For my entire life as a JW, I was taught that humans are currently only capable of using about 10% of the brain. Sometimes the stated figure was much less (1% or even smaller fractions). This ‘fact’ was repeated from the podium and by my parents for many years. The reasoning and motive behind this teaching was that sin and imperfection has deteriorated our thinking ability since the time of Adam and Eve. Therefore, in the “new system”, our brains would eventually be restored to full capacity. I recall all kinds of wild speculation about what this would mean, and what special “powers” or senses we may obtain as a result.

“Some neuroscientists estimate that during an average life span, a person uses only 1/100 of 1 percent (.0001) of his potential brain capacity. You might well ask, ‘Why do we have a brain with so much capacity that we hardly test a fraction of it in a normal lifetime?’” — Is There A Creator Who Cares About You? p.62

The problem, of course, is that this teaching is complete and utter bullshit. This myth seems to stem partially from early neurological research in the 1800’s and 1900’s, which suggested that only about 10% of our neurons are firing at any given moment. New Age and paranormal movements have also jumped on this bandwagon, suggesting the other 90% of mystery brain power is linked to psychic ability. Likewise, the Watchtower and other Christian faiths have jumped on it in order to give credence to the whole concept of sin and imperfection.

We now know that 100% of our brain functionality is utilized, and that the mythical concept of Sin is not at all based in observable reality.

“After all, if you removed 90 percent of your brain, you’d basically be left with the thinking power of a sheep.” — Eric Chudler, Ph.D., University of Washington

Well, there you have it. Sheep… 10%… you see where I’m going with this?

Check out the related articles in Snopes or Scientific American for additional reading.

History’s largest and most expensive scientific experiment, the Large Hadron Collider, is due to be turned on for the first time tomorrow. A minor but vocal group of people actually believe the Earth will be sucked into oblivion as a result.

The projected startup time will be between 02:00 - 10:00 CDT, with live webcasts available at webcast.cern.ch.

Until then, I give you the LHC Rap.

One of the subjects that has interested me as of late is that of Convergent Evolution. This is a process of living organisms that have developed similar (and often almost identical) traits to that of other, completely unrelated species. This is in contrast to Divergent Evolution, where related species develop different traits.

One of the best examples of this parallel phenomenon is the recently-extinct marsupial Thylacine (see above photo), verses the distinct but very similar family of Canidae (which includes foxes, wolves, and modern dogs). The modern Thylacine is thought to have appeared about 4 million years ago in Australia and New Guinea, with the oldest known ancestor appearing 23 million years ago. This is in contrast to the much older canids, which date back some 40 million years. Since the Thylacine filled the same ecological niche as the wolves and dogs of the Northern Hemisphere, they developed many similar traits. Both the male and female Thylacine had pouches, one of only two species of marsupials to develop this feature in both sexes. Although there are occasional reported sightings of the Thylacine to this day, officially they have been considered extinct since the 1930’s.

The big cats also have unrelated friends on the tree of life. Thylacosmilus is another interesting marsupial example of convergent development, this time alongside the saber-tooth tiger. Koalas have developed fingerprints, much like those of humans. The Sugar Glider is the marsupial version of the placental flying squirrel. The Hummingbird of the Americas is similar to the Sunbird of Asia. These and other examples provide interesting fodder for study in completely independent development of similar features amongst unrelated species.

From a theological perspective, it is of great curiosity that a divine Creator would have designed two distinct versions of basically the same animal, with each version appearing only in geographically isolated parts of the world. In the case of design, why this deliberate act of parallel creation and then physical separation for the mere sake of variety?

However, in the case of evolution and natural selection, the examples of convergently-evolved animals we see make perfect sense. Two competing species living in the same environment and relying on the same food sources will typically breed or evolve the weaker group out of existence. This is one of the major driving factors of speciation in the first place. We can agree that the act of evolution produces many common traits in many distinct orders and species which are needed to survive (digestive systems, light collection, olfactory and auditory systems, motor functions, etc). It then makes sense that the natural workings of evolution would, in many cases, result in two or more similar living iterations that evolved entirely separate from each other when isolated by vast distances of impassable land or water.

All this makes me wonder, that if life has arisen on some other planet, while working within similar favorable environmental qualities and the boundaries of evolution, whether those lifeforms would somewhat resemble the ones we see here on Earth, with only minor differences based on their own unique living conditions. I doubt we will ever really discover the answer to such questions, at least in our lifetimes, but the question is an interesting one at least. One could speculate, based the evidence of convergent evolution we see around us, that life outside of our known world would indeed appear quite similar to our own.

The second installment of the Genius of Charles Darwin documentary has been released.

The best way to watch it outside of the UK seems to be to download the torrent.

An article from Guardian.co.uk today announced that researchers from Leipzig, Germany have successfully extracted DNA from the legbone of a Neanderthal, so far mapping 13 of the genes and studying their differences from modern humans.

“The team analysed the DNA of 13 genes from the Neanderthal mitochondria and found they were distinctly different to modern humans, suggesting Neanderthals never, or rarely, interbred with early humans. The genetic material shows that a Neanderthal “Eve” lived around 660,000 years ago, when the species last shared a common ancestor with humans.”

The team hopes to have the entire Neanderthal genome mapped by the end of the year. Is this another nail in the coffin for the idea that homo-sapians are the end-all product of divine creation?