Posts by GrreatTeacher

A thorough reading of the rest of the textbook would make the meaning very apparent, as long as Space is truly quoting from a university level college textbook of biology. Understanding the entire subject (as I and other members of the board do) makes it quite apparent what the meaning of that sentence is.

89

99.9% Of a People Who Believe In Evolution Don't Understand It.

by Space Madness in

jw
friends

i never believed in evolution as i thought it didn't make sense and that what was proposed was simply impossible.

how could an environment alter an organism's dna?

as we can see however, bacteria cannot become resistance to antibiotics.

GrreatTeacher

There appears to be a reading comprehension problem with the quote. Let's read it again.

"Many people mistakenly believe that antibiotics create resistance; that is, that resistance arises in bacteria in response to exposure to drugs."

The structure of the sentence is that the first statement is then clarified by the semicolon and the words "that is."

The second statement says that "resistance arises in bacteria IN RESPONSE to exposure to drugs." This is the fallacy: that the bacteria are RESPONDING TO the environment and CREATING resistance, as the first part of the sentence states. It is NOT stating that there is no such thing as bacterial resistance.

With a basic understanding of the subject, you can easily understand which words are being stressed in that sentence.

89

99.9% Of a People Who Believe In Evolution Don't Understand It.

by Space Madness in

jw
friends

i never believed in evolution as i thought it didn't make sense and that what was proposed was simply impossible.

how could an environment alter an organism's dna?

as we can see however, bacteria cannot become resistance to antibiotics.

GrreatTeacher

I think a problem is the title of the thread.

In general, people who believe in evolution understand it very well. It's the disbelievers who have a faulty understanding of the mechanisms involved who then use that as an excuse to disagree, like you mentioned you yourself used to do.

Plus, it's disingenuous to use a made up statistic like 99.9% when what is really meant is "the majority " or something similar. Statistics should only be used when they are actually real. We all do it from time to time, but it's a poor use of language.

89

99.9% Of a People Who Believe In Evolution Don't Understand It.

by Space Madness in

jw
friends

i never believed in evolution as i thought it didn't make sense and that what was proposed was simply impossible.

how could an environment alter an organism's dna?

as we can see however, bacteria cannot become resistance to antibiotics.

GrreatTeacher

Space, it's responded to its environment in the sense that the current population has only come into existence within the conditions of its environment.

Again, population versus organism is an important distinction. When I say species, I mean the total population of a particular species.

You'll get there. Keep reading and thinking.

18

"You don't pee next to a cop," and other rules from the mens room that women don't know

by GrreatTeacher in

jw
friends

i was recently at a baseball game with friends and family when i learned something new.

beer had been drunk and the men made their way to the men's room to relieve themselves.

when they got back i asked them what took them so long.

GrreatTeacher

I think the niceties are to distract from the real business at hand, so we can pretend that we really are going into the restroom just to rest and then style our hair and fix our makeup. Its all part of the voluntary delusion we share that there's really no pooping going on in there, no siree.

89

99.9% Of a People Who Believe In Evolution Don't Understand It.

by Space Madness in

jw
friends

i never believed in evolution as i thought it didn't make sense and that what was proposed was simply impossible.

how could an environment alter an organism's dna?

as we can see however, bacteria cannot become resistance to antibiotics.

GrreatTeacher

Okay, off from bacteria and their antibiotic environment and on to animals and their environments.

A large predatory bird usually eats fish. A mutation produces an extra talon that can be used in an opposable way with his other talons and becomes useful for catching and eating rodents. This becomes beneficial to the bird allowing more food security and more stable nesting and reproduction opportunities. His offspring will now have twice the variety of food and therefore be more fit for reproduction and so the extra talon, giving an edge to survival would remain in the population and become more prominent. Then, the bird could move farther inland and eat a diet of small rodents exclusively. Eventually the extra taloned bird who lives inland becomes a separate species from the water living birds who eat fish. Any extra mutations that allow the inland, rodent eating birds better survival could further differentiate the two species.

That's just a possible example. Think of a peacock trying to attract a mate. The environment is tough. If a peahen doesn't choose you, none of your genes get passed on. Then one day a peacock is born who has a colorful tail. More peahens chose him and so he gets to pass on a lot of his genes. Then another genetic mutation produces a longer and colorful tail and the peahens find him extremely attractive and he passes on even more of his genes. So the long colorful tail is spreading through the population because it is being selected for reproduction by the females. Thus, the peacock species eventually has very long and colorful tales in the male. It has adapted to the environment of female preference.

So, again, there are no genetic mutations in response to a particular need. Previous genetic mutations that are useful for survival in a particular are more likely to survive and thus pass on those genes to their offspring. Thus, the species has changed or adapted in response to its environment. Again, on a population or species level, not on an individual organism level.

89

99.9% Of a People Who Believe In Evolution Don't Understand It.

by Space Madness in

jw
friends

i never believed in evolution as i thought it didn't make sense and that what was proposed was simply impossible.

how could an environment alter an organism's dna?

as we can see however, bacteria cannot become resistance to antibiotics.

GrreatTeacher

No known mechanism allows the environment to tell the DNA how to mutate.

That does NOT mean that it's literally impossible for a species to adapt to the environment as you claim. The environment does not TELL the DNA how to mutate, it's not a reactive process.

It's the other way around. DNA mutations occur passively before any antibiotic exposure. When these mutations allow the organism (bacteria) to survive the onslaught of the antibiotics then they survive to reproduce other antibiotic resistant bacteria which is natural selection.

In this way, organism by organism the species as a whole (the population) has adapted to the antibiotic rich environment. This is true. Its just that the mutations occur not after exposure, but before and are then selected for by the presence of the antibiotic.

18

"You don't pee next to a cop," and other rules from the mens room that women don't know

by GrreatTeacher in

jw
friends

i was recently at a baseball game with friends and family when i learned something new.

beer had been drunk and the men made their way to the men's room to relieve themselves.

when they got back i asked them what took them so long.

GrreatTeacher

I was recently at a baseball game with friends and family when I learned something new. Beer had been drunk and the men made their way to the men's room to relieve themselves. When they got back I asked them what took them so long. They said the whole thing was very awkward. There was a cop at the urinals and you never pee next to a cop, but there were also lots of other men in there who then had to pee next to each other which is not ideal. You see, there is unspoken etiquette rules that say that if you come in to pee, you never stand directly next to the next guy. You should ideally leave a space in between. Sometimes though, if it's very crowded, you might have to, but make sure you studiously don't look. Then it takes forever to get started and so it's bad all around.

However, this rule is trumped by the never pee next to a cop rule. So, there was a cop peeing down at the last urinal which forced them to leave a space and so all of the other guys were forced to pee next to each other. This was awkward. Well are there other rules for the stalls, I wanted to know. Like what? they asked. Well like the ladies room rules. I told them the unspoken ladies room rules and they were incredulous.

"First of all, you can pee without any restrictions. But, you may never fart in the ladies room. They laughed and thought this highly unlikely. In fact you must pretend to never be going #2. It's all about hiding the sounds. First, try to find an empty restroom, but you might be able to wait out other people and then go after they leave. In fact when they are using those loud hand dryers you can usually get one out without being heard. Another strategy is waiting for someone to flush and then going really quickly. The worst thing would be to come into the ladies room grab a stall and fart loudly then end with a plop and a splash. If this embarrassing event happens to you, you must wait until everyone else leaves the bathroom before you can sneak out and leave.

The men said it was totally acceptable to fart loudly and plop and drop. As long as you gave a courtesy flush if this continued for any length of time. Did women give courtesy flushes? Not really, you just flush once and get the hell out of there as quickly as possible. The key rule in the women's room is that you must pretend that you are not going #2. What about cop rules in the ladies room? they wanted to know. Nope, there are no cop rules in the ladies room.

I always find it amazing when I learn these little tidbits of rules that are there all along and the opposite sex has no idea about it. It's like finding something you've never known about your spouse after all these years. And it's also amazing that these rules are never taught, never spoken, yet we all know them and follow them, these social memes.

Has anyone else heard of the don't pee next to a cop rule? Are there other rules?

Does anyone else have the fascination I do with the transmission of social memes regarding toilet etiquette?

I just keep thinking how can men and women live so closely with each other for years and yet we have no knowledge of the rules behind the other door?

89

99.9% Of a People Who Believe In Evolution Don't Understand It.

by Space Madness in

jw
friends

i never believed in evolution as i thought it didn't make sense and that what was proposed was simply impossible.

how could an environment alter an organism's dna?

as we can see however, bacteria cannot become resistance to antibiotics.

GrreatTeacher

The adaptation to environments is on a species level, not an individual level. So, yes it is "a thing" as is survival of the fittest.

I think you are confusing the individual organism level with the "population" level or species as a whole.