Yes I see your point, it's a generalization that really doesn't apply. But the majority of species that have ever existed are now extinct, the current extant species were estimated to be less than 0.1% of all that ever existed. Unless of course I misunderstood the term that is, for they could have b...

As far as I understood it, it meant the how far up the tree trunk, to the branch, the twig, etc... To be quite honest, I've never been asked about it before. It wasn't really relevant to the material I was studying at the time. But I don't believe it was a reference to the "value" of the s...

I still don't understand what makes an animal higher or lower. It smacks of ye old tree of life stuff. Such distinctions seem nearly completely arbitrary to me. It's directly referencing the tree of life you talked about. The phylogenetic tree uses a system of "taxonomy" or "taxa&quo...

What is a "higher level" mammal? A reference to the phylogenetic tree. I admit I might be biased towards certain animals, for instance if someone ate my dog, I'd probably do very bad things to them. While cows could be considered higher as well, you have to take into account that they are...

I'm all for conservationism and protecting endangered species, but PETA basically wants every person in the world to stop eating animals. WE ARE an animal, and "other" animals in the seas eat these "sea kittens". I mean come on, do you honestly think a marine predator is going to...

Yeah, I don't think anyone here suggested otherwise. Sorry, my mistake. I'm not quite sure what Chris was driving at then. What I did mean is that PETA is basing their argument on a logical fallacy, so instead of finding a legitimate reason to sway peoples opinions, they instead try to associate th...

Sorry, I just dislike people trying to be swayed by Argumentum ad misericordiam - an appeal to pity. I fully understand why someone might want to live a vegan, or vegetarian lifestyle, the evidence says it can add an extra ten years to your life. I rather not get into a long debate about our related...

Ever hear of the term "cold as a fish"? Regardless of the the cognitive abilities of certain types of fish, they have no emotional centers in their brains. Most of the fish we eat are "feeder" fish, which are predated on by other aquatic carnivores and the like. Like it or not we...

In one of those moments where you might ask... What were they thinking? A would be robber and several restaurant employees were arrested this monday, but only after an attempted robbery ends with one of the potential robber's life being taken. Story Here: "Robber stabbed to death" Or here:...

Roofus wrote:Life originated on Mars and was carried here on asteroids.

Sure did! I party with the little green peeps all the time. Me being a cyborg and all, I can handle the interstellar space travel .

A question for the ages... How did life start? For centuries, people have pondered the questions - Will man ever know the origin(s) of life? And could he create it? --Please note that the Theory of Evolution only explains the diverse tree of living biological organisms on this planet, how they have ...

I'm having a hard time figuring out if you're being serious or not, probably not. But "Human" evolution is a fact, along with the rest of the animal kingdom, we indeed did evolve from lower life forms. Not that I believe in a god myself, but coming from "the dirt" could be seen a...

I also believe that Christianity was driven out of a lot of places by Atheists, where it is now forbidden or looked down upon very negatively. I'd say it was more like in fighting between various Christian groups, other competing religious viewpoints, and socio-political reasons that might have cau...

I don't think anyone here was throwing their "belief" system in your face. BC was just making a point that these religious advocates were being hypocritical and intolerant. "Belief" assumes an opinion or faith, my views are based on physical evidence, logic, and sound reasoning. ...

Green said: "It is given as a statement of fact and that means it must be capable of substantiation if it is not to break the rules. "There is plenty of evidence for God, from people's personal experience, to the complexity, interdependence, beauty and design of the natural world. "B...

Just thought I'd run another classic article by ya... President George W. Bush will leave behind a legacy of Bushisms, the label stamped on the commander in chief's original speaking style. Some of the president's more notable malaprops and mangled statements: ___ • "I know the human bein...

The World's #2 leading reinsurer released their annual statement Monday, citing over 220,000 deaths due to natural disaster for the 2008 fiscal year. The article can be found here: http://www.terradaily.com/2007/081229125730.e2dp7fj0.html Or here: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20081229/sc_afp/climatew...

Fish are rich in Omega-3 fatty acids, mmmmmm.....

I guess in this day and age people have the "luxury" of eating well balanced diets, and/or a vegan lifestyle. Before we inventing the supermarket, or gas stations we had to barter shiny seashells for a round of cheese...

It might be a little less confusing to say that "you're just as likely to be as genetically different to someone from your own race, than to someone else's" . Out of coincidence I'd also recommend a book and accompanying video, "Journey of Man" . - http://news.nationalgeographic....

When I said that 85% of all variation exists between all people, I didn't mean that someone you'd call a different race had the other 15% of variation. Humans and Chimpanzees share 97-98% of their Genome, and humans are 99.9% alike. After all, there are parts of our genome that don't vary. The 85% i...