Iran's Teachers threaten to walkout this month!

The Iranian Teachers' Union has threatened to have all its members go on a nationwide strike over pay disputes with the islamic republic's' regime beginning February 23. A member of the Teachers' Union said, "Teachers are demanding fair pay grades. Since 2000, the teachers are struggling with the islamic republic's' Majlis (parliament) to pass the bill on the issue. In 2006, under pressure by the teachers the bill finally passed the Majlis, however, it has not become operational yet. According to the bill, the government must establish a uniform pay grade for all government employees regardless of the nature of the jobs.""The islamic republic's regime excuse for not complying with the bill's mandate is that it increases the inflation," he said. The teachers are also demanding that the islamic republic's Ministry of Education sign a new permanent job contract, as it was promised last year by the government, with their part-time colleagues, the member of Teachers' Union said. In February 2007, the streets ending to the Majlis were the scene of protests by more than 15,000 teachers demanding their full pay rise in accordance with the sky rocketing cost of living for the fix income families. With teachers very low pay grades, they are hardly able to cope with the cost of living.

Darwin's Day Celebration ,Feb. 12!

Darwin Day is a global celebration of science and reason held on or around Feb. 12, the birthday anniversary of evolutionary biologist Charles Darwin. This year marks the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth.

Darwin Day is an international celebration of science and humanity held on or around February 12, the day that Charles Darwin was born on in 1809. Specifically, it celebrates the discoveries and life of Charles Darwin -- the man who first described biological evolution via natural selection with scientific rigor. More generally, Darwin Day expresses gratitude for the enormous benefits that scientific knowledge, acquired through human curiosity and ingenuity, has contributed to the advancement of humanity.

Darwin Day can be celebrated in many different ways: civic ceremonies with official proclamations, educational symposia, birthday parties, art shows, book discussions, lobby days, games, protests, and dinner parties. Organizers may include: academic societies, science organizations, freethought groups, religious congregations, libraries, museums, galleries, teachers and students, families and friends. In Darwin Day, we are able to recognize the diversity among us, while celebrating our common humanity and the universal understanding we share.

more about darwin's life

The Role of Natural Selection

For more than 20 years Darwin collected vast amounts of scientific data and pondered the issue of how animals and plants changed their morphology over long periods of time. In addition to establishing the science of evolutionary biology, Darwin was an accomplished geologist and had collected many fossils from various strata of rocks during his five-year voyage on the Beagle; as a result of this activity, he was aware of the vast age of the earth. He also studied mutations resulting from breeding experiments with domestic animals and plants. He was able to consider all this information when he was trying to determine the ‘specific mechanism’ that permitted animals and plants to change over time. Eventually he realized that the mechanism underlying the process of evolution was that of ‘natural selection’. This idea led him to publish On The Origin Of Species, arguably the most significant book of the last two centuries, on November the 24, 1859.
To explain the mechanism of natural selection, the first two paragraphs of Chapter 4, on natural selection, taken from his original publication are presented below so that you can read it, in Darwin’s own words. To read the entire Chapter or the entire publication, go to On the Origin of Species.
Natural Selection
Natural Selection -- its power compared with man's selection -- its power on characters of trifling importance -- its Power at all ages and on both sexes -- Sexual Selection -- On the generality of intercrosses between individuals of the same species -- Circumstances favourable and unfavourable to Natural Selection, namely, intercrossing, isolation, number of individuals -- Slow action -- Extinction caused by Natural Selection -- Divergence of Character, related to the diversity of inhabitants of any small area, and to naturalisation -- Action of Natural Selection, through Divergence of Character and Extinction, on the descendants from a common parent -- Explains the Grouping of all organic beings
How will the struggle for existence, discussed too briefly in the last chapter, act in regard to variation? Can the principle of selection, which we have seen is so potent in the hands of man, apply in nature? I think we shall see that it can act most effectually. Let it be borne in mind in what an endless number of strange peculiarities our domestic productions, and, in a lesser degree, those under nature, vary; and how strong the hereditary tendency is. Under domestication, it may be truly said that the, whole organisation becomes in some degree plastic. Let it be borne in mind how infinitely complex and close-fitting are the mutual relations of all organic beings to each other and to their physical conditions of life. Can it, then, be thought improbable, seeing that variations useful to man have undoubtedly occurred, that other variations useful in some way to each being in the great and complex battle of life, should sometimes occur in the course of thousands of generations? If such do occur, can we doubt (remembering that many more individuals are born than can possibly survive) that individuals having any advantage, however slight, over others, would have the best chance of surviving and of Procreating their kind? On the other hand, we may feel sure that any variation in the least degree injurious would be rigidly destroyed. This preservation of favourable variations and the rejection of injurious variations, I call Natural Selection. Variations neither useful nor injurious would not be affected by natural selection, and would be left a fluctuating element, as perhaps we see in the species called polymorphic.
We shall best understand the probable course of natural selection by taking the case of a country undergoing some physical change, for instance, of climate. The proportional numbers of its inhabitants would almost immediately undergo a change, and some species might become extinct. We may conclude, from what we have seen of the intimate and complex manner in which the inhabitants of each country are bound together, that any change in the numerical proportions of some of the inhabitants, independently of the change of climate itself, would most seriously affect many of the others. If the country were open on its borders, new forms would certainly immigrate, and this also would seriously disturb the relations of some of the former inhabitants. Let it be remembered how powerful the influence of a single introduced tree or mammal has been shown to be. But in the case of an island, or of a country partly surrounded by barriers, into which new and better adapted forms could not freely enter, we should then have places in the economy of nature which would assuredly be better filled up, if some of the original inhabitants were in some manner modified; for, had the area been open to immigration, these same places would have been seized on by intruders. In such case, every slight modification, which in the course of ages chanced to arise, and which in any way favoured the individuals of any of the species, by better adapting them to their altered conditions, would tend to be preserved; and natural selection would thus have free scope for the work of improvement.
Source: Charles Darwin.; On The Origin of Species: The Easton Press Norwalk Con. Additional reading and websites:
Larson, Edward; Evolution: The Remarkable History of a Scientific Theory, Modern Library Edition 2004.Dawkins, Richard; The Blind Watchmaker:, W.W. Norton and Co. 1996Diamond, Jared; The Third Chimpanzee, Harper Perenniel, 1993.

The Role of Inheritance

The genetic coding for traits is performed by the sequences of DNA nucleotides. But how do the DNA sequences get distributed to the offspring of an organism? This is the process of inheritance, and was one of the missing concepts that Darwin had to guess about when he first wrote On the Origin of Species. Part of the story of inheritance came from the work of Gregor Mendel, an Austrian monk who carefully bred kinds of pure bred pea plants, and then studied the ratios of various characteristics in the offspring. He was able to explain his results with the ideas that parent plants each contributed one copy (“allele”) of a particular “gene”, and the offspring contained a pair of alleles for each kind of gene. Depending on the nature of the two alleles in that pair, various traits could be manifest by the offspring.
Sources and Further Reading:
The Monk in the Garden : The Lost and Found Genius of Gregor Mendel; by Robin Marantz Henig
How are genes inherited?
Variation, Inheritance, and Evolution

The Role of DNA and Genetic Mutations

At the top of the diagram is the original molecule. In the middle of the diagram the molecule is shown with its two strands unwinding. In the bottom portion, each of the strands is shown with a newly synthesized complementary strand, connected by the process of pairing.
The Molecule of Life!
DNA is the genetic blueprint of life. Within each cell of every organism there are a number of DNA molecules which contain all the information required to create and make an organism function. DNA consists of 2 strands and each strand is made of a sequence of 4 kinds of chemicals called nucleotides or bases. These bases are called Adenine (A); Guanine (G); Cytosine (C) and Thymine (T).
The two strands of DNA are joined together to form a ‘spiral ladder’ which is more formally known as a ‘double helix’. Each strand of DNA is an exact opposite of the other – wherever there is an A on one strand there is a T on the other, and wherever there is a G on one there is a C on the other. The links, or steps, of the ladder are made by the pairingof these complementary bases. (See the diagram).
To compare DNA between species, scientists must work out the sequence of bases along sections of the DNA molecule. This is done by artificially separating and copying the DNA from the region of interest from each species, doubling the amount of DNA at each copying cycle. The technique used to accomplish this is known as the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is based on several unique properties of DNA.
DNA is a special molecule because it can make copies of itself. However, occasionally mistakes are made in coping the molecule and these errors are referred to as mutations. There are several different kinds of mutation that are known.
A particularly easy mutation to understand is a change in a single nucleotide (base, code letter). For example an A may be substituted for a G and in many cases these mutations don’t seem to have a noticeable effect on the organism, because some changes merely produce a different “codon” (three nucleotide sequence that tells which amino acid to use in making proteins) that codes for the SAME amino acid. Over a very long time and through many generations of organisms, mutations accumulate. Different species tend to have different and unique sets of mutations and so, these mutations can be used to measure how long ago two species diverged from one another. Species with similar DNA codes are more closely related than those with dissimilar DNA. For example, the DNA of humans is very similar to that of chimpanzees but quite different to that of a horse and very different from a gum tree DNA.
Genetic Mutations
To understand the the numerous kinds of genetic mutations that do occur we suggest that you go to the following website, as the information is clearly presented there.
Kinds of mutationsSources and Further Reading:
http://www.dnalc.org/ - Gene Almanac
http://www.world-of-dawkins.com/ - World of Dawkins
The Genetic Code (the Codons). This shows which triplets of DNA letters (codons) indicate which amino acids are to be inserted at a location. But, demonstrating that science progresses by testing ideas and discarding false ideas, this research shows that sometimes a "silent" mutation, a mutation that makes a codon for the same amino acid that was at a location before, can cause changes in the protein that is made! This overthrows a long-held but false idea that if two codons direct that the same amino acid shall be used at a location, then the earlier and the mutated proteins will fold up to be identical.
PBS site “Cracking the Code of Life”

The Genius of Charles Darwin (Richard Dawkins)

Part 1: Life, Darwin & Everything

In the first episode Richard Dawkins explains the basic mechanisms of natural selection, and tells the story of how Charles Darwin developed his theory.
He teaches a year 11 science class about evolution, which many of the students are reluctant to accept. He then takes them to the Jurassic Coast in Dorset to search for fossils, hoping that the students can see some of the evidence for themselves.
Dawkins visits Nairobi, where he interviews a prostitute who seems to have a genetic immunity to HIV, and talks to microbiologist Larry Gelmon. He goes on to predict that genetic immunity to HIV is a trait that will become more prevalent in the community over time.

Part 2: The Fifth Ape

In the second episode Richard Dawkins deals with some of the philosophical and social ramifications of the theory of evolution.
Dawkins starts out in Kenya, speaking with palaeontologist Richard Leakey. He then visits Christ is the Answer Ministries, Kenya's largest Pentecostal church, to interview Bishop Bonifes Adoyo. Adoyo has led the movement to press Kenya's national museum to sideline its collection of hominid bones pointing to man's evolution from ape to human. The collection includes the Turkana Boy discovered by Kamoya Kimeu, a member of a team led by Richard Leakey in 1984.
Dawkins discusses social darwinism and eugenics, explaining how these are not versions of natural selection, and that "Darwin has been wrongly tainted".
He then meets with evolutionary psychologist Steven Pinker to discuss how morals can be compatible with natural selection. He goes on to explaining sexual selection, with peafowls as an example. To find out whether sexual selection plays a role for altruism and kindness among humans, he visits women who are looking for sperm donors, as well as a sperm bank manager. Dawkins also explains kin selection and selfish genes.

Part 3: God Strikes Back

In the third and final episode, Dawkins explains why Darwin's theory is one of history's most controversial ideas.

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General strike cripples France!

Hundreds of thousands of workers have begun a nationwide strike in France. Eight labor unions have called the industrial action to protest against what they say are insufficient measures by the government to tackle the economic crisis. Unions say that with unemployment mounting, French workers should not have to foot the bill for a crisis that has led to expensive government bailouts for banks, carmakers and other sectors. French President Nicolas Sarkozy has announced a 26-billion-euro stimulus package while pledging to press ahead with unpopular reforms to trim the public sector workforce and liberalize the labor market.
The head of France's biggest union said a million workers had rallied to demand action to protect jobs and wages.
But despite the show of public support, the strike appeared to be falling short of the paralysis forecast by unions.
Regional trains and those in and around Paris were hit, and a third of flights from Orly airport were cancelled.
Forty per cent of regional services were running, train operator SNCF said, and 60% of high-speed TGV services. Three-quarters of metro trains were running in Paris.

Paris's second airport was heavily hit by the strike, but flights out of the larger Charles de Gaulle hub were experiencing only short delays, AFP news agency said.
Schools, banks, hospitals, post offices and courts were also hit as workers stayed at home. Officials said just over a third of teachers and a quarter of postal and power company workers were on strike.
Overall, some 23% of the country's public sector workers are thought to have joined the action, which was called by eight major French unions.
Bernard Thibault, head of the CGT union, told AFP more than a million workers had taken part in the strike, making it impossible for French President Nicolas Sarkozy to ignore their concerns.
In Paris, police said some 65,000 protesters had joined a march from the Place de la Bastille towards the centre of the city.
Earlier, some 25,000 to 30,000 people rallied in the city of Lyon, according to organisers and police.

In Marseille, organisers and the authorities disagreed, with the former putting the number of demonstrators at 300,000 but the police estimating 20,000 had taken part.
The protests are against the worsening economic climate in France and at what people believe to be the government's poor handling of the crisis.
Opposition Socialist Party leader Martine Aubry said people were out in the streets "to express what worries them: the fact that they work and yet cannot make ends meet, retired people who just can't make it [financially], the fear of redundancies, and a president of the Republic and a government that just don't want to change policy".
According to a 25 January poll by CSA-Opinion for Le Parisien, 69% of the French public backs the strike.
"I'm tired and frozen after waiting half-an-hour on the platform," commuter Sandrine Dermont told AFP as she arrived by train in Paris.
"But I'm prepared to accept that when it's a movement to defend our spending power and jobs. I'll join the street protests during my lunch break," she said.

Hit hard
Many people are furious that Mr Sarkozy said there was no money left to raise wages and consumer spending power, but nonetheless managed to find billions of euros to bail out floundering French banks, says the BBC's Emma-Jane Kirby in Paris.
The walk-out has affected transport, education and postal services throughout the country, our correspondent says, and is the biggest one-day strike since Mr Sarkozy took up office.
With unemployment looking likely to reach 10% next year, she says, the protesters hope he will drop his programme of cost-cutting reforms and focus instead on protecting workers' jobs and wages.

Mr Sarkozy cannot ignore this demonstration of anger, our correspondent adds. Street protests have repeatedly brought down French leaders and Mr Sarkozy does not want his government added to that list of casualties.
"We want to show how the people are dissatisfied with the situation at the moment," Thierry Dedieu of the CFDT general workers' union told the BBC.
People had the feeling they were paying for a crisis they were not responsible for, he added.
But earlier in the week, French Finance Minister Eric Woerth condemned the strike organisers, accusing them of scare-mongering during a time of economic uncertainty.
"There are other ways to make oneself heard than striking," he said.
"Blocking a country, preventing transport from working, bothering people when they are still extraordinarily worried and fearful of the future, is adding fear on top of fear, worry on top of worry."