Do individuals genetically adapt to their environments?

Hello,
today I'm going to talk about another evolution myth: many people actually believe that the evolution theory deffends that individuals can freely adapt to the environment, surviving.

This is nothing but an incorrect interpretation of the theory. This idea is really a misconception, and reffers to LaMark's way in trying to explain evolution, way befforre Darwin's publication of his Origin of the Species.

Infanticide among free-ranging langurs

The infanticide aming langurs was a news received with an incredible amount of shock for, althoug they are a species really close to humans phylogenetically, a great number of males kills juveniles.
Even though this happens in some other species, different kinds of explanations may be given, like regulation of population density, social stress, social crowding, sexual frustration, incest avoidance, or social bonding.
Recent studies promote a new hypothesis: Since they are not monogamic, males kill younglings from other males, so that the female may become receptive to him. 
This may be an example of how the "selfish gene" tries to protect its transmition to the new generation in the largest number possible.

Natural Selection

Hello there, today I'm bringing you a small cartoon by a very smart guy. This cartoon belongs to a series called "The Far Side" and was drawn by Gary Larson. 

As you should know, darwinian natural selection deffends the survival of the fittest, being overcentered in the inter-species competition, but, nowadays, neo-darwinian natural selection is all about the best traits (the best alleles in each gene) and the way they are passed down to the descendants, centered in the intra-species competition.

In this case, darwinians would deffend that the carnivores were stronger, and that led to the end of the unicorns, but, in other and, neo-darwinians would say that the unicorns did not posses the traits to survive the stress caused by the carnivores. 

We can also look at this cartoon and notice a problem that has been present in all the planet for some centuries. The problem is the way species interact with each other and, what could happen if we change some individuals from habitat. But I'll leave that for another day.

Watson and Crick

Hello

Today I'm going to talk a little about one of the most famous pairs in the biological sciences. James D. Watson and Francis Crick uncovered the stucture of the DNA molecule, revolutionating the way most biologists think since then. It was olny after this breakthroug that all the geneticists and evolutionists would be able to understand live beings in a celular/molecular way. Their results were published in a 1953 Nature edition. (these articles can be found here for consult: http://www.nature.com/nature/dna50/archive.html). It is said by the legend that has they entered Eagle pub in Cambridge, Crick announced, "We have found the secret of life!".
Furthermore, it was only after this huge foundation was built that, in 1958, Francis Crick was able to determin what was called "The Central Dogma of Molecular Biology".

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Did humans really evolve from apes?

When someone talks of evolution, there are people that automatically associate the evolution of men with the other primates. Questions like "Did humans really evolve from apes?" is constantly shouted in some parts of the world and the answer is simple: No, humans did not evolve from apes, humans are apes.
Well, the expression "Ape" is relative to all the individuals that are presently in the Superfamily Hominoidea, that contains two families: The Hylobatidae, or the family of the lesser apes, and the Hominidae, described as the great apes, where humans are included.
The correct observation is that humans and the other apes evolved from the same ancestor. This ancestor, would have been a primate, similar to many others still existing today, which individuals would have diverged, so that today many kinds of apes could exist.
As to the evolution of Man, it was first discussed by Darwin himself in his followup book "A Descent of Man" (1871), where he unfolded sexual selection.

William Hamilton

Hello, I'd like to share with you an article about the life and work of Dr. Hamilton, called by many "The Greatest Darwinian after Darwin".
Reading about the life of people helps, very often, to understand their work and methods.
Hope you like it: http://psych.mcmaster.ca/dalywilson/memoriam.pdf