Evolutionary Science for Beginners - Monday, 1st Period

[anomaly_research_nerd]

Connor was feeling the best he had in some time, but there was still the necessary cup of coffee on the desk, though he wasn't clinging to it quite as desperately as the last few weeks. “The topic for today’s class is the theory of natural selection” he said as he started the lecture when it was time. “This is one of the foundational theories related to evolutionary science and many other fields of science such as biology, botany and the studies of plants and animal species. It has undergone some changes from its origins as more discoveries are made and more research has been done. And this is a good thing, it is how it is supposed to be with science and theories- they get tweaked and changed as new information and data becomes available,” Connor looked over at Cutter and nodded to see if he was ready to go with the next bit of the lecture.

Cutter was also feeling pretty good about how things had been going but he also still had his large cup of coffee with him, “Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace are credited with coming up with the theory of evolution by natural selection,” he continued on with the lecture, “natural selection works by genetic mutations that are beneficial to an individuals survival are passed on through reproduction and the result is a new generation of organisms that are more likely to survive to reproduce,”

“An example of this is through giraffes and that the evolution of their long necks has resulted in giraffes being able to feed on leaves that others can’t reach and this gives them a competitive advantage and those with long necks are able to survive to reproduce and pass on this characteristic to the successive generation,”

“Right,” Connor said as he continued. “And we can further break natural selection down into three types- Stabilizing selection occurs when the population stabilizes on a particular trait value and genetic diversity decreases in favor of that dominant and beneficial trait. Some animals ay large clutches of eggs or have many young in order to improve to odds of more surviving to adulthood. Directional selection happens when a single genetic trait is favored, causing any future mutations and changes to continuously shift in one direction. The pepper moth exercise we did in the previous class is an example of this sort of natural selection process. Ad finally there is diversifying selection which happens when extreme values for a trait are favored over the intermediate values. This type of selection often drives the development of subspecies traits such as fur color, size, and feeding habits.”

“So for the rest of class let’s think about these three types of natural selection and let’s see what other examples we can come up with” Connor said as he wrapped up the lecture. “So, who wants to get us started?”

Try Not to Die, Monday, September 25, 2023

[sith_happened]

"We've spent a fair bit of time addressing the more stupefying bits of diplomacy," Anakin said, "and so today we're going to do something more interesting."

Which was why the Danger Shop was set up suspiciously like an escape room.

"There is information in a safe somewhere in this room," he said, gesturing around. "The combination to the safe is also somewhere in this room. You have ten minutes to find both things and to escape before the guards come and arrest you, when you will then be tried and executed for espionage."

...Anakin's idea of interesting was maybe not everyone else's idea of interesting.

"You may work together. Your time starts now."

And Anakin closed the door behind himself. Good luck, everyone?

Practical Folklore, Monday 2nd period

[intheeyeofthebeholding]

Jon nodded to the students once everyone was there. "Last week, there was a little talk of werewolves, so I thought we might as well continue there. Wolves are of course the traditional 'weres' of Europe, but there are stories across Earth, and likely other places, about beings that shift between shapes. For the purposes of this class, let's narrow it down a bit and define a werecreature as a human being that has a gift or curse allowing or requiring them to assume the shape of one normally non-sentient animal without the use of any props or materials."

He paused to go over that in his head and let the students do the same. "So, we can rule out beings like selkies that use their skin to shift, and shapeshifters who can change into anything. Also people on Fandom who get changed to things periodically by the island but have no innate ability for it. Hm. I imagine it would also disqualify beings like the kitsune, which is more a fox become human than the other way around.

"In European tradition, there were three ways to become a werewolf - you could be cursed, you could be bitten by a werewolf, or you could be born to a werewolf. I suppose the lesson for dealing with them would be: don't get bitten, don't be an arse to someone with the power to curse you, and...well, you can't really control your parents. Apart from that, most methods for dealing with them involve either killing or locking them up.

"So, are there amendments you would make to my initial definition? Are there werecreatures in your worlds, and what are their characteristics? Are there better ways to deal with them?"