Entries Tagged as 'Evolution'

The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins


That was an interesting but not too easy read about evolution. Here are some exciting details…

How Did Life Come Into Existence?

There was water, carbon dioxide, methane, and ammoniac on earth. By adding energy from the sun and thunder storms, more complicated molecules like amino acid were formed. Those are the building blocks of proteins. Coincidental at one point in time some remarkable molecules came to existence. They had the ability to copy themselves: Replicators. I imagine this copying process like this: A replicator attracts other molecules until two identical replicators are next to each other. Then they part. Of course this process isn’t perfect so mistakes occur during copying.

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Red Queen by Matt Ridley

I just finished this fascinating book about evolution and sex. Matt Ridley examines what happened to humans and animals during evolution. And he has some amazing answers. Check it out!

To be in a “red queen race” means that you have to run, evolve, and become better just to stay where you are in comparison to the others. It’s about sexual selection and survival of the own species. (see also wikipedia)

Why Do Humans Have Sex?

There are beings that do simple cell division to reproduce. So why do we have sex? The answer is astounding: To be resistant against parasites, like bacteria that live within us. They change their genetic code all the time and they live during several generations while there is only one human generation. They adapt to the human. As a result of sex the genes of a man and a woman get combined to a new genetic code. The offspring now is immune against the parasites. It’s a red queen race.

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We Feel When We Meet the Right Partner

Genes Are the Blueprint

It’s a long time ago when I learned about evolution and genes in school. I learned it and I found it exciting. But I never thought I could use this knowledge to understand women.

Our genes are the blueprint of a human being. The genes are responsible for the looks, the figure and the behavior. (Ok, some part of the behavior comes from education and social programming. I’m not talking about that for now.) A human being is basically the surviving machine for its genes. (Read “The selfish gene” by Richard Dawkins if you’re interested.)

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