Marine Biology

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Sea Genes Multiply

April 4, 2004

A potential paradigm-shifting discovery has been made in the doldrums of the Sargasso Sea: there are many more genes in plankton than expected. Craig Venter’s Celera team sampled the genetic content of microbes off the Bermuda coast, and in 1500 liters of surface seawater, found 1.5 million new genes. Falkowski and de Vargas, writing about […]

Amazing Facts

Respect the Conch Shell

February 19, 2004

Engineers and materials scientists seem to never run out of examples in nature that should fill us with awe. In the Feb. 19 issue of Nature,1 Rosamund Daw brings our attention to the construction ability of the conch shell: Giant conches are seldom treated with the respect they deserve. Their impressive shells are prized as […]

Dating Methods

Hundreds of Whales Buried Suddenly in Diatoms

February 2, 2004

A remarkable fossil find has been found in Peru: 346 whales buried in diatomaceous earth. The preservation of the whales is so pristine and complete, the authors of the paper in the Feb. 2004 issue of Geology1 conclude that the whales had to be buried rapidly, in days or weeks. If so, it represents a […]

Fossils

How Bambi Gave Rise to Moby Dick

December 20, 2002

The title of this entry, in Kipling Just-So Story format, is only slightly modified from an article from The Guardian, titled, “How Bambi evolved into Moby-Dick.” This is not a joke; check on the link and see. The article is about the latest fossil claimed to be ancestral to whales. Hans Thewissen (Northeastern […]

Amazing Facts

Sponges Use Fiber Optics for Interior Lighting

November 20, 2002

51; Sponges are among the simplest of multicellular organisms, but they contain an advanced human technology: fiber optics. In a case of reverse biomimetics, scientists have determined that one of the products of proud human engineering was already at work in a lowly sponge. Fiber optical properties of sponge spicules was already known, […]

Fossils

Soft Squid Ink Sac Claimed to Be 150 Million Years Old

August 20, 2002

51; The BBC News announced the discovery of a fossil squid with its ink sac still intact. “The fossil, thought to be 150 million years old, was found when a rock was cracked open, revealing the one-inch-long black ink sac.” The ink has been sent to Yale for analysis. An article on the Daily Mail […]

Dumb Ideas

Fishing for Darwinian Stories

June 20, 2002

51; Stickleback fish can learn from each other where the best food sources are. This proves you brain’s remarkable learning abilities have their roots in fish heads, according to science news sources this week. Science Daily said the findings by UK scientists “show that the cognitive mechanisms underlying cumulative cultural evolution may be more prevalent […]

Amazing Facts

Amazing Animals on Parade

June 20, 2002

You have to admire animals. They have tricks humans still need to learn, and possess technologies that engineers are striving to imitate. Spiders: Don’t let the black widow scare you; it’s only a picture on Science Daily. Scientists are amazed at how these animals produce one of the best dragline silks in spiderdom. It is […]

Dinosaurs

Ichthyosaurs Suddenly Appeared in Triassic Oceans

April 20, 2002

“Ichthyosaurs were a group of Mesozoic marine reptiles that evolved fish-shaped body outlines,” begins Ryosuke Motani (UC Davis) in the Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences,1 in a paper on “Evolution of Fish-Shaped Reptiles… in Their Physical Environments and Constraints.” But while much is said about their environments and constraints, little is said to […]

Dumb Ideas

Evolution Rules

March 20, 2002

51; It would be convenient if all a scientist had to do to prove his theory was declare it to be a law of nature. Is that what scientists from UC Berkeley and Imperial College have done with evolution? “First ‘rule’ of evolution suggests that life is destined to become more complex,” announced a press […]

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