Something from Nothing?

What caused the universe? "God" is not an answer for me because this mysterious "God" seems entirely made up and "He" creates many new answerless questions. So "He" is not an explanation.

Back to the question. What caused the universe? Why is there something rather than nothing. I generally conclude "I don't know." But then Roger Penrose comes along . . .

"There was something before the Big Bang and that something is what we will have in our future," he said, according to The Telegraph.

He added, "We have a universe that expands and expands, and all mass decays away, and in this crazy theory of mine, that remote future becomes the Big Bang of another aeon."

Continue ReadingSomething from Nothing?

The Place of Sponges in the Animal Kingdom

I've long been fascinated by the possibility that sponges are our most distant animal ancestor (and see here). With that as context, I recently learned about one of the better science article headlines out there: "Your most distant cousin doesn't even have an anus."

First off, the article reaffirms that sponges are the oldest animals:

The entire history of the animal kingdom is like a long highway, with different species exiting at different points to pursue their own evolutionary paths. And sea sponges got off at the highway's first exit, ending up in the most distant corner of the country.

I heard about this article on the informative and entertaining "Useful Idiots" podcast (co-hosts are Matt Taibbi and Katie Halper). And, as Katie Halper points out, it's also a fascinating article, pointing to research concluding that humans descended from sponges.

Instead of comb jellies, our improved analyses point to sponges as our most distant animal relatives, restoring the traditional, simpler hypothesis of animal evolution," lead author and Trinity University microbiologist Anthony Redmond said in a statement.

Continue ReadingThe Place of Sponges in the Animal Kingdom

Today’s Gratitude

Evolutionary psychologist Geoffrey Miller's Tweet is worth considering, repeatedly:

How many of these ancestors are there?  Well . . . just move up your family tree 20 generations and you will find more than one million great great great . . . grandparents.  And they all had to find each other and mate at the right time or else you wouldn't be sitting there reading this.  This is one of the many cases where facts are more amazing than any fiction you could ever concoct.

I've long been fascinated by this thought experiment.  Imagine driving along the highway passing your chronologically arranged ancestors, all standing in a line.  What would that be like?  

Continue ReadingToday’s Gratitude