Comments for Blogging the Origin

Comment on Chapter 3: Struggle for Existence by Jordon

Jordon — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 21:05:13 +0000

If Darwin’s idea of the Struggle makes evolution seem like a competition, are there ways, in this current generation, we as humans are cheating or giving up? Can we assume promiscuity, rape, and test-tube babies in this generation are cheating in this “competition” and possibly creating the struggle harder for those pursuing natural selection? Those without children, or born with sexual differences, are they giving up in the competition?

Comment on Chapter 11: Geographical Distribution by Taryn Garza

Taryn Garza — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 20:41:41 +0000

This is just a question. How do the species migrate from place to place. For example, before there were boats and planes to bring new species to foreign lands, how did the land mammal get from continent to continent?

Comment on Chapter 9: On the Imperfection of the Geological Record by Sophie

Sophie — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 19:31:11 +0000

At the time, Darwin’s topic was considered completely taboo, but he backed it up with strong evidence and enough evidence to show that what he believed was right. I think On the Origin is a perfect example of how he would have described all of our questions on evolution.

Comment on Chapter 10: On the geological succession of organic beings by Zoe

Zoe — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 03:54:44 +0000

I really liked your article! I just have a few questions regarding the difference between species and varieties. To clarify, is a “variety” just a random mutation in an individual within a species that gets passed down to some of that individual’s offspring, therefore slightly changing/”varying” from the original population? I read chapter two, and I just wanted to check my definition of variety. You mentioned that Darwin had a hard time defining the difference between a species and varieties. Do you (in Darwin’s definition) know at what point the physical or behavior differences between two populations descended from the same ancestor(s) makes the two populations different species? I know that if two species can interbreed, they’re generally considered the same species, but what about hybrids? Thank you for your time!

Comment on Chapter 2: Variation Under Nature by blayne astrof

blayne astrof — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 18:48:17 +0000

I found parts in this post very interesting yet a little confusing still. It says that the reader felt like they jumped from 1859-1959 in the course of 1 page because of such complexity of ideas. In one part it was interesting to read a quote from Darwin “branching of the main nerves close to the central ganglion of an insect”, which i think is basically stating that there are similarities between species through their nervous system and that many species are more similar than we think.

Comment on Chapter 13: Mutual Affinities of Organic Beings: Morphology: Embryology: Rudimentary Organs by Melinda M

Melinda M — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 20:07:57 +0000

My particular favorite sentence from this chapter is “All classification is genealogical.” This is a landmine, nicely camouflaged among the amassed facts (assembled by Darwin’s contemporary and preceding biologists and taxonomists) of classification that were beyond dispute. Concealed within this explosive little sentence are such implications as “And thus we are related to chimps, with whom we share an ancestor;” or “And thus all living species trace back to a common ancestral species;” or “And thus among living species there is no ‘higher’ or ‘lower,’ since all are cohorts of the same genealogical generation…”

Comment on Chapter 11: Geographical Distribution by Kenneth Lim

Kenneth Lim — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 13:55:26 +0000

Just a clarification question. So Darwin is saying that living things did not separately start on different continents. Life started at one location, then evolved into plants, which stayed relatively in the same location, then evolve into animals which could carry the plants to different locations? Did plants evolve before animals?

Comment on Chapter 8: Hybridism by Caroline Nelson

Caroline Nelson — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 13:39:20 +0000

Thank you, this post seems to summarize nicely a very complicated and open ended issue. It reminds me a little of learning grammar (specifically in a foreign language) where there are rules with more exceptions than examples that follow the rule.

Comment on Chapter 7: Instinct by Lydia V.

Lydia V. — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 13:36:21 +0000

I’m a bit confused about how sterility of insects plays into instinct. I understand that post-Darwin people were not concerned with the amazing things bees could build, but with the fact that bees had sterile workers. Is this the only connection or am I missing another connection? Thanks!

Comment on Chapter 1: Variation Under Domestication by Nina

Nina — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 23:13:28 +0000

I love how Darwin used domestic animals as his jumping-off point. This is how my dad first explained evolution to me when I was a little kid. When you think about selective breeding of farm animals the whole concept seems so logical.

Reading your comments about how it took decades for the Mendelian results to be combined with Darwin’s theory to form the modern understanding of evolution is inspiring. It gives me hope that all the confounding scientific puzzles of today, like a unified theory in physics, will work out.