Quickly /sci/, you have just 16 seconds to name a topic that

>>7892838
macroevolution

evolution, consciousness and free will

whether biology is a science or not

>>7892838
biology and cell theory

>>7892851
(you)

g e n d e r
s t u d i e s

how buffalo did evoluve

>>7892857
how buffalo did?

Race

Definitely human races.

Mechanism of abiogenesis.

Are black people stupider in general?
>inb4 public apology

>>7892838
endosymbiotic theory

whether snakes evolved from aquatic or burrowing lizards

Group selection

>>7892838
The direction of left

>>7892838
Stem cells

group selection

WHETHER OR NOT ALIENS FROM SPACE CAME TO EARTH AND CREATED LIFE TO WORSHIP THEM AND BUILD PYRAMIDS

(PROTIP: WE ALL REALLY KNOW THAT IT WAS ALIENS)

Taxonomy.

Especially for microbiologists. Think E. coli vs Shigella

>>7892838
STRING THEORY
WAIT DAMNIT!

File: 1455551589761.gif (360KB, 2420x933px) Image search: [Google]

360KB, 2420x933px

>>7892838
>What's a species
I'm not joking. There's like got to be at least three or four different definitions and no one can agree on what the correct on is.

Also
>organization of phylogenetic trees

I'm sure this isn't as big as what is a species but I feel like they keep switching shit around.

Taxonomy

>>7893291
This fucking picture is magic

>>7893291
OP asked for controversial topics, not difficult ones.

"Species" having a context-dependent interpretation is a widely recognized fact.

>>7893313
Isn't it a controversial question? I mean it gets thrown around all the time. I mean most people who have an undergraduate degree in biology won't know how to identify species.

I guess epigenetics would be more what you're talking about then.

>>7893329
>I mean it gets thrown around all the time.
By people on /sci/ who have never taken a genetics course, maybe.

Epigenetics isn't controversial either.

>>7893313
Speciation is definitely a controversy is microbiology. Defining species by genotype, serogroup, biochemicals, or even by stuff like mass spec is a huge argument. This gets even more complicated when it comes to pathogenic bacteria. Do we continue to call bacteria recognizable names for the sake of the doctor or do we reexamine species and move some stuff around to be more accurate at the expense of the doctor understanding?

Neutral theory

>>7893344
Note: I know very little about biology beyond high school level.

Is "species" even a meaningful concept for bacteria, and asexual organisms in general? As I understand it, the more-or-less definition of a species is the sexual reproduction barrier. Now I know this is only an approximation of what is actually used in biology, but it still sounds like it should be mostly correct in this sense:

Sexual reproduction is a force of genetic convergence, which therefore tends to cause distinct groups of strongly related specimens, with fairly clear boundaries. In any nonsexually-reproducing organisms, is there any causal force causing surviving specimens to all be strongly related to each other in distinct clusters? If not, then carving up the set of all specimens into "species" should be pretty pointless and misleading, right?

I repeat, I don't know much biology and the above is probably wrong, so please explain (if you know) where this is going wrong.

>>7892892

Definitely this.

Whether sub-Saharan Africans are less human than the rest of the world due to their lack of Neanderthal DNA, or whether we (white power) are less human.

What/who is the fucking human holotype? That is the real controversy.

>>7893383
Considering it was human beings that developed biology and evolutionary sciences it should be the ones with the neanderthal DNA that are considered more human.

>>7893383
>>7893406
This is a controversial topic in /pol/ no biologist gives a shit about this

Creationism

>>7893414
If we discuss the features of a different set of species, it's biology, it's science. But the moment we target humans, it's politics? What kind of screwed up definition of biology do you have?

>>7893414
I disagree that this is not a topic to be discussed by biologist but I want to point out that I was being a tautological troll.

>>7893374
Sexual reproduction is more useful for identifying specific populations of the same species.

Under some stressors (and even normal conditions), some species reproduce asexually. This changes how genes change in a population, but does not necessarily mean new species are developing.

Single-celled organisms do not have "sex" in the way we are familiar with, but gene transfers are happening very regularly, often between different species as well.

>>7893414
>no biologists give a shit about this

I mean, maybe none are testing this exact hypothesis, but there is definitely research happening that specifically investigates the role neanderthal DNA has had on human development.

Don't be such a knee-jerk baby

>>7893459
>>7893442
Because no one gives a shit about subspecies classification, there's enough trouble defining species as it is.

>>7893474
I know that, but that doesn't answer my question.

Dividing the set of all possible organisms into more-or-less-distinct species makes sense, if these organisms naturally occur in clusters of very strong genetic similarity. Among organisms that reproduce sexually, such a clustering of organisms is clearly present.

But does such a clustering exist among organisms that do not reproduce sexually (at all), such as bacteria? If there is just a large continuum of related bacteria (*individual* bacteria I mean, not species) without clear-ish boundaries, there is no point in chunking up that continuum into species. If the bacteria out there DO naturally cluster into separate species, why is this? What force causes the set of living bacteria to have a structure that categorizes neatly into separate chunks of specimens that are so closely related that calling them a "species" is meaningful?

Quantum metamorphosis. (15s and diffficult to think of).

>>7892885
The IQ gap is pretty controversial

>>7892838
Are blacks another species?

>>7893491
Well, I can't really speak for bacteria, but the general benefit of speciation is that each species can specialize in its own niche. This is usually an effective way to secure resources, where the method of obtaining those resources is unique in a way that other organisms cannot replicate. Once the trait that creates this advantage is spread around, speciation can take place.

I might have to retract my earlier statement. Some amount of gene flow is usually necessary to begin the species in the first place (at least in multicellular life).

Bacteria tend to bend the rules because of their generations time and gene transfer capabilities.

>>7892964
Controversial?

>>7892838
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unsolved_problems_in_biology

Here you go

epigenetics

>>7893291
ya this

something as simple as oak trees fuck up the definition (can have hybrid progeny with other trees that make viable progeny). Also bacteria can mate with different fucking genuses via the F factor

fuck phylogenetic trees

Viruses are alive

which dragon dildo is the best one

>>7893739
My ancestors were viruses and their story has been passed down for generations. Can confirm, they are really alive.

Paul Kammerer

>>7893746
Go back to /k/

>>7893758

seems it was a controversial question

>>7893739
NO FUCK YOU

>>7892838

Whether Jesus created all the kinds in 3998 BC or whether the date of creation was 4004 BC.

>>7893779
>Jesus created x in 3998 BC
>Jesus was born 1BC

Evolution. The ICR claims it's 'just a theory' (a guess) while the Dawkins-Fedora minority seem to think it's scientific fact lol.

Definitely race. If you want to watch someone dance around like an Irishman at a wedding, ask a biology lecturer if race and subspecies are the same thing.

>>7893757
holy fucking shit does this name and everything associated with it not do anything to you guys?

>>7893909
Nope. Just a hack.

>>7893746
Biologists, not engineers

>>7893739
DELETE THIS

>>7893779
I don't think jesus lived for 4000 years senpai

>>7893866
>just a theory
Triggered
Nice b8 though, 6/10

>>7893018
This so much. Burrowing lizard masterrace reporting in.

>>7893383
>What/who is the fucking human holotype?
Linnaeus' skellington

ìs the macro vs micro evolution and Intelligent Design debate over?

>>7894012
>evolution vs id
Was never a debate. There is no debate.

Aquatic apes

Why living things age / get cancer

>>7894210
Thermodynamics

>>7894210
Vaccination

File: cancer.jpg (34KB, 500x443px) Image search: [Google]

34KB, 500x443px

>>7894210
4chan

>>7894210
Chemtrails

>>7892838
Speciation

>>7894238
>controversial

>>7892844
No
>>7892851
Why would it not be?
>>7893018
This.
>>7893181
What about stem cells?

>>7894263
Probably ethics of stem cells
Less an issue among biologists, more the public

The merits of suicide with revolver compared to rope

>>7893671
>hammerhead shark
>The reason for their distinctive and unusual head structure is not known.
god fucking dammit
if only those lazy shits could have asked a single engineer

File: free-will.jpg (77KB, 600x400px) Image search: [Google]

77KB, 600x400px

Existence of free will.

>>7892838
The definition of 'species'.

>>7894616
>controversy

The deliciousness of semen and whether or not it's gay to eat out your significant other after cumming inside her

OP here, thanks to all of you for helping me with my homework.

I ended up writing about defining behavior in biology.

>>7893954
Am I triggering you?

>>7894770
See
>>7893952

>>7894891
Post what you wrote

>>7894210
Weather balloons

>>7894891
Nice bait OP

>>7893355
which?

>>7897325
Nah

>>7893336
it's actually a pretty serious question in evo bio, ecology, and cladistics. we talk about the biological, genetic, morphological, and other kinds of species concepts. asexual organisms, to use an example one of my classmates brought up to our advisor today, don't interbreed (by definition), so the biological species concept goes right out the window. it's a tricky question and what the right answer is really depends on the particulars of a situation.

>>7893739
fuck you, if viruses are alive than so is PrPsc

>>7894210
competition with progeny

How organelles evolved
How introns are properly excised