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Dinesh

Dinesh club

Posted: 01 Apr 2021

Taken: 01 Apr 2021

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Evolution - The triumph of an idea •
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Carl Zimmer •

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Spandrels

Spandrels
The domed roof of the basilica of Saint Mark’s in Venice has become a metaphor in sociobiology debate. The triangular spaces between the arches beneath the dome are nothing more than a by-product of the overall design of the building. Critics the sociobiology argue that many features of the human brain may also be evolutionary by-products rather than the direct result of natural selection

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 Dinesh
Dinesh club
Gould (Stephen) even claims that some things that seem like adaptations may have come into existence for no particular function at all. In a classic 1979 paper, Gould and a fellow Harvard biologist, Richard Lewontin, explained how this could happen with an analogy: the domed roof of the basilica of Saint Mark’s in Venice. The dome sits on the four arches that are joined at right angles. Because the top of the arches are rounded, there is a triangular space at each corner. Three centuries after the dome was built, these spaces -- known as spandrels or pendentives -- were covered with mosaics. `- page 283
3 years ago.

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