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Solar Cycle 24 Has Started 258

radioweather writes "Solar physicists have been waiting for the appearance of a reversed-polarity sunspot to signal the start of the next solar cycle. As of Friday, that wait is over. A magnetically reversed, high-latitude sunspot emerged on the surface of the sun. Just a few months ago, an 'All Quiet Alert' had been issued for the sun. This reversed-polarity sunspot marks the beginning of the sun's return back to Solar Maximum. Solar Cycle 24 has been the subject of much speculation due to competing forecasts on whether it will be a highly active or a quiet low cycle. If it is a low cycle, it may very well be a test of validity for some CO2 based global warming theories. Only time will tell."

Comment Re:Evolution was not predicted, but observed (Score 1) 298

The interesting thing about this experiment is not the fact that the bacteria developed adaptatory mutations in a given gene to deal with increased heat, as much as the fact that when the experiment was repeated, the same mutations were observed in the same gene in the DOMINANT bacterial strains at various time points.

Think about it.

It suggests that in a given species, there seems to be an optimal adaptation to a given set of environmental conditions, that is determined by the genetic make up of the population prior to attaining those conditions, and the path that the changes in those conditions take through time.

While that's just a paraphrasing of the definition of evolution, I don't believe anyone has shown that a given evolutionary path is experimentally reproducible.

The title of the aritcle is misleading though. Evolution is not being predicted. But if you've seen it once, it may be predictable.

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