Sexual reproduction is one of the most important developments in the history of evolution. The problem is, sexual reproduction is a lot more complex than asexual reproduction, so there are a lot of questions about how exactly it did develop.

One of the keys to answering this question may come from a surprising source: hard rocks and heavy metal. Life is biological, but most people may not realize that life can only survive with a number of heavy metals like zinc and copper. That's why they are part of the vitamins they sell you.

OK, I know there must be a lot of jokes involving heavy metal power ballads that are hanging in the air right now. Go ahead and get them out of your system... Read More...

There are many different reasons why a person might come to doubt and even reject theism, becoming an atheist. Some reasons are better than others and while every atheist takes a different path, there are some major commonalities. Do any of the ones listed here apply to you? If you have any reasons beyond what's listed here, describe them in the comments below.

One thing that's difficult to separate is the nature of the reasons people originally had for starting to doubt or question their religion and their reasons for currently rejecting that religion. For example, a person might start to question a religion because of the immoral or hypocritical behavior of that religion's leaders, but as a consequence of those doubts begun a process of study which led them to entirely different reasons for rejecting the religion outright.

This is appropriate, because those original reasons wouldn't have been technically enough to justify rejecting the religion, but because a person started with them, the emotional impact of those reasons will almost surely continue to linger, giving the impression that they still matter more than they should. Of course, it's always difficult to entirely disentangle emotion-laden reasons from logical arguments, regardless of what order they might occur in, but it's important to at least understand them so you can work to overcome any unjustified biases.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In addition to being polytheistic, a major characteristic of Phoenician religion is the emphasis on nature and fertility deities. It was very common for a male deity in a Phoenician city to die every year and be 'reborn' in the spring alongside the new vegetation. Sometimes the female deity, his consort, played a role in this rebirth and sometimes not.

 

Read Article: Adonis, Dying and Resurrecting: Semitic God that Dies and Resurrects Every Year

Walking on two legs is one of the things that defines us as a species. We evolved from species that didn't spend all their time on two legs, though, which means that our physical bodies aren't ideally suited to life on two legs - we are the product of adaptions to the bipedal lifestyle and those adaptations only go far enough to make it possible. We suffer from a lot of medical problems that are directly attributable to this. These are, in fact, among the many signs that we evolved naturally and weren't designed.

Our two-legged life puts extra stress on our vertebrae, legs, and feet. We've had to evolve extra adaptations in a lot of biological structures: feet, knees, pelvis, hips, and spin. These adaptations make walking on two legs possible, but these adaptations have come at a cost which leads to all sorts of secondary ailments. We then make the problems worse when we live relatively sedentary lifestyles, like working at a desk all day. Read More...