Darwiniana

In a move reflective of a viral meme, a new study shows that an ancient fish really did evolve to walk out of the water, only to then go back to the sea.

Source: This fish evolved to walk on land — then said ‘nope’ and went back to the water : NPR

Scientists have found the first examples of similar plant forms evolving repeatedly within different regions, suggesting that evolution can be predicted.

Source: Plant study hints evolution may be predictable | YaleNews

Scientists are examining evolutionary breadcrumbs to reconstruct the vision of whales that lived as long as 55 million years ago.

Source: What Did Ancient Whales See? – The Atlantic

The human brain is neither a huge homogeneous set of neurons nor a massive set of task-specific programs that each solves a single problem.

Source: Combining Neuroscience, Psychology, and AI Yields a Foundational Model of Human Thought

The VMAT1 gene evolved through natural selection in human evolution. Those with the Ile-type variant of the VMAT1 gene are less prone to anxiety and depression.

Source: Brain Mechanism Underlying Evolution of Anxiety – Neuroscience News

Source: At Sci Tech Daily: Nanoscale Rotors Constructed From DNA – Smallest Flow-Driven Motors in the World – Uncommon Descent

I was in medical limbo for four days which broke my obsessive drafting of the book, fortunate. There will be more drafts but the basic versioning is done, I suspect.  There are now two versions, at…

Source: The Last Revolution: Postcapitalist Futures…//8_1_22 – 1848+: The End(s) of History

The good news is we still have time to close the gap between “could” and “should” in how scientists redesign and reengineer genetic code.

Source: Just Because You Can Doesn’t Mean You Should: What Genetic Engineers Can Learn From ‘Jurassic World’

The numbat genome can help scientists piece together the Tasmanian tiger’s genome—and maybe even resurrect Australia’s iconic lost species.

Source: How the Newly Decoded Numbat Genome Could Help Bring the Tasmanian Tiger Back From Extinction

The algorithm is deep learning’s first foray into building proteins around their functions, opening a door to previously unimaginable treatments.

Source: Protein-Designing AI Opens Door to Medicines Humans Couldn’t Dream Up