Biology – Page 136

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Tiny Fish Smell for Miles

January 24, 2007

Fish hatchlings no more than a few millimeters in size are able to find their way home by smell, scientists from James Cook University found. After hatching from a reef, baby fish are often swept out to sea for miles. The scientists were curious how they are able to get back to the particular spot […]

Amazing Facts

This Bug Is Whiter than White, Brighter than Bright

January 19, 2007

Detergent manufacturers should get a load of this beetle. Cyphochilus, a resident of southeast Asia, is clothed in one of the brightest white surfaces (per unit thickness) known. British scientists reporting in Science1 were intrigued how the bug accomplishes this shining performance. Most bright-white surfaces, such as paint and paper, need a hundred times the […]

Mammals

Are Evolutionists Converging on a Story of Vertebrates?

January 10, 2007

Here’s what the Linnean Society said in 1909, celebrating the 50th anniversary of Darwin’s Origin of Species, about the rise of vertebrates (fish, reptiles, amphibians, and mammals): “When we return home and our friends gleefully enquire, ‘What then has been decided as to the Origin of Vertebrates?’, so far we seem to have no reply […]

Fossils

Amphibious Assault Against Gradualism

January 10, 2007

A State of the Salamander Address was printed in PNAS recently.1 An international group of scientists looked for evolutionary ancestry and “Global patterns of diversification in the history of modern amphibians.” It would seem Mr. Darwin has a bit of frog in his throat: The fossil record of modern amphibians (frogs, salamanders, and caecilians) provides […]

Amazing Facts

Woodpecker Heads Absorb Shocks

January 9, 2007

Pounding a tree with your head 12,000 times a day would tend to give one a headache, but for woodpeckers, it’s all in a day’s work. How do they manage? Corey Binns on Live Science interviewed Ivan Schwab (UC Davis) who explained some of the specialized adaptations in a woodpecker head: thick muscles, spring-like bones, […]

Fossils

Insects Pester Darwinian Story

December 27, 2006

It’s enough to bug any Darwinian: where did the insects come from? Here are some problems right off the bat sonar: Insects are fantastically diverse. Insects are among the most successful animals. There are no insect fossils earlier than the Devonian (evolutionary date: 410 million years ago). The earliest segmented body plans appeared in the […]

Fossils

Incredible Stasis in Evolution: What Does It Mean?

December 26, 2006

Quite often in phylogenetic research, evolutionists find examples of extreme conservation of genes or traits. How they explain the lack of change is almost as interesting as the phenomenon itself. Here are two recent examples. Your cousin the shark: Surprise: you have more in common with horn sharks than bony fishes do. Craig Venter’s international […]

Birds

Big Dino Found, But How Did it Eat?

December 21, 2006

A few interesting dinosaur stories came to light this month. I was a Spanish monster: A new giant sauropod has been found in Spain, reported EurekAlert based on a paper in Science.1 Named Turiasaurus riodevensis by the discoverers, it ranks among the largest of dinosaurs and is the first giant sauropod found in Europe, weighing […]

Amazing Facts

Animal Plan IT

December 15, 2006

Imitating animal technology is one of the hottest areas in science. The engineering and information technology (IT) observable in living things continues to astonish scientists and makes engineers want to imitate nature’s designs. Biomimetics is leading to productive, useful discoveries helping solve human problems and leading to a better life for all. Here are some […]

Fossils

Life Out of Place, Life Out of Time

December 13, 2006

Evolutionists have a standard timeline based on Darwin’s “tree of life” that indicates when complex life forms should have appeared. What happens when the wrong animal shows up in the wrong place or time? The theory is never falsified; it is just accommodated to the new data, as simply as rearranging branches on a Christmas […]

Amazing Facts

The Physics of Gecko Toes

December 6, 2006

Why would anyone want to know the details of physical forces when gecko feet walk on glass? Here’s why: “The results have obvious implications for the fabrication of dry adhesives and robotic systems inspired by the gecko’s locomotion mechanism.” A team of scientists from Santa Barbara and China watched gecko toes peel off glass and […]

Biomimetics

Stupid Evolution Quote of the Week: Evolution as Inventor

December 5, 2006

This week’s award goes to Gines Morata, a research professor in Spain, who was interviewed in Current Biology.1 He gives us a glimpse into his biology classes: I often tell my students that they do not have to invent anything; in biology everything has already been invented. What they have to do is find out […]

Amazing Facts

Darwin Missed the Beetle Can Opener Trick

December 5, 2006

You know those big horns on rhinoceros beetles? They’re not just for showing off. Scientists at Indiana University found a “surprising function” for them. It turns out “horned beetles use their young horns as a sort of can opener, helping them bust out of thick larval shells.” The function of horned beetles’ wild protrusions has […]

Amazing Facts

How Does the Emperor Penguin Dive So Deep?

December 1, 2006

Using a small recorder mounted on an emperor penguin, researchers at Scripps Institute measured the bird diving as deep as 1,800 feet – six times the depth any human has survived unassisted. This is much deeper than scientists had expected. Live Science surmises that if we could figure out how they do it without getting […]

Amazing Facts

Little Animals, Big Technologies

November 28, 2006

You can’t always say bigger is better. In the animal world, some of the smallest critters have capabilities that belie their size and compare well with their less dimensionally-challenged brethren. Bee secure: Honeybees are being trained to sniff bombs. Really. Read all about it in a press release from Los Alamos National Laboratory. Bees were […]

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