Comment

Comment by The Secular One on August 11, 2009 at 11:16pm

Silly me, I've been commenting but haven't introduced myself. I'm Stephan, and I'm educated in Molecular and Evolutionary biology with a big heap of genetics. I'm a practicing microbiologist for Big Pharma, but I'm not trying to gouge you in the wallet, just making sure you don't die after injecting something.

Comment by Gwen on August 11, 2009 at 11:07pm

Linda, just remember that a strong nail needs to be hammered many times before it is flush to a piece of hardwood, but once the effort has been made to hammer it in well, it stays and it holds!! I started in my 30s when I thought I was too old to, and yet here I am! Yes, books are your friends, try auditing a community college course, it used to be free, that way you get guidance. Other good science podcasts are Astronomy Cast (a lot goes over my head, but it is in language geared toward the lay person)and skeptech and the SGU 5X5, too. Those are good starter podcasts if you like SGU and are science based.

Comment by linda wagner on August 11, 2009 at 9:20pm

thanks, I have been listening to lots of podcasts, like sceptics guide to the universe, which is my favorite. but many others. I find this is the best way for me to have a science education. Reading about it is soooo slow. and I have to use a dictonary all the time. Right now I'm reading "The Link" by Colin Tudge. Its very slow going. I'm worried about how much I'm acually retaining. O well little by little. Linda

Comment by Mike Hein on August 11, 2009 at 7:49pm

Fire away with any questions Linda. I'm sure this group will be able to answer or point you to good reference materials.

Comment by linda wagner on August 11, 2009 at 7:40pm

I'm new to this group. Love Science. I don't have much education, so I'm educating myself. I guess that makes me an amateur enthusiast. Linda

Comment by Malena on August 4, 2009 at 9:57am

There is a group about pets: Even heathens love their pets!. But post it here, I don´t have a dog and I want to read it.

Comment by Jared Lardo on July 18, 2009 at 4:36pm

vandrerol, the first time I saw it, I felt a satisfaction at the filling of that giant hole that my biology class left unfilled. The book skirted abiogenesis completely by saying something like "Scientists believe that life arose in the first place by a process know as abiogenesis." The word was bolded for certain. They just touched on it and didn't poke or look at all and moved on to the chapter about Pavlov's dogs.

Comment by vandrerol on July 16, 2009 at 12:47pm

I love that video. When I saw it, it was the first time I actually thought I could understand abiogenesis.

Comment by Jared Lardo on July 11, 2009 at 5:09pm

(Pea-roasting for great justice.)
(I'm thinking at James down there.)

I continue to be shocked at how many people talk about the self-replicating molecule as if it's the "big, shiny, new thing" with regard to abiogenesis.

Maybe fatty acids don't do anything like that upon which this video bases a version of abiogenesis (I won't get far enough in chemistry courses to find out about if it's made of lies on my own until at least the fall if not next spring), in which case I can understand ignoring it, but even then, it's still a plausible version of events (ignoring the details) for how non-life yielded life.


I find it cool to think that nonliving stuff exhibited properties that we could reasonably call "competition", and that by a simple, few, nigh-binary variations, certain features that we still recognize today were naturally selected.

Comment by James on July 6, 2009 at 4:53am

The why is there. It is simply replication that drives the process, without that need you die out, even if you a molecule.
It starts with simple molecule is a catalyst for replicating itself and slowly the molecules become more and more complex. Why did a molecule form that could replicate? Well it is like winning the lottery, keep trowing organic molecules together eventually someone going to win. The chance of nobody ever winning the lottery are slim. The chance me winning are also very slim, in other words most molecules don't replicate.
The questions science is asking now is what are those odds, and what kind of mix did we start out in. The how, not why.

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