by Richard William Nelson | Jun 14, 2013
Charles Darwin started the debate over where humans originated. In the 19th century, most evolution scientists believed humans originated in Asia–the Out-of-Asia model. In the 6th Edition of The Origin of Species (1872), while Darwin mentions “humans” ten times, he never discusses the origin of humans.
Darwin studied African apes for the 1st Edition of The Descent of Man (1871). In the section entitled “On the Birthplace and Antiquity of Man,” Darwin argued –
“It is somewhat more probable that our early progenitors lived on the African continent than elsewhere.”
Darwin started evolution’s Out-of-Africa vs. Out-of-Asia dilemma.
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by Richard William Nelson | May 11, 2013
Embryology plays a critical role in Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. The “leading facts in embryology … [were] second to none in importance,” he argued in The Origin of Species.
Illustrations of embryos by Ernst Haeckel, a German biologist, influenced Darwin. Haeckel’s drawings portray embryos repeating the steps of evolution, known as the “ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny” theory.
It is thought that genes drive evolution through natural selection. Since turtles have a unique body plan, studying the turtle genome during embryonic development is expected to give insight into their origin.
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by Richard William Nelson | Apr 30, 2013
“Natural selection” is the name Charles Darwin used to describe the mechanism driving evolution and the origin of species. The title of his book was The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection. Natural selection was the “means” of evolution, the fundamental tenet of Darwin’s theory.
Natural selection emerged as the cornerstone law of evolution following the publication of The Origin in 1859. “I do believe,” Darwin argued, “natural selection acts slowly by accumulating slight, successive, favorable variations.”
Natural selection, the tenet of Darwin’s theory, when viewed through the lens of twenty-first-century technologies, increasingly faces scientific challenges.
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by Richard William Nelson | Apr 23, 2013
The long-awaited analysis of one of the most influential lobed-finned fish in evolution history, the coelacanth genome (pictured left), was published last week by Chris T. Amemiya (pictured right below) of the University of Washington and Jessica Alföldi from MIT and Harvard in the prestigious journal Nature.
The coelacanth plays a crucial and colorful role in the history of evolution.
Biologist Louis Agassiz, born in Switzerland, became a professor at Harvard University and founder of the Museum of Comparative Biology and was the first to describe and name the fish in 1839. Ironically, Agazzi became a leading critic of Charles Darwin.
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by Richard William Nelson | Apr 13, 2013
A research team led by Michael Blaber of Florida State University College of Medicine recently reported a solution to a problem with the “protein-first,” also known as the protein self-assembly origin of life theory. The issue involves protein folding.
Biologically active proteins are only functional when folded into specific molecular structures.
Proteins’ ability to fold into specific structures is essential to performing cellular functions. While the team’s approach aligns with Charles Darwin’s theory, the protein self-assembly origin of life competes with the popular “RNA-first” origin of life theory.
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by Richard William Nelson | Feb 19, 2013
“The origin of life on Earth is a scientific problem,” according to WIKIPEDIA, “which is not yet solved. There are many ideas but few clear facts.”
In 2013, Princeton University hosted an international Origin of Life conference to address this issue.
In the nineteenth century, the “spontaneous generation” theory had long been the natural explanation for the origin of life, starting in Greek philosophy. Even Charles Darwin, centuries later, endorsed the theory in The Origin of Species (1859).
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by Richard William Nelson | Feb 4, 2013
Paleontologist Pascal Godefroit of the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences in Belgium published a paper in Nature in January, challenging the current understanding of “the first bird.” In Liaoning Province of north-east China, Godefroit collaborated with a research team from the Jilin University Geological Museum, China, and found fossil evidence challenging the Archaeopteryx as “the first bird.” Archaeopteryx means the “ancient wing.”
Nature published their paper entitled “Reduced plumage and flight ability of a new Jurassic paravian theropod from China,” Godefroit stated –
“These specimens have challenged the pivotal position of Archaeopteryx in bird phylogeny.”
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by Richard William Nelson | Jan 24, 2013
Origin of life researchers collected “new insights” from a new paper entitled “The origin of membrane biogenetics,” published in the December issue of the journal Cell. The media elevated the hype into an origin-of-life sea saga spectacle.
The journal Nature covered the paper in an article entitled “How life emerged from deep-sea rocks” by Ed Yong. The subtitle. “The origin of ion-pumping proteins could explain how life began in and escaped from undersea thermal vents,” seemed to seal the deal.
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by Richard William Nelson | Dec 20, 2012
Charles Darwin‘s story of how the giraffe got its long neck is one of the most popular and widely-told stories in the history of evolution. At the center of the giraffe evolution story is the African okapi (pictured left).
The story begins with Darwin speculating on a transitional link. In The Origin of Species, Darwin wrote –
“It seems to me almost certain that an ordinary hoofed quadruped might be converted into a giraffe.”
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by Richard William Nelson | Dec 4, 2012
Africa’s majestically bizarre leaf-eating giraffe once served as an elite status symbol. Even from early civilizations, images of the giraffe are etched and sketched into the rock all over Africa. Puzzling over how the giraffe got its long neck and gentle behavior, the giraffe was the prize of Kings.
In 46 BC, Julius Caesar brought the first giraffe into Europe. Seeming to blend the characteristics of the camel and leopard, the Romans named the giraffe a “cameleopard.” Caesar presented giraffes to lions in Roman arenas to shred and shock audiences.
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Charles Darwin started the debate over where humans originated. In the 19th century, most evolution scientists believed humans originated in Asia–the Out-of-Asia model. In the 6th Edition of The Origin of Species (1872), while Darwin mentions “humans” ten times, he never discusses the origin of humans.
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The long-awaited analysis of one of the most influential lobed-finned fish in evolution history, the coelacanth genome (pictured left), was published last week by 
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Charles Darwin
Africa’s majestically bizarre leaf-eating giraffe once served as an elite status symbol. Even from early civilizations, images of the giraffe are etched and sketched into the rock all over Africa. Puzzling over how the giraffe got its long neck and gentle behavior, the giraffe was the prize of Kings.