Category Archives: Evolution

The Hindu

The evolution of modern locomotion The Hindu Treat the earth well: we do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children. Native American saying. Walking is boring, said a friend. I always listen to songs when I go for a walk in the park. That set me thinking I ...

Read the original:

The evolution of modern locomotion - The Hindu

Hard to believe, but the UFC womens strawweight division will (officially) turn three this year. Its actually been a lot of fun sorting it out, especially with the original bundle of straws being dropped into the aquarium reality of The Ultimate Fighter franchise like a kind of divisional meet-and-greet. That season the most compelling in years gave rise to Angela Hill (todays Twitter titan), the confectionary duo of Bec Rawlings and Angela Magana (still double trouble), Carla Esparza (the original champ), Joanne Calderwood (all subtitles and volume adjustment) and Felice Herrig (nobody rolled her eyes better).

And of course it produced Rose Namajunas, who fights tonight in Kansas City as the co-main event at UFC on FOX 24 against Michelle Waterson, the former atomweight champion of Invicta FC. Its been a strange ride for Thug Rose, who has grown up with the division.

Namajunas, you might remember, emerged as the intrigue on the show, the one that Dana White and company tinseled with unreasonable expectations. If Phil Nover was the next GSP, and Uriah Hall the next Anderson Silva, the then 21-year old Namajunas was the next Ronda Rousey. But it wasnt quite that simple. She lost to Esparza in the TUF 20 Finale, in a bout that was perhaps too much too soon. Two-and-a-half years later, Namajunas, now 24, remains an intrigue from that original cast, even as others like current champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk, Paige VanZant and Waterson have come in and made the division their own.

Still, the early setbacks feel as misguided as they do meaningful. There is a feeling about Namajunas that continues to hover in wait as if the sparks weve seen in her fights with Hill and Tecia Torres are part of a fiery whole that everyone expects will one day fully materialize. Maybe it was the way she showed up on relative short notice for her fight with VanZant looking like a Hare Krishna. There was something piercing and inevitable about Namajunas in that fight, something focused and unburdened that filled in a few blanks. We knew that she spoke with a hood-inflected slang that didnt feel very Wisconsin that thug nickname carries a back-story, after all! but it was that she refused to make it a beauty pageant with VanZant that carried import.

The revelation: Theres more to Rose.

Then again, the way she took out VanZant couldnt help but come off as symbolic, as well. The original strawweight with the expectations put a beating on the current apple of the MMA worlds eye. That she did it with cold bloodthirsty aplomb made it all the more eye opening. That was the fight Namajunas potential felt lived in.

Yet it seems whenever Namajunas gets into the titlesphere, as she found herself again after beating Torres a year ago at this time, she has faltered. That inaugural title fight with Esparza occurred when she had just recently moved to Colorado, and was still getting her legs under here. She disappeared for 10 months after the loss and reemerged a different fighter against Hill.

Now shes coming back eight-and-a-half months after a split-decision loss against Karolina Kowalkiewicz, in what was a title eliminator at UFC 201. She downplayed the title implications going in, and now those implications are tucked away. Once again Namajunas is coming back from a stint of soul-searching, in which she traveled, joined causes, and gave herself over to introspection. And once again, it seems, shes a slightly changed person from the last time we saw her evolved, confident, yet still not entirely at home with the attention shes getting.

While Waterson has her daughter Araya with her in Kansas City, Namajunas has Mishka, her dog. During her open workouts on Thursday, she used Mishka as her workout partner, which was the cutest thing since Ido Portal broke out the pool noodles. Theres still a deflection of attention in play with Namajunas, a toe-dip into the spotlight beams, as if those beams are not to be completely trusted. If anything, such delicate handling of the situation looks familiar.

And it is a familiar situation, after all, that she finds herself in. The Karate Hottie Waterson is coming off a nationally televised victory over VanZant of her own, which was effectively a transfer of mojo. Its Waterson who is popping up more and more, showing up on the FOX desk for analysis, and hosting media days during events (like she did at UFC 208 in Brooklyn). Once again its Namajunas being overshadowed and outshined by a marketable come lately, which is of course when she has shined brightest.

The strawweight division has gotten far deeper since TUF 20 opened the floodgates. As it chugs along with Jedrzejczyk as its champion, Namajunas has continued to grow into her own skin. She wins, and she rolls to the next. She loses, and she digs in. Namajunas has a lot going on. Shes not just a sidecar to heavyweight Pat Barry, as some first came to know her, and shes never going to be the next Ronda Rousey.

It turns out being the first Rose Namajunas is far more interesting.

Visit link:

The evolution of Rose Namajunas runs as deep as the strawweight division - MMA Fighting

There is much disagreement over evolution but one thing we can all agree on is that evolution is a highly influential theory. Like it or not, few scientific theories are as influential as evolution. Darwins theory injected its deeply flawed science into biology, but it did not stop there. One area where evolutions damaging influence is important today is human health.

There is much to say about how evolution has influenced our thinking about health and our health care system. I will focus on two basic myths evolution has propagated which have done enormous damage: the random causation myth and the king gene myth.

You dont need to be a scientist to know that random change is fundamental to evolution. From Darwin to todays evolutionists, the key point in arguments for evolution is that this world was not designed. This age-old, Epicurean idea assertsthat the world arose from unguided, random forces.

Evolutions main mechanism is random change. You have heard of natural selection but it, as even Alfred Wallace agreed, is not a mechanism as such. It doesnt cause or coax helpful biological change to occur. It merely kills off the weaker designs. Evolution is a theory of randomness.

Evolutionists did not understand just how such random change could be caused until genetics was better understood in the 20thcentury. Evolutionists needed to explain how biological change could occur randomly, yet be inherited once it occurred. Modern genetics provided the answer: the gene. Random mutations could alter genes and later be passed on to future generations.

This Version 2.0 of Darwins theory vaulted the gene to hero status as genes were viewed as the veritable blueprint of the body. The old proverb You are what you eat, became You are what your genes say you are.

Not surprisingly there were high expectations for the Human Genome Project, which would transcribe the human genome. Its initial results, produced in the year 2000, were announcedwith much fanfare, asscientists and politicians proclaimed great things to come. That early optimism, however, eventually faded as years later scientists would admit the problem was far more complex. Genes are important, but not that important. The idea that your genes determine your body has not held up well.

Evolutions dual myths of random causation and the king gene have not been good for biology, and they also have done damage elsewhere. In the area of human health, our cultural uptake of evolutionary ideas contributed to the dangerously flawed notion that health is a random affair. True, genetic mutations are capable of producing all kinds of diseases, but the vast majority of health issues stem from, or can be alleviated by, lifestyle and workplace decisions. In a great many cases, you are not what your genes say you are, but what you eat and how you live. Diet, stress, exercise, and exposure to toxins play an enormous role in determining your health history.

That shouldnt be a surprise.But too often it is completely missed or underemphasized, and an unfortunate example of this flawed evolutionary influence is our health care system and health insurance.

Our skyrocketing costs could be reduced by half or even an order of magnitude with proper education and personal decisions. Instead, our health is too often viewed as essentially the luck of the draw. For instance, billionaire Mark Cubanrecently expressedthis sentiment in advocating for healthcare as a legal right:

I believe that,given we all face the exact same genetic and wrong place, wrong time risks, coverage of most chronic and life-threatening illnesses or injuries should be a right.

In other words, everyone faces about the same healthcare risks. Our health is a crapshoot.

This is an astonishing demonstration of scientific ignorance. There is no doubt Cuban is very good at making money. But hefails to grasp the most basic aspects of human health. He can hardly be blamed, however, given how dominant this evolutionary myth has become. Evolutions influence is enormous, and that is bad news for more than just biology.

Photo credit: nyul stock.adobe.com.

Cross-posted at Darwins God.

Here is the original post:

Evolution's Influence Is Bad News for Your Health - Discovery Institute

Scientists have identified one of the earliest known dinosaur relatives and it doesnt look anything like they expected.

Researchers had thought that the oldest dinosaur cousins would look rather like small, two-legged dinosaurs themselves. Instead, Teleocrater rhadinus actually stretched seven to 10 feet long, boasted a long neck and tail, and walked on all fours.

The findings, described in the journal Nature, could force paleontologists to redraw their understanding of dinosaurs origins, as well as the nature of the reptiles that came before them.

This just goes to show that theres a lot more out there that we just didnt know, especially the early history of the larger group that dinosaurs belonged to: Archosauria, said lead author Sterling Nesbitt, a vertebrate paleontologist at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg.

Dinosaurs are part of a larger group known as the archosaurs a lineage of reptiles that split into a bird-line branch that includes pterosaurs, dinosaurs and birds, and a crocodilian branch whose living members today include crocodiles and alligators.

Paleontologists have long tried to predict what those early bird-line reptiles looked like, soon after the split with the crocodilian branch. But they havent been able to do so because of the large gaps in the fossil record of the transitional period before dinosaurs emerged in the mid-to-late Triassic Period, roughly 230 million years ago. Which dinosaur traits are unique to dinosaurs, and which are shared with these earlier archosaurs, they have wondered? Without a wide range of older archosaur fossils, it was difficult to say for sure.

Still, many figured that the line of animals that gave rise to the flying reptiles known as pterosaurs, and later the dinosaurs, which themselves gave rise to birds (the only surviving member of the bird-line branch) might have originally come from a chicken-sized, two-legged, dinosaur-like archosaur.

The Teleocrater fossils described by Nesbitt and his colleagues may be proving that idea wrong. This species isnt exactly new to science: Paleontologist F. Rex Parrington first found fossils in Tanzania in 1933 and English paleontologist Alan J. Charig (a posthumous co-author of this paper) characterized the bones roughly two decades later. But the first specimen was missing crucial bones that would have allowed Charig to tell whether this was a bird-branch or crocodile-branch species of archosaur.

To help fill in those key missing details, Nesbitt and his colleagues studied the original specimen together with three new partial Teleocrater specimens, discovered in 2015 not far from where those original fossils were found. Researchers usually look for certain physical features on the skeleton that remain preserved in a lineage even as species differentiate over time. In the case of Teleocrater, it had a number of markers that identified it as a bird-lineage archosaur, such as a telltale depression on top of the head. It also had a muscle scar high on the thigh bone a characteristic you see even in chicken legs today. (In crocodilians and in lizards, the muscles are more evenly distributed across the leg.)

But even as Nesbitt and his colleagues identified Teleocrater as a bird-like archosaur, they also found surprisingly crocodilian characteristics, including the animals ankle bones. In fact, the entire body plan, with its long, low, four-legged profile, seems in some ways more reminiscent of crocodiles than of theropods, a group of dinosaurs that includes Tyrannosaurus rex and also gave rise to the birds we know today.

The ankle was really a big surprise with this animal, because all of the archosaurs on the bird side of the tree [including] dinosaurs all have what we call a bird-like ankle, which has a pretty simple hinge, and all the archosaurs on the croc side of the tree have what we call a crocodile normal ankle or a crocodile-like ankle, Nesbitt said. That tells us that the crocodile ankle was primitive for the earliest archosaurs and that the bird ankle was derived from a crocodile-like ankle.

This is strange, because that high-thigh muscle scar found in bird-branch archosaurs is typical of animals that walk on two legs not animals like Teleocrater, which appeared to walk on all fours.

So what explains this weird muscle configuration? For now, its unclear, said Nesbitt, who pointed out that many physical features evolved for one purpose before being conscripted into other duties. Feathers, for example, were probably used for insulation, camouflage and even mating displays long before they were repurposed for flight.

Its something we see commonly in vertebrate or just animal history, Nesbitt said.

In any case, that ancient shared ancestor of both crocodiles and dinosaurs (and birds) may have looked more like the former than the latter. And this could change our understanding of which features were originally from early archosaurs, and which emerged much later. It may also cause scientists to reevaluate which ancient archosaurs they study to try to understand what a dinosaur ancestor might have looked like.

The findings, together with other recent discoveries, also highlight how diverse and successful a group the nondinosaur archosaurs were, even if they have fewer representatives among our current fossil records.

People have concentrated on dinosaurs for a really long time; they were really successful for almost 180 million years and they continue on as successful birds today, Nesbitt said. But in the Triassic, they were just a small component of this big radiation of the relatives of dinosaurs.

Nesbitt and his colleagues plan to return to Tanzania in May to try to fill in more gaps in left in their partial skeletons, and more gaps in our understanding of these long-gone species.

amina.khan@latimes.com

Follow @aminawrite on Twitter for more science news and "like" Los Angeles Times Science & Health on Facebook.

MORE IN SCIENCE

New view of dinosaurs could radically reshape their family tree

Your fitness tracker can count your steps, but it's not that good at monitoring your heart rate

Read more from the original source:

Archosaur fossils found in Tanzania are forcing scientists to rethink the evolution of dinosaurs - Los Angeles Times

Every season there are 10 young guys who participate in practice during the week, but not on Sundays. These players make up the practice squad (PS). Snagging a spot on the much-more limited roster isnt a guarantee for the entire season -- in fact, the Eagles released and re-signed players at record pace last season, with players bouncing back and forth within days.

Several of the players who started the 2016 season on the practice squad ended up making the active roster by the end of the year thanks to improved performances and slew of injuries. When the young players are called up to the big show, they have to make the most of every opportunity.

You only need to look at last seasons practice squad to see that it is a constantly evolving group; one that is largely dependent on the health and success of the players on the active roster.

The practice squad is a landing spot for young players who are either new to the league or two-year players who have a limited number of games on the active roster.

The first set of moves to the 2016 practice squad came just a week after the initial group of players was announced. Having just traded quarterback Sam Bradford to Minnesota, the team decided theyd bring in a third quarterback Aaron Murray instead of holding on to wide receiver Marcus Johnson who ended up back on the practice squad by the end of the season.

It is a constant juggle between keeping players that can be developed versus keeping players that add depth to thinning and injured positions. With no rules to dictate the frequency teams can release and re-sign players from the practice squad, these changes are sometimes made on a day-by-day basis making a valid argument that Howie Roseman might have an addiction to transactions.

Sometimes the practice squad is just a place for the Eagles to hold onto potential back-ups without having to pay full price. Other times, though, its used a way to develop young players into the type of guy who would not only make the final 53-man roster, but excel at his position.

Four players from the 2016 practice squad made the leap to Made Man by the end of the season: Byron Marshall (RB), C.J. Smith (CB), Paul Turner (WR) and Terrell Watson (RB). Watson was a late-season addition; joining the Eagles practice squad in late-December and just one week later making the active roster.

Marshall: Added to the active roster Dec. 13, the running back was brought in just after the team was forced to move three players to IR including rookie rusher Wendell Smallwood. He saw playing time in two of the three remaining games of the season, and recorded 64 yards on 19 carries, along with 10 yards on three receptions. The undrafted free agent could might see time on the practice squad once again in 2017, but if hes able to build off of his limited snap count, theres a chance they keep him among the final 53.

Smith: Another player brought in toward the end of the season, C.J. Smith finally saw some playing time in December. The cornerback is another product of North Dakota State University same as quarterback Carson Wentz but despite a significant lack of depth in the secondary for the Eagles, Smith only recorded one tackle and didnt see too many snaps. The position group hasnt been bolstered that much this offseason, so Smith could have a good shot of making the roster in 2017.

Turner: One of the stranger players on the practice squad in 2016, the wide receiver actually made the final 53-man roster...and then was released and re-signed to the PS just days later. Turner quickly became a fan-favorite after a standout preseason performance, including a 71-yard punt return for a touchdown. He was brought up to the active roster in late-November, and saw snaps in four games. The big upside with Turner is his big play ability; the wideout snagged just nine passes in 2016 but amassed 126 yards, averaging 14.0 yards per reception.

Watson: The running back was responsible for one of the best feel-good moments of the 2016 season. Watson only saw playing time in the final game of the season against the Cowboys, but on a drive that was clearly designed for him, ended up in the endzone for his first professional touchdown. The score was instantly memorable, as it marked a defining moment for a young man who survived a difficult childhood and overcame a learning disability. Watson is one player fans will hope to see among the final roster next season, and enjoy every moment of his success.

There are two players who spent time on the Eagles practice squad last season that have a chance to earn a spot on the active roster this year, Aaron Grymes (DB) and Aziz Shittu (DT).

Grymes played in the CFL for three years with the Edmonton Eskimos before signing with the Eagles; he made Phillys roster for a short stint before getting injured, and could earn more playing time during camp. Shittu is another young guy who has a good chance of making the final roster in 2017, especially with Beau Allens latest injury. With Allen out until at least the beginning of the season, Shittu has a real shot of snagging additional snaps with a consistent performance.

Less likely: The chances are slimmer for Anthony Denham, Don Cherry, Marcus Johnson and David Watford, unless they step it up during camp. If Andrew Bonnet -- another NDSU alum -- can step up and be better than Chris Pantale was last year, theres a chance he earns a role as a fourth tight end/fullback.

Link:

The Evolution of the Eagles' Practice Squad - Bleeding Green Nation

By Donald R. Grebien

Pawtucket is at a critical point in its history and the city is evolving. With a number of exciting public and private investments in itsdowntown either happening or in the pipeline, now is Pawtuckets time to align these efforts and set the stage for themto catalyze others.

The birthplace of the American Industrial Revolution, Pawtucket is poised to undergo a 21st century evolution into Rhode Islands premier arts and cultural destination, an ideal community to live, work, play, start a business and raise a family.

With the support of the city's state and federal delegations, public investments have been leveraged fora commuter rail station, a bike path, commerce, the arts and historic preservation. Additionally, thanks to the work of many, Pawtucket is now the gateway to the Blackstone River Valley National Historical Park, with Slater Mill as its crown jewel.

The once-in-a-lifetime opportunity we have in a planned commuter rail station must be capitalized on and leveraged to spur further growth that will benefit all of Rhode Island. This transformative project will connect the people of the Blackstone Valley to Boston via affordable and environmentally friendly transit, and will also provide accessfor tourists and visitors seeking to take advantage of all we have to offer, from Slater Mill to the PawSox to the breweries to our nations newest National Park.

The transit-oriented development potential that this will unlock in the immediate area of Pawtuckets downtown and neighboring Central Falls will truly enliven Rhode Islands urban center. Development of Pawtuckets downtown and riverfront will enhance the citys diverse array of recreational, housing, entertainment, cultural, tourism and business optionsand job options.

Pawtuckets private businesses, such as Collette Tours, Pet Food Experts, Sara Bella Jewelry, Narragansett Insurance, the Gamm Theatre, Isle Brewers Guild and others, have chosen to invest in our community because they see the value and potential. Our mills that once felt the sting of offshoring are now home to small businesses, manufacturers and residents of condos and apartments. Businesses and residents alike say that additional amenities, entertainment and activity are needed to attract visitors and residents to the city and the area we have dubbed its Growth Center.

Pawtuckets Growth Center encompasses more than the Main Street area. It extends from the site of the future commuter rail station through Main Street and City Hall to the east side of the riverfront. Smart investment in this area will drive the citys future growth.

The city and its downtown property owners and businesses can collaboratively shepherd development within the Growth Center to transform downtown into a dynamic, walkable city center that appeals to modern preferences andattracts new residents and businesses.

The City of Pawtucket is reinvesting in its critical infrastructure, such as roads, bike paths, parks, and schools setting the stage for future growth and tourism. Pawtuckets waterfront has tremendous potential for high-quality development and increased public access. Master plans have been developed for riverfront parcels on Division Street and the Tidewater site. The city and state have also upgraded Festival Pier, a one-of-a-kind riverfront park offSchool Street.

Conceptual aerial maps circulated last week display various projects underway and show concepts for the potential relocation of Pawtuckets AAA baseball stadium to the downtown, and how it could fit into the citys vision for the future and catalyze planned projects. The totality of these projects could be more than the sum of its parts, creating a multiplier effect, spurring additional economic development in the region.

I will continue to take a responsible approach, knowing that my duty is to the residents of Pawtucket and taxpayers of Rhode Island. The people's interests must come first. I understand that every dollar counts. This administration brought Pawtucket back from the brink of bankruptcy. We cannot afford to waste any opportunity to spur further growth and progress.

Pawtucket is an important part of Rhode Islands future, and as a gateway to Rhode Island on Route 95 and to our nations newest national park, our future economic development is crucial to Rhode Islands progress.

Donald R. Grebien, a Democrat, is mayor of Pawtucket.

Read more:

Donald R. Grebien: Evolution of Pawtucket is underway - The Providence Journal

Total Supply/Demand Balance

We estimate that total demand for American natural gas fell to around 449-452 bcf this week (down almost 10% w-o-w, and down 8% y-o-y). National consumption plunged some 12% y-o-y, but total exports' increased by more than 36% over the same period, thus off-setting most of the weakness in domestic demand. The deviation from the norm decreased from 11% to just under 8%.

Source: GeckoiCapital

* norm defined as simple average over the last nine years

The annual decline in dry natural gas production has slowed down to just under 3%. However, we do not currently expect positive y-o-y growth in natural gas output until at least June, 2017. Increased imports from Canada helped offset some of the weakness in domestic output, but aggregate supply (i.e., production + imports) still fell some 2% y-o-y, although it did rise marginally w-o-w.

Overall, total SD Balance should be positive for the third straight week and is expected to reach as much as 100 bcf. This volume is almost twice as large as last week and some 16% above five-year average for this time of the year. In absolute terms, the balance should be bearish for the Henry Hub contract. However, as we have repeatedly said in our previous updates, traders seem to be less concerned about near-term weakness in fundamentals and are more focused on the end-of-injection-season inventory. Also, please note, that total SD Balance does not equal storage flows.

Source: GeckoiCapital

Storage

Currently, we expect EIA to report an injection of 47 bcf next week (final estimate will be released next Tuesday). Our projection is 2 bcf higher than the comparable figure in the ICE's latest report for EII-US EIA Financial Weekly Index, implying a potential "bearish surprise". Overall, at this point in time, we expect flows to storage to average 52 bcf over next three reports. Natural gas inventories deviation from five-year average is projected to decline from 14.6% today to 13.6% on April 28.

See the evolution of storage forecasts in the chart below. Notice, that we have been revising up our near-term storage estimates. Since March 31, the total for three reports went up from 125 bcf to 157 bcf. Please note that we update our forecasts every weekday.

Source: GeckoiCapital

Disclosure: I/we have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.

I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

Read more:

Natural Gas Weekly: Supply/Demand Balance And Evolution Of Storage Flows - Seeking Alpha

WHITE HOUSE

On the campaign trail, candidate Donald Trump called NATO obsolete. This week, with the NATO secretary general standing next to him at a White House news conference, President Trump did a complete reversal, saying, Its no longer obsolete.

Candidate Trump regularly denounced China as a currency manipulator. But days after his summit meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, President Trump said the exact opposite. Theyre not currency manipulators, he told The Wall Street Journal.

These and other presidential policy zigzags are the talk of Washingtons political elites.

President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping walk together after their meetings at Mar-a-Lago, April 7, 2017, in Palm Beach, Florida.

The Washington Post recently declared Trump the king of flip-flops. There is almost daily commentary arguing that the first weeks of his presidency have revealed a leader with a weak understanding of geopolitics, struggling with critical issues such as the workings of the NATO alliance.

Hes been mugged by reality, one commentator said.

In an article published Thursday, however, the Post noted that the president appears to be flip-flopping with more moderation as he gains experience.

Positions more nuanced

On issue after issue in the past 12 weeks, Trumps views have evolved away from campaign rhetoric to more nuanced positions that reflect the responsibilities of office, according to Dan Mahaffee, senior vice president and director of policy at Washingtons Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress.

Many presidents would say campaigning is one art and governing is another, he told VOA.

There is a contrast between the black and white of the campaign trail and the many shades of gray you see sitting behind a desk in the Oval Office, Mahaffee said. The adage, You campaign in poetry and govern in prose is true no matter who holds the office.

Trump himself makes no apologies for his shifting views and policy reverses. After seeing pictures of victims of the recent Syrian chemical weapons attack, Trump told a news conference that his opinion of President Bashar al-Assads regime had changed.

FILE - This frame grab from video provided April, 7, 2017, by official Syrian TV shows the burned and damaged hangars hit by U.S. Tomahawk missiles at the Shayrat air base southeast of Homs, Syria.

I think of myself as a very flexible person. I do change and Im proud of that flexibility, Trump said, as he stood alongside visiting Jordanian King Abdullah.

A day later, the president ordered a Tomahawk missile strike on the Syrian air base where the chemical attack is believed to have originated. While the strike earned him international plaudits, it surprised many at home, including supporters who had listened to him promise on the campaign trail to keep the United States out of conflicts in the Middle East.

New understanding

The further turnabout on at least three issues this week, including NATO and his campaign pledge to close the Export-Import Bank, have prompted discontent in several quarters of the foreign policy establishment.

I would say the most generous interpretation would be that hes now learning about issues that he really didnt have any expertise with beforehand, said Angela Stent, director for the Center for Eurasian, Russian and East European Studies at Georgetown University. He came from the world of real estate.

Its the same on the NATO issue, Stent said. He said consistently during the campaign that NATO was obsolete. He didnt understand why the U.S. needed NATO.

Surrounded by professionals

Luke Coffey, director of the Foreign Policy Center at the conservative Heritage Foundation, questions the mainstream narrative. He says Trumps sometimes worrisome campaign persona has been supplanted by a leader who may speak imprecisely, but who surrounds himself with professionals.

The stuff he [Trump] said about NATO in the past and Russia, I found very alarming, but yesterday he said all the right things, Coffey said. His staff, his appointments, his Cabinet, his generals say all the right things about NATO.

Mahaffee, of the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress, says that in the final analysis, Trumps flip-flops probably wont hurt his overall approval ratings.

NATO defense spending, the Ex-Im Bank, things like that really wont resonate as much as getting the economy moving and getting jobs back, he said. While a Washington media corps that likes to keep a scorecard will be doing one thing, much of the voting public will be more concerned about pocketbook issues.

Read more here:

Trump's Flip-Flops Show Evolution Toward Moderation - Voice of America

Forbes

Evolution In Business: A Science Lesson For Agencies Forbes While I'm not a scientist, I have found a parallel between the longevity of a business and its ability to evolve much like Darwin's theory of evolution. In my case, my agency has morphed multiple times from its early years and I'm excited to see what ...

View post:

Evolution In Business: A Science Lesson For Agencies - Forbes

Females are coy and males are ardent. This was Darwins somewhat Victorian portrayal of the sexes in his book The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex. The myth that males are naturally promiscuous and females naturally monogamous, persisted for a century after Darwins book was published, becoming perhaps his least helpful legacy.

In reality, monogamy is relatively rare in nature, for either sex. Towards the end of the 20th century, scientists began to take a renewed interest in sexual selection. The advent of genetic tests for paternity revealed that female animals were actually having plenty of sex, and with lots of males.

Perhaps the most surprising finding was that many bird species that look monogamous at first glance they build nests together and cooperate in raising offspring were actually mating all over the place, such that broods often contained many half-siblings. Darwins contemporaries would have been shocked.

In the wild, then, it seems that promiscuity is rife and this has important consequences for evolution. The traditional thinking is that promiscuity intensifies sexual selection, an evolutionary process whereby individuals develop traits that help them gain more mates and offspring. This should speed up evolution, leading to the rapid formation of new species (speciation). But a new study on shorebirds from researchers at the University of Bath suggests the exact opposite. So, what do we really know about the link between sex and speciation?

Fights and fancy ornaments

Darwins original ideas about sexual selection were based largely on males competing for mates, either by fighting among themselves or by showing off fancy ornaments to attract choosy females. And it is indeed likely that sexual selection led to the evolution of stags antlers and male peacocks tails.

But when females are promiscuous, sexual selection gets even more interesting. If a female mates with different males in quick succession then the sperm of those males compete for the females eggs. This is one of the reasons that the males of many species have evolved to produce large numbers of sperm: theyre tickets in the fertilisation raffle.

In shorebirds, there are more subspecies among monogamous species than among more promiscuous species(Shutterstock)

Promiscuity can also mean conflict. Whereas lifelong monogamous couples have completely shared interests, short-term relationships can quickly turn sour. For example, promiscuity can lead to the evolution of sinister means of preventing your mates reproducing with a rival, or guarding against unwanted attention. Adaptations include medieval-looking spiky penises in seed beetles, toxic seminal fluid in flies, and defensive spines on female water striders.

But what does all this mean for the evolutionary tree of life? Does more sex mean more species? Broadly speaking the view has been yes. More sex equals more selection, which equals rapid evolution and so more species. The thinking is that an evolutionary to-and-fro between the sexes male ornaments evolving with female preferences, or harmful male traits evolving with female defences can lead to rapid cycles of evolution. This leads to quickly differentiating populations and stops them interbreeding.

Some past studies support these ideas and find female promiscuity is associated with higher speciation rates, although other studies find little evidence for this. However, a new study published in Evolution suggests the exact opposite. The data shows that in shorebirds, there are more subspecies (races) among monogamous species than among more promiscuous species. So what is going on here?

The study authors, led by Josephine DUrban Jackson, suggest that the answer lies in promiscuous birds dispersing in search of more mates. More dispersal means that populations mix freely and exchange genes. This makes it less likely for sexual selection to produce different traits in different populations, so reducing the chance of a completely new species evolving. In contrast, monogamous couples move around less, and mate within a more local pool of birds. This allows populations to genetically diverge over time, eventually becoming different species.

Measuring sexual selection

So, does this then mean that sexual selection does not in fact drive speciation? Not necessarily. In general, sexual selection is stronger when some individuals in a species are better than others at attracting mates and having lots of offspring. To measure this directly, you need to know how many mates and offspring everyone has, which as you might imagine is not easy data to gather, especially in the wild.

Studies such as this new one use proxy measures, such as the degree of promiscuity, while others use male testes size, or sex differences in body size, to infer differences in the strength of sexual selection between species. But while promiscuity clearly opens the door to different aspects of sexual selection (such as dispersing to find additional mates) it does not necessarily increase the overall strength of sexual selection.

In fact, under some conditions sexual selection is weaker when females are promiscuous. This is because female promiscuity stops a minority of males from monopolising access to mating, and so all males have a more similar degree of success.

So, promiscuity probably alters the type of sexual selection acting on shorebirds, and it is certainly associated with reduced species diversity. But the broader debate over the relationship between sexual selection and speciation wont be settled any time soon.

Stuart Wigby is a BBSRC David Phillips research fellow at University of Oxford. This article first appeared on The Conversation (theconversation.com)

Go here to see the original:

Promiscuous birds challenge the idea that more sexual partners speeds up evolution - The Independent