pratt is a rarity, the kind of movie star that doesnt come along just once in a blue moon, but once in a lifetime a movie star whose success isnt just a blessing to the industry, but to the community around him. I live in Washington State, where Pratt grew up, and when I hear about him on the local news, 9 times out of 10 it isnt about a movie hes in, its about some way in which he has reached out with his time and/or resources to someone in need. In an era where we celebrate culture and those who craft it probably a little more than we should, its comforting to me at least to know that theres someone in the spotlight willing to deflect it to worthier things.

This extreme likeability is what has made Pratts rise to superstardom so meteoric. From his first big role on the TV series Everwood to a third-tier supporting role on the first season of Parks and Rec that became a vital cog in one of the greatest comedy ensembles ever by series end, to his staggering big-screen success which is still in its infant stages weve cheered him on every step of the way not just because hes good at his job and fun to watch, but because we legitimately want him to do well, we want him to win, it just feels like a good thing for everybody.

All this to say, watching the following supercut from Burger Fiction on Pratts evolution to now is like watching the highlight reel of the first act of a great American success story, and better yet, one thats deserved.

Chris Pratt

See the rest here:

The Evolution of Chris Pratt - Film School Rejects

Mike Evans amassed 1,321 receiving yards last year, which ranked fourth in the NFL and made him one of 23 wide receivers to surpass the 1,000-yard mark. However, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' star pass-catcher cracked four digits in a way that was significantly different from the other 22 players on that list.

Specifically, Evans consistently worked farther downfield than most receivers, on average, frequently getting open in the intermediate-passing range. And when he was less than fully open, when passes were contested, often in the end zone, he helped out his quarterback by frequently winning those battles. He tied for second in the NFL in catches made on third down but, more significantly, turned all 28 of those receptions into first downs. Nobody else in the NFL even turned 90% of their third-down grabs into first downs.

READ: WINSTON MAKES NFL'S TOP 100

All of that paints a picture of a receiver who is excellent at providing Y@C, or yards at catch. His 1,152 Y@C led the entire NFL. The flip side of this stat is YAC, or yards after the catch. In that regard, Evans' average of 1.8 yards after catch was easily the lowest of all 23 of those 1,000-yard receivers. That was somewhat a function of the Bucs' offensive approach, not to mention Evans' great work in the end zone. Most of his 12 touchdowns were on passes that went into the end zone. By definition, a catch made in the end zone will get you six points but it will never get you a single yard after the catch.

So it's hard to excel in both categories, YAC and Y@C. Evans's new teammate, DeSean Jackson, is a notable exception. He ranked third in the NFL in Y@C in 2017 while still posting an above-average 5.1 YAC mark. Since he entered the league in 2008, Jackson has ranked seventh in the NFL in Y@C and fifth in the NFL in YAC. That's a remarkable combination that indicates he's adept at both getting behind the defense and turning short passes into long gains.

Evans is not the same type of receiver as Jackson, so he's not likely to match that dual Y@C/YAC performance. However, he does think he can improve significantly on gaining yards after the catch, and that's a top priority for him in 2017. In April, as he prepared to build on three straight 1,000-yard seasons to open his career, Evans was asked the one thing he hopes to improve in his game this year. His answer was succinct:

"My explosiveness and yards after the catch," he said.

Opposing defenses should be concerned. In much the same way quarterback Jameis Winston obsesses over fixing any flaws in his game, Evans has proved he can identify and eliminate a shortcoming in his own body of work. A year ago at this time, he was working on being a more reliable target for Winston after dropping more passes than he would have liked in 2015. It worked. Evans also thought he could be a more consistent player for Winston by better controlling his emotions during games. That too was noticeably better in 2016. The result was Evans becoming the Buccaneers' most consistently player on offensenot to mention a Pro Bowler for the first time.

Now, with the urging of Offensive Coordinator/Wide Receivers Coach Todd Monken, Evans is setting his sights on jacking up his YAC.

READ: MCCOY MAKES NFL'S TOP 100

"I think the biggest thing is his ability to one is his route running and his run after catch," said Monken. "I think he has more in the tank with him because he does have a natural, competitive-grit side to him that he should be better with the ball in his hands. I think as he gets more and more comfortable I think last year was a piece of, 'OK, lets get better at catching it. Lets eliminate some of the drops that youve had that have led to stopped drives.' OK, so we got that somewhat corrected. Now, how do we get to where we can utilize your competitive spirit, your ability to run after catch?"

Monken said that Evans has dropped a little weight and has looked sharp in the offseason. The 23-year-old receiver is taking his competitive nature on the field and applying it more to the work that takes place between January and September. Evans is working on improving in that split-second after the catch, when you turn quickly and push upfield. That involves working with chains and resistance bands and the ilk.

"My workouts have been a little different, Ive been doing things with like, pulling things and working my yards after catch," said Evans. "Other than that, Ive just been like changing up my workouts. I havent really gotten any advice on how to be explosive."

If Evans is truly determined to improve his results once the football in his hands and in the process potentially take his game to an All-Pro level it would be unwise to bet against him. Evans may have learned how to channel his passion in 2016 and make it more constructive than destructive, but that fire still burns in him.

Im competitive at anything and that just like, drives me," said Evans. "Thats why I get so, you know, on the field I have that emotion. This past year I think I did a good job of channeling that, having passion over emotion like Coach Dirk (Koetter) always says. But I just love competing at anything."

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Mike Evans' Next Evolution: YAC - Buccaneers.com

Trifling evidence and momentous conclusions. That is evolution in a nutshell, and news of the day from most mainstream sources bears out the observation once again. First, we learned that, on the basis of a lower jaw from Greece and an upper premolar from Bulgaria (Science Daily) a jaw and a tooth, thats it! were now supposed to believe that pre-human ancestors arose and parted ways with apes not in Africa but in Europe. See Jonathan Wellss comments of earlier today on fossils and human origins.

Equally unenlightening, in a different way, is the latest Gallup polling data on belief in evolution, announcing In US, Belief in Creationist View of Humans at New Low. I understand that surveys like this ask the same questions year after year in order to track major trends in opinion. In this case, unfortunately, the question reflects the primitive nature of the evolution debate when Gallup first started polling on it.

They report:

The percentage of U.S. adults who believe that God created humans in their present form at some time within the last 10,000 years or so the strict creationist view has reached a new low. Thirty-eight percent of U.S. adults now accept creationism, while 57% believe in some form of evolution either God-guided or not saying man developed over millions of years from less advanced forms of life.

So they are juxtaposing creation with evolution. Since 1982 theyve been asking:

Which of the following statements comes closest to your views on the origin and development of human beings 1) Human beings have developed over millions of years from less advanced forms of life, but God guided this process, 2) Human beings have developed over millions of years from less advanced forms of life, but God had no part in this process, 3) God created human beings pretty much in their present form at one time within the last 10,000 years or so?

What I wish they would ask is:

Which of the following statements comes closest to your views on the origin and development of living creatures 1) Animal and human life arose and developed over billions of years, guided by a designing intelligence, whether God or otherwise, 2) Animal and human life arose and developed over billions of years, by strictly blind, natural processes, unguided by any intelligent agent, 3) God created all animal and human life at one time within the last 10,000 years or so?

Now that would tell you a lot about the state of the evolution debate. But the modern intelligent design movement didnt exist 35 years ago, so Gallup is stuck in 1982.

That doesnt stop them from trying to insert ID after the fact. They assert, Often rebranded as intelligent design, especially as it relates to education, the creationist viewpoint has met defeat in the Supreme Court but continues to surface in curricula across the U.S.

No. This is of course false. Are they also taking dictation from the National Center for Science Education? ID is not rebranded creationism the ideas are worlds apart. Teaching creationism in public schools has indeed been rejected, but ID is not creationism. ID does not surface in curricula across the U.S. Its not in public school curricula anywhere.

The idea of allowing teachers to challenge students with a range of mainstream evidence about evolution, not ID, has had notable success in a number of states. But that, again, is a different matter. I wont rehash the rest here. See our Science Education Policy.

It sure would be helpful if a major polling company like Gallup refreshed their awareness of the evolution debate next time they survey about it.

Photo: Lower jaw, Graecopithecus freybergi, by Wolfgang Gerber, University of Tbingen, via Science Daily.

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Latest Gallup Polling on Evolution Fails to Enlighten - Discovery Institute

Science Daily

Evolution in butterfly eye dependent on sex, scientists find Science Daily Led by Adriana D. Briscoe, UCI professor of ecology & evolutionary biology at the Ayala School of Biological Sciences, researchers discovered that the butterfly species Heliconius erato possesses a distinct set of visual photoreceptors based on species ...

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Evolution in butterfly eye dependent on sex, scientists find - Science Daily

The modern world gives us such ready access to nachos and ice cream that its easy to forget: Humans bodies require a ridiculous andfor most of Earths historyimprobable amount of energy to stay alive.

Consider a human dropped into primordial soup 3.8 billions years ago, when life first began. They would have nothing to eat. Earth then had no plants, no animals, no oxygen even. Good luck scrounging up 1600 calories a day drinking pond- or sea water. So how did we get sources of concentrated energy (i.e. food) growing on trees and lumbering through grass? How did we end up with a planet that can support billions of energy-hungry, big-brained, warm-blooded, upright-walking humans?

In The Energy Expansions of Evolution, an extraordinary new essay in Nature Ecology and Evolution, Olivia Judson sets out a theory of successive energy revolutions that purports to explain how our planet came to have such a diversity of environments that support such a rich array of life, from the cyanobacteria to daisies to humans.

Judson divides the history of the life on Earth into five energetic epochs, a novel schema that you will not find in geology or biology textbooks. In order, the energetic epochs are: geochemical energy, sunlight, oxygen, flesh, and fire. Each epoch represents the unlocking of a new source of energy, coinciding with new organisms able to exploit that source and alter their planet. The previous sources of energy stay around, so environments and life on Earth become ever more diverse. Judson calls it a step-wise construction of a life-planet system.

In the epoch of geochemical energy 3.7 billion years ago, the first living organisms fed on molecules like hydrogen and methane that formed in reaction between water and rocks. They wrung energy out of chemical bonds. It was not very efficientthe biospheres productivity then was an estimated a thousand to a million times less than it is today.

Sunlight, of course, was shining on Earth all along. When microbes that can harness sunlight finally evolve, the productivity and diversity of the biosphere leveled up. One particular type of bacteria, called cyanobacteria, hits upon a way of harnessing the suns energy that makes oxygen (O2) as a byproduct, and with profound consequences: The planet gets an ozone (O3) layer that blocks UV radiation, new minerals through oxygen reactions, and an atmosphere full of highly reactive O2.

Which brings us to the epoch of oxygen. Given an opportunity, oxygen will steal electrons from anything it finds. New oxygen-resistant organisms evolve with enzymes to protect them from oxygen. They have advantages too: Because oxygen is so reactive, it makes the metabolism of these organisms much more efficient. In some conditions, organisms can get 16 times as much energy out of a glucose molecule with the presence of oxygen than without.

With more energy, you can have motion and so in the epoch of flesh, highly mobile animals become abundant. They can fly, swim, ran to catch prey. Flesh is source of concentrated energy, rich in fats and protein and carbon.

Then one particular type of animalthose of the genus Homofigure out fire. Fire lets us cook, which may have allowed us to get more nutrition out of the same food. It lets us forge labor-saving metal tools. It lets us create fertilizer through the Haber-Bosch process to grow food on industrial scales. It lets us burn fossils fuels for energy.

This is only a short summary, but I encourage you to read the essay in full; its highly readable despite being published in an academic journal. Judson is a writer by profession; shes the author of the best-selling Dr. Tatiana's Sex Advice to All Creation, and she recently reviewed a book on the octopus for The Atlantic.

Aside from the big thematic framework, the essay is packed with small insights that will make you sit up a bit straighter and think a bit harder. (My favorite is her description of how viruses operate as agents of death, and play a significant role in the evolution of early microbes.) I think any paper that can elicit that response regardless of the field is cool, especially us for jaded scientists who are often like ah yeah yeah says Noah Fierer, a microbiologist at the University of Colorado, who also called the paper a must read for microbiology students.

The essay is a condensed and crystallized version of a book Judson has been writing for a decade. It reads like the synthesis of research over many years and in many disciplines because it is. When I asked Judson about her book, she replied with this email describing the writing process:

For several years, I thrashed. I wrote fragments. I read more papers, collected more examples. I took trips to look at rock formations, or at colonies of bacteria. I pestered people with questions. (Many of these were total strangers; their generosity has been prodigious.) I bored my friends. I thrashed. I hired a coach. I wrote more fragments. Until, one day, I had a kaleidescope moment: the material suddenly rearranged itself in my mind, making a new picture. It happened after I had given a talk at an institute in France; later that day, I was speaking to a friend...and suddenly this pattern of energy expansions leapt out at me. I knew how to organise the book.

Buoyed up by this eureka feeling, Judson said, she decided to put her ideas out in the scientific literature. The peer review process also connected her with other people thinking about the same ideas. It was pleasant surprise that we found another kindred spirit, Timothy Lenton, an earth system scientist at the University of Exeter, told me. Lenton reviewed her essay for the journal and has also written about energy revolutions. The two have since corresponded.

Lynn Rothschild, an astrobiologist at NASA Ames, told me It was one those papers where damn, I wish I thought of writing it. At the very end, Judson speculates that other life-planet systems in the universe may have also evolved through a series of energy expansions. If we want to look for life, we shouldn't only look for planets look like present-day Eartha point Rothschild has been making for years. When people talk about looking for an Earth-like planet, they say its got to have oxygen and I go, Are you crazy?, she says. If you were looking at Earth billions of years ago you wouldnt have seen it.

So Earths evolution over billions of years might give us a blueprint for finding life less complex than ours. But what might a planet that has been through more energy expansions than Earth look like? Put another way, whats next for the Earth?

One way to ask that question is to ask what innovation will launch us into the next energetic epoch and leave its mark on the environment. Another is to ask what life will look like in that epochboth what lifeforms could become extinct and what could eventually become possible. After all, it took billions of years and several energy expansions to make oxygen-breathing, flesh-eating, fire-wielding humans possible on Earth.

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A Grand New Theory of Life's Evolution on Earth - The Atlantic

Financial Times

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Podcast: The Animals evolution of private correspondence - Financial Times