A fresh perspective on life
How sad it is that Australia’s very first pioneers remain entirely unrecognised. Almost 50 of their robust, archaic skulls have now been unearthed around the fringes of this continent, yet no museum or university anthropologist is willing to risk their tenure by publicly conceding this fact. It is generally accepted that the centre skull in… Continue reading Eulogy for an unsung pioneer
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. As the data for the last 400 years in the top level graph indicates, there is usually a strong correlation between between sunspots (solar storms) and the global climate. However, as the evidence now shows the past 20 – 30 years the correlation… Continue reading Iceage derailed
“The degree of disillusionment we feel in response to any particular human behaviour is the precise measure of our ignorance of its evolutionary and genetic origins.” (The Spirit in the Gene, Reg Morrison) Download Its in the Genes to find out more.
When the Norwegian freighter MV Tampa first entered Australian waters in 2001 with 438 newly-rescued refugees on board, it ended Australia’s 100-year flirtation with the ancient Greek concept of Democracy. To learn more download the following pdf.TAMPA Solutions
Our Suicidal Asset
Morality, Free will, Culture, Religion and Sexuality (a few unmentionable facts) our lives are essentially fiction based. We read fiction novels and prefer to watch fictional dramas on stage and screen; we readily believe advertising and political propaganda, and most people place implicit faith in some form of religious, economic or political creed. So culture… Continue reading Enigma code
The source of all human behaviour lies in our genes. It is our genetic material that induces us to laugh, cry, sing, love, hate and fight. Here too, is the birthplace of belief—in witchcraft, astrology, economics and aliens; in Tarot cards and tea-leaves; in gods, angels and devils; in luck, voodoo, and things that go… Continue reading The Origin of Faith
No free-man shall be taken or imprisoned, or dispossessed of his free tenement, or liberties, or free customs, or be outlawed, or exiled, or in any way be destroyed; nor will we condemn him, nor will we commit him to prison, excepting by the legal judgement of his peers, or by the laws of the… Continue reading Refugees? Farewell Magna Carta!
How strange it is that the topics of ‘same-sex marriage’ and ‘marriage equality’ are invariably presented as a moral issues, and yet the diagnostic terms ‘homosexual’ and ‘heterosexual’ are essentially biological and have absolutely nothing to do with culture, morality or religious belief. More important still, these two biological terms are defined by gene-directed behaviours… Continue reading ‘Marriage Equality’ … Jumping to a Conclusion?
FAMILY NAME: …… Hominidae AGE: ……………….. about 2.5 million years old PROFESSION: …… gambling MAIN BET: ………… that they have ‘dual existence’ ODDS AGAINST: …. 20 million to one (minimum). When modern members of this family bet on racehorses they tend to recoil from bets that involve odds that are much greater than 50 to… Continue reading Evolution’s Gamblers – diagnostic profile
Those who advocate population growth tend to be politicians, economists, systems analysts and professors of business administration. Their main opponents tend to be biologists, earth scientists, and conservationists who champion a wide range of environmentally based counter arguments. The more extreme of these warn that population reduction is essential if we are to avoid the… Continue reading The Population Debate
As the oldest, flattest, most arid continent on Earth, Australia has largely resisted the encroachment of humans. Even now, its people are largely confined to the coastal fringes, and their grip on its heartland is often tenuous. Any further deterioration of the global climate will slash Australia’s meagre carrying capacity more savagely than other continents. Meanwhile, as… Continue reading The fringe-dwellers
There is a sharply growing discord between the Global Temperature Index and the current level of solar radiation, a discord that only began some 3 decades ago and is unprecedented in 400 years of multi-disciplinary records. Atmospheric carbon dioxide has risen 36% during the past 150 years, but during that time the level of atmospheric… Continue reading Methane
Global Warming! It’s still the hottest topic of these turbulent times and in the public arena the political and economic argument continues to rage. Is global warming real? Is it our fault? Or is it a natural event? If it is real, can we prevent or alleviate it by reining in our carbon dioxide emissions… Continue reading Climate change
The Russian geochemist Vladimir Vernadsky proposed life as a dynamic extension of the Earth’s crust and a by-product of the chaotic gradient that mediates between the energy-rich body of the planet and the void of galactic space. Since hydrogen is the basic energy courier of the cosmos, this proposition supports the contention that life too,… Continue reading HYDROGEN: Life’s Maker and Breaker
Axiom: “Humans are the only animals that make and use complex tools, and this talent sets them apart from the rest of the animal world” . . . Wrong! Very few people are aware that we share our planet with a tiny toolmaker whose daily survival hinges on a hand weapon of such sophistication that… Continue reading Meet the toolmaker
Human behaviour is widely believed to be founded on conscious rational thought, an asset that allows us to choose and modify our behaviour on a continual basis. It’s a unique characteristic that supposedly separates our species from all other animals. Yet if you switch off the language sound track and observe human behaviour in total silence, it’s… Continue reading Free will? … It’s a genetic Illusion.
All coal mining, whether deep-shaft or open-cut, is responsible for releasing significant quantities of carbon into the atmosphere. The common belief is that the major part of this emission comes from power-station chimney stacks. In fact it occurs long before the coal is burnt. Coal seams are rich sources of methane gas (CH4), especially where… Continue reading Clean coal delusion
“If the Hamersley iron deposits did not exist, then neither would we.” The massive deposits of iron ore upon which Australia’s economy so heavily depends hold vastly greater significance for us and for our species than mere money can begin to define. Most humans now live in cities and use steel motor vehicles and rail systems to… Continue reading The Pilbara: Evolution’s turning point
In the clear, cold creeks that slide out of the eucalyptus forests of south-western Australia there lives a little-known fish of extraordinary evolutionary significance. Embedded in its ancient genetic code is a talent for survival that sets it among evolution’s elite. Even in Australia, where genetic antiquities abound, it has few peers. This seasoned campaigner… Continue reading Salamander fish – The last of its tribe
Evolution timescale A diagram of the geological and biological time scale showing the major milestones in the 4.6 billion-year life of our planet. Download Evolution timescale the full diagram
Evolution is the process by which organisms diversify. It enables them to harvest energy from sources that lie beyond the reach of their competitors. “Evolution is not progress, It’s just middle-age spread!” Download the full diagram.
DNA is subject to an overriding mastercode in the form of hydrogen-loaded carbon tags that are attached at various points along the side rails of the double helix. These carbon tags (CH3) determine whether or not particular genes or groups of genes are available for transcription. Their pattern of attachment is known as methylation and… Continue reading Epigenetics – DNA’s mastercode
‘Many long-term observers of creationist organizations must have been struck, as I have been, by the evolution of creationism over the years from crude early prototypes to the more refined and successful descendants around us today. Ironically, the gradual modification and adaptive radiation of creationism in its many guises mimics the very process that is… Continue reading intelligent design and the evolution of creationism
Like witchcraft and astrology, Intelligent Design is not underpinned by testable data. The underlying belief systems are unfalsifiable, non-predictive and based on nothing more substantial than imagination and wishful thinking. They might entertain, but they dont feed brains that seek reliable information. Download the full article as a pdf Like witchcraft and astrology, Intelligent Design… Continue reading Intelligent Design v. Intelligent Education
Despite intensive research the collapse of US bee populations remains largely unexplained. Two species of mite have been implicated in some of this carnage, but about a quarter of the cu rrent decline seems unrelated to any specific cause. A variety of agencies have been suggested, but t he multiplicity of potential villains suggests t… Continue reading Vanishing bees
“If ‘Art’ is the only label that fits a picture of mine, then as a photographer, I have utterly failed.” A brief historical overview of photography, the most wonderful form of graphic communication that our species ever devised. Download the full article as a pdf
“Hunting, shooting, and fishing for photographs that bite.” A general guide to the craft of shooting, cropping and reading photographs. Download the full article
“These were indeed momentous years, not merely from a historical perspective, for this was the period during which our species made the ominous evolutionary transition from explosive population growth to global fecundity decline … Download the full article (7.5 Mb)
All thermodynamic entropy is inherently chaotic and fractal and is determined by repetitive feedback (iteration) within kinetic energy gradients. Fractal patterns have been recognised as a primary characteristic of the natural world for at least 2,500 years (see Heraclitus quote, p.2). Nevertheless, such patterns were not explored in much detail until the early 1960’s when,… Continue reading Fingerprints of the Cosmos—Chaos and its Fractals
Many years ago I went to Sydneys magnificent Opera House to hear the citys symphony orchestra and massed choir perform Beethovens Ninth. As the house-lights dimmed and the orchestra launched into the first movement I became aware that I was listening, not just to human beings, but to a congregation of very talented chimpanzees. With… Continue reading Music of the Spheres
The ‘Stolen Generation’ painting in the background was by Perth artist Allan Baker. The Aboriginal child in the foreground, ‘Peter’, was the first admitted to Ngal-a, a ‘mothercraft home’, when it opened in 1959. Peter was later assigned to foster parents. This picture was used on the front page of The West Australian on 21.3.61. Ngala… Continue reading Lest we forget
Australia is the time capsule of the planet. No other continent has so faithfully preserved the early milestones in Earth’s geological and biological evolution. The story embedded in its rocks and in the genes of its modern plants and animals recounts most of the seminal events that shaped the Earth’s present biosphere and its opulent… Continue reading Australia’s 4-Billion-Year Diary
As a by-product of genetic evolution, the birth of our species is inextricably linked to the evolution of the planets biosphere and its dazzling biota. The Diary of You unfolds this sequence of biological mile-stones as a uniquely personal narrative. The 4.6 billion-year life of the planet has also been matched here against a one-year… Continue reading The Diary of ‘YOU’ – “Four billion years of human evolution”
A photographic journey from birth to death in Australia during the crucial years 1960 –1973. This was a time when our species began to switch from explosive population growth to fertility decline, bringing an end to 200,000 years of unprecedented evolutionary success. Although undetectable at the time, that underlying… Continue reading Australians Exposed
Australia is the Earth’s time capsule. The evolutionary milestones embedded in its rocks and in the genes of its modern plants and animals form an unparalleled archive that extends over 98% of the planet’s existenc Lavishly illustrated with more than 300 of the author’s photographs, this pictorial biography of the Australian continent outlines 4.4 billion-years… Continue reading Australia, Land Beyond Time
A pictorial exploration of wild Australia from four aspects: its mountains, its waterways, its deserts and forests. The brief chapter introductions and extended picture captions offer a rare insight into why this ancient continent is unique among the world’s landmasses, and why its plants and animals have much to tell us about the mechanics and… Continue reading The Great Australian Wilderness
“Our timebomb is mysticism. Its delivery system is language. And its hiding place? The unfathomable coils of our DNA.” (The Spirit in the Gene, 1999) With the aid of photographs, diagrams and graphs Reg Morrison summarises the massive impact that humans have had on our planet and explores the evolutionary and genetic origins of the behaviour… Continue reading Plague Species – The Spirit in the Gene
If we were to assume the role of advocate for the biosphere, we should have to concede that what evolution most requires of us now is to ignore the warnings on the current environmental package and continue to behave as we always have. Should we falter in our rate of economic and technological progress we… Continue reading The case against us …