Mind Matters Natural and Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis

CategoryBiology

mice-feecing-in-an-urban-house-garden-stockpack-adobe-stock
Mice feecing in an urban house garden.
Type
post
Author
Wesley J. Smith
Date
March 10, 2023
Categorized
Biology

Mice With No Mother?

Biotechnologists keep pushing the borders of what is possible in procreation
Wesley J. Smith
March 10, 2023
3
Biology

Biotechnologists keep pushing the borders of what is possible in procreation. Mice pups have now been born with no mother and two fathers. It was done, apparently, by transforming skin cells from male mice into pluripotent stem cells and thence into egg cells with XX chromosomes. From the Guardian story: Male skin cells were reprogrammed into a stem cell-like state to create so-called induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. The Y-chromosome of these cells was then deleted and replaced by an X chromosome “borrowed” from another cell to produce iPS cells with two identical X chromosomes. “The trick of this, the biggest trick, is the duplication of the X chromosome,” said Hayashi. “We really tried to establish a system to duplicate the X chromosome.” Read More ›

border-collie-puppies-stockpack-adobe-stock
Border Collie puppies
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
December 15, 2022
Categorized
Biology, Natural Intelligence
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Can a Dog Be Bred To Be As Smart As a Human?

An enterprising electrical engineer thinks it can be done
Denyse O'Leary
December 15, 2022
7
Biology, Natural Intelligence

Within one hundred generations or roughly 600 years? That’s the project Payton Pearson, an electrical engineer who gives his affiliation as the Air Force Institute of Technology in Dayton, Ohio, has set himself: Artificial selection is a well-known phenomenon of selecting for certain physiological characteristics of various species of plants and animals, and it is something that human beings have been doing for thousands of years. A perfect example of this is the union and development of dogs under human stewardship since the beginning of the agricultural era of society. In that time, approximately 6,000 years [1], dogs have been artificially selected in such a way as to produce thousands of different breeds. From the stout Dachshund, a dog breed Read More ›

microtubule-3d-illustration-a-polymer-composed-of-a-protein-tubulin-it-is-a-component-of-cytoskeleton-involved-in-intracellular-transport-cellular-mobility-and-nuclear-division-stockpack-adobe-stock
Microtubule, 3D illustration. A polymer composed of a protein tubulin, it is a component of cytoskeleton involved in intracellular transport, cellular mobility and nuclear division
Type
post
Author
News
Date
October 14, 2022
Categorized
Biology, Natural Intelligence
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One-Celled Life Form Uses Early “Computer” To Stand In For Brain

Researchers found that that’s how Euplotes eurystomus controls “legs” in a sort of walking pattern
News
October 14, 2022
4
Biology, Natural Intelligence

One unexpected thing that the computer has done is given us some insight into how life forms that are utterly different from ourselves manage to do things. For example, there is an analogy between the way ants think and computer programming. That helps us understand how an anthill can be organized in a very complex way without any individual ant ever seeing the big picture — or needing to. In the same way, a single-celled organism uses an “internal ‘computer’” to walk without needing a brain: Most animals require brains to run, jump or hop. The single-celled protozoan Euplotes eurystomus, however, achieves a scurrying walk using a simple, mechanical computer to coordinate its microscopic legs, UC San Francisco researchers reported Read More ›

backgrounds-of-characteristics-and-different-shaped-colony-of-bacteria-and-mold-growing-on-agar-plates-from-soil-samples-for-education-in-microbiology-laboratory-stockpack-adobe-stock
Backgrounds of Characteristics and Different shaped Colony of Bacteria and Mold growing on agar plates from Soil samples for education in Microbiology laboratory.
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post
Author
News
Date
September 23, 2022
Categorized
Biology, Information Theory
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Bacterial Growth Patterns Can Spell Out Our Inmost Thoughts

Crazy? No. Researchers reduced them to an alphabet and you can test it for yourself
News
September 23, 2022
2
Biology, Information Theory

Biomedical engineers at Duke University have created an encoder/decoder using bacterial growth patterns. Because such growth patterns tend to be regular, they can be reduced to an encoding scheme they call “emorfi”: The encoding is not one-to-one, as the final simulated pattern corresponding to each letter is not exactly the same every time. However, the researchers discovered that a machine learning program could learn to distinguish between them to recognize the letter intended. Ken Kingery, Duke University, “An AI message decoder based on bacterial growth patterns” at Phys.org (September 23, 2022) The paper requires a fee or subscription. Go here to see how it works and test it yourself. We tried it with “Bacterial growth patterns can spell out your Read More ›

closeup-of-hummingbird-hawk-moth-butterfly-macroglossum-stellatarum-feeding-of-red-valerian-flowers-centranthus-ruber-in-flight-its-a-species-of-hawk-moth-found-across-temperate-regions-of-eurasi-stockpack-adobe-stock
Closeup of Hummingbird Hawk-moth butterfly (Macroglossum stellatarum) feeding of red valerian flowers (Centranthus ruber) in flight. Its a species of hawk moth found across temperate regions of Eurasi
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post
Author
News
Date
September 23, 2022
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Biology, Military, Robotics
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Machine Uses Live Hawk Moth Antenna for Smell Detection

Human-created sensors are not sensitive, fast, or discerning enough to identify and process smells in the danger zones for which the Smellicopter was designed
News
September 23, 2022
3
Artificial Intelligence, Biology, Military, Robotics

We’ve often written about electronic prostheses that link up with the human nervous system — which essentially means controlling the prosthesis by thoughts alone. A reversal is also possible, as the University of Washington demonstrated in 2020: A machine (the “Smellicopter”) used an insect’s antenna to identify and seek out smells: “Nature really blows our human-made odor sensors out of the water,” said lead author Melanie Anderson, a UW doctoral student in mechanical engineering. “By using an actual moth antenna with Smellicopter, we’re able to get the best of both worlds: the sensitivity of a biological organism on a robotic platform where we can control its motion.” Sarah McQuate, “The Smellicopter is an obstacle-avoiding drone that uses a live moth Read More ›

these-two-are-little-genius-mixed-media-stockpack-adobe-stock
These two are little genius . Mixed media
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post
Author
News
Date
August 12, 2022
Categorized
Biology, Medicine and Health, Philosophy of Mind, Science Fiction, Transhumanism
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Why Breeding Smarter Humans Won’t Work: Basic Genetics 101

Biochemist Michael Denton explains that, in human genetics, everything is connected to everything else; geneticists call it pleiotropy
News
August 12, 2022
4
Biology, Medicine and Health, Philosophy of Mind, Science Fiction, Transhumanism

Recently, we looked at the question of whether human IQ could be artificially increased via genetic engineering. One proposal was to mass produce human embryos, implanting only the smart ones and discarding the rest. All other issues aside, it’s unclear how to determine which kids will turn out to be the smart ones. Now biochemist Michael Denton, author of a number of books including the recent Miracle of Man (2022), writes to tell us that the idea won’t work due to fundamental genetics. Noting that theoretical physicist Stephen Hsu, who advanced the idea of discarding embryos above, is not a medical geneticist, he told Mind Matters News, Its true there are many genes involved in brain development but most genes Read More ›

sanger-sequencing-3d-illustration-of-a-method-of-dna-sequencing-stockpack-adobe-stock
Sanger Sequencing. 3D illustration of a method of DNA sequencing.
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post
Author
News
Date
August 7, 2022
Categorized
Biology, Language
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If DNA Is a Language, Who Is the Speaker?

Philosopher Steve Meyer talks about the significance of Francis Crick’s sequence hypothesis that shows that DNA is literally a language of life
News
August 7, 2022
9
Biology, Language

In a talk at the Dallas Conference on Science and Faith (2021), philosopher Steve Meyer looked at the question of whether a multiverse, as in Multiverse of Madness (2022), or God, as in many traditions is the origin of our universe. That is, is our universe designed — as considerable evidence suggests — or is ours just one of a few lucky universes whose extra-lucky conditions allow for advanced life? Dr. Meyer is the author of The Return of the God Hypothesis (Harper One, 2021) which argues that the evidence from science favors God over a multiverse. (Sample here.) In this first of four transcripts of the talk, he talks about how and why it matters to ordinary people which Read More ›

2-uaps-ufos-in-the-night-sky-at-a-beach-ufo-uap-sighting-at-night-stockpack-adobe-stock
2 UAPS / Ufos in the night sky at a beach. UFO UAP Sighting at night
Type
post
Author
News
Date
August 6, 2022
Categorized
Biology
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NASA on UFOs: Not Nearly So Snarky Now. Here Are 3 Reasons Why

In the three decades since the discovery of the first exoplanets, science has gradually been overtaking science fiction
News
August 6, 2022
4
Biology

As noted recently at Scientific American, thinking about UFOs is no longer presumptive evidence of membership in the lunatic fringe: On June 9, with only a few hours’ notice, NASA held a press conference to announce a study it was commissioning on unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs). The acronym is a rebranding of what are more popularly known as unidentified flying objects, or UFOs, a topic usually associated with purported extraterrestrial visitations and government conspiracy theories. The question on the public’s mind was why one of the U.S.’s premier scientific agencies was getting involved in something often considered to be at the farthest fringes of respectability. Adam Mann, “With New Study, NASA Seeks the Science behind UFOs” at Scientific American (August Read More ›

humanoid-head-as-concept-for-artificial-intelligence-future-generations-of-humans-technology-singularity-cyberlife-and-digitally-created-personas-stockpack-adobe-stock
humanoid head as concept for Artificial Intelligence, future generations of humans, technology singularity, cyberlife and digitally created personas
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post
Author
News
Date
August 4, 2022
Categorized
Biology, Environment, Ethics
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Could We Really Increase Human IQ via Genetic Engineering?

One suggested approach is to only implant “intelligent” human embryos and discard the rest, to avoid editing individual genes
News
August 4, 2022
4
Biology, Environment, Ethics

At Big Think, we have been told by the managing editor, in a tone of considerable confidence: Because intelligence is such a strong genetic trait, rapidly advancing genetics research could result in the ability to create a class of super-intelligent humans one-thousand times higher in IQ than today’s most brilliant thinkers. Stephen Hsu, Vice-President for Research and Professor of Theoretical Physics at Michigan State University, believes we are only a decade away from identifying the many thousands of genetic variants that control for intelligence. These variants, called alleles, could then be selected for by the parents of a soon-to-be-conceived child, and possibly genetic engineering could be done on adults to boost their intelligence. Orion Jones, “Genetic Engineering Will Create Super-Intelligent Read More ›

coconut-octopus-underwater-macro-portrait-on-sand-stockpack-adobe-stock
coconut octopus underwater macro portrait on sand
Type
post
Author
News
Date
July 19, 2022
Categorized
Biology, Natural Intelligence, Neuroscience
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Jumping Genes … A New Clue to Octopus Intelligence?

Despite being very different, the human brain and the octopus brain share the same sort of jumping genes
News
July 19, 2022
4
Biology, Natural Intelligence, Neuroscience

The fact that octopuses are unusually intelligent (like mammals) — even though they are solitary invertebrates — means that they now receive some protection against cruelty. Protection that no one bothers about for, say, clams and oysters. But the science puzzle remains. How did octopuses and some of their close kin among the cephalopods get so smart? Theories about how mammals and birds got to be smart may not work here. A recent paper adds a little more information to the controversy. Studying the common octopus and the California octopus, researchers found that the same “jumping genes” are active in the octopus brain as in the human one — even though the two types of brain are very different. Jumping Read More ›

group-of-cute-smart-dolphins-in-the-ocean-stockpack-adobe-stock
Group of cute smart dolphins in the ocean
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post
Author
News
Date
July 14, 2022
Categorized
Biology, Natural Intelligence, Neuroscience
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Why Some Life Forms Are Smarter Than Others Is Still a Mystery

Brains are not simple so many “just common sense” theories have fallen by the wayside
News
July 14, 2022
5
Biology, Natural Intelligence, Neuroscience

As biologist John Timmer notes at Ars Technica, some life forms appear much more intelligent than others despite having brains of roughly the same size: Animals with very different brains from ours—a species of octopus and various birds—engage with tools, to give just one example. It seems intuitive that a brain needs a certain level of size and sophistication to enable intelligence. But figuring out why some species seem to have intelligence while closely related ones don’t has proven difficult—so difficult that we don’t really understand it. John Timmer, “Brain size vs. body size and the roots of intelligence” at Ars Technica (July 12, 2022) As he points out, some things we might expect to be true — puzzlingly — Read More ›

colorful-background-made-of-fallen-autumn-leaves-stockpack-adobe-stock
Colorful background made of fallen autumn leaves.
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post
Author
News
Date
June 19, 2022
Categorized
Biology, Philosophy, Physics, Religion
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Did Carl Sagan Think the Universe Shows No Design?

Like Fred Hoyle, he seems to have thought it showed design — until that view became politically associated with religion
News
June 19, 2022
6
Biology, Philosophy, Physics, Religion

It’s a complicated story. At one time, a religious skeptic like astronomer Carl Sagan (1934–1996) could write: The universe was made on purpose, the circle said. In whatever galaxy you happen to find yourself, you take the circumference of a circle, divide it by its diameter, measure closely enough, and uncover a miracle — another circle, drawn kilometers downstream of the decimal point. There would be richer messages farther in. It doesn’t matter what you look like, or what you’re made of, or where you come from. As long as you live in this universe, and have a modest talent for mathematics, sooner or later you’ll find it. It’s already here. It’s inside everything. You don’t have to leave your Read More ›

change-chance-stockpack-adobe-stock
Change Chance
Type
post
Author
Eric Holloway
Date
June 7, 2022
Categorized
Biology, Probability, Programming
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The Salem Hypothesis: Why Engineers View the Universe as Designed

Not because we're terrorists or black-and-white thinkers, as claimed. A simple computer program shows the limits of creating information by chance
Eric Holloway
June 7, 2022
8
Biology, Probability, Programming

In the fun-filled world of internet debate between creationists and evolutionists, we encounter the Salem Hypothesis: Creationists tend to be engineers. Many explanations have been offered for this phenomenon (apparently named after Talk Origins contributor Bruce Salem): engineers are closet terrorists creationists are trying to protect their fragile beliefs a desire to exert authority engineers like simple black and white answers There’s a reason internet forums are not known for flattering character analysis! Anyhow, the true reason for the Salem Hypothesis is summed up in this graph. Read on to find out why. Engineers are more likely to be creationists because they are familiar with what it takes to design complex things for specific tasks. Which is exactly what we Read More ›

champagne-pool-zone-thermale-wai-o-tapu-en-nouvelle-zelande-stockpack-adobe-stock
Champagne Pool zone thermale Wai-O-Tapu en Nouvelle-Zélande
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post
Author
News
Date
June 4, 2022
Categorized
Biology
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Earth’s Weirdest Life Forms Show That ET Life Is Possible

Whether it’s living in boiling water, breathing sulfur, or eating radiation, we’ve found life forms that do just that right here on Earth
News
June 4, 2022
4
Biology

Astrobiologists debate whether extraterrestrial life would be a lot like life on Earth or quite different. There may be a middle position… A number of life forms on Earth are just so weird that they demonstrate that life can come into existence — and stay in existence — in a variety of ways we never thought possible: ● A giant undersea meadow recently turned out to be one single plant – the world’s largest. Posidonia australis, a seagrass, kept all the genes from both parents so it reproduces by sprouting rhizomes, not by mating. Futurism (June 2, 2022) ● It’s not clear what The Blob at the Paris Zoo even is, in scientific terms. It has 720 sexes, no limbs, Read More ›

man-making-fire-with-tinder-polypore-fungus-in-a-forest-stockpack-adobe-stock
Man making fire with tinder polypore fungus in a forest
Type
post
Author
News
Date
May 24, 2022
Categorized
Biology, Philosophy of Mind
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Biochemist: Why Only Humans Could Learn To Use Fire

Many animals display intelligence but controlling fire requires other advantages as well
News
May 24, 2022
4
Biology, Philosophy of Mind

Biochemist Michael Denton contends, in an excerpt from Chapter 11 in his The Miracle of Man (2022), that humans were designed to use fire. Here is some of his evidence that “only a special type of unique being very close to our own biological design could have taken the first and vital step to technological enlightenment, fire-making”: From first principles, a creature capable of creating and controlling fire must be an aerobic terrestrial air-breathing species, living in an atmosphere enriched in oxygen, supportive of both respiration and combustion. This fire-maker must have something like human intelligence to accomplish the task, and while it is true that other species — e.g., dolphins, parrots, seals, apes, and ravens — possess intelligence and Read More ›

weasel-peering-out-of-a-burrow-stockpack-adobe-stock
weasel peering out of a burrow
Type
post
Author
Eric Holloway
Date
May 23, 2022
Categorized
Biology, Information Theory
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Dawkins’ Weasel Program vs the Information Life Acquires En Route

To demonstrate what is wrong with fully naturalist assumptions like those of Richard Dawkins’ Weasel program, I developed Weasel Libs, modeled on Mad Libs
Eric Holloway
May 23, 2022
6
Biology, Information Theory

In his famous Weasel program zoologist and philosopher Richard Dawkins shows that the simple combination of random mutation and natural selection (Darwinian evolution) can produce the English sentence, “Methinks it is like a weasel”, in a short time period. The point of his program is to demonstrate that evolution can generate the complex, pre-specified DNA sequences we find in biology before the heat death of the universe. His argument sounds persuasive because both English sentences and DNA sequences are made up of symbols. Both can be randomly modified anywhere, and by cumulative selection, they can plausibly adapt to the environment in reasonably short order. Writers in English can learn to pen best-selling novels through trial and error and audience feedback. Read More ›

senior-man-wearing-t-rex-dinosaur-mask-withdraw-money-from-bank-cash-machine-with-debit-card-surreal-image-of-half-human-and-animal-absurd-and-crazy-concept-of-atm-advertise-stockpack-adobe-stock
Senior man wearing t-rex dinosaur mask withdraw money from bank cash machine with debit card - Surreal image of half human and animal - Absurd and crazy concept of ATM advertise
Type
post
Author
News
Date
May 21, 2022
Categorized
Arts & Culture, Biology, Philosophy of Mind
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Could the Dinosaurs Have Had a Now-Lost Civilization?

Geoscientist Dirk Schultze-Makuch asks us to be sure why we believe it couldn’t be true. Not as simple as it first appears…
News
May 21, 2022
3
Arts & Culture, Biology, Philosophy of Mind

That’s just crazy talk, right? Geoscientist Dirk Schulze-Makuch, author of The Cosmic Zoo (2017), asks us to think again before dismissing it: Let’s imagine for a moment that some civilization went extinct millions of years before hominids even appeared. Although there isn’t a precise definition of “civilization,” we usually associate it with a species capable of altering its physical environment on a regional or even planetary scale. How would we know, millions of years later, that they had been here? All evidence of their technological achievements is almost certain to have disappeared long ago, as persuasively shown by Alan Weisman in his 2007 book, The World Without Us. Cities and large constructions like dams would quickly crumble and return to Read More ›

a-trio-of-woolly-mammoths-trudges-over-snow-covered-hills-behind-them-mountains-with-snow-covered-peaks-rise-above-dark-green-forests-of-fir-trees-3d-rendering-stockpack-adobe-stock
A trio of woolly mammoths trudges over snow covered hills. Behind them, mountains with snow covered peaks rise above dark green forests of fir trees. 3D Rendering
Type
post
Author
News
Date
May 20, 2022
Categorized
Biology, Neuroscience
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Did Small Brains Doom the Mammoth and the Giant Armadillo?

A recent study showed that survivors had brains that were 53% larger, which was perhaps useful in avoiding predators
News
May 20, 2022
5
Biology, Neuroscience

A recent study of mammal extinctions during and after the Ice Age found that the large mammals (megafauna) that went extinct during the period of 115,000 years ago through 500 years ago (the Late Quaternary) had smaller brains in relation to body mass than those that survived: The researchers explain that the last Ice Age was characterized by the widespread extinction of large and giant animals on all continents on earth (except Antarctica). Among these were, in America, giant ground sloths weighing 4 tons, a giant armadillo weighing a ton, and mastodons; in Australia the marsupial diprotodon weighing a ton, giant kangaroos, and a marsupial ‘lion’; and in Eurasia giant deer, woolly rhinoceros, mammoth, and giant elephants weighing up to Read More ›

scuba-diving-octopus-lembeh-strait-indonesia-underwater-stockpack-adobe-stock
scuba diving octopus lembeh strait indonesia underwater
Type
post
Author
News
Date
May 17, 2022
Categorized
Biology, Natural Intelligence
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Can Largely Rearranged Genomes Explain Why Octopuses Are Smart?

Even compared to each other, the genomes of three cephalopods studied had been broken up and extensively reorganized
News
May 17, 2022
3
Biology, Natural Intelligence

Octopuses, squid, and cuttlefish are among the smartest invertebrates, rivalling mammals for complex behavior that can include delaying gratification, having good memories (even in old age), and getting emotional about pain. Yet they are related to life forms like the nautilus which displays few such qualities. Looking to solve the mystery, researchers began to examine the genomes of the two-spot octopus, the Boston Market squid, and the Hawaiian bobtail squid. And that’s where they discovered something interesting. Squid genomes were arranged differently from those of similar life forms.: Compared to genomes from some of their mollusk kin, the coleoid cephalopods’ genomes are very divergent, says [Oleg] Simakov. “You have this mosaic of chromosomes, where ancestral chromosomes were broken up and Read More ›

flying-spacecrafts-stockpack-adobe-stock
Flying spacecrafts
Type
post
Author
News
Date
May 14, 2022
Categorized
Biology, Philosophy of Mind
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New Study on Why Aliens Never Phone, Never Write, Never Visit

Planetary scientists suggest that civilizations follow a trajectory in which there is only a short window of time to look for intelligent extraterrestrial civilizations
News
May 14, 2022
8
Biology, Philosophy of Mind

On the one hand, the National Academy of Sciences has said that we may communicate with extraterrestrial intelligences during our lifetimes. On the other hand, Italian physicist Enrico Fermi (1901–1954) asked, “Where are they?” (the Fermi Paradox). A new study suggests that the natural development of civilizations may be to blame: In the hopes of answering this question, a new paper published on May 4 in the journal Royal Society Open Science claims that “civilizations either collapse from burnout or redirect themselves to prioritizing homeostasis, a state where cosmic expansion is no longer a goal, making them difficult to detect remotely.” “Either outcome — homeostatic awakening or civilization collapse — would be consistent with the observed absence of [galactic-wide] civilizations.” Read More ›