Evolution of Kathryn's Knowledge of Evolution

One of the diseases that I find most interesting is that of the Spanish Flu. The Spanish Flu was an avian influenza that brought about death and destruction all over the globe. The most interesting thing about the Spanish Flu, however, is its origin. Contrary to popular belief, the Spanish Flu likely originates in Kansas, not Spain. The Spanish Flu became so prolific and prevalent because of World War I, and this is why I believe the Spanish Flu has considerable evolutionary significance. Due to the high volumes of people packed together and moving in droves during WWI, the Spanish Flu spread like wildfire. New hosts for the Spanish Flu meant new mutations, possibly making this particular brand of flu so deadly. The death toll on the Spanish Flu is similar to that of Covid-19, making this old saying ring true: "if we do not learn from our past we are doomed to repeat it." https://www.cdc.gov/flu/pandemic-resources/1918-commemoration/pandemic-timeline-1918.htm

In many religious circles, the speed of speciation and its "conflict with faith" are often discussed (in layman's terms). Many believe that too many things had to have happened too quickly and that too many changes had to have been made in a short period of time for evolution to have occurred independent of a Creator, or even at all. In some cases, these believers are on the right track. Speciation often DOES take longer than one or two generations, though evidence does show speciation, evolution, and selection have occurred and will continue to do so. There are several different ways speciation can occur, and each of these ways takes a different amount of time. It takes considerably longer for a buildup of mutations to produce a new species than would result from the migration and separation of two groups previously of the same species. Most commonly, evolution often behaves more like sorghum and less like Speed Racer. The processes by which speciation occurs all have va...

Much like humans, female pipefish are the more alluring and attractive of their species. This is in strict opposition to many other mating relationships in the animal kingdom. Why would this be? Maybe it's because there are fewer male pipefish and the females must fight over them. Maybe it's because male pipefish are picky and do not want to have ugly offspring. Even with all these different options for why female pipefish are the ornamented of a pipefish mating pair, one thing remains constant: the idea that females are more vibrant than males is evolutionary. Though conflicting theories of why these females may be more attractive exist, all theories are surrounded by the idea that the females must perform for the males and that the males prefer beautiful females. The females must appear attractive for a male pipefish to mate with them, and that is an element of sexual selection in pipefish.