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The Geologists Were Wrong

January 25, 2008

More examples of collapsing theories have appeared in the literature this week (compare last week, 01/21/2008): Dirty Comet: The Stardust spacecraft that collected comet samples in 2006 was so named because it was believed comets contained pristine material from the birth of the sun. That has all changed. National Geographic News summarized a paper in […]

Birds

Do Chicks Tell Dinosaur Tales?

January 25, 2008

For years, evolutionary biologists have battled over the origin of flight. Did dinosaurs run along the ground and take off, or did they jump from trees? The first idea is called the cursorial hypothesis; the latter, the arboreal hypothesis. In 2003, Ken Dial [U Montana] had an idea: maybe watching partridge chicks could inform the […]

Amazing Facts

Getting a Hand on Facts and Meanings

January 24, 2008

What could be more simple than pressing a button with your finger? That “seemingly trivial action is the result of a complex neuro-motor-mechanical process orchestrated with precision timing by the brain, nervous system and muscles of the hand.” So says a press release from University of Southern California posted on EurekAlert. Simple, everyday […]

Dumb Ideas

Nuke Sand, Get Life

January 23, 2008

Glowing sand was your cradle, claimed The Telegraph. “The sifting and collection of radioactive material by powerful tides could have generated the complex molecules that led to the evolution of carbon-based life forms –including plants, animals and humans.” The article acknowledged that “radiation may seem an unlikely candidate to kick-start life because it […]

Uncategorized

Life Influences Dating Method

January 22, 2008

The rate of calcium carbonate precipitation can double if microbes are present, says an article in PhysOrg. Scientists studying hot spring deposits in Yellowstone made this “surprising discovery about the geological record of life and the environment.” The article adds, “Their discovery could affect how certain sequences of sedimentary rock are dated, and how scientists […]

Amazing Facts

Butterfly Wings Flash Shiny Optical Tricks

January 22, 2008

You can get brilliant colors without pigment if you build patterns near the wavelengths of light. Butterflies have the trick down to a science. Their wings shimmer and shine with brilliant colors produced by nanostructures that scientists want to imitate. Science Daily told how butterflies and moths, even the white-winged varieties, use nanostructures […]

Dinosaurs

Backtracking on Darwinian Claims

January 21, 2008

Evolutionary theory evolves. Since Darwinists no longer consider evolution progressive, it follows that evolutionary theory is also not necessarily progressing. The following stories show evolutionary biologists backtracking on earlier claims. The pig is falling. “Darwinian evolutionary theory proposes that the phenotype of a creature is an adaptation to the particular demands of the ecological situation […]

Physics

Million-Degree Plasma Found in Orion

January 19, 2008

The Orion nebula, an object of beauty to stargazers (picture, Hubble view) is pervaded by plasma heated to two million degrees Kelvin, reported astronomers in Science.1 Two funnel-shaped regions of x-ray emitting plasma in the extended nebula were observed by astronomers using the X-Ray Multi-Mirror (XMM)-Newton satellite. “The energy requirement to heat the […]

Dumb Ideas

Mouse Grows Long Finger, Takes Off Like a Bat

January 18, 2008

When does humor in a scientific journal cross the line of scientific objectivity? You be the judge. Science magazine, in its “Random Samples” news featurette, said this in the Jan. 18 issue: Over the past 100 million years or so, bats have evolved many features that distinguish them from their mammalian cousins. One is long, […]

Uncategorized

Bible Name Found on Jerusalem Artifact

January 17, 2008

A man named Temech has risen from the pages of the Bible. The Jerusalem Post reported that his clay seal was found in a dig south of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem by archaeologist Eilat Mazar, who earlier found a portion of a wall from the same Nehemiah period (11/30/2007). The article shows a picture […]

Solar System

Messenger Sends Postcards from Mercury

January 17, 2008

Images downloaded from MESSENGER’s first flyby of Mercury on January 14 are starting to be published. The Science Images page of the MESSENGER website (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging) posted the first image January 16, with more being added from time to time. Launched in 2004 (07/27/2004, bullet 3), the spacecraft has unveiled […]

Biology

Walking Fish Gets Good Mileage

January 16, 2008

In 2006 (04/06/2006), 05/03/2006), Neil Shubin of the University of Chicago announced his missing link: Tiktaalik, a fish with wrist bones that he claimed were transitional between fish and four-footed creatures, or tetrapods. Since then he has taken his fish on the road and is getting good mileage for evolution.

Cosmology

NY Times: Cosmologists Have Lost Their Brains

January 15, 2008

Naked brains floating in space, disconnected from reality – this describes the minds of some modern cosmologists, accused Dennis Overbye in a shocking article in the New York Times January 15. While attempting to be sympathetic to the smart guys who can cover a blackboard with equations about higher dimensions, it was clear he was […]

Human Body

Humans Excel at… Please Wait… Patience

January 14, 2008

Here’s another thing that distinguishes humans from animals: patience. Current Biology usually has a “Quick Guide” feature on some aspect of biology. In the latest issue, patience was the patient. First of all, what is it? Humans and other animals often make decisions that trade off present and future benefits. Should a monkey eat an […]

Cell Biology

Bacteria to the Future

January 14, 2008

Bacteria used to be considered so boring, they were passed over by scientists eager to look where the action was: eukaryotic cells. That was then. Now, Nature reported,1 the little rods and spheres and spirals have lots of tricks up their sleeves worth investigating. “Long dismissed as featureless, disorganized sacks, bacteria are now revealing a […]

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