Evolution/Questions
| Subject | Date Asked | Expert |
| First sexually dimorphic organisms | 1/30/2012 | Chris |
| Q: I want to ask when did the first sexually dimorphic organisms appeared and what where they, ... A: Sexual dimorphism refers to anatomical and morphological differences between males and females. ... | ||
| fish egg dispersal | 12/14/2011 | Dana Krempels |
| Q: It is argued that it is remotely possible for some fish eggs to be trapped in water vapor and ... A: George It might not be impossible if the eggs were extremely small. It would be a rare event, and ... | ||
| Singular technological intelligence | 11/23/2011 | Dana Krempels |
| Q: First a warning and apology, I started with a simple question that I wonder about, and ended with ... A: I'll handle each question in turn: 1. Does "technological intelligence" ("TI") grant a species a ... | ||
| Human enhancement etc. | 10/19/2011 | Dana Krempels |
| Q: I'm curious about transhumanism, and read that goldfish are the only animals capable of seeing in ... A: Actually, goldfish are *not* the only animals that can see ultraviolet. Many insects can, as well ... | ||
| Vertebrates with more than four legs | 10/18/2011 | Dana Krempels |
| Q: http://en.allexperts.com/q/Evolution-3839/Big-land-living-animals.htm In this answer, you basically ... A: A homeotic mutation can sometimes produce more than four limbs in an animal that is supposed to be a ... | ||
| Origin of the man. | 10/9/2011 | Dana Krempels |
| Q: What is the origin of the man? Thanks, Leonardo A: This question is far too complicated to answer in a single email, and it would take many chapters of ... | ||
| Autumn colors | 10/4/2011 | Dana Krempels |
| Q: Autumn is here again in Illinois, and as I have done regularly I again begin to wonder: What is or ... A: Darwin's natural selection theory can be distilled into four tenets: 1. Organisms are capable of ... | ||
| species or missing link? | 9/19/2011 | Dana Krempels |
| Q: How do anthropologists and paleontologists tell when they have a link between evolutionary stages, ... A: In modern evolutionary biology, systematists (i.e., scientists who study evolutionary relationships ... | ||
| Evolutionary reason for humans loving sodium? | 9/18/2011 | Dana Krempels |
| Q: It seems very common that humans love sodium-rich foods judging from the consumption levels of foods ... A: Out in the dry plains of Africa where our ancestors evolved, sodium was much harder to find than it ... | ||
| DNA similarity between humans and neanderthals | 9/9/2011 | Dana Krempels |
| Q: I'm trying to make sense of these two pieces of data: * Human and neanderthal DNA is 99.5% ... A: This is a good question, and one that stumps a lot of people. I'm not sure I have all the answers, ... | ||
| Survival of ancient people in the modern days | 8/1/2011 | Dana Krempels |
| Q: In light of all the changes that have taken place, would it be possible for a race of people like ... A: Our species has been considered the same for more than 10,000 years. Though there are populational ... | ||
| extinction | 6/16/2011 | Dana Krempels |
| Q: Sorry this is my second question - Hope that is OK. I was just wondering whether or not the human ... A: Whether we are likely to go extinct any time soon depends not so much on how long we've been here, ... | ||
| The rate of evolution | 6/3/2011 | Dana Krempels |
| Q: how long it took for particular physical organs to develop, be they in animals or humans? So for ... A: Because evolution can sometimes proceed by means of natural selection, it can sometimes also happen ... | ||
| The rate of evolution | 5/31/2011 | Dana Krempels |
| Q: how long it took for particular physical organs to develop, be they in animals or humans? So for ... A: The human eye did not have its origins in humans. The ancestral eye first showed up in a ... | ||
| evolutionof consciousness | 5/19/2011 | Chris |
| Q: My question concerns the evolution of consciousness. I know only a little about the major avenues ... A: I am sorry for the slow response…I have been very busy, and I see you have a lot to say…I don’t ... | ||
| evolution of consciousness | 5/7/2011 | Chris |
| Q: Chris, I am sorry to bother you with what may be ravings. These are about what causes consciousness ... A: You are not bothering me...I like hearing all different thoughts. I have not put extensive research ... | ||
| Extinction | 5/5/2011 | Dana Krempels |
| Q: Are there examples of species whose behavior rendered their environment unable to sustain them ... A: I don't know of any examples where this might have happened. One would think that any learned ... | ||
| origin of consciousness | 5/4/2011 | Dana Krempels |
| Q: Is it possible that the neural map of consciousness originated in the proprioception of lower ... A: These are interesting questions bordering on the metaphysical. :) No one is yet certain about the ... | ||
| race mixing good or bad | 5/3/2011 | Dana Krempels |
| Q: I know we are all humans but there are differences like face structure and our genes are not all the ... A: From a pure health standpoint, hybridization between human "races" is probably a good thing because ... | ||
| evolution origin of life | 4/28/2011 | Chris |
| Q: Did life arise simply as a response to the the fragility and high break up rate of the covalent ... A: The origin of life is a highly disputed subject among scientists, and a hot topic for debate and ... | ||
| evolution of hair | 2/18/2011 | Dana Krempels |
| Q: can you explain why humans have different head hair, and why we have armpit hair A: By "different" head hair, do you mean different colors? Textures? Different from other animals? ... | ||
| evolution | 2/3/2011 | Dana Krempels |
| Q: I gave a question about evolution.When an organism inherits a new gene, does every new gene have to ... A: J. The short answer is: No. Genes can result in traits that can be adaptive (increase the ... | ||
| Psychic Heritability | 1/21/2011 | Dana Krempels |
| Q: I have a question concerning psychic powers and the inheritance of these "gifts." If abilities like ... A: The problem here, as you already have hinted, is that neither ESP nor psychic powers have ever been ... | ||
| Difference between Chimps and Humans | 1/9/2011 | Dana Krempels |
| Q: So chimpanzees are our closest living relatives, why are they so different looking? What is the ... A: No one knows exactly which genes are different and how different they are, but we do share more than ... | ||
| Plantaris muscle and neck rib | 1/3/2011 | Dana Krempels |
| Q: Does the plantaris muscle have something to do with our past, and I heard humans have a neck rib ... A: The wee plantaris muscle is a remnant of our four-legged, tree-climbing past. It was more developed ... | ||
| Dinosaurs | 12/16/2010 | Dana Krempels |
| Q: Are dinosaurs reptiles or birds? people keep saying reptiles and birds are somehow related A: The simple answer is YES. Dinosaurs, birds, and what we usually call reptiles all share a common ... | ||
| Adaptive and Maladaptive | 12/7/2010 | Dana Krempels |
| Q: What is one aspect of human emotional responding that was a adaptive at the time when it became ... A: This sounds a bit like a homework question, but I'll give it a shot. There may be no simple answer ... | ||
| genes and mutations | 12/6/2010 | Dana Krempels |
| Q: When we talk of mutations, what exactly are we talking about? Specifically, I gather a species ... A: Richard I don't have a rundown on the similarity of genomes across species, but I'm pretty sure ... | ||
| genes and mutations | 12/5/2010 | Dana Krempels |
| Q: When we talk of mutations, what exactly are we talking about? Specifically, I gather a species ... A: Richard [You say a 'mistake' in genetic copying, how often are 'mistakes' made?] Very, very often. ... | ||
| genes and mutations | 12/5/2010 | Dana Krempels |
| Q: When we talk of mutations, what exactly are we talking about? Specifically, I gather a species ... A: Richard I hope I'm not going to sound too pedantic, but here goes. :) I'll start from the ... | ||
| sexual evolution: homosexuality | 12/3/2010 | Dana Krempels |
| Q: I believe that sexual preference is primarily an inborn preference rather that a personal choice. ... A: This is a very interesting question, and there is more and more evidence to show that sexual ... | ||
| Animals / insect houses | 12/3/2010 | Dana Krempels |
| Q: Insects and animals who build "homes" Birds-Nests: Bees-hives: Ants-hills: Beaver-damns ect. I am ... A: The behaviors that lead these species to build their structures has certainly evolved over time, ... | ||
| Evolution: Why homosexuality? | 10/19/2010 | Dana Krempels |
| Q: As I understand evolution, organisms which have characteristics favorable to successful reproduction ... A: This is a very interesting question, and while the answers are not yet completely clear, we have ... | ||
| evolution | 10/9/2010 | Dana Krempels |
| Q: from what I understand about Darwins theory of evolution, it seems a plausible idea. It generally ... A: Yes, I think you do have it right. Evolution proceeds in no small part due to random events. It is ... | ||
| chicken egg evolution | 10/8/2010 | Dana Krempels |
| Q: This might sound like a joke, but I really would like to know about it. I believe evolution to be a ... A: Though this question is posed often to serve as the "impossible to answer" one, it actually has a ... | ||
| evolution | 10/5/2010 | Dana Krempels |
| Q: from what I understand about Darwins theory of evolution, it seems a plausible idea. It generally ... A: Sorry for the delay. I'm out of town and didn't have immediate internet access. "1. a bird that is ... | ||
| Rocks, neurons & communications | 9/19/2010 | Dana Krempels |
| Q: Having reread my last question, convoluted is a kindness. Energy passed between two rocks or two ... A: I think you may be partly right. You can't evolve multicellularity without communication between ... | ||
| Clarification on the issue of evolution | 9/6/2010 | Dana Krempels |
| Q: , I was wondering if you can help me clarify on the matter of evolution for me?One thing I find ... A: Evolution proceeds at a pace that is proportional to the reproductive rate of the species evolving. ... | ||
| Clarification on the issue of evolution | 9/5/2010 | Dana Krempels |
| Q: , I was wondering if you can help me clarify on the matter of evolution for me?One thing I find ... A: This is a HUGE topic, and there are so many places where you can find scholarly information that ... | ||
| Scenario: Heritability of acquired traits | 8/20/2010 | Dana Krempels |
| Q: If the entire human population cut off the right hand pinky of every single baby born in the very ... A: While Jean Baptiste Lamarck (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Baptiste_Lamarck) might have ... | ||
Dana Krempels
Top Expert on this page
Expertise
I can answer questions about evolutionary mechanisms and theory, including genetic drift, mutation, natural selection, etc. I also can clear up misconceptions about evolution as it's sometimes talked about by those not well-versed in the subject (e.g., some politicians and many religious fundamentalists).
Experience
I have a Ph.D. in Biology, and presently teach Evolution and Biodiversity, Genetics, Botany, and Zoology at the University of Miami.
Organizations
House Rabbit Society
Beta Beta Beta Biological Honor Society
Publications
Exotic DVM Magazine (veterinary journal)
Education/Credentials
B.S. in Biology
B.A. in English
Ph.D. in Biology
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