2004 – Page 8

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Darwins Tree of Life Uprooted; Ring of Life Planted in its Place

September 9, 2004

Perhaps no icon of evolution has been more pervasive than Darwin’s “tree of life” (see 06/13/2003 headline). A drawing of a branching tree was the only illustration in Darwin’s Origin of Species. 145 years later, scientists are saying the metaphor of a tree is wrong; it should be a ring, at least in the family […]

Uncategorized

North Pole Enjoyed Balmy Climate

September 8, 2004

In ages past, the North Pole region enjoyed a Mediterranean climate, according to Nature Science Update and the BBC News. EurekAlert reminds us that ice cores demonstrate that Greenland, too, had one or more periods of warm weather suitable for lush plant growth (see 08/16/2004 headline). Climate swings were abrupt enough to occur within a […]

Birds

Cooing Doves Set Muscle Speed Record

September 8, 2004

The dove: a symbol of peace, innocence, love, and gentleness, right? Its cooing call is a soothing song to nature lovers. Yet hidden in the throat of the dove is one of the fastest-acting muscles in the animal kingdom, report Elemans et al. in the Sept. 9 issue of Nature.1 The cooing song contains a […]

Fossils

Classifying Eukaryotes Easier than Evolving Them

September 8, 2004

If you like stories with surprise endings, check out an otherwise boring paper by two Canadian evolutionary biologists, Alistair G. B. Simpson and Andrew A. Roger, in the Sept. 7 issue of Current Biology.1 Their subject is the real “kingdoms” of eukaryotes (that’s all creatures with nuclei, including plants, animals, and a host of single-celled […]

Intelligent Design

Nature Says ID Paper Scored a Publishing Success

September 8, 2004

A news story in the Sept. 9 issue of Nature1 says, “A new front has opened up in the battle between scientists and advocates of intelligent design, a theory that rejects evolution and is regarded by its critics as another term for creationism.” Reporter Jim Giles says the paper by Stephen Meyer of the Discovery […]

Dinosaurs

Inferring Dinosaur Family Life from Bones

September 8, 2004

Observation: a jumble of dinosaur bones in China. Conclusion: some dinosaurs showed tender loving care to their young. This is the gist of a paper in Nature this week (Sept. 9),1 reported also on Nature Science Update. Discerning behavior from bones is an art, but these bones of 34 psittacosaurs from Liaoning, China […]

Human Body

Natural Selection Demonstrated in European Heart-Disease Gene?

September 7, 2004

Stephen Wooding (U. of Utah) is elated. He sees an “exciting trend” in genetic research that might, finally, demonstrate positive natural selection acting on a gene with a clear phenotypic effect (measurable outward benefit). Writing in the Sept. 7 Current Biology,1 he mentions a few recent papers suggesting this connection, but focuses particularly on one […]

Amazing Facts

Archer Fish Learns the Laws of Optics

September 7, 2004

Imagine you’re a kid in a swimming pool, underwater with a squirt gun. Lurking under the surface, you detect the wavy, distorted image of your big brother standing on the deck. You sneak up, fire from below– and miss, because you didn’t know how to correct for refraction and distance through the air-water interface. There’s […]

Early Man

Step Aside, Lucy; Your Distant Ancestor Walked Upright, Researchers Claim

September 3, 2004

Penn State researchers are trying to scoop the coveted title of “discoverers of the first upright-walking hominid” with a CT scan of their champion, Orrorin (see 02/23/2001 headline). They have the ball and socket joint of the specimen (thought to be like a chimpanzee) and a bit of the bony neck that connects the ball […]

Politics and Ethics

Letter: The Case Against Embryonic Stem Cell Research

September 3, 2004

Sometimes the letters to the editor are the most interesting parts of a magazine. Read what John T. Durkin says about embryonic stem cell research in response to an April letter by another scientist: In his Letter “Human being redux” (16 April, p. 388),2 M. S. Gazzaniga constructs his defense of human embryonic stem cell […]

Origin of Life

Pop Goes the Fatbubble Theory for the Origin of Life

September 3, 2004

This weird theory pops faster than the bubbles it describes as our ancestors.

Darwin and Evolution

Darwin’s Finches: Researchers Tweak the Beak

September 3, 2004

Every once in awhile, a new angle on Darwin’s finches (an icon of evolution) appears in print. Peter and Rosemary Grant, who have devoted their life to studying everything possible about these related species of birds that inhabit the Galápagos Islands – only to find that evolutionary changes are reversible (see 04/26/2002 headline) – have […]

Uncategorized

Creationist-Hating Evolutionist Chides Darwin Bulldogs

September 2, 2004

Steve Jones (Galton Laboratory, University College, London) wrote a book review in Nature this week1, that, while witty, leaves the reader wondering what he really thinks. One thing is clear: he hates creationists with a vengeance– In a recent magazine poll, Richard Dawkins, with his trademark hobbit smile, was voted Britain’s top intellectual (a welcome […]

Bible and Theology

SETI Needs to Read, Not Listen

September 1, 2004

What technology would an extra-terrestrial intelligence use to communicate with us? For fifty years, the search has presumed that an ET would use radio waves to announce “we’re here.” Not a good idea, says a professor of computer and electrical engineering at Rutgers. He thinks investors on distant planets would put their money not on […]

Intelligent Design

Are We Lost on a Speck of Cosmic Dust?

September 1, 2004

A new Copernican revolution seems to be in the works, not another “demotion” of man from the center of the universe, but a promotion back to the ancient idea of plan or purpose for our existence. The demotions reached their nadir with Carl Sagan’s Cosmos and other books that declared we are nothing special, that […]

All Posts by Date

[archives type="yearly" cat_id=""]

Darwins Tree of Life Uprooted; Ring of Life Planted in its Place

North Pole Enjoyed Balmy Climate

Cooing Doves Set Muscle Speed Record

Classifying Eukaryotes Easier than Evolving Them

Nature Says ID Paper Scored a Publishing Success

Inferring Dinosaur Family Life from Bones

Natural Selection Demonstrated in European Heart-Disease Gene?

Archer Fish Learns the Laws of Optics

Step Aside, Lucy; Your Distant Ancestor Walked Upright, Researchers Claim

Letter: The Case Against Embryonic Stem Cell Research

Pop Goes the Fatbubble Theory for the Origin of Life

Darwin’s Finches: Researchers Tweak the Beak

Creationist-Hating Evolutionist Chides Darwin Bulldogs

SETI Needs to Read, Not Listen

Are We Lost on a Speck of Cosmic Dust?

All Posts by Date

Darwins Tree of Life Uprooted; Ring of Life Planted in its Place