We are all aliens!!!
For years we’ve heard the theory that life on earth may have come from space. Here’s a bit more evidence*. Building Blocks of DNA Found in Meteorites from Space. * This is admittedly several years old,...
View ArticleUncomfortable truths
I’ve been admittedly lax in blogging and will continue to be so for a while. I’ve gotten caught up in learning some cartoon animation software and it has grabed my focus. That said, I’ve been...
View ArticleOur obsession with accomplishment
I continue to read Alan Harrington’s “The Immortalist.” One of the books argument is that man, faced with the modern observation that god is dead, tries to achieve immortality by becoming famous, thus...
View ArticleArt and lies, damned lies
I enjoy reading insightful and provocative commentary. But how do I know a piece of writing deserves such accolades? Often because its ideas mirror my own. Case in point: I just stumbled across this...
View ArticleThe war within!
I’ve argued that there’s a certain disconnect wired into the human body. On one hand, our genes want us to engage in certain behaviors that ensure the continuation of our genetic material. These...
View ArticleThe Monkey Journey
‘The Hero’s Journey’ is a familiar trope in fiction and goes back to Greek myths. The basic conceit is that man (it’s usually a man) leaves his comfortable home for some reason and comes back changed,...
View ArticleModern living
An intriguing thought just occurred to me. We understand that we can make the experience of life more pleasant (at least temporarily) by altering our brain chemistry with various substances – martinis,...
View ArticleLive forever!
The website io9 notes that scientists have figured out how to alter genes to extend life spans! Of, um, yeast, but what they learn could be applicable to humans. Longo’s group put baker’s yeast on a...
View ArticleMonkey fixations
Even the most sophisticated and intellectual among us (myself, for example) have picked up a copy of People magazine when stuck at an Airport with nothing to read. For some reason, staring at pictures...
View ArticleDid we domesticate ourselves?
You’ve doubtless heard of the work of Russian geneticist Dmitry Belyaev. Belyaev is best known for his work domesticating Siberian foxes in the 1950s. He would find the friendliest foxes in a litter...
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