I <3 Science

I'm a nerd. I love science. Carl Sagan was one of my childhood heroes.

I do not believe that a "God" or "Gods" created our Universe or that I was built in one of their images.

I believe I am the product of 3000 million years of planetary evolution.

I find the Universe, Evolution and Human Origins and behaviours even more exciting and even more worthy of wonder and delight BECAUSE of all the unlikely little molecular and chemical accidents that had to happen in order for our lives to have happened.

Thank you Carl, for telling me about the "billions and billions of stars"...

Thank you David Attenborough, for explaining the world to us all...

Thank you Jane Goodall for showing us how close we are to our evolutionary cousins, the Chimpanzees and for showing us our humanity through their behaviours.

I heart science.

Thank you to Melodysheep for making this sciency music video :)

The Red Queen Lives

Has anyone paid real attention to the increasing frequency of large outbreaks of bacterial infection such as the Lysteriosis outbreak at a meat processing plant last year as well as a new outbreak in leeks in Quebec:

http://www.montrealgazette.com/Health/Canadians+still+dark+about+listeriosis+outbreak/1167036/story.html

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Health/made+packaged+leeks+recalled+listeria/1201872/story.html

What about the salmonella outbreak in peanut paste and derivative products all around the world?
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=99763921

Now, an Avian Flu scare has farms in Abbotsford, BC. under quarantine:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5gWuE1x5XSc7pJHL_BZrc7f5g1eqg

I don't think this is just happenstance. I think that even though human beings have stopped operating under the effects of natural selection on a species-wide level and we're not "evolving" any further, bacteria and viruses continue to evolve...and I think they're making a comeback.

This is the Red Queen theory in effect...its playing itself out. We haven't "beaten" bacteria and virus strains with our medications and treatments...we have staved them off for a time, allowed them time to mutate and adapt and they're fighting back.
http://www.experiment-resources.com/red-queen-hypothesis.html