Mastodawn

There are not many books that I read more than once. But I have nearly finished re-reading Darwin’s Dangerous Idea by Daniel Dennett, because I felt like I missed some important content the first time. I have read four of Dennett’s books. They are interesting to me because he was interested in several of the same topics that most interest me: biology, natural selection, human consciousness, and the philosophy of science. #Darwin #Biology #Evolution #Nature #NaturalSelection #DanielDennett #Bookstodon

Here’s a quote from near the end of the book:

“It is style that both constrains and enables us, giving a positive direction to our explorations but only by rendering otherwise neighboring regions off limits to us—and if off limits to us in particular, then probably off limits to everyone forever. Individual styles are truly unique, the product of untold billions of serendipitous encounters over the ages, encounters that produced first a unique genome, and then a unique upbringing, and finally a unique set of life experiences… We are stuck, by our actuality and finitude, in a negligible corner of the total space of possibilities, but what a fine actuality is still accessible to us, thanks to the R-and-D work of all our predecessors! We might as well make the most of what we have, thereby leaving rather more for our descendants to work with. It is time to turn the burden of proof around, the way Darwin did when he challenged his critics to describe some other way—other than natural selection in which all the wonders of nature could have arisen.”

tomsharp Jan 17

In 1943, Luria and Delbrück showed that Darwin’s natural selection applies to bacteria just as it applies to more complex forms of life. #Poetry #Science #History #Genetics #Bacteria #Luria #Delbrück #Darwin #NaturalSelection #Evolution (https://sharpgiving.com/Sharp/thebookofscience/items/p1943a.html)

Swede’s Photographs Jan 14

Good morning. 🦆🪿🦢

14 January 2026

I often find myself wondering why some people can’t wrap their heads around concepts that seem completely obvious. I’ve got a saying for it: “We’re not all issued the same toolkit.” I don’t claim to be the smartest guy in the room, but I’m still amazed at how often I’ve watched people struggle with things that feel straightforward. Education plays a role, sure, but it doesn’t fully account for what I’ve seen.

Take natural selection, for example. I don’t have much formal education in biology, yet the basic logic of natural selection—survival of the fittest—has always made sense to me. It isn’t hard to grasp how tiny changes, stretched across vast spans of time, can accumulate and produce new species. Once you see that mechanism, you can’t unsee it. And yet some people, as I’ve said, just don’t get it… or maybe they refuse to.

I’m not trying to wander into theology, but belief systems absolutely shape this particular conversation. For many folks, understanding evolution feels like betraying their faith, so they choose not to understand. I’ve seen it firsthand—students in college biology classes arguing with the instructor, practically ready to cover their ears and hum just to avoid hearing the explanation. I’m exaggerating, but only a little. People get emotional about this stuff.

C’est la vie. What can you do.

“Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.” — Carl Jung

“Just because you don’t understand it doesn’t mean it isn’t so.” — Lemony Snicket

“Evolution is one of the shattering ideas that overturns past hopes and assumptions.” — Stephen Jay Gould

“Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge.” — Charles Darwin

#photo #photography #photographer #photographylovers #wildlife #nature #bird #birds #birding #birdwatching #birdphotography #morning #knowledge #naturalselection #biology #ducks #geese #thought

Maikel de Bakker Jan 10

The garden falls silent.

A few weeks ago, a Sparrowhawk turned our garden upside down in a storm of panic and wings. Yesterday, he returned. This time, there was no chaos — only anticipation. Every bird seemed to know what was coming. Long before I noticed him, the garden emptied itself. Not in panic, but with experience.

Only two House Sparrows (Passer domesticus — Huismus — House Sparrow) made a mistake. They chose low cover beneath the bird feeder house. When the Sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus — Sperwer — Eurasian Sparrowhawk) landed on top of it, right above them, they froze. Perfectly still. Camouflage doing what evolution designed it to do.

The garden was silent. Too silent.

The sparrowhawk scanned the area, clearly disappointed. Then the two sparrows shifted… and briefly quarrelled. A fatal error. In a flash of muscle and feathers, the hawk launched himself downward. The sparrows reacted instantly — nimble, desperate, alive. They fled with the hawk right on their tail, vanishing beyond the garden.

I don’t know how it ended. That’s nature.

Predators like the Sparrowhawk don’t hunt for sport. They take what they need, removing weakness and maintaining balance. Without them, ecosystems collapse quietly and invisibly. Watching this unfold from my lunch table was a reminder that even the smallest garden is part of a much larger system.

Photographed handheld with my Canon 5D Mark IV and Sigma 100–400mm at f/6.3, 1/250 sec, ISO 3200 — overcast, calm, and deceptively peaceful.

Nature rarely announces itself loudly. Sometimes, it simply holds its breath.

#AccipiterNisus #Sperwer #EurasianSparrowhawk
#PasserDomesticus #Huismus #HouseSparrow
#BirdPhotography #GardenWildlife #UrbanNature
#NatureObservation #EcologicalBalance #Predation
#WildlifeBehavior #BirdsInTheGarden #NatureStory
#HandheldPhotography #Canon5DMarkIV #Sigma100400
#WinterWildlife #OvercastDays #NaturalSelection
#FoodChain #Ecosystem #BackyardNature
#PixelfedPhotography #WildlifeMoments

Church of Jeff Jan 6

“Tinder for Nazis” hit by 100GB data leak, thousands of users exposed
Published: 2 January 2026

https://cybernews.com/security/investigator-exposes-white-supremacist-sites-users/

The leak affects:
• WhiteDate, a white supremacist dating site for “Europids seeking tribal love,”
• WhiteChild, a white supremacist site focused on family and ancestry, and
• WhiteDeal, a networking and professional development site for people with a racist worldview.

#Incels #MAGA #Trump #NaturalSelection #groyper

Biohacking Pathway Jan 4

How Humans Changed Fruit Forever

Explore the truth about your favorite fruits! How human intervention has led to the unnatural evolution of fruits like bananas, making them sweeter and easier to eat.

Follow @biohackingpathway for more⁣

#FruitEvolution #BananaHistory #FoodScience #HumanIntervention #SupermarketScience #PodcastInterview #FoodFacts #NaturalSelection #wellnessblog #wellnesswins #wellnessmatters #holisticwellbeing #wellnessmama #wellnesscoaches #SweetFruits #UnexpectedScience

Claudia Zahn Dec 29

Allen, die sich an #Silvester beim #Feuerwerk mit selbstgebastelten oder nicht zugelassenen, aus dem Ausland illegal importierten #Böllern verletzen, möchte ich, ganz unabhängig von irgendwelchen #Verboten, folgende Worte sagen:
Schlaua durch aua. (smarter by ouch)
#Silvester #Feuerwerksverbot #Böller #böllerverbot #böllerfrei
Bild: Böllerhände (hands after firework) #Karma #DarwinAward #NaturalSelection

Liam O'Mara IV, PhD Dec 27

On #ThisDayInHistory in 1831, British #naturalist #CharlesDarwin set saiil on #HMSBeagle. His five years on the ship, the influence of #CharlesLyell's geology, and careful observations of nature led him to a mechanism for #evolution: #NaturalSelection, a central fact of biology.

Jeremy B. Yoder 🖖🏻🌿🏳️‍🌈📈Dec 17

Dark-eyed juncos living in urbanized Los Angeles have shorter bills than juncos in nearby natural areas— but while UCLA was closed for COVID-19 safety, campus juncos evolved longer bills again

https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2520996122

#evolution #NaturalSelection #UrbanEvolution #bird