Evolution is a tit-for-tat game: proof

The team observed viruses as they evolved over hundreds of generations to infect bacteria. They found that when the bacteria could evolve defences, the viruses evolved at a quicker rate and generated greater diversity, compared to situations where the bacteria were unable to adapt to the viral infection. The study shows, for the first time, that the American evolutionary biologist Leigh Van Valen was correct in his 'Red Queen Hypothesis'. The theory, first put forward in the 1970s, was named after a passage in Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass in which the Red Queen tells Alice, 'It takes all the running you can do to keep in the same place'. This suggested that species were in a constant race for survival and have to continue to evolve new ways of defending themselves throughout time. [ESN]


Evolution is a tit-for-tat game. How comforting. Obviously into their game theory, the researchers then want to look at what happens in symbiotic relationships rather than pure predator-prey.

Texas on the Road to Idiocracy

"Originally in the Texas school standards was this phrase: "concept of an expanding universe that originated about 14 billion years ago." However, board member Barbara Cargill thought this wasn't good enough. It was too definite. The standards now read, "current theories of the evolution of the universe including estimates for the age of the universe." You can bet that the age of the earth is not listed in the Texas curriculum as about 4.5 billion years old -- in spite of the fact that most of the people my age and older have known (or rather, estimated) this for years."

from Physorg via Pharyngula.

As Myers says, what science classes really need to teach is methodology, logic and mathematics (on the assumption that the maths classes are also not up to speed - no joke, I've had to do this too!) Some things may well be out of date by the time the student leaves school. So what? That's the point; to equip the student with a discriminating rational faculty to understand what changes and what stays the same. Swallowing myths from religious propagandists will just lead to a nation of morons.