How Did We Get Here?

A little more about Evo Devo that started in the 1930's with fruit flies. It seemed Darwin's theory was just a start. He disagreed with Lamart that things could evolve within one generation. These guys in the 1930's went even further to say that different traits evolved by mutations. Only one characteristic may be altered at a time and evolution is even a much slower process than even Darwin dreamed.

Creation Museum

When I saw this, I thought, what a bunch of baloney! Thing is, most of my family believes in every word of the Bible and I want to respect their beliefs, but sometimes, such as with this creation museum, it seems a little over the top to me. I do not understand how a book interpreted so many times may be viewed so literally and as a history book. On the other hand, I can see why Christian scientists dispute many aspects of evolution of how the world was created. They ARE right in saying that there is always a maybe of probably in the equation. This could be very confusing to some, yet at least scientists try to do a little investigating. Science may try to find too many answers much of the time, but creating a museum depicting dinosaurs and Noah's ark just seems ignorant.

Darwinism matters

Although I don't like the beginnings of Darwinism, and how people misinterpret it as "survival of the fittest" to discriminate against others, I feel someone had to begin to bring this idea into the world. One NPR episode I heard recently about his life talked about how difficult it was for Darwin to being to write and reveal these concepts. It meant he had to go against what he believed and not be as close to the family and woman he loved, as she believed in a god and creationism. I guess this is why I never delved into Darwinism...my entire family was so religious, that I never looked outside of that for fear of what I might find. I do like how scientific his theories are and evolution in general. Although I feel we all have a special something to offer, these theories make more sense to me than just a POOF!! here you are!! concept...

Evo Devo

From what I gather, and I never had anything close to a firm GRASP on evolution, we used to thing new organisms formed or were just...shaZAMMM!!! created from old organisms. Evolutionary development seems to make more sense to me. Genes are created from old genes, so that part of the organism changes little by little by little by little...until millions of years later, another species if formed. So cool!

Social Darwinism and thoughts on readings

I haven't studied much on Darwinism since high school, and did not realize where a big part of racism stems from. The term, "social darwinism", coined in the late 19th century, was a mix of Darwin's followers who interpreted his theories as wanting to get "rid of the undesirable" in the human population, since "survival of the fittest" meant the strongest and most intelligent. In the 20th century, sterilization laws were even passed for certain groups not considered to score high enough on IQ tests. I don't understand how people may be so ignorant to think that "smart" is only IQ, and does not include creativity and so many other variables. I like the book, Seven Kinds of Smart, which goes into detail about how so many people are intelligent in different ways. We learn in different ways depending on how our brains relay information.

I also found it interesting that Nazi's used Darwinism as an excuse for the hatred and destruction brought upon the Jewish people. I will never understand racism or how one person or race may think he is so much better than another.

One other article mentioned how much of this was based on IQ tests. People, even up to 1994 with The Bell Curve, writing books about whites being more intelligent than minorities. So many studies have been done how that idea has been so ingrained in the heads of minorities and this totally affects test scores, along with no opportunity in this social structure.

Virtual Neurons..the making of a fake brain

Heck yes! Why not? This article does make me appreciate how complicated our brains are. Making a virtual brain seems helpful in studying how the brain works to aid in medications or insight into such a vast world in which we know not too much about.

Little "Bio" logie:)

hey...Melinda is the name...don't wear it out...I'm excited to take these classes at AIMC because I feel like I get to try to actually understand these topics instead of just memorizing them. Coming from a big family, my mother never took us t0 doctors. This is when I started my interest in alternative medicine. She worked hard to crush garlic and onions and apply them to our chest and feet whenever we were sick. She made teas, ground her own wheat for bread, and had a western herb for any illness we had. In about 1999, western doctors diagnosed me with corneal rosacea and treated me with simple antibiotics. Although these are often prescribed too often, I was legally blind at that point and they kept my corneas from scarring even further. Although I do like to try Chinese medicine and other herbal options first, I feel both alternative and western medicine have their place, as I definitely like to try to find a balance. It is just a matter of what works with the least amount of side effects for each person.

last minute

just seeing if this works!