Marine Life – Page 3

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Macroevolution Claims Investigated

June 21, 2005

Two scientific papers recently used the word “macroevolution” in their titles. Did they actually point to cases of natural increase in information or function? Diatoms: A paper in PNAS by Finkel et al.1 was called, “Climatically driven macroevolutionary patterns in the size of marine diatoms over the Cenozoic.” All it discussed was the sizes of […]

Uncategorized

Weird Jellyfish Eyes: Are They Missing Links?

May 13, 2005

“Missing Link?” asks the cover of Nature May 12, next to what looks like an alien head with a giant eye staring out. The article by Nilsson et al.1 suggests that the box jellyfish has optical sensors that could represent primitive eyes that evolved before the more advanced eyes of vertebrates. Most of us don’t […]

Mammals

Wonders from the Animal World

March 24, 2005

Several recent stories prove that animals continue to amaze us with their tricks: Elephants: The BBC News summarized a report from Nature1 about an elephant in Kenya named Mlaika that could make “convincing truck sounds.” The elephant lived near a road and apparently learned how to do impressions. This is the only other case of […]

Physics

Octopus Arms Have Optimal Design

February 9, 2005

The tentacles of an octopus are soft and flexible, whereas bony creatures like us have joints that, while good for moving objects around, limit our freedom of movement. Wouldn’t it be cool to have both? An international team of neurobiologists, publishing in Nature,1 watched an octopus snare its food, using the flexibility of its tentacles, […]

Amazing Facts

Submarine Engineers Admire Penguins

September 10, 2004

An ocean engineer from MIT, Franz Hover, says “we never miss marveling at them,” speaking of penguins. In the cover story of Science News,1 the submarine designer elaborates: Under the power and guidance of its versatile flippers, a penguin can move through the water faster than 10 miles per hour, turn almost instantaneously, and leap […]

Amazing Facts

Whale Flippers Inspire Aeronautical Engineers

May 11, 2004

Have you seen the bumpy flippers on humpback whales, you know, the species whose males serenade their mates? Don’t laugh. Scientists have found that the ungainly flippers actually have superior lift, less drag, and are less susceptible to stalling. Engineers are imitating the whale flippers for advanced aircraft and helicopter rotors, reports EurekAlert from studies […]

Fossils

Another Tetrapod Ancestor Claimed

October 20, 2002

Maybe the Aussies want their share of missing link notoriety; an unusual fish with bony fins has been discovered in western Australia, reported in Nature.1 The bigger the splash a missing link makes for reporters, the better. The story on Science Daily said, “A fossil fish discovered in the West Australian Kimberley has been identified […]

Birds

How Evolutionary Science Is Done: From Deduction to Story

April 20, 2002

“Evolution is a fact!” Carl Sagan stated emphatically on TV in his 1980 Cosmos series (now in reruns on The Science Channel). Following this lead, many evolutionists repeat this four-word phrase, often augmenting it like, Evolution is a fact, like gravity (see association). This motto has some interesting properties in its effects on scientific research. […]

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