Why the Earth Has Fewer Species Than We Think(nautil.us)

Why the Earth Has Fewer Species Than We Think

http://nautil.us/issue/63/horizons/why-the-earth-has-fewer-species-than-we-think

12 comments

A counterpoint that suggests that his nautilus example is bunk:

https://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2018/08/26/epigenet...

lugg8년 전

Similar to the dinosaur situation [1].

I wonder what kind of error rate we have?

[1] https://www.ted.com/talks/jack_horner_shape_shifting_dinosau...

andrewflnr8년 전

It's news to me that methylation is "usually unwelcome". I had gotten the idea that it was just another built in general regulation mechanism. Would it be beneficial to somehow strip off all methylation?

amelius8년 전

I'm not a biologist but this link [1] seems to say that folate intake increases methylation, which then reduces risk of certain conditions.

[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16251634

kjeetgill8년 전

If anyone head always found the whole species terminology to be a little vague and lacking: check out this video by brainscoop[0].

Most explanations really fail to bridge the gap between terms like species, breeds, races, subspecies etc.

The fact that a number of different "species concepts" exist was a big eye opener.

0: https://youtu.be/9fOfFlMe6ek

ajeet_dhaliwal8년 전

Interesting, surprising and unsurprising all at once. We can all probably think of a bunch of animals that morphologically or phenotypically appear different but are the same species. An alien observer may at first glance may even think this of humans, when looking at a growth stunted person very short/skinny person (perhaps due to malnutrition or other reasons) and a morbidly obese person.

ummonk8년 전

Or just different skin tones, hair colors and textures, facial features such as skin around the eyes, body shapes, etc. If alien biologists were trying to discover a bunch of new species (as human biologists do), they would be classifying humans as a bunch of different species.

jabgrabdthrow8년 전

fouc8년 전

Super fascinating. It seems like there's hardly any need for DNA/gene hacking when we can probably do most of it from tinkering with epigenetics.

Tloewald8년 전

More like he’s extrapolating from differing bumps on two populations of nautilus that evolution is less important than individual variation.

ggm8년 전

I don't read as much biosciences as I used to but neo-lamarckism used to be a term of abuse. He's writing it non ironically as a recognised label!

Nomentatus8년 전

Right. I remember writing with such epigenetic-ish ideas about inheritable DNA modifications to Jacques Monod, decades ago. He didn't even deign to reply; such nonsense did not even merit politeness.