TV, Internet and Telephones - Our local cable company offers packages that deliver tv, internet and telephone. I've read that the cable companies are not well positioned to offer cell phone service. But the steadily growing interchangeability of phones, tv and the internet (computers) is easy to see.
Most of us feel comfortable with the idea of something working wirelessly. I guess it started with Marconi and others in the late 1800's attempting to duplicate the telegraph but without the use of wires. Now we have cell phones, signals bouncing off satellites and back to earth and entire books being entirely transmitted to receivers without the use of wires.
My first home computer was an Apple IIe. I thought of it as a machine that functioned as a superior typing machine, a superior calculator and a superior filing system. At that time, my machine was not connected to any other machine, nor could it communicate with any other machine. Now, we tend to think of a computer as mostly for communicating by means of email and web pages. As we switched from desktop computers and printer recently to laptops and wireless computer, we are seeing what a difference through-the-air communication makes.
Paleontology, Embryology, and Genetics
The study of the life in the past, life forming in embryos and life obeying the genetic code are becoming more integrated, according to the book "Endless Forms Most Beautiful" by Sean B. Carroll. [The "B" is important to distinguish this scientist from Sean M. Carroll, a leading astronomer and physicist.] A steadily more complete picture of how life evolves and how the genetics governs the development of an embryo is emerging.
The most surprising thing for many investigators seems to be that the same genetic toolkits of proteins are used in quite different animals to complete a wing or a limb. It is clear that very different outcomes can be achieved with different sequences and locations on the body of the embryo. The subject of molecular biology when applied to the development of embryos and the study of how such development has evolved over time is called "evo devo" for short, 'evolutionary development'. This new and emerging subject has settled long-standing disputes about animal evolution and development.
