-This weeks movie was Kevin Reynolds' Waterworld (1995) starring Kevin Costner, Jeanne Tripplehorn, and Dennis Hopper. IMDb Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114898/?ref_=nv_sr_1
-What a strange movie. This was thought to make loads of money, but ended up flopping at the theaters and for good reason. This movie takes place in the future world where the polar ice caps melt and send the world into a huge you guessed it, water world. The Mariner, Kevin Costner, must rescue an orphan girl who will lead them to the "dryland" which is like the only piece of earth that isn't water. Along the way he faces people trying to kidnap her and take the dryland for themselves. This movie was not the greatest. 4/10.
-Evolutionary, it wasn't great either. I didn't mention before, but the Mariner has developed gills in order to swim without going up for air. We run into the same problem we had with the X-men. The Mariner is in fact a mutant, but he developed the gills based on need. One is simply not able to adapt based on need, as Dobzhansky said, "Natural selection is a blind, yet creative process." The gills would have had to randomly mutate before his actual need for them. This is a Lamarkian idea. He proposed that giraffe's necks were originally short and grew in length in order to reach the leaves high above them. This was proved wrong many many years ago, but Hollywood somehow missed the memo. We won't see any gills mostly likely on anyone very soon, unless you are Harry Potter and live in a magical world where evolution does not exist.
Sunday, April 24, 2016
-I recently watched Marc Forster's World War Z (2013) starring Brad Pitt, Mireille Enos, and Daniella Kertesz. The IMDb link is here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0816711/?ref_=nv_sr_1
-This movie follows a man during the brink of total world collapse as a zombie pandemic attacks the entire world. He goes across the entire world trying to find a cure. He ends up injecting himself with a deadly pathogen, which keeps the zombies from attacking him since they only go for a healthy host. Although slightly far-fetched, this movie was very entertaining. I enjoyed the scene where he injects himself with the serum and walks face to face with the zombie and essentially walks through the entire facility unscathed. He uses a soda machine to bring all the zombies to him and walks right through them. Entertaining movie. 7/10
-Now for the evolutionary side of this movie. The movie faces the traditional "can zombies happen?" question. This movie has zombies that have un-human-like strength and speed. There is no way for a person to come back from the dead, however, like in the case of rabies, it could be transmitted to another host. This is very interesting to me and I did some research. So the zombies in the movie are attacking others so the virus will have another host. There exists a parasite called Toxoplasma gondii that infects mice and has to be inside cats to reproduce. It works by making mice not afraid of cats so they will be eaten and therefore be able to reproduce. However, this is a parasite and a virus could be less likely to have this effect in humans. The zombies themselves are very intelligent. They are able to discern who is infected and who is not infected. That is very difficult for even a doctor who is not infected to discern. This would mean that the virus somehow gave them a special ability which is just not possible. The incubation time of the virus, (which is in the ballpark of 10 seconds in the movie) is unrealistic. Hold onto your pants, zombies won't be invading the world. Hopefully.
-This movie follows a man during the brink of total world collapse as a zombie pandemic attacks the entire world. He goes across the entire world trying to find a cure. He ends up injecting himself with a deadly pathogen, which keeps the zombies from attacking him since they only go for a healthy host. Although slightly far-fetched, this movie was very entertaining. I enjoyed the scene where he injects himself with the serum and walks face to face with the zombie and essentially walks through the entire facility unscathed. He uses a soda machine to bring all the zombies to him and walks right through them. Entertaining movie. 7/10
-Now for the evolutionary side of this movie. The movie faces the traditional "can zombies happen?" question. This movie has zombies that have un-human-like strength and speed. There is no way for a person to come back from the dead, however, like in the case of rabies, it could be transmitted to another host. This is very interesting to me and I did some research. So the zombies in the movie are attacking others so the virus will have another host. There exists a parasite called Toxoplasma gondii that infects mice and has to be inside cats to reproduce. It works by making mice not afraid of cats so they will be eaten and therefore be able to reproduce. However, this is a parasite and a virus could be less likely to have this effect in humans. The zombies themselves are very intelligent. They are able to discern who is infected and who is not infected. That is very difficult for even a doctor who is not infected to discern. This would mean that the virus somehow gave them a special ability which is just not possible. The incubation time of the virus, (which is in the ballpark of 10 seconds in the movie) is unrealistic. Hold onto your pants, zombies won't be invading the world. Hopefully.
Monday, April 11, 2016
-Just watched: Matthew Vaughn's X-men First Class (2011) starring James McAvoy, Micheal Fassbender, and Jennifer Lawrence. the IMDb link can be found here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1270798/?ref_=nv_sr_4
-Finally the X-men origin story we've all been waiting for. This was a solid movie chronicling the beginning of Xavier and Erik's friendship (AKA Professor X and Magneto). This movie was very entertaining and it was neat to see the mutants in another time period. The special effects have also come along way since the first X-men movie in 2001. The fighting scenes were very cool and the dialogue was well-scripted. You got what you ask for in this superhero movie. My favorite scene was when Magneto killed Shaw by forcing the Nazi coin into his brain. Great movie. 7/10 stars.
-X-men movies however hold little wait from an evolutionary aspect. For starters, most mutations are deleterious rather than beneficial. Almost every single on of the mutants possess an ability that helps rather than harms them. But first, I will address a character that is not scientifically accurate, which is odd considering his name is Darwin. His mutation allows him to adapt to any circumstance that he needs, ie he can grow gills to breathe under water. His adaptions are somewhat reminiscent of "survival of the fittest" which is not a Darwinian idea. The whole idea of mutants is actually a Lamarckian idea. The ability for an individual to develop mutations beneficial to them, the classic giraffe growing his neck to reach branches idea. We find this to be false because giraffes with long necks had better fitness than those with shorter necks and were able to survive. Another constraint of natural selection is gene variation. If the gene for say changing skin color like Mystique is not present in the population, it cannot pop up randomly. Unfortunately or fortunately, we will not see a Magneto-like mutant in our population. So no world domination due to mutants in the future.
-Finally the X-men origin story we've all been waiting for. This was a solid movie chronicling the beginning of Xavier and Erik's friendship (AKA Professor X and Magneto). This movie was very entertaining and it was neat to see the mutants in another time period. The special effects have also come along way since the first X-men movie in 2001. The fighting scenes were very cool and the dialogue was well-scripted. You got what you ask for in this superhero movie. My favorite scene was when Magneto killed Shaw by forcing the Nazi coin into his brain. Great movie. 7/10 stars.
-X-men movies however hold little wait from an evolutionary aspect. For starters, most mutations are deleterious rather than beneficial. Almost every single on of the mutants possess an ability that helps rather than harms them. But first, I will address a character that is not scientifically accurate, which is odd considering his name is Darwin. His mutation allows him to adapt to any circumstance that he needs, ie he can grow gills to breathe under water. His adaptions are somewhat reminiscent of "survival of the fittest" which is not a Darwinian idea. The whole idea of mutants is actually a Lamarckian idea. The ability for an individual to develop mutations beneficial to them, the classic giraffe growing his neck to reach branches idea. We find this to be false because giraffes with long necks had better fitness than those with shorter necks and were able to survive. Another constraint of natural selection is gene variation. If the gene for say changing skin color like Mystique is not present in the population, it cannot pop up randomly. Unfortunately or fortunately, we will not see a Magneto-like mutant in our population. So no world domination due to mutants in the future.
Sunday, April 10, 2016
-I recently watched Stanley Kubrick's classic 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) starring Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood, and William Sylvester. Click below for a link of the IMDb page. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062622/?ref_=nv_sr_3
-This movie follows several astronauts as they journey to Jupiter to discover a "monolith" that mysteriously popped up. Along the journey, there is a problem however, when their A.I. robot turns on them and leaves one stranded in space. Eventually, the main character shuts down the system and is able to escpape. The ship goes through a worm hole and aliens show him the beginning of life and eventually he is turned back into an embryo. This movie is a strange one. The best part of the movie to me is the memorable music. Bad special effects and lack of dialogue left a bad taste in my mouth. 5/10 stars.
-Although not your typical evolution movie, it does hold some evolutionary concepts in it. At the beginning, it shows 2 groups of apes. After the monolith appears on Earth, one group learns to use bones as weapons. This group is able to hunt better and has higher fitness. Although not entirely true, this is actually how natural selection works to an extent. Another scene sticks out to me. the very ending, the human "devolved" back into an embryo. Once again, alien technology has never been tested, but it goes out of the constraints of evolution for a human to revert to its embryonic form. However, this reminded me of an organism that essentially does this exact process. Turritopus dohrnii, or the immortal jellyfish has a process similar to this. The jellyfish start as larvae then gives rise to polyps that are on the sea floor. They then bud off and become sexually mature. Then, if the jellyfish experiences an environmental stress, or becomes sick or old, it can go back to the polyp stage and essentially repeat the entire process. It would be interesting to understand how the creature is able to do this from an evolution standpoint. Although this is very interesting, humans will most likely never be able to revert to their embryonic state once reaching maturity.
-This movie follows several astronauts as they journey to Jupiter to discover a "monolith" that mysteriously popped up. Along the journey, there is a problem however, when their A.I. robot turns on them and leaves one stranded in space. Eventually, the main character shuts down the system and is able to escpape. The ship goes through a worm hole and aliens show him the beginning of life and eventually he is turned back into an embryo. This movie is a strange one. The best part of the movie to me is the memorable music. Bad special effects and lack of dialogue left a bad taste in my mouth. 5/10 stars.
-Although not your typical evolution movie, it does hold some evolutionary concepts in it. At the beginning, it shows 2 groups of apes. After the monolith appears on Earth, one group learns to use bones as weapons. This group is able to hunt better and has higher fitness. Although not entirely true, this is actually how natural selection works to an extent. Another scene sticks out to me. the very ending, the human "devolved" back into an embryo. Once again, alien technology has never been tested, but it goes out of the constraints of evolution for a human to revert to its embryonic form. However, this reminded me of an organism that essentially does this exact process. Turritopus dohrnii, or the immortal jellyfish has a process similar to this. The jellyfish start as larvae then gives rise to polyps that are on the sea floor. They then bud off and become sexually mature. Then, if the jellyfish experiences an environmental stress, or becomes sick or old, it can go back to the polyp stage and essentially repeat the entire process. It would be interesting to understand how the creature is able to do this from an evolution standpoint. Although this is very interesting, humans will most likely never be able to revert to their embryonic state once reaching maturity.
Monday, March 28, 2016
-This week I looked at John Carpenter's The Thing (1982) starring Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley, and Keith David. IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084787/?ref_=nv_sr_1
-This movie kept you on the edge of your seats. Although made in the early 80s, it was still enjoyable to watch despite the special effects that weren't so special. There was an eeriness about the whole movie like you didn't know who you could trust. My favorite part in the movie is when the doctor goes to use the defibrillator on Norris and his stomach turns into 2 jaws and bites his arms off. The monsters are very corny, put the movie on the whole is good. It got a very high rating on IMDb and for good reason. Very enjoyable movie that I would watch again. 8/10.
-The science in the Thing is almost non-existant. They devolop a theory throughout the movie that the thousands of year old aliens learn to "imitate" other organisms. This starts with a dog. The alien somehow coats its body with one of a sled dog. At one point the scientist claims that the alien "learned" to digest things. How could the alien ever consume anything if there was no digestion? Also, digestion is too complicated of a process to spring spontaneously, see conditions for Natural Selection proposed by Darwin. Whenever provoked, it broke its way out of the dog body and began showing its true form... which changes throughout the movie. Each alien is different than the one before it. Aliens have not been study in full in real life, but there must be a type of order amongst species. Each organism would most likely at least resemble other organisms within that species. Soon the aliens start imitating humans. I'm not an alien expert, but I have never seen a terrestrial organism that can completely coat its outward body into something that resembles a human. I've heard of camouflage and coloration in animals, but never a completely different skin. This movie will most likely never become a reality. If it somehow were able to, we would be in deep deep trouble.
-This movie kept you on the edge of your seats. Although made in the early 80s, it was still enjoyable to watch despite the special effects that weren't so special. There was an eeriness about the whole movie like you didn't know who you could trust. My favorite part in the movie is when the doctor goes to use the defibrillator on Norris and his stomach turns into 2 jaws and bites his arms off. The monsters are very corny, put the movie on the whole is good. It got a very high rating on IMDb and for good reason. Very enjoyable movie that I would watch again. 8/10.
-The science in the Thing is almost non-existant. They devolop a theory throughout the movie that the thousands of year old aliens learn to "imitate" other organisms. This starts with a dog. The alien somehow coats its body with one of a sled dog. At one point the scientist claims that the alien "learned" to digest things. How could the alien ever consume anything if there was no digestion? Also, digestion is too complicated of a process to spring spontaneously, see conditions for Natural Selection proposed by Darwin. Whenever provoked, it broke its way out of the dog body and began showing its true form... which changes throughout the movie. Each alien is different than the one before it. Aliens have not been study in full in real life, but there must be a type of order amongst species. Each organism would most likely at least resemble other organisms within that species. Soon the aliens start imitating humans. I'm not an alien expert, but I have never seen a terrestrial organism that can completely coat its outward body into something that resembles a human. I've heard of camouflage and coloration in animals, but never a completely different skin. This movie will most likely never become a reality. If it somehow were able to, we would be in deep deep trouble.
-Finished Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014) starring Gary Oldman, Keri Russell, and Andy Serkis. The link the IMDb page can be found here. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2103281/?ref_=fn_al_tt_4
-This entertaining movie is a continuing movie in a rebooted series about genetically evolved apes that threaten the human race after a super simian flu wipes out most of the civilization. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie more than the originals or even the other reboot. There was a lot of action and well-done CGI. My favorite scene was when two apes fooled humans into pretending they were dumb and killed them and took their weapons. 8/10.
-Now to address the scientific side behind the movie. It is interesting how they approached the speech aspect of the apes in this movie. Most movies just assume that apes can learn to speak out of nowhere and run with that idea. In this movie, speech is looked at a little differently. In the beginning, the apes are pretty non-vocal and speak in grunts. They first learn sign language. And something neat that I didn't realize is that the younger apes can learn sign language easier than the older apes. This is interesting and how humans typically learn. The apes in this movie were extremely smart and were able to learn and adapt to behavior. As I mentioned earlier, the apes were able to understand that if they walked like apes, then they weren't seen as harmful, but if they acted like humans they posed a threat. I am no expert, but it might take some time before we see apes leading a revolution to overthrow humans.
-This entertaining movie is a continuing movie in a rebooted series about genetically evolved apes that threaten the human race after a super simian flu wipes out most of the civilization. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie more than the originals or even the other reboot. There was a lot of action and well-done CGI. My favorite scene was when two apes fooled humans into pretending they were dumb and killed them and took their weapons. 8/10.
-Now to address the scientific side behind the movie. It is interesting how they approached the speech aspect of the apes in this movie. Most movies just assume that apes can learn to speak out of nowhere and run with that idea. In this movie, speech is looked at a little differently. In the beginning, the apes are pretty non-vocal and speak in grunts. They first learn sign language. And something neat that I didn't realize is that the younger apes can learn sign language easier than the older apes. This is interesting and how humans typically learn. The apes in this movie were extremely smart and were able to learn and adapt to behavior. As I mentioned earlier, the apes were able to understand that if they walked like apes, then they weren't seen as harmful, but if they acted like humans they posed a threat. I am no expert, but it might take some time before we see apes leading a revolution to overthrow humans.
Monday, March 14, 2016
-Just watched Peter Weir's Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003) starring Russell Crowe and Paul Bettany. A link to the IMDb page can be found here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0311113/?ref_=nv_sr_1
-This movie was very entertaining. This movie followed the HMS Surprise during the Napoleonic Wars in pursuit of a powerful French warship. It is full of action, but has several slow scenes. It definitely portrays sailor life during the 1800s. My favorite scene is when Paul Bettany's character removes a bullet from his own abdomen using a mirror as a guide. It was an interesting scene because it demonstrates the sterility of sail boats during the time and the risk for infection. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. 8/10.
-This is not a typical movie one would consider to talk about evolution in. However, there is a character, played by Paul Bettany, who is a physician and a naturalist that greatly resembles Charles Darwin. This movie takes place in the South American seas and islands. One island in particular is the Galapagos islands. While the majority of the crew is interested in fighting and defending the ship, he is more interested in studying specimen on the islands. There is a scene where the crew is having target practice and he is studying a beetle that was found near the island. While discussing adaptations in organisms, a boy asks him if God caused the changes in the specimen in which he replied that God could have done that or he caused them to change. This reminded me of Dobzhansky and I found that very interesting that they would incorporate that into this movie. In one scene, he is describing how an insect uses camouflage to disguise itself from predators. The captain then camouflages the ship to hid from their "predator." It is interesting that this movie would incorporate a Darwin-like character into an action movie. It shows the impact that Darwin had on the world.
-This movie was very entertaining. This movie followed the HMS Surprise during the Napoleonic Wars in pursuit of a powerful French warship. It is full of action, but has several slow scenes. It definitely portrays sailor life during the 1800s. My favorite scene is when Paul Bettany's character removes a bullet from his own abdomen using a mirror as a guide. It was an interesting scene because it demonstrates the sterility of sail boats during the time and the risk for infection. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. 8/10.
-This is not a typical movie one would consider to talk about evolution in. However, there is a character, played by Paul Bettany, who is a physician and a naturalist that greatly resembles Charles Darwin. This movie takes place in the South American seas and islands. One island in particular is the Galapagos islands. While the majority of the crew is interested in fighting and defending the ship, he is more interested in studying specimen on the islands. There is a scene where the crew is having target practice and he is studying a beetle that was found near the island. While discussing adaptations in organisms, a boy asks him if God caused the changes in the specimen in which he replied that God could have done that or he caused them to change. This reminded me of Dobzhansky and I found that very interesting that they would incorporate that into this movie. In one scene, he is describing how an insect uses camouflage to disguise itself from predators. The captain then camouflages the ship to hid from their "predator." It is interesting that this movie would incorporate a Darwin-like character into an action movie. It shows the impact that Darwin had on the world.
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