Dogs, selective breeding, foxes, evolution, black holes and Darwin

Dog lovers and evolution theorists should find this interesting. We have a new dog on the farm that looks like a half sized fox He reminded me about a study I read several years back. It explained the evolutionary mechanism for dog domestication. In short, as Russian foxes being raised for fur were selectively bred to reduce aggressiveness in order to protect the handlers, successive generations began to get dog characteristics ... with spots and floppy ears. (Image: "Sonny", in an arctic setting before moving to Florida)

An ordinary language explanation of the study can be found here in a blog:
http://thoughtfulanimal.wordpress.com/2010/02/23/russian-fox-study/

A full-blown Cornell study is here for geneticist types:
http://cbsu.tc.cornell.edu/ccgr/behaviour/Links.htm

It turns out that the successful breeding for tame behavioral characteristics was reducing the adrenaline in the experimental fox population which affects both the behavior and physical characteristics. Isn't it nice to know that people in the Russian fur trade can call foxes versus having to catch them and risk being bitten... in order to kill and skin them?

Of course, we humans have learned to tweak dogs' adrenaline and breed it back in to suit our purposes. Pit Bulls, Rottweilers, Dobermans, etc. are examples. Rottweilers happen to be my favorite breed, but they are number two on that kill and maim list. If you're interested a PI lawyer's take, and some info on dog bite stats, see: http://www.dogbitelaw.com/PAGES/statistics.html

I used to walk by Charles Darwin's house daily on the way to classes at the University of London behind the British Museum. I have long admired what Charles Darwin did, but the jury is still out on a coherent theory of evolution regarding some essentials: Whether or not some acquired characteristics (experience) can be passed on genetically, (there are experimental studies which support this view) and ... Whether there is "intelligent design" in the universe or if things happen by random accident? I tend to believe that evolution is more complicated than the pro-Darwinian academic mafia claims... although Darwin's evolution theories are certainly part of the operational mix. For the controversy, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creation%E2%80%93evolution_controversy

Theoretically, according to some physicists, the pre-Big Bang situation was that everything was so compressed there was only one type of elementary particle, and everything was exactly the same at one infinitely small point. An astronomical definition of singularity is:

Astronomy ... hypothetical point in space: a hypothetical region in space in which gravitational forces cause matter to be infinitely compressed and space and time to become infinitely distorted (MSN Encarta)

Somehow, it seems to me that inside the black hole singularity, before the Big Bang, there must have been information. Otherwise, how would the singularity "know" when to blow up? (If everything was the same type of elementary particle, there seems no place for a ticking clock with parts!)

And, after the Big Bang ... How would one type, (only) of elementary particle "know" how to turn into atoms and then into molecules? ... DNA is one of the more interesting molecules that follows fundamental, universal rules which certainly predate apes turning into people. It seems clear that the physicists have some common sense problems with their mathematical formulas that back-project our origins. There are some cool little animals composed of very few molecules which contradict life being put together by accidents of evolution ... but that's a later Blog. In the meantime, I'm happy with the hand of God, subject to some physicist's definitive proof to the contrary ;>)

The delightful question is where did all the information come from before the Big Bang that makes our Universe what it is? (or multiverse, as the case may be?)

See my previous blog on the Hadron supercollider for some of the curious issues regarding information inside black holes and singularities.

Perhaps the Hadron Supercollider will give us some answers to the riddles of the universe ;>)