Recent comments in /f/askscience
Tarantio t1_j9ji7y0 wrote
Reply to comment by GeriatricHydralisk in What are more accepted hypotheses that similarly explain the aspects of hominid evolution that the "pseudoscientific" aquatic ape theory does? by KEVLAR60442
I'm thinking much longer ago than that, if homo habilis tools have been found mixed among fish fossils: https://www.wired.com/2010/06/first-fish-diet/
I don't know how one would go about determining what adaptations allowed early hominids to catch fish.
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TVotte t1_j9jhotj wrote
Reply to AskScience AMA Series: I'm Dr. Christine Wilkinson, National Geographic Explorer, carnivore ecologist, human-wildlife interactions specialist, and performer. Want to know why a coyote wanders through your city? What happens when hyenas chew your tires during research? How to get into SciComm? AMA! by AskScienceModerator
What's your best all alone out in the middle of nowhere story
DeathStarVet t1_j9jhkpk wrote
Reply to AskScience AMA Series: I'm Dr. Christine Wilkinson, National Geographic Explorer, carnivore ecologist, human-wildlife interactions specialist, and performer. Want to know why a coyote wanders through your city? What happens when hyenas chew your tires during research? How to get into SciComm? AMA! by AskScienceModerator
How do you become a National Geographic Explorer?
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Reply to Why can’t you “un-blur” a blurred image? by so-gold
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moepsenstreusel t1_j9jgu5t wrote
Reply to comment by dmilin in What are more accepted hypotheses that similarly explain the aspects of hominid evolution that the "pseudoscientific" aquatic ape theory does? by KEVLAR60442
How useful would wheels be without roads?
TheDevilsAdvokaat t1_j9jgso6 wrote
Reply to comment by F0sh in What are more accepted hypotheses that similarly explain the aspects of hominid evolution that the "pseudoscientific" aquatic ape theory does? by KEVLAR60442
>If grey hair is energetically no more or less favourable than coloured hair then it would be difficult for it to spread as an honest signal of unfitness because it could just as easily be faked.
You're right. It's not an honest signal, because it can be faked.
However, while it's advantageous for individuals to fake, it's disadvantageous for the populations that contain individuals that fake.....so there's pressure to fake and pressure not to fake. Overall I would guess the pressure not to fake would outweigh the individual pressure to fake but it is just a guess...
>It seems more likely that grey hair is a signal for something else - age and hence some kind of experience/authority, or a side-effect of something else."
I agree. I showed a possible reason for gray hair, I am sure there are others. ANd in reality the total advantages for grey hair are going to be a SUM of the advantages and disadvantages. Whether that sum is a total positive or negative, who knows; the sign (+ or -) will probably differ depending on whether we're talking individual advantages or population advantages.
Which leads back to my original point; that some of the adaptations dismissed as "quirks" probably aren't.
beyelzu t1_j9jgqji wrote
Reply to comment by cookerg in What are more accepted hypotheses that similarly explain the aspects of hominid evolution that the "pseudoscientific" aquatic ape theory does? by KEVLAR60442
> And sled dogs might only be capable of keeping up, or beating us, because we selected them for it
And they do it in the freezing cold, most of our endurance advantage is from not overheating after all.
IEchoU t1_j9jgkgx wrote
Reply to What are more accepted hypotheses that similarly explain the aspects of hominid evolution that the "pseudoscientific" aquatic ape theory does? by KEVLAR60442
That's a curious way to view evolution, like it's reactive to what would make our lives more convenient.
Mutations are random, it's very much human choice/action that determines which traits become dominant within the species
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GeriatricHydralisk t1_j9jfnpm wrote
Reply to comment by Tarantio in What are more accepted hypotheses that similarly explain the aspects of hominid evolution that the "pseudoscientific" aquatic ape theory does? by KEVLAR60442
Not as far as I know, though there are populations of humans who dive a lot (the Bajau sea people) who have enlarged spleens and several other differences in their blood. However, these people spend huge amounts of time foraging and diving in the water, and have for thousands of years.
AllanfromWales1 t1_j9jfm4o wrote
Reply to AskScience AMA Series: I'm Dr. Christine Wilkinson, National Geographic Explorer, carnivore ecologist, human-wildlife interactions specialist, and performer. Want to know why a coyote wanders through your city? What happens when hyenas chew your tires during research? How to get into SciComm? AMA! by AskScienceModerator
Interested in your take on the extreme vegans who want to see all carnivorous / omnivorous animals genetically modified to become herbivores to prevent animal cruelty.
VampiricDemon t1_j9jf6q0 wrote
Reply to AskScience AMA Series: I'm Dr. Christine Wilkinson, National Geographic Explorer, carnivore ecologist, human-wildlife interactions specialist, and performer. Want to know why a coyote wanders through your city? What happens when hyenas chew your tires during research? How to get into SciComm? AMA! by AskScienceModerator
Sometimes Hyena's are shown being kept as a pet. Are they suitable for domestication at all?
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F0sh t1_j9jev6b wrote
Reply to comment by Kevin_Uxbridge in What are more accepted hypotheses that similarly explain the aspects of hominid evolution that the "pseudoscientific" aquatic ape theory does? by KEVLAR60442
> Also, the image of early hominids running pell-mell after game
Is not the image of endurance hunting. It's running at a steady, sustainable pace - a jog, really - that is not sustainable for the prey animal, which eventually cannot run more.
FiascoBarbie t1_j9jep2p wrote
Reply to comment by stu54 in What makes bats a good disease vector? by JustJustinInTime
bats also have fairly high body temperatures.
Meaning that anything they have is unlikely to be susceptible to fever and will be fine in the high temp of a human body with a fever.
GeriatricHydralisk t1_j9jejqa wrote
Reply to comment by [deleted] in What are more accepted hypotheses that similarly explain the aspects of hominid evolution that the "pseudoscientific" aquatic ape theory does? by KEVLAR60442
Everything I wrote is against AAH. An idea can be wrong even if we don't 100% know the right answer, because we know that particular answer doesn't fit the data.
Think of it like the boardgame Clue. I may not know the answer, but when my friend guesses Col. Musrard in the library with the candlestick and I have all those cards, I know my friend's answer is wrong.
IcarusWax t1_j9jijrf wrote
Reply to AskScience AMA Series: I'm Dr. Christine Wilkinson, National Geographic Explorer, carnivore ecologist, human-wildlife interactions specialist, and performer. Want to know why a coyote wanders through your city? What happens when hyenas chew your tires during research? How to get into SciComm? AMA! by AskScienceModerator
If remote sensing is so far unable to detect a thylacine, do you think there is a possibility they are in fact, extinct?...