What 1980s punk rocker, #GregGraffin has to say about evolutionary #biology in his book #PopulationWars - http://clapway.com/2015/09/16/punk-rocker-evolutionary-biology123/

Greg Graffin, the front man for the 1980s punk band Bad Religion, has written a book. There’s a little about sex, a little about drugs, and a little about rock ‘n’ roll. But mostly it’s about how the ecological interactions among species that compete for biotic and abiotic resources can lead to evolutionary resource partitioning and other cooperative arrangements, rather than direct competitive exclusion.

Wait, what?

Bad Religion has been one of the most successful acts of the 1980s punk scene, selling more than five millions records to date. Although their biggest commercial success was 1994’s Stranger than Fiction, they continue to tour every summer and released their sixteenth studio album in 2013. Another is expected in 2016.

Although the lineup has experienced some changes, Graffin has always been at the helm. Along the way, he did something most would consider entirely un-punk: he completed a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from Cornell University.

In Graffin’s first book, Anarchy Evolution, Graffin makes a passionate defense of why his devotion to biology, natural history, and environmental stewardship is the culmination of, not in conflict, with the values of punk. Graffin is powerfully anti-establishment and in age where scientific principles are routine ignored, mocked, and even manipulated, preaching about science is indeed subversive.

Showing how seamlessly he lives his rockstar-turned-biologist lifestyle, Graffin will merge his book tour for Population Wars with Bad Religion’s tour dates this fall before returning to lecture on evolutionary biology at Cornell in the spring.

Population Wars is a look at the various ways in which species interact, particularly when they are pitted against each other for limited resources. This is a ubiquitous feature of nature but, according to Graffin, both the public and professional biologists have focused too much on the competition that occurs between species, rather than how those conflicts tend to resolve themselves.

Telling tales of bacteria, California lawns, hot springs, and German cathedrals, Graffin drives home his point that to survive is to adapt, to win is to compromise. A war can never really be won anyway. The deny this is to conceal the truth, both about our past, and about the way forward.

Because humanity is facing such perilous times in terms of resources, habitat, climate, and struggle, never have the lessons of Population Wars been more urgent, a point not lost on Graffin. At times whimsical, at times deeply philosophical, Graffin weaves a tale with emotional complexity. Although he can be seem quite morose at times, one is left with the unmistakable impression that, at heart, Graffin harbors a content optimism that the future will be brighter than the past.

Click here for a full review of Population Wars by Greg Graffin.

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Punk Rocker Tells All about Evolutionary Biology

New Study Proves Cats Have Always Been After World Domination - http://clapway.com/2015/08/14/new-study-proves-cats-have-always-been-after-world-domination123/

Researchers analyzing over 2,000 fossils of felines and canines in Asia have come to the conclusion that when ancient cats arrived, they kind of took over, causing about 40 species of dogs to go into extinction.

Fossils of Cats and Dogs Prove Felines Rule In Evolutionary Studies

The new study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, analyzed the fossil records of canines from three subfamilies of Canidae, or what we call dogs.

The researchers found that around 40 species of ancient dogs went extinct thanks to increased competition by none other than their natural sworn enemies: cats.

Well, technically, cats and other dogs were responsible for the competition that drove less successful breeds into the ground. The study results proved that competition among the same clades of animals was more important to extinction than other factors, including climate change and body size.

Competition, Not Climate Change or Body Size, Fuels Evolution Success

Although researchers studying evolutionary biology usually find a distinct change in the rise or fall of species due to climate change or body size, the researchers of this study found that competition among cats and dogs fueled the extinction of 40 canid species.

Between 40 million and 20 million years ago, canid species in North America had reached their evolutionary peak. But then, the feline species came around and proved to be a worthy carnivore adversary resulting in some dog species extinction, which is why we only have 9 native species in North America now.

Another common finding in evolution sciences is that a larger body size is better adapted to survival and thriving compared to smaller, less able bodies. However, as this study shows, ancient cats were smaller than their canid counterparts.

So how did these more diminutive carnivores win at the competition of survival?

Cats May Have Smaller Bodies, But More Warrior Like Prowess

Without the ability to use their size to overpower prey, ancient cats relied on their natural, warrior-like prowess, their cunning predatory hunting skills, and their sharp, retractable claws to take down their dinners.

The researchers believe that these attributes helped cats in terms of ambushing prey, whereas dogs did not have these advantages, most notably the retractable claws.

When supplies such as meat are limited and the number of carnivores is high, only the strongest, most adept hunters will live. With this new study, now the public will know what cat owners around the world have always suspected: cats were better at surviving than dogs and are most likely plotting to take over the world even now.

Additional Image Credit to Melissa Wiese

Additional Image Credit to Chris Erwin

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New Study Proves Cats Have Always Been After World Domination

The Kinky Sex of a Hermaphroditic Flatworm - http://clapway.com/2015/07/02/the-kinky-sex-of-a-hermaphroditic-flatworm435/

This flatworm can self-inject sperm

A hermaphroditic flatworm will self-inject sperm into its head when no suitable partners can be found, says a new study published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Researchers believe the Macrostomum hystrix may have evolved the ability to self-fertilize in order to survive.

Flatworm Hermaphrodite Can Impregnate Itself

Researchers studying a freshwater flatworm came to a startling conclusion about its reproductive abilities when they found out the Macrostomum hystrix can self-inseminate using its hypodermic-like penis. As odd as it seems, it’s true.

The researchers have published their findings about the creature, which is a hermaphroditic flatworm that possesses both male and female sexual copulatory organs as well as sperm and eggs.

Though the flatworm will and usually does find another mate when a suitable partner is not within stabbing reach, the strange little creature takes it upon itself to go along with the reproductive process.

Weird Sex Findings of the Flatworm Explained

Researchers from the Evolutionary Biology and Zoological Institute of the University of Basel conducted a series of experiments that isolated the offspring of 1,000 flatworms in order to observe the rather kinky sex phenomenon.

Their findings concluded the flatworms that were isolated had more sperm in their head regions, whereas the flatworm that lived in groups had more sperm in their tail regions. Upon further investigation, the researchers determined the preferred method of insemination between two flatworms was in the tail region.

So how did the isolated flatworms get so much sperm in their heads? Through the use of their hypodermic penis. The isolated flatworms are believed to have plunged the needle-like penis through their heads to inseminate themselves.

Previously, self-insemination (dubbed by scientists as “selfing”) was not believed to be possible in hermaphroditic species due to the sexual organs being both isolated and separated from the other.

However, thanks to evolution, the flatworm overcame this small detail by evolving the needlelike appendage, one that apparently has enough flexibility to allow it to stab itself in the head and have the weirdest sex on the planet. Researchers noted that this is the first example of evolutionary engineering of a sex organ for selfing.

Seriously, Nature? The Flatworms are Freaks

Even when the copulation isn’t solitary, the flatworm has found a way to make sex freaky.

When a flatworm is in its normal mating behavior with a partner worm, instead of taking the other worm out for a nice dinner, the two hermaphrodites break out into a duel of penis fencing.

Yes, it is exactly as it sounds. As both possess the hypodermic appendage, the individuals whip it out and proceed in an awkward, yet somehow elegant sword fight until one plunges its organ into the other one. Then, the winner proceeds to inseminate the other before going about its own way.

Warning: Too Much Selfing May Lead to Lack of Genetic Diversity

Steven Ramm, the lead author of the study, says the flatworm’s solo sexual habits may be a strange concept for us, though selfing does produce viable offspring. However, the lack of genetic diversity that occurs due to too much selfing can put the population at risk.

In essence, selfing is the best option for the flatworms if they must choose between not reproducing at all or making the time for a little self-love.

So whether it’s with a partner after a fight to the sex or it’s all by the lonesome and a rush to the head, the flatworm will continue to reproduce in its own bizarre, kinky ways, and we have no right to judge it.

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The Kinky Sex of a Hermaphroditic Flatworm