On the Panda’s Thumb today I read a review of a very poor experimental set-up indeed. Apparently demonstrating that beneficial mutations (here, antibiotic resistance) lower the fitness of the organism possessing them, it actually does no such thing because of the multiple flaws in its design. But read the review – the reviewer (ERV) studies virology […]
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possibilities for future research into evolution
A week or so back I posted comments by Massimo Pigliucci about future directions for evolution research. He was speaking in the context of an international workshop where these new ideas and directions were up for discussion. Well, that workshop’s over, material from it is available on-line (parts 1, 2, & 3), and the participants […]
Continue readinga very early tetrapod indeed
I’ve been fascinated by the story of early tetrapod evolution (where ‘tetrapod’ = an animal with 4 legs) for years, since reading Carl Zimmer’s wonderful book At the water’s edge (1998). Our understanding of when & where tetrapods evolved has been steadily extended by a series of fossil finds, most recently the ‘fishapod’ Tiktaalik. This was definitely […]
Continue readingyou won’t get a 747 from a tornado in a junkyard
A recent letter-writer in our local paper presented this argument: Many people believe the evolutionary theory but none practice it. For example, how much is left to chance in the design and assembly of a 747 jet? Nothing is left to chance. Every component is tested to breaking point to find any weakness in design […]
Continue readingsomething to listen to
I’m away at a conference at the moment, & maybe in a day or two I’ll find time to write about some of the things I’ve heard. One of the speakers had some things to say that I think are very relevant to students. But for now – following on from that article in the Dominion […]
Continue readingare internet polls worthwhile?
Over the weekend the Dominion ran an internet poll, accompanying this article. It posed the question: Should schools be allowed to teach ‘intelligent design? The two options given were a) yes, all theories should be taught, & b) no, it doesn’t belong in science class. (I might be a bit off in the wording, as the […]
Continue readingmore from your inner fish
I’ve just finished reading Your inner fish (Shubin, 2008) – honestly, I can’t recommend it highly enough. But for anyone who hasn’t bought the book yet, let’s look at what another part of our anatomy – our ears – has to tell us about our evolutionary past.
Continue readinga smelly story
At the moment I’m reading Neil Shubin’s book Your inner fish. It’s a wonderful walk through the evolution of life, taking various aspects of our own biology & tracing their evolutionary history. Over lunch I was reading the chapter on the sense of smell, & some of the ideas there really excited me & I […]
Continue readinga pregnant placoderm
And what’s a placoderm, you ask? It’s an ancient armoured fish. The placoderms were a group of fish that were common during the Devonian (410 – 360 million years ago), but then became extinct. The reason for the title of this post? A group of Australian researchers (Long et al., 2008) have just reported on a placoderm fossil that contained embryos […]
Continue readingthe tasmanian tiger’s evolutionary affinities
The (sadly extinct) Tasmanian Tiger and living wolves provide an excellent example of convergent evolution. They have the same ecological niche, with the Tiger filling the role of a top predator in Australia, while wolves are found throughout the northern hemisphere. But the Tiger is a marsupial, while wolves are placental mammals.
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