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Not to say I told you so, but I did tell you all a year and a half ago this bastard Manafort was the key to proving Trump's treason.He's been up Putin's ass for years, proved by his work for Viktor Yanokovych in the Ukraine. And Mueller is evidently connecting all the dots with open talk of indictment. Manafort. Then Flynn, actually both Flynns. Then all the dominoes will start to fall, Kushner, Donald Jr., Trump himself -- the whole sleazy lot of them.
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Why Evolution Wants You To Grow Old and Die
Natural Selection favors those traits best suited to, directly or indirectly, increase the reproductive fitness of an organism. Since this usually means traits will be favored which increase an organism's longevity, giving it more time to have more offspring, an obvious question arises: why do we grow old and die? Why aren't we, like H.P. Lovecraft's Deep Ones, immortal unless destroyed by external forces (e.g. being eaten)? More to the point, since aging is so nearly ubiquitous, why does Natural Selection favor aging, when intuitively it feels like eternal youth would give us more time and better health to make more offspring?
One explanation might simply be that Natural Selection can't do anything about it, that it is essentially the result of inescapable laws of physics and chemistry. Although this has probably been the most commonly assumed explanation, for many reasons this is not an entirely satisfying explanation, not the least reason being that we do find exceptions to the aging process (e.g. the HeLa cell line, a.k.a. 'The Immortal Cells of Henrietta Lacks').
In 1953, the Evolutionary Biologist George C. Williams proposed that aging could be favored by Natural Selection due to what he termed Antagonistic Pleiotropy (AP), the hypothesis that traits which promote aging can still be selected for, assuming they also confer benefits to reproductive fitness. Never aging, after all, does no evolutionary good if one never reproduces, either, and a mortal being that reproduces more frequently in greater numbers will win the evolutionary race against an immortal being that reproduces rarely or never.
Until recently, AP was difficult to prove, in large part due to the difficulties of working on a large scale with old animals, but new research published in the journal Genes and Development has finally furnished solid evidence for AP in the genes of worms.
The researchers were able to identify 30 genes which promote reproductive success, but which are also involved in the aging process. Some of these genes, for example, were involved in autophagy, the process by which cells and cell components are degraded and recycled in an orderly fashion. Autophagy is critical for reaching reproductive maturity, but once the peak of reproductive maturity passes, the process itself begins to degrade and malfunction, contributing to the process we call aging.
It isn't really surprising, in the final consideration, that evolution favors growing old and dying, or rather that it favors reproductive success even when this contradicts the biological immortality of the individual. Evolution is impersonal, has no goals, and does not share our values, and thus does not care how long we live as long as we reproduce.
By knowing why evolution tends to favor aging, however, we may learn how to better counteract it, since we do have goals and values. Or, we may find as we learn more about the reason for its existence that growing old is more valuable than many of us may have come to believe, and may thereby appreciate it more, instead of seeing it in a wholly negative light as we tend to do these days.
#BlindMeWithScience #Evolution #Immortality
Natural Selection favors those traits best suited to, directly or indirectly, increase the reproductive fitness of an organism. Since this usually means traits will be favored which increase an organism's longevity, giving it more time to have more offspring, an obvious question arises: why do we grow old and die? Why aren't we, like H.P. Lovecraft's Deep Ones, immortal unless destroyed by external forces (e.g. being eaten)? More to the point, since aging is so nearly ubiquitous, why does Natural Selection favor aging, when intuitively it feels like eternal youth would give us more time and better health to make more offspring?
One explanation might simply be that Natural Selection can't do anything about it, that it is essentially the result of inescapable laws of physics and chemistry. Although this has probably been the most commonly assumed explanation, for many reasons this is not an entirely satisfying explanation, not the least reason being that we do find exceptions to the aging process (e.g. the HeLa cell line, a.k.a. 'The Immortal Cells of Henrietta Lacks').
In 1953, the Evolutionary Biologist George C. Williams proposed that aging could be favored by Natural Selection due to what he termed Antagonistic Pleiotropy (AP), the hypothesis that traits which promote aging can still be selected for, assuming they also confer benefits to reproductive fitness. Never aging, after all, does no evolutionary good if one never reproduces, either, and a mortal being that reproduces more frequently in greater numbers will win the evolutionary race against an immortal being that reproduces rarely or never.
Until recently, AP was difficult to prove, in large part due to the difficulties of working on a large scale with old animals, but new research published in the journal Genes and Development has finally furnished solid evidence for AP in the genes of worms.
The researchers were able to identify 30 genes which promote reproductive success, but which are also involved in the aging process. Some of these genes, for example, were involved in autophagy, the process by which cells and cell components are degraded and recycled in an orderly fashion. Autophagy is critical for reaching reproductive maturity, but once the peak of reproductive maturity passes, the process itself begins to degrade and malfunction, contributing to the process we call aging.
It isn't really surprising, in the final consideration, that evolution favors growing old and dying, or rather that it favors reproductive success even when this contradicts the biological immortality of the individual. Evolution is impersonal, has no goals, and does not share our values, and thus does not care how long we live as long as we reproduce.
By knowing why evolution tends to favor aging, however, we may learn how to better counteract it, since we do have goals and values. Or, we may find as we learn more about the reason for its existence that growing old is more valuable than many of us may have come to believe, and may thereby appreciate it more, instead of seeing it in a wholly negative light as we tend to do these days.
#BlindMeWithScience #Evolution #Immortality
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The Big Bang Wasn’t The Beginning, After All
“The Universe began not with a whimper, but with a bang! At least, that’s what you’re commonly told: the Universe and everything in it came into existence at the moment of the Big Bang. Space, time, and all the matter and energy within began from a singular point, and then expanded and cooled, giving rise over billions of years to the atoms, stars, galaxies, and clusters of galaxies spread out across the billions of light years that make up our observable Universe. It’s a compelling, beautiful picture that explains so much of what we see, from the present large-scale structure of the Universe’s two trillion galaxies to the leftover glow of radiation permeating all of existence. Unfortunately, it’s also wrong, and scientists have known this for almost 40 years.”
Did the Universe begin with the Big Bang? When we discovered the cosmic microwave background, and its properties matched exactly the prediction of the Big Bang theory, it was a watershed moment for cosmology. For the first time, we had uncovered the origins to the entire Universe, having learned where all of this came from at long last. Emerging from a hot, dense, expanding, and cooling state, the matter-and-radiation-filled early Universe gave rise to everything we see today. Except there were a few pesky problems that the Big Bang couldn’t explain. If the Universe truly emerged from an arbitrarily hot, dense state, and if space and time themselves were born at that exact moment, the Universe would have signatures that we simply don’t see. Instead, theorists came up with an alternative beginning: cosmic inflation. Inflation made a bold prediction about the scale and magnitude of the fluctuations that should arise from this early state, and when our technology finally caught up to our imaginations, we measured them.
It turns out that the Universe didn’t begin from the Big Bang at all. It happened, but it wasn’t the beginning! Find out what came before, and how we know.
“The Universe began not with a whimper, but with a bang! At least, that’s what you’re commonly told: the Universe and everything in it came into existence at the moment of the Big Bang. Space, time, and all the matter and energy within began from a singular point, and then expanded and cooled, giving rise over billions of years to the atoms, stars, galaxies, and clusters of galaxies spread out across the billions of light years that make up our observable Universe. It’s a compelling, beautiful picture that explains so much of what we see, from the present large-scale structure of the Universe’s two trillion galaxies to the leftover glow of radiation permeating all of existence. Unfortunately, it’s also wrong, and scientists have known this for almost 40 years.”
Did the Universe begin with the Big Bang? When we discovered the cosmic microwave background, and its properties matched exactly the prediction of the Big Bang theory, it was a watershed moment for cosmology. For the first time, we had uncovered the origins to the entire Universe, having learned where all of this came from at long last. Emerging from a hot, dense, expanding, and cooling state, the matter-and-radiation-filled early Universe gave rise to everything we see today. Except there were a few pesky problems that the Big Bang couldn’t explain. If the Universe truly emerged from an arbitrarily hot, dense state, and if space and time themselves were born at that exact moment, the Universe would have signatures that we simply don’t see. Instead, theorists came up with an alternative beginning: cosmic inflation. Inflation made a bold prediction about the scale and magnitude of the fluctuations that should arise from this early state, and when our technology finally caught up to our imaginations, we measured them.
It turns out that the Universe didn’t begin from the Big Bang at all. It happened, but it wasn’t the beginning! Find out what came before, and how we know.
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Google Signs Agreement to Tackle YouTube Piracy - Once upon a time, people complaining about piracy would point to the hundreds of piracy sites around the Internet. These days, criticism is just as likely to be leveled at Google-owned services. YouTube, in particular, has come in for intense criticism, with the music industry complaining of exploitation of the DMCA in order to obtain unfair streaming rates from record labels. Along with streaming-ripping, this so-called Value Gap is one of ...
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Calm down, everybody. Look. The man is a typical American in this regard. He knows where Manhattan is. And Queens. And Florida, kinda. Washington DC is there somewhere but very unclear where exactly.
Ask 100 US adults to name 10 foreign countries. How many do you think can come up with 10 countries? Or five languages that aren't English or Spanish?
Please note that I'm not passing judgment here! It's fine with me at this stage if they can name 100 countries or none or think California is a foreign country. I'm not overly concerned. But there's nothing unusual about the President's level of knowledge.
Ask 100 US adults to name 10 foreign countries. How many do you think can come up with 10 countries? Or five languages that aren't English or Spanish?
Please note that I'm not passing judgment here! It's fine with me at this stage if they can name 100 countries or none or think California is a foreign country. I'm not overly concerned. But there's nothing unusual about the President's level of knowledge.
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Dino-killing asteroid sped up bird evolution - Human activities could change the pace of evolution, similar to what occurred 66 million years ago when a giant asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs, leaving modern birds as their only descendants. That's one conclusion drawn by the authors of a new study just published in Systematic Biology.
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💁🏻🦋💁🏻Apology: The Sharing Thing 🦋💁🏻🦋
💗I have very good friends who have been sharing
for a long time from what I've been writing, with my absolute consent and pleasure.
💁🏻However, there are some people not known to me, who either copied the whole group ( it happened several times) or shared to places unknown to me.
It's very worrying, as it's about Israel, and Israel has many enemies.
🇮🇱💗🇮🇱I'm always on the watch: people with hatred towards Israel ( and that's an understatement,) come here.
It's on my watch, I'm the only one who deals with these unfortunate situations.
✏️I write the posts, answer anybody, deal with haters, all by myself. It's all on my watch.
🌸 I know all the friends and supporters. When a post goes out of my hand, it's beyond my control, and it becomes a dangerous situation, as it can go to groups that are very hostile to Israel. And it happened.
🦋 I consulted with a friend who has a long military background .
He advised me to immediately disable the re shares.
And with a heavy heart I have to do it.
🙋🏻💕🙋🏻 And therefore I apologize to my dear friends,
The re shares cannot exist in such a group, which is
not about me, only Israel is the shining star 🌟here.
I have to take care of it, and watch over it🇮🇱✨🇮🇱
🌸 Be happy my friends🌸
From dalia with 💕
💗I have very good friends who have been sharing
for a long time from what I've been writing, with my absolute consent and pleasure.
💁🏻However, there are some people not known to me, who either copied the whole group ( it happened several times) or shared to places unknown to me.
It's very worrying, as it's about Israel, and Israel has many enemies.
🇮🇱💗🇮🇱I'm always on the watch: people with hatred towards Israel ( and that's an understatement,) come here.
It's on my watch, I'm the only one who deals with these unfortunate situations.
✏️I write the posts, answer anybody, deal with haters, all by myself. It's all on my watch.
🌸 I know all the friends and supporters. When a post goes out of my hand, it's beyond my control, and it becomes a dangerous situation, as it can go to groups that are very hostile to Israel. And it happened.
🦋 I consulted with a friend who has a long military background .
He advised me to immediately disable the re shares.
And with a heavy heart I have to do it.
🙋🏻💕🙋🏻 And therefore I apologize to my dear friends,
The re shares cannot exist in such a group, which is
not about me, only Israel is the shining star 🌟here.
I have to take care of it, and watch over it🇮🇱✨🇮🇱
🌸 Be happy my friends🌸
From dalia with 💕
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Stranded
Silhouette Island, Seychelles
At dusk and dawn, the landscape have many shapes, silhouettes and shadows that can make your imagination run wild. Here the daybreak seems to reveal a stranded whale half buried in the sand.
It is the same with some animals too – I remember one of my dogs barking incessantly to a mailbox on a pole as he could not make heads or tale of that strange shape in the low light. He might have thought it a very strange human being without arms.
In this case you can just walk up and touch to realise it is just a beautifully carved granite rock. Its smoothness is the result of aeons of sandblasting of the waves swirling the sand around on its surface.
Image Copyright © 2016 +Morten Ross
Image Capture Date: 23 November 2016 05:57
Altitude: 0 meters
#seychelles #mahe #silhouetteisland #sea
#LandscapePhotography +Landscape Photography curated by +Margaret Tompkins +Eric Drumm +Chandler L. Walker +Krzysztof Felczak +AJ Lim +Jeff Beddow +H Peter Ji +Jani Westman +Dorma Wiggin +Ranco Sevla Sevla
#hqsplandscape +HQSP Landscape
#BTPLandscapePro +BTP Landscape Pro , owned and curated by +Nancy Dempsey
Silhouette Island, Seychelles
At dusk and dawn, the landscape have many shapes, silhouettes and shadows that can make your imagination run wild. Here the daybreak seems to reveal a stranded whale half buried in the sand.
It is the same with some animals too – I remember one of my dogs barking incessantly to a mailbox on a pole as he could not make heads or tale of that strange shape in the low light. He might have thought it a very strange human being without arms.
In this case you can just walk up and touch to realise it is just a beautifully carved granite rock. Its smoothness is the result of aeons of sandblasting of the waves swirling the sand around on its surface.
Image Copyright © 2016 +Morten Ross
Image Capture Date: 23 November 2016 05:57
Altitude: 0 meters
#seychelles #mahe #silhouetteisland #sea
#LandscapePhotography +Landscape Photography curated by +Margaret Tompkins +Eric Drumm +Chandler L. Walker +Krzysztof Felczak +AJ Lim +Jeff Beddow +H Peter Ji +Jani Westman +Dorma Wiggin +Ranco Sevla Sevla
#hqsplandscape +HQSP Landscape
#BTPLandscapePro +BTP Landscape Pro , owned and curated by +Nancy Dempsey
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Google to buy HTC’s Pixel team for $1.1 billion
Google is buying HTC's Pixel team for a cool $1.1 billion USD. Many figured that something was up when HTC halted trading earlier today.
#Google HTC #Pixel #acquisition
Google is buying HTC's Pixel team for a cool $1.1 billion USD. Many figured that something was up when HTC halted trading earlier today.
#Google HTC #Pixel #acquisition
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Active volcanoes in the world: September 13 - 19, 2017: New activity/unrest was reported for 3 volcanoes between September 13 and 19, 2017. During the same period, ongoing activity was reported for 16 volcanoes. New activity/unrest: Agung, Bali (Indonesia) | Dieng Volcanic Complex, Central Java (Indonesia) | Zhupanovsky,...... Read more » http://dlvr.it/PpW2bR
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Seeing the Whirlpool Galaxy in my big 13·125" telescope (13⅛") for the first time took my breath away!! The spiral arms were clearly visible. “Wow!”. It is hard to believe that one can buy telescopes bigger than 20" apertures nowadays, even 30" f/3 (when 6" reflectors was the norm in the mid 1900s), but is well beyond your price range and mine [sigh].
Here is a show of nine superb face-on spiral galaxies
(slow down your life for 1½ minutes!):
M is short for Messier; NGC is short for New General Catalogue.
M51 Whirlpool Galaxy
M74
M94
M99
M100
M101 Pinwheel Galaxy
NGC 3184
NGC 3939
NGC 3344
NGC 6946
Here is a show of nine superb face-on spiral galaxies
(slow down your life for 1½ minutes!):
M is short for Messier; NGC is short for New General Catalogue.
M51 Whirlpool Galaxy
M74
M94
M99
M100
M101 Pinwheel Galaxy
NGC 3184
NGC 3939
NGC 3344
NGC 6946
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13 Detox Foods To Flush Out Toxins, Fight Cancer Cells And Relentlessly Hunt Free Radicals
Our body has the most intelligent mechanism to filter the food and blood and eliminate toxins from the body. It is termed as automated self-cleaning process which is very useful to keep our body free from illness and healthy all the time.
#detox #health #cancer #explore #remedy #medicine #homeremedies #treatment #healthyliving #herbal #disease #foods #herbal #toxins #cure #healing #healthcare
Our body has the most intelligent mechanism to filter the food and blood and eliminate toxins from the body. It is termed as automated self-cleaning process which is very useful to keep our body free from illness and healthy all the time.
#detox #health #cancer #explore #remedy #medicine #homeremedies #treatment #healthyliving #herbal #disease #foods #herbal #toxins #cure #healing #healthcare
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11 things to do with your iPhone now that you have iOS 11 - iOS 11 has rolled out to millions of iPhones on September 19th, and now that you have installed the latest and greatest version of Apple's mobile platform, what can you actually do with it and what's new? These are the 11 coolest iOS 11 features! We went through all the new iOS 11 features and we're summing up the 11 coolest things that we found with the new software. From enjoying the new ARKit apps and games to some hidden tips a...
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Experimental brain technology can rewind Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease is considered a global challenge of the century. Alzheimer's disease is a thief. It comes and takes away the most precious memories with which people identify themselves. It is a very clever thief. People whom it affects don't even remember what they have lost—they just feel lost; lost in space and time. Alzheimer's can affect anybody: intellectuals, professors, artists, musicians and handymen. My mother's Alzheimer's motivated me to start the very first Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) treatment for Alzheimer's in Canada. The treatment is a non-invasive procedure that doesn't involve any medication. This technology has been used to successfully treat depression, and it is also being studied for a number of other neurological conditions (for example, Parkinson's, concussion and stroke). In rTMS, an electromagnetic coil is placed on the scalp and uses magnetic pulses to cause neurons (nerve cells) in the brain to activate. The goal is to train the neurons to perform better in the future. The rTMS treatment has no, or only mild side effects: some people report a slight headache that is easily treated with a pain relief pill. And the risk of seizure is very low. (Individuals with a history of epilepsy and/or seizures are excluded from rTMS treatments for that reason.)
Alzheimer's disease is considered a global challenge of the century. Alzheimer's disease is a thief. It comes and takes away the most precious memories with which people identify themselves. It is a very clever thief. People whom it affects don't even remember what they have lost—they just feel lost; lost in space and time. Alzheimer's can affect anybody: intellectuals, professors, artists, musicians and handymen. My mother's Alzheimer's motivated me to start the very first Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) treatment for Alzheimer's in Canada. The treatment is a non-invasive procedure that doesn't involve any medication. This technology has been used to successfully treat depression, and it is also being studied for a number of other neurological conditions (for example, Parkinson's, concussion and stroke). In rTMS, an electromagnetic coil is placed on the scalp and uses magnetic pulses to cause neurons (nerve cells) in the brain to activate. The goal is to train the neurons to perform better in the future. The rTMS treatment has no, or only mild side effects: some people report a slight headache that is easily treated with a pain relief pill. And the risk of seizure is very low. (Individuals with a history of epilepsy and/or seizures are excluded from rTMS treatments for that reason.)
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