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Emergence of Intelligence
Key points: Convergent evolution; encephalization; trend toward increasing brain size and what drives it; comparison of human brain with others
Effect of Mass Extinctions on Evolution
Mass extinctions clearly lead to major changes in direction of the general pattern of evolution. For example, the K/T Event killed off the highly successful dinosaurs and made possible the rise of mammals. Mammals had led a marginal existence for millions of years before the event and it seems unlikely that they would have emerged as the dominant large animal type without this help.
Does this mean that the direction of evolution is random, with unpredictable changes of direction at each mass extinction? Would the earth never have involved a species intelligent enough to ask about its origins, without the K/T Event??? And is the evolution of similar intelligence elsewhere determined by rolling the dice in this same way? There is debate over the answers. The question is whether evolution takes the same path, more or less, given the same conditions, or whether this path is largely random. To understand this issue further, we discuss "convergent evolution."
|Similar features in different animals often arise because they have evolved from a feature in a common ancestor. An example is the forelimb of mammals. (Illustration from http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/)|
|Evolution can also work to produce similar solutions to similar
problems for survival, without those solutions being derived from the same ancestor. The
figure to the right compares the wing of a pterodactyl (a
flying reptile), a bird, and a bat (a mammal). These structures appear to originate
independently, both because they are from quite different classes of animal and from
examining their details. Thus, in the pterodactyl, the wing membrane is supported by the
5th finger of the forelimb, in the bird by the 2nd finger, and in the bat, by the 3rd, 4th
and 5th fingers. (Illustration from http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/)
All three structures evolved from the forelimbs of the ancestors of these animals, but evidently along different routes. The problems of flying for large animals (that is, larger than insects) are the same, independent of the animal. Thus, the variety of solutions is limited and all three of the flyers to the right evolved nearly identical ones. This process is known as convergent evolution.
However, occasionally evolution does not converge to similar solutions.
|South America was isolated from other large land masses for millions
of years following the K/T event, and a large flightless bird, the Phorusrhacos, evolved
to become the dominant predator. These fearsome creatures were 6 - 10 feet tall.
left from Dinopedia, http://dinosaurs.wikia.com/wiki/Phorusrhacos
|At the same time, in the merged Africa-Europe-Asia-North America, large cats were the dominant predators, such as this Smilodon (Saber Tooth) that ruled North America. Smilodons were about 5 feet long and 3 feet high. (From Joe Tucciarone, http://prehistoricsillustrated.com/pg_jtu_39.html) When plate motions carried South America into contact with North America, the cats invaded and took over top spot. The Phorushacos also invaded North America, but eventually became extinct. Eventually the saber tooths also died out, but large cats remain the most powerful predators in both North and South America.|
So we reach a wishy-washy conclusion. Mass extinctions and other major challenges to evolution frequently lead to similar solutions - convergent evolution - starting from dis-similar organisms, but there are also examples where such events set things off in new and different directions in a somewhat random fashion. Still, it is generally agreed that evolution proceeds in a generally predictable path, and that it makes sense to consider something as fundamental as the emergence of intelligence as nearly inevitable.
How did Intelligent Life Emerge?
The "encephalization level" is the ratio of the brain weight of the animal to the brain weight of a "typical" animal of the same body weight. It is related to animals of different weights as
(encephalization level) = (constant) times (brain mass) divided by (body mass)2/3,
It lets us guess at the intelligence of the animal, assuming that the "extra" brain is used for that purpose. Here is an example that may make the concept clearer This graph shows the increase in encephalization level for various human-like primates over the past 3 million years (after Endless Forms Most Beautiful, Sean B. Carroll):
Here is how it has changed over the history of life on Earth (from D. Russell, http://history.nasa.gov/CP-2156/ch4.3.htm#263).
The dots and solid lines represent the highest values at each age. From this trend we see:
But large brains do not necessarily produce the kind of intelligence that might build complex machines, write books, and inquire about its origins.
What is needed to produce powerful brains?
Our brains take huge resources to maintain - 25% of the energy expended by your body keeps your brain going. In addition, large thinking brains make many demands on the species:
An illustrations of the first bullet is that the encephalization of warm blooded animals - birds and mammals - is systematically nearly ten times higher than that of cold blooded ones - reptiles, amphibians, and typical fish. The second bullet is supported by the exception to this rule, for sharks. They have by far the highest encephalization of the fish, presumably as a result of the challenges imposed by being such effective predators. Similarly, killer whales have huge brains, up to 15 pounds.
How did we get powerful, versatile, thinking brains like ours??
|About 55 million years ago, 10 million years after the K/T event, primitive primates, similar to this loris, became abundant. They were our distant ancestors. They only weighed a few ounces and clung to the ends of branches in the forests with prehensile hands and feet. They had excellent eyesight, with forward-facing eyes - probably for the dual purposes of allowing them to judge safe footholds in the branches and to improve their ability to hunt insects. They had gained superb motor skills and vision to allow them to occupy an environmental niche rich in easily digested foods -- insects and fruits. (from J. Allman, "Evolving Brains")|
|One of the driving factors toward their excellent vision is thought to be the ability to identify fruit, which provides tasty and easily digested food, rather than leaves, which are everywhere and therefore easy to find, but are much harder to digest. Here we show the benefits of color vision in picking out the tasty fruit from the yucky leaves. (from J. Allman, "Evolving Brains")|
|Color vision and the ability to find fruit is one example of a cycle shown to the right. Animals face a tradeoff between easily found, difficult to digest food (leaves, say), and difficult to find easily digested food (peaches). They have to make a good choice in this trade, or their type will starve and die out. Thus, evolution can lead to finnicky-eating animals with very large brains to be used in finding the right kind of rare, but easily digested food. Or it can lead to less picky eaters who do not need that much brainpower to find abundant, but more difficult to digest food. Thus, the tradeoff comes down to whether an animal has a large brain and sophisticated nervous and sensory system, but a small gut for digestion; or a well developed powerful digestive system, but a less capable brain since finding food is less challenging. In fact, the encephalization in fruit-eating apes (chimpanzees, for example) is substantially higher than in leaf-eating ones (say, gorillas), supporting this picture. (animation by G. Rieke)||
A powerful new tool for studying evolution comes from examining DNA of different species, seeing how many differences there are between them. It appears that, roughly, successful errors in DNA replication that survive to create modified species occur at very nearly a constant rate (this concept is sometimes called the molecular clock). There is just over 1% difference in DNA between humans and chimpanzees or gorillas - we are nearly 99% the same as them in terms of our DNA! We conclude that all three species - humans, chimpanzees, gorillas - separated and began independent evolution from a common ancestor about 5 million years ago. Although all three types were well along toward the powerful brain, simple digestive system solution, humans carried it far, far further as can be seen by the comparison below.
|Comparison of a chimpanzee brain (left) and human brain (right) (from J. Allman, "Evolving Brains")|
The Chimpanzee brain is plenty good enough to find fruit. The human one must have continued to expand as it faced new opportunities for developing food-gathering strategies, such as development of tools, elaborate hunting plans, domestication of animals, cultivation of plants, and associating in large groups to enhance the wellbeing of all.
|In fact, humans have pushed the "brainy" solution to some kind of limit. The figure to the right (from J. Allman, "Evolving Brains") shows the portion of basic body energy devoted to different functions as a human grows from an infant (5 kg body weight) to a typical adult (70 kg). Two thirds of the energy of an infant is devoted to maintaining and growing a large brain, and even for an adult 25% of the body energy is devoted to the brain. No wonder babies are so helpless!!!! There is no way that they could tolerate spending any more energy on their brains.|
Given that it evolved eventually on Earth, how likely is it for intelligent life to evolve given a suitable planet
We have described a scientific description of the formation of the Universe and evolution of intelligent life. Although religious versions of the same events can differ substantially, there should be no inevitable conflict .
|Human-like primates with large, capable brains evolved a million years ago, yet there was no move toward high level civilization. We can think of two reasons: 1.) some of the first inventions that we now take for granted, such as controlling fire and making sophisticated stone tools, may in fact have been very difficult; and 2.) most of early man's efforts had to address simple questions of survival in a brutal series of ice ages. It is surely no coincidence that the first cities and major advances in civilization that accompanied them were 6000 - 8000 years ago, not long after we entered the current phase of mild weather from the last ice age.|
|This first flowering of towns and
civilization is known as the Neolithic Age.To the right is a reconstruction
of a shrine in the Neolithic Age, while below we show a reconstruction of a
the same period. (from Museum of Anatolyan
|A comet rips the earth apart in this 19th century cartoon, (From C. Chapman, http://www.boulder.swri.edu/clark/chance/23oldcom.jpg)|
Click to return to syllabus
|Click to return to Mass Extinctions||
hypertext G. H. Rieke
Click to go to Contacting Other Civilizations


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What's the make and model of device you're using to access the NOW TV service? I'm viewing it right now via 'live stream' on my LG television?
It should be available via 'on-demand' very soon after the 'live stream' finishes 😉
@Lynas21 I hope you've now seen the first episode of season 4 by now. With a few exceptions, new episodes are added after the live broadcast, which can be anywhere from a few minutes to several hours. Last night's The blacklist ( broacast from 9 - 10pm) was added shortly after 10 pm - I know, because I watched it at 10:20.
Welcome to the forum.
It's because the show is currently on a mid-season break and so no episodes have been shown for the past few weeks. Episode 8 is the latest episode, and the second half of the season will start sometime in February.
@Jamieh117 they have already been. I would avoid watching the episodes after the break. It is likely that the whole series will come back as a box set later in year.


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Students gathered for a fireside Monday night to discuss Muslim civil rights and how Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy impacts the Muslim community.
About 30 students gathered in the Allison Hall lounge to talk with Christina Abraham, civil rights director at the Chicago branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. CAIR is a national organization that hopes to enhance the understanding of Islam.
Abraham discussed the perception of Muslims in America, specifically in the post-Sept. 11 era, emphasizing that the work Muslims do today makes a lasting impression.
“We’re not just doing it for us,” Abraham said. “We’re doing it for whomever comes down the line next.”
The fireside is the first in a series of on-campus events promoting Islam Awareness Week 2008, which is hosted by the Muslim-cultural Students Association.
Several students were moved by the issues Abraham addressed.
“What struck me most is that we’re still in the civil rights movement,” said Hibah Yousuf, a Medill junior. “We still have to work on improvement because there will always be a group that will be discriminated against.” (MORE)

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The City of Tshwane came under criticism over its resolution to request a R1 billion loan from Absa Bank to supplement its operational budget.
ANC’s councillor France Boshielo rapped on the knuckles the multiparty coalition government for being keen to secure a bank loan while it failed to increase municipal workers’ salaries.
He said the ANC caucus will only support the approval of short-term debt facility if it entails the payment of employees' overdue salary increase and acceleration of the delivery of basic services such as urban management services, water provision and fixing roads.
This was during last week’s council sitting at Tshwane House when the municipality asked council to approve a report seeking to secure a loan totalling R1bn with Absa bank.
In a council report by the mayoral committee it was indicated that the short-term debt facilities will assist the City to meet its cash flow requirements in respect of the 2023/24 financial year.
The City evoked Section 45 of the Local Government: Municipal Finance Management Act allowing it to obtain council approval to enter into a short term debt agreement with Absa and secure a R1bn, which is a loan of R 800 million in cash and R 200 million in the form of guarantee.
The Act provides that a municipality may incur short term debt only in accordance with and subject to the provisions of the Act and only when necessary to bridge shortfalls within a financial year during which the debt is incurred, in expectation of specific and realistic anticipated income to be received within that financial year.
While the report was passed with the majority votes, the ANC rejected the move to borrow money from the bank.
Boshielo said: “We note that this debt is payable within the current financial year and the interest rate will be charged at prime plus 2% calculated daily and compounded monthly.
We also note that an unutilised facility fee amounting to 65 basis point will be levied on the unutilised portion of primary lending facility.”
He said the City must utilise 75% of the prime lending facility daily to avoid paying the unutilised facility fee.
“This will mean that the municipality will have to utilise money from this facility even in cases wherein there is no necessity of doing so just to avoid paying unutilised facility fee. This is the potential risk for the financial mismanagement and abuse of this short-term debt,” he said.
He said loan won’t be in the best interest of the municipality and Tshwane residents for council to approve the short-term loan agreement without clearly spelling out how this loan will be utilised and how it will be repaid.
“There is no concrete plan which is presented to this council to enable councillors to make an informed decision. The ANC cannot agree to approve what is tantamount to a blank cheque. This is a clear indication that the DA-led coalition lacks the requisite capacity to provide political guidance over the fiscus and the finance of the City,” Boshielo said.
He said granting a short-term loan to the “unstable coalition government” has a potential to plunge the municipality into a deep financial crisis.
“We believe that it is an ill-conceived idea to address the current liquidity challenges through short-term debt with interest rate charged at prime plus 2%. This short-term loan facility is tantamount to postponing an inevitable financial calamity to a later date,” he said.
Following the report approval city manager Johann Mettler was authorised to sign all necessary agreements or documents related to the Absa loan.


I just bought a new set of 2005 Zipp 404 race wheels. When you spin the free hub there is almost no noise just a quick and quiet tick-tick-tick. Every Zipp hub I have ever heard made a much slower, louder TICK.... TICK.... TICK...
I've always been under the impression that the louder the hub, the better, is this true?
Is anyone aware if Zipp made changes to their hubs for '05 or will my hubs sound like the others after they break in.
thanks in advance.


BOSTON, March 11 (UPI) -- U.S.-based IEP Technologies has announced its acquisition of the explosion protection business of Chubb France.
The acquisition is the fifth since IEP Technologies, an industrial explosion protection business, was formed last year. Earlier acquisitions include the industrial explosion protection business of Fenwal Protection Systems in the United States, Incom Explosionsschutz of Switzerland, Germany's Kidde Explosionsschutz and Kidde Explosion Protection of Britain.
The terms of the transaction Chubb France's explosive protection business were not disclosed.
According to IEP Technologies President Randy Davis, IEP plans to move soon into new facilities in France.
"Our goal is to provide an increased capability in industrial explosion protection to our customers in France," he said. "Therefore, the existing senior management, systems design, sales, administrative and field service staffs will continue to partner with their customers and offer a superior level of performance as always."
IEP's technologies guard against combustible dust and vapor threats.


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I bought this 1976 Chicago Coin Jukebox (the 4-player version of Sound Stage) about half a year ago when it was broken. I got it working, then decided to tear down the playfield, paint it and clearcoat it. After doing so I reassembled the playfield and started to test game functionality.
Everything worked except when I hit the "F" target, it shorted the GE lighting and started to burn something so I turned it off. I checked the schematic and read it only goes through "F" playfield relay board.
So I replaced the relay, turned on the game and it did the same thing. Instead of turning it off I wiggled the relay box and it no longer shorts the game, and the relay does function now, but the light does not light.
I know it not a light bulb or socket issue because I disconnected the wires to the "F" light socket and the "D" light socket and purposefully shorted each to so see if I could narrow down the problem. The "D" will short but the "F" socket will not short. So even with the "F" relay locked the wire giving power to the socket will not short when I ground it. I have replaced the relay, what else can it be?

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Allahabad Bank slumped 9.76% to Rs 42.55 at 14:38 IST on the BSE after the bank reported fraud by Bhusan Power and Steel.
The announcement was made on Saturday, 13 July 2019.
Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Sensex was up by 113.85 points or 0.29% to 38,850.08.
On the BSE, 9.40 lakh shares were traded in the counter so far compared with average daily volumes of 3.08 lakh shares in the past two weeks. The stock had hit a high of Rs 43.25 and a low of Rs 40.3 so far during the day. It hit a 52-week high of Rs 58.8 on 11 March 2019 and a 52-week low of Rs 33.25 on 9 October 2018.
Allahabad Bank informed that on the basis of forensic audit investigation findings and the CBI's FIR against the company and its directors, alleging diversion of funds from banking system by Bhushan Power and Steel (BPSL), a fraud of Rs 1774.82 core has been reported by the bank to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The bank has already made provisions amounting to Rs 900.20 crore against the exposure of the bank in BPSL.
It has been observed that the company has misappropriated bank funds, manipulated books of accounts to raise funds from the consortium of banks. At present, the case is at NCLT which is in advance stage and the bank expects good recovery in the account.
Last week, the Punjab National Bank (PNB) also reported a fraud worth Rs 3805.15 crore by Bhushan Power and Steel.
Allahabad Bank reported net loss of Rs 3834.07 crore in Q4 compared with net loss of Rs 3509.63 in Q4 2018. Total income rose 8.1% to Rs 4602.86 crore in in Q4 March 2019 over Q4 March 2018.
Allahabad Bank is one the leading public sector commercial banks in India offering banking products and services to corporate, commercial customers and retail customers.
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Type: A Visual History of Typefaces and Graphic Styles – Standards ManualPost a Comment. Thursday, April 22, Blue Pencil no. Blue Pencil no. Purvis and Jan Tholenaar. The companion volume was published in February Who was Jan Tholenaar?
PDF Type: A Visual History of Typefaces and Graphic Styles Vol. 1 [Read] Full Ebook
The specimens on pp. For instance, web font technology advances at a rapid pace and makes available quality typefaces that work seamlessly on screen. Center Identification. Jul 18, Maia Then rated it it was amazing.
English Choose a language for shopping. Regardless of the plan on which the positions and refine alignments, use them, the typfeaces is communication through clear communication will follow. If they exist. The book also comes with a CD with high res images featured throughout the book.
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The dominant red text is unexpected, sharing brief statistics in an unusual manner! Although nine pages from the specimen appear on pp. Regular book or roman and bold are traditional weights Use only available styles-posture, weight, not perfect plans. These meth- Technolo.
Presented here is a scheme that provides a basic means of identifying and distinguishing typefaces for beginning readers. The first and last full paragraph lines are hyphen free? These are the most common typefaces. A baseline alignment system designates related positions for all type regardless of the range of point sizes.
This comprehensive collection offers a thorough overview of typeface design from to the midth century. Derived from a distinguished Dutch collection, a series of exquisitely designed catalogues traces the evolution of the printed letter via specimens in roman, italic, bold, semibold, narrow, and broad fonts. Borders, ornaments, initial letters, and decorations are also included, along with lithographic examples, letters by sign writers, inscription carvers, and calligraphers. The first part of the book covers preth-century typefaces, with texts by editor Cees de Jong and collector Jan Tholenaar. The second part deals with the period from to the midth century, and contains a historical outline by Alston W. Cassandre, Aldo Novarese, and Adrian Frutiger.
Informed by advances of cul- Blackletter style named so because of its darkness. The U. But the specimen book is lovely. Transitive Serif Rounded Slab Transitive serifs flow smoothly out of the stroke without pause.
I plan to keep these as a treasure in my library, and would have spent more on the proper hardcover had I known. Elizabeth Meggs rated it it was amazing Nov 10, tightly fitted f. They guide the layout process yet preference.

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